News From CIS and The Middle East

Richard Maslen April 14, 2011

EMIRATES TO USE A380 ON SHANGHAI FLIGHT

Emirates Airline is planning to introduce the Airbus A380 on three flights per week between Dubai and Shanghai Pu Dong. The airline currently offers two flights per day on the route, using an Airbus A340-300 and Boeing 777-300ER. However, from April 27 it is planning to replace the 777-300ER on the Wednesday, Friday and Sunday rotations of flight EK302/303 from April 27. The A380 is currently being displayed as operating the flight until the end of the Northern Summer schedules and there is no immediate information as to the carrier’s long-term plans. It had listed Shanghai as a potential A380 destination in 2010 but its plans to serve the route were thwarted by Chinese authorities. It is understood that the A380 serving Shanghai will be switched from the airline’s existing Dubai – Hong Kong link. It currently offers 14 weekly flights with the A380 on the route but will cut these to eleven from April 27.

AIR ASTANA BOOSTS ISTANBUL SCHEDULES

Following last week’s report that Turkish Airlines (THY) was to increase frequencies on two of its routes into Kazakhstan, it has now emerged that Air Astana will also boost capacity on its own flights into Turkey. From April 16 it will introduce a third weekly rotation to Istanbul Ataturk from Astana and from May 9 will add a fifth weekly link from Almaty and a second from Aktau. Seasonal links to Antalya will also resume from May 14 and Air Astana will add capacity this summer by using a Boeing 767 rather than a 757 on two of the seven weekly flights it will offer. Around 224,000 O&D passengers travelled between Kazakhstan and Turkey in the past year, up 6.9 per cent on the previous 12 month period. Air Astana dominates the market with a 51.3 per cent share of this traffic with THY following with 38.2 per cent. THY offers two flights per week to Astana (increasing to three from April 14) and seven to Almaty (increasing to nine from June 2) from Istanbul Ataturk.

GMG AIRLINES TARGETS DUBAI

Independent Bangladeshi carrier GMG Airlines is to suspend its flights between Dhaka and Abu Dhabi and will instead focus on serving Dubai International instead. It currently offers a twice weekly link to each destination from its Dhaka base, but is to cancel the Abu Dhabi flight and at the same time upgrade its Dubai service to six times weekly. In the past year it carried around 4,000 O&D passengers between Dhaka and Abu Dhabi and 25,000 between Dhaka and Dubai, accounting for 7.0 per cent of the 455,000 O&D passengers travelling between Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates (UAE). GMG Airlines’ departure from the Abu Dhabi market will leave just eight weekly flights from Dhaka – a daily service from Etihad Airways and a weekly rotation from Biman Bangladesh Airlines. However, weekly frequencies from Dubai will now exceed 30, a route dominated by Emirates Airline. Biman Bangladesh Airlines, flydubai and United Airways also serve the market, with fares ranging from $171 to $215 each way. GMG Airlines currently has an eleven per cent share of the traffic on this route.

SIMFEROPOL LANDS NEW BAKU LINK

Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) is to introduce a twice weekly service from its Heydar Aliyev International Airport base in Baku to the Ukrainian city of Simferopol. The flight will be operated by a 70-seat ATR 72 turboprop and is scheduled to launch on May 16. This is AZAL’s second destination in Ukraine; it already offers four flights per week to Kiev. Around 71,000 O&D passengers travelled between Azerbaijan and Ukraine last year, but this will be the first link from Simferopol into the CIS republic. The Ukrainian city, capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in southern Ukraine, is attempting to attract additional business and leisure visitors, particularly thanks to its sites of historical and archaeological significance. Simferopol is already linked to many CIS capital cities, including Moscow, Tashkent and Yerevan, while a link to Istanbul provides its only service outside of the region. In the last year around 870,000 O&D passengers flew into and out of the city, with 41.5 per cent of these travelling to Moscow (using Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo) and 23.6 per cent domestically to Kiev.

ROYAL FALCON EXPANDS PRESENCE AT AMMAN’S MARKA INTERNATIONAL

Jordanian charter carrier Royal Falcon is to expand its network from Amman with additional flights to Stockholm and Najaf. The airline operates from Amman Civil Airport, previously known as Marka International, the former gateway to the capital prior to the construction of Queen Alia International. The airline has already added flights to Abu Dhabi and Jeddah and introduced a third weekly frequency to Najaf, but from May 24, it will also resume a seasonal link to Stockholm Arlanda, operating three flights per week rather than the two it offered last year.

TURAN AIR TO LAUNCH BAKU – NOVOSIBIRSK LINK

Independent Azerbaijani carrier Turan Air is to operate flights between its base at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku and the Russian city of Novosibirsk in partnership with the country’s national carrier Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL). The weekly flight will operate on Wednesdays from May 25 and will be operated by a Tupolev Tu-154M flying under the airline’s own ‘3T’ code and AZAL’s ‘J2’. The small airline currently has five Tupolev Tu-154Ms although it is not known how many of these remain in an operational condition. It currently offers weekly scheduled flights from Baku to Ekaterinburg, Mineralnye Vody and Surgut, as well as charter links to other Russian destinations and into Turkey, a popular tourist destination for locals. S7 Airlines already operates a weekly link between Baku and Novosibirsk. It carried more than 6,000 O&D passengers during the last year at an average fare of $277 each way.

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