News From Around The EuroZone

Richard Maslen February 03, 2011

LONDON SOUTHEND WINS NEW BUSINESS

London Southend Airport has won its first major airline contract in more than a decade after Aer Arann confirmed that it will launch scheduled flights to the facility from the Irish cities of Galway and Waterford from March 27. The Irish regional carrier will offer twice daily services from each destination, although six of its 14 weekly services from Galway will not operate directly and will route via Waterford. The flights will be operated by ATR 72-200 turboprops. Meanwhile, Netherlands start-up GLM Airlines is also set to inaugurate flights to the airport with a regular weekday connection to the Dutch city of Groningen. A senior executive at the airline was quoted in Dutch newspapers as saying Southend was chosen because “it provides a shorter flight time and is cheaper [than alternative London airports]".

CZECH AIRLINES GOES LONG-HAUL WITH ITS A320S

Czech Airlines is to relaunch flights to Asia this summer, returning to the Vietnamese market some 20 years since it last flew there. The airline is to offer a three-times weekly Prague – Hanoi service from June 22, reducing frequencies to twice-weekly from August 30 and down to just once per week from September 11. The connection will be served using an Airbus A320 with a technical stop in the Kazakhstan city of Almaty and will provide the SkyTeam alliance with an even strong presence in the market. Almost 60,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two cities in the 12 months ending November 2010, the majority using connecting flights from Vietnam Airlines (a fellow SkyTeam member) in Paris or Frankfurt.

BALEARIC BOOST FOR LONDON OXFORD AIRPORT

Eastern Airways is to launch a weekly charter flight from London’s Oxford Airport to Palma de Mallorca this summer, the facility’s first regular link to the destination, to Spain and to the Mediterranean. The route will be flown by a 50-seat Saab 2000 on Saturdays between mid- June and mid-September. It is being chartered by a local tour operator, which is handling all ticket sales. This is expected to be the first of a number of new routes from the airport, with new charter destinations for summer 2012 and seasonally inspired ad-hoc options set to be unveiled later this year.

BUDGET AIRLINE LINKS ANKARA TO LONDON

AnadoluJet, the Ankara-based low-cost division of Turkish Airlines, has launched flights to London with a three-times weekly service to Stansted Airport. The route will be upgraded from March 27 to four flights per week and at the same time a Boeing 737-400 will replace the smaller -300 currently being used. AnadoluJet offers services to 39 destinations from Ankara including international links to Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne Bonn, Copenhagen, Damascus, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Moscow, Stockholm, Tehran and Vienna.

KLM BOOSTS DUBAI SCHEDULE

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is to add an extra rotation on its Amsterdam - Dubai link this summer, providing a double daily service. The new flight will depart the Dutch capital on Fridays and return from Dubai the following day. KLM is now competing directly with Emirates Airline and Garuda Indonesia (the flight originates in Jakarta) on the route, with its rivals currently offering a daily schedule. It held a 61 per cent share of an O&D market totalling approximately 134,000 passengers during the 12 months ending November 2010.

LUFTHANSA OUTLINES CHINESE EXPANSION

German national carrier Lufthansa is to increase its connections to China with the introduction of a double daily schedule on its Frankfurt – Shanghai Pu Dong service from April 16. The route was served ten-times every week last summer and on a daily basis through the winter schedules. Lufthansa is the market leader in terms of seating capacity on a route also served by Air China and China Eastern Airlines. The carrier will also introduce a fourth weekly frequency on its Frankfurt – Nanjing route from March 27, subject to Government approval, a route that it currently does not face any competition.

RYANAIR GROWS INTO GREECE

Irish budget carrier Ryanair is to expand its network into Greece, launching flights to the country’s second largest city, Thessaloniki. The airline is to begin flights in mid-April initially offering three flights per week from Brussels Charleroi and London Stansted and two weekly rotations from Oslo Rygge and Stockholm Skavsta, but further destinations could be added for next summer. There are currently no scheduled links to the Greek city from Belgium, Norway or Sweden although there is a large charter presence year-round. Ryanair is never afraid to go head-to-head with rivals as its lower cost base generally allows it to offer lower fares than its competitors. Although there are no other scheduled airlines offering flights between London Stansted and Thessaloniki, the Greek city is well served from the UK capital with 13 weekly departures, all from Gatwick.

CROATIA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 1 STATUS BY US FAA

Following a recent audit of Croatia’s civil aviation industry, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has upgraded the country from Category 2 to Category 1 status. This means that national carrier Croatia Airlines could, if it so wished, start operating into the US market, however, it also enables the much more likely option that it can enter into codeshare arrangements with US carriers, establishing more efficient links between the two countries. The deal is a pre-cursor to a new bilateral agreement between Croatia and the US which is due to be signed later this month and will enable US companies to take part in the forthcoming concession to build a new passenger terminal and apron at Zagreb Airport.

AIR ITALY OFFERS CANADIAN CHARTERS FROM BUDAPEST

Milan-based Air Italy is to operate a regular weekly charter flight on behalf of Canadian tour operator Panorama Travel & Tours Ltd between Budapest and Toronto’s Hamilton’s International Airport. The flights will be operated by a 253-seat Boeing 767-200 configured with 241 seats in Economy and with 12 seats in Club Class. The travel company specialises in the Central and Eastern European market and under its FlyCentralEurope brand already offers direct charter flights to Budapest, Prague and Krakow. “We are delighted to introduce our first direct flights from Canada,” said Patrick Bohl, Head of Airline Development and Strategy for Budapest Airport. “This is an important cultural connection for both Budapest and Hamilton as there is a large ethnic Hungarian population in Ontario, which will appreciate non-stop flights. Central Europe is an increasingly popular holiday destination for Canadian Tourists wishing to experience the attractions and history of this part of Europe.”

TAP PORTUGAL RETURNS TO THE GREEK MARKET

TAP Portugal confirmed that it will launch a Lisbon - Athens link, ending what has been a long break from serving the Greek market. The Portuguese national carrier will inaugurate flights from June 5, initially on a five-times weekly frequency basis, and will be targeting the nearly 40,000 passengers currently travelling indirectly between the two cities.

VIKING HELLAS REBRANDS TO BOOST ACTIVITIES AWAY FROM THE UK

Greek carrier Viking Hellas is to rebrand its charter activities as Fly Hellas to distance itself from its sister company Viking Airlines AB, which is currently in creditor protection under Swedish law. The carrier will start trading under its new name from May 1 using two Airbus A320s flying from Greece and Cyprus. Due to the refocusing of its business strategy, Viking Hellas' former London Gatwick base will be closed in February this year and all flying has been covered using alternative EU carriers, both for the remainder of the winter programme and for summer 2011. The announcement would suggest that it is now unlikely that Viking Airlines will return to the UK market should it secure any cash injection as Viking Hellas instead focuses on “Russia and strong EU markets” where it claims “revenues are currently much higher than in the UK”.

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