ESTONIAN AIR TO OFFER FLIGHTS TO JYVÄSKYLÄ
Estonian Air will introduce the first international scheduled link into Jyväskylä, the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland. The Baltic carrier will add a daily weekday flight and twice daily weekend service to the rapidly expanding city from its Tallinn base from March 25, 2012. “The schedule allows the customers good connections via Tallinn to Scandinavia, CIS, Benelux and Baltic countries.” said Tero Taskila, President and Chief Executive Officer, Estonian Air. “Opening the Jyväskylä-Tallinn route is our first step in moving into Finnish market.” Finncomm Airlines currently offers the only other scheduled air connection to Jyväskylä with an up to five times daily service from the Finnish capital Helsinki. This route will be taken over by Flybe Nordic from the start of the Northern Winter schedules at the end of October. The new air service will bring new opportunities to Central Finland increasing the range of travel alternatives available to people in the region. "Jyväskylä is one of Finland’s most significant urban regions,” explained Markku Andersson, Mayor of Jyväskylä, “and, continued growth in air travel sends a positive message that our area is attractive and interesting.”
LOGANAIR TO OFFER ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICES FROM DONEGAL
Loganair is to introduce its first domestic and international flights from the Irish city of Donegal after being selected by the Irish Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to undertake a designated essential air service linking the city to Dublin. The airline will launch services on the route from November 3 offering two round-trips every day using a Saab 340 turboprop, a schedule that while protecting the existing day return facility from Donegal, will enable Dublin-originating travellers to undertake a day return to north-west Ireland for the first time. On the same day Loganair will introduce a link between Donegal and its Glasgow base. This will be operated on an up to daily basis, but frequencies will reduce to four a week during seasonal periods. Loganair operates as a franchise partner of low-fare carrier Flybe and the new link with facilitate links to Flybe and Loganair’s extensive network of UK and Highlands & Islands services, as well as onward global links via British Airways (London Heathrow) and Emirates Airline (Dubai). “We are delighted to be launching services to Donegal later this year, and are confident that our combination of convenient flight times, excellent punctuality and competitive fares will provide exemplary service to and from the northwest of Ireland,” said Jonathan Hinkles, Chief Operating Officer, Loganair. “Loganair celebrates its 50th anniversary next year and its record has been established on the basis of providing dependable and quality regional air services, which we look forward to introducing in Donegal from November.” Aer Arann currently offers flights on both routes carrying an estimated 52,000 O&D passengers between Donegal and Dublin in the past year and 11,000 O&D passengers to Glasgow over the same period, with average one-way fares of $54 and $56 respectively.
RYANAIR HITS THE BACK OF THE NET WITH NEW MANCHESTER FLIGHTS
Irish budget carrier Ryanair has witnessed “greater than anticipated” sales for the new flights it will introduce from Manchester Airport later this year, citing “strong demand from football supporters” as one of the reasons for the success. The airline is opening a two aircraft base at Manchester Airport this winter, expanding its winter network to 17 destinations with links to Alicante, Bergamo, Bremen, Brussels Charleroi, Dublin, Faro, Frankfurt Hahn, Girona, Katowice, Madrid, Malaga, Memmingen, Oslo, Paris Beauvais, Rome, Rzeszow and Tenerife. An additional two aircraft are due to be stationed at the airport for summer 2012 for flights to Beziers, Biarritz, Ibiza, Murcia, Reus, Tallinn, Tours and Valencia. The Irish budget carrier first launched flights from Manchester in 1994 and in the summer of 2009 offered flights to ten destinations in six countries. However, the failure to agree a new long-term deal with the airport’s executives led it to cancel all but one of its routes; a multiple daily rotation to Dublin. From October 1, 2009 the budget carrier operated just that single route, however, earlier this year it took its first steps back into the market launching new flights in April to Alicante, Faro, Madrid, Palma and Tenerife. Speaking to The HUB last week, Ryanair’s Sales and Marketing Manager UK and Ireland, Maria Macken said that sales at Manchester have been “very strong” and have “exceeded expectations” with around 20,000 tickets already sold across the winter schedule. The traditional winter sun markets are proving the most popular, especially the Canary Islands, according to the executive, but there has also been a “really strong demand” to support specific football matches. “With Manchester United and Manchester City both in the European Champions League Group Stage we are seeing particularly strong demand to certain destinations, above the anticipated levels we predicted,” she explained, highlighting Oslo as one such destination.
MARTINAIR LANDS AT DUBAI AL MAKTOUM
Dutch freight carrier Martinair Cargo has become the first major overseas company to inaugurate scheduled services to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company launched services on September 2 and is currently offering three return flights per week. These all originate at the airline’s Amsterdam base, end their journeys in Hong Kong and return via Chennai although the exact outbound and inbound routings vary on each rotation with once weekly stops in Bahrain, Doha and Delhi. The flights are all operated using Boeing 747-400 Freighters. From this winter Martinair will focus purely on the freight market having significantly reduced its passenger charter program over the past couple of years. It operates a mixed fleet of eight B747-400s (a mix of BCF and ERF variants) and seven McDonnell Douglas MD-11s across a global network that includes destinations in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, Africa, the Americas and Australasia.
FLYBE HAS BRIGHT PROSPECTS FOR DUTCH-HIGHLAND LINK
UK low-fare carrier Flybe yesterday (September 5) launched flights between Inverness and Amsterdam, marking the resumption of a regular service to one of Europe’s main hub airports for passengers in the Highlands of Scotland. In the past British Airways and more recently bmi british Midland International have operated flights from the most northerly city in the United Kingdom to London Heathrow, but pressure on slots at the London airport meant that these services were terminated, leaving no real link to a hub airport. Highlands & Islands Airports Limited (HIAL), the operator of Inverness Airport, has been pushing for the connection to Amsterdam for many years, but it has taken a real collaborative effort between the airline, airport as well as funding support from Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE), the Highland Council, the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS) and VisitScotland to make the route a reality. According to Andrew Strong, Managing Director, Flybe UK, the initial volume of bookings ahead of the route’s launch has been “very promising” and he suggests that this is an early inidication of the route’s likely success. “The fact it has proved popular with both the business and leisure markets is particularly pleasing as it shows that passengers from both countries are benefitting from this convenient and affordable route in order to visit these fantastic destinations,” he added. The low-fare carrier will initially offer six flights per week on the route, increasing to a daily schedule from summer 2012. The airline hopes to not just attract outward traffic from Inverness but to bring overseas visitors into the City and surrounding areas. Inverness is a popular tourist destination for European and North American visitors, eager to enjoy its scenery and even the possibility of sighting the legendary Loch Ness monster and this route will enable connections to be offered via the KLM network to destinations across the globe. Amsterdam is a destination many Scots consider to be the perfect romantic getaway, with Flybe reporting a surge in demand for couples booking the route from Inverness. For the Dutch counterparts however, the Highland’s beautiful scenery and range of historical sites seem to be appealing to the family audience with bookings for the route during Holland’s October half term already experiencing uplift, according to Flybe, as Dutch families plan their half term breaks. This will not be Inverness’ first link to Amsterdam though. KLM’s UK division, KLM uk, served the route in 1997 and 1998, while ScotAirways launched a service on September 10, 2001, the day before the 911 terrorist atrocities, but suspended services just three weeks later due to a fall in passenger demand.
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