PLYMOUTH LOSES LONDON LINK
Air Southwest is to suspend its scheduled flights from Newquay and Plymouth to London Gatwick on February 1. Newquay will still be connected to the English capital via Flybe’s three times daily Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 service but there will be no direct links to London from Plymouth. Air Southwest, which was acquired last year by Eastern Airways, also provides links from the southwest city to Bristol, Dublin, Glasgow, Jersey and Newquay but the London route accounted for more than a third of Plymouth Airport’s traffic with over 55,000 passengers flying on the link in 2009, according to official UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data.
START-UP TO VIENNA
Austrian-registered start-up carrier People’s Vienna Line has acquired a former Finnair Embraer 170-100LR to launch services from St Gallen-Altenrhein Airport to Vienna. The airline, backed by the local authority of the Swiss regional facility, Airport Altenrhein AG, will inaugurate the link to the Austrian capital on March 28, offering three flights every weekday and a single rotation at weekends. The route is presently served by Austrian Airlines’ regional subsidiary Tyrolean Airways under the Austrian Arrows brand, although the national carrier is terminating the route at the end of the winter schedules. According to official IATA BSP data more than 55,000 O+D passengers travelled between the two cities between November 2009 and November 2010.
JET2.COM CANCELS TUNISIAN FLIGHTS
UK budget carrier Jet2.com and its tour operator affiliate Jet2holidays.com have dropped their flight and holiday programmes to Tunisia following the recent political unrest in the country. While others have taken a more cautious approach and simply cancelled flights until the middle of February, the Leeds Bradford-based venture has decided to cancel all of its proposed flights from Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle airports for the entire summer schedules. The airline says the decision has been taken to allow customers to make alternative holiday arrangements but as stability returns it could mean that there may be a short-fall in capacity this summer. Tunisia is growing in popularity with British tourists eager for a holiday location outside of the Eurozone. According to statistics from trade organisation ABTA, the country was the tenth most popular destination for British travellers last year with visitor numbers up 29 per cent on the previous year.
VUELING MAINTAINS BARCELONA - BORDEAUX CONNECTION
Spanish budget carrier Vueling is to launch flights between Barcelona and Bordeaux on April 15, maintaining air connections between the two cities. The route is currently served by Air France but the national carrier is to suspend its nine-times weekly link from March 26, the end of the winter schedule. Vueling will offer just three flights per week using an Airbus 320 configured with 154 seats. According to official IATA BSP data more than 17,000 O+D passengers travelled between the two cities between November 2009 and November 2010.
NEW EDINBURGH LINK FROM SHANNON
Aer Lingus is to launch a new flight between Shannon and Edinburgh from March 27 in partnership with fellow Irish carrier Aer Arann. The five-times weekly rotation will be operated under the Aer Lingus Regional branding using an ATR 72-500, providing capacity on a route not presently served, according to Flightbase (January 14-20). The Aer Lingus Regional franchise already offers connections from Shannon to Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Manchester, while Aer Lingus has flights to London Gatwick and Paris CDG.
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