News From CIS and The Middle East

Richard Maslen April 20, 2011

AZAL SET TO LAUNCH US FLIGHTS WITH DREAMLINERS

Azerbaijan Airlines hopes to launch its first flights to the United States in 2014 when it takes delivery of the two Boeing 787 Dreamliners that it has on order. The airline is currently completing the preliminary marketing analysis before announcing its proposed destinations, although existing traffic flows would suggest that New York JFK is the most likely candidate for any US route, although Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington would also be an option. Around 8,800 O&D passengers are estimated to have travelled between Azerbaijan and the US in the past year. “I think that we will complete all the procedures and obtain permission by 2014,” said Sabir Ilyasov, Deputy Chairman, AZAL. “We are prepared for these flights and have hired a US company to prepare us for this process.”

OMAN AIR CONFIRMS MOSCOW LAUNCH DELAY

Oman Air has confirmed that it will delay the launch of its proposed new Muscat – Moscow Domodedovo route until November 16, as reported on our @TheHUBRoutes twitter feed earlier this month. The Gulf carrier had originally planned to launch the four times weekly service on June 9. This will be its sixth European destination adding to its existing flights to London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Milan, Munich and Paris. All of these routes are operated using Airbus A330-200 and A330-300 widebodies, but Oman Air plans to use a two-class Boeing 737-800 on the flight to the Russian capital. Approximately 3,000 O&D passengers travelled between Muscat and Moscow in the past year, with no airline currently offering direct scheduled links between the destinations. On a more positive note, Oman Air will increase its flights to Dubai with a new twice weekly service from Salalah resuming on May 1 and a seventh daily frequency from Muscat starting on July 1. Around 412,000 O&D passengers travelled between Muscat and Dubai in the past year, with Oman Air holding a 57 per cent share of this traffic, utilising a mix of Boeing 737s and Embraer 175s on its flights.

AEROFLOT TO RESUME FLIGHTS TO COLOMBO AND HO CHI MINH CITY

Aeroflot Russian Airlines is to resume flights to Colombo, Sri Lanka and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam this winter after an almost ten year gap. According to its provisional Northern Winter schedule on the GDS display the airline will offer a twice weekly frequency on both routes from its Moscow Sheremetyevo hub. The Ho Chi Minh City route will be introduced from October 30 and will be operated by a Boeing 767-300ER. Vietnam Airlines and Transaero Airlines already serve the route with three and two weekly frequencies respectively from Moscow Domodedovo. Approximately 61,000 O&D passengers travelled on this route during the past year, a 17.1 per cent increase over the previous 12 month period. Aeroflot already holds a 10.4 per cent share of the 171,000 O&D passengers between Vietnam and Russia, from its four times weekly Moscow Sheremetyevo – Hanoi link. Meanwhile, the Colombo route is set to be inaugurated from November 1 and will also be operated using a 767-300ER. Approximately 16,000 O&D passengers travelled on scheduled services between Russia and Sri Lanka in the past year, the majority flying via Dubai with Emirates Airline, due to the lack of direct services.

GULF AIR INCREASES FLIGHTS TO MILAN

The national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Gulf Air, is to boost capacity to Milan by 117 per cent from July 1 with the introduction of two additional weekly flights to Malpensa Airport. The airline launched flights to the Italian city in March on a four times weekly basis using a Boeing 737-700 operated on its behalf by Swiss carrier PrivatAir. However, strong demand has lead the airline to increase the frequency of the flight to six times weekly, at the same time introducing one of its own Airbus A320s, configured with 16 Falcon Gold Business Class and 120 Economy Class seats, on the route. “We are pleased to increase our frequency to and from Milan and add more capacity,” said Samer Majali, Chief Executive Officer, Gulf Air. “The new route, which we launched just last month, has already become popular and we are encouraged by the bookings and high level of enquiries from potential travellers.” The airline is to offer a split-schedule on the route – three flights will depart Bahrain to reach Milan early mornings, while the three others will depart Bahrain late mornings to reach Milan by afternoon. “The split schedule gives flexible options for our customers to choose their arrival and departures according to their business and leisure needs. It also offers more onward connectivity options for those travelling beyond Bahrain,” added Samer Majali. Additionally, Gulf Air is to boost frequencies on its routes from Bahrain to Colombo, Kathmandu, Larnaca and Manila. From May 17, a 12th weekly rotation to the Filipino capital Manila will be added, while four days later a 12th weekly flight to Kathmandu will also be launched. A sixth flight per week will be inaugurated to Larnaca, on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, from June 5 while flights to Colombo will be increased from six to eight per week from July 1.

BELAVIA ENHANCES BREST CONNECTIVITY

Belarusian flag carrier Belavia is to inaugurate flights to the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad from Brest, its only current scheduled link outside of the country’s capital, Minsk. The city is located close to the border with Poland at the confluence of the Western Bug and Mukhavets rivers and has a population of around 310,000. There are currently no scheduled links from the small airport. Belavia plans to operate two flights per week between June 10 and September 2, using a Bombardier CRJ200. It already serves Kaliningrad from its Minsk hub on a daily basis, a route on which it carried an estimated 22,000 O&D passengers in the past year. The airline will also relaunch a seasonal flight from Minsk to Simferopol, the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in southern Ukraine. It will operate two flights per week between June 17 and September 20 using a Boeing 737-500. It has served this route previously during the summer months but not for a number of years.