airberlin Inaugurates new Berlin - Abu Dhabi Link
German carrier airberlin inaugurated its new link between Berlin and Abu Dhabi on January 15, 2012 as the first phase of its new co-operation with Etihad Airways came into force. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier increased its stake in the German airline to 29.21 per cent last year becoming the biggest individual shareholder in the carrier in the process. The new route is operated four times weekly using a two-class Airbus A330 with seating for 303 passengers. As part of the new ‘strategic partnership’ between the two carriers airberlin has relocated its Middle East operations from Dubai International to Abu Dhabi International from this month and will open new opportunities for both entities moving forward through an international codeshare arrangement. Under the terms of the agreement Etihad is also providing a five-year $255 million financial offering which will enable airberlin to purchase new aircraft and promote future network growth in regional and intercontinental markets. “This strategic partnership with Etihad Airways not only opens up unique opportunities for the future for airberlin, it also brings a number of benefits for our passengers in terms of access to new routes, including our new all-year-round direct connection to Abu Dhabi,” explained Hartmut Mehdorn, Chief Executive Officer, airberlin ahead of the inaugural flight. “Abu Dhabi, so we are in a position to offer excellent connections, for example to Asia and Australia. Passengers coming from Abu Dhabi will have access to the numerous connecting flights operated by airberlin, both to destinations in Germany and also to Austria, Scandinavia and Switzerland. This makes the flight attractive for business travellers and holidaymakers alike,” he added. Together Etihad Airways and airberlin have a combined network of 239 destinations across 77 countries and the transfer of airberlin’s existing operations from Dubai to Abu Dhabi will help link these together. The German carrier launched flights between Berlin Tegel and Dubai International in November 2010 and had offered four flights per week on the route. However, this route has now been suspended and replaced with the new Berlin – Abu Dhabi link. The two airlines expect to unlock a range of efficiencies through their synergies and will also implement an extensive codeshare agreement with Etihad codesharing to 36 of airberlin’s 171 destinations and its European partner codesharing on 24 of its own 82 passenger destinations. This is just the first stage of this arrangement and it will be expanded to include further routes in the future including the activities of airberlin’s partner carriers including NIKI in Austria and Belair in Switzerland.
Aeroflot Rethinks Moscow – St Petersburg Capacity
Aeroflot Russian Airlines is to introduce a 13th daily rotation between Moscow and St Petersburg, the busiest domestic route within the Russian Federation. The additional flight has been confirmed in the carrier’s GDS inventory despite it previously shelving plans to originally increase capacity from 12 to 17 daily flights for the coming schedule. The additional mid-morning departure from Moscow Sheremetyevo and early afternoon return from St Petersburg will be operated by an Airbus A320 from June 1, 2012. The majority of flights on the route are operated using Airbus A320 Family equipment although two afternoon / evening rotations are scheduled to be flown using Sukhoi SSJ-100 Superjets. An estimated 1.82 million O&D passengers travelled between Moscow and St Petersburg last year, down 10.3 per cent on the previous 12 month period but up 36 per cent in the past five years. This month there are around 245 weekly flights per week between the two cities offering over 33,000 seats in each direction. Alongside Aeroflot’s flights from Sheremetyevo; Globus, Rossiya Airlines, S7 Airlines, Transaero Airlines, and Ural Airlines have links from Domodedovo and Gazpromavia, Kuban Airlines, Rossiya Airlines and UTair from Vnukovo. Aeroflot is the dominant carrier between the two cities with 34.7 per cent of the available capacity. In the past year it had an estimated 29.5 per cent share of the traffic between Moscow and St Petersburg, down from 30.0 per cent last year, but up from just 9.5 per cent five years ago.
AirBridgeCargo Adds Chengdu to its Network
Russian scheduled freight carrier AirBridgeCargo Airlines has inaugurated flights to Shuangliu International Airport in the western Chinese city of Chengdu. The link to the capital of Sichuan province was opened earlier this month as an additional stop on the airline’s existing three times weekly flight between Zhengzhou, the airline’s Moscow base and the Dutch capital Amsterdam. The flight is operated by a Boeing 747-400F. Although this is AirBridgeCargo’s first scheduled flight to the destination, it has previously flown special cargo charters for its parent company Volga-Dnepr Group from Chengdu alongside sister carrier Volga-Dnepr Airlines. Its 747 fleet also operated alongside Volga-Dnepr’s giant Antonov An-124 transports to deliver relief goods and medical and rescue equipment to the region after it was hit by a devastating earthquake in May 2008. The service will undoubtedly benefit the local export manufacturing and freight forwarding communities. ABC is confident of gaining support for the service from manufacturers and freight forwarders with the link valuable for the time critical and security-sensitive commodities for Chengdu’s thriving high-tech industry. The direct delivery of high-end products from Europe will also help to satisfy Chengdu’s fast developing consumer market. Chengdu’s Shuangliu International Airport was the sixth busiest passenger and cargo airport in China during 2010 and will be the host of this year’s Routes Asia forum which will take place in Chengdu between April 15 -17, 2012.
Royal Jordanian Expands Links to Abu Dhabi
Royal Jordanian Airlines, the national carrier for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, has increased the frequency of its flights between Amman and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from seven to nine per week to accommodate the growing demand for weekend and short travel visits between the two cities, and to increase flexible timings for passengers. The carrier will increase to a double daily service during the Northern Summer 2012, matching its schedule last year. “We are glad to see that our airline partners are keen to develop their services from the Capital's airport as it will offer more choices to our passengers and ultimately supports ADAC's strategy to become one of the leading airports in the world,” explained Eng Ahmed Al Haddabi, Chief Operating Officer, ADAC. “Royal Jordanian Airlines is one of our close partners and we will continue to support their initiatives to provide customers with high quality and efficient travel solutions that cater to their needs and requirements.” The additional services are operating on Thursdays and Sundays and provide an afternoon and evening option to complement the existing daily morning flights. All the services are due to be operated by Airbus A320 Family equipment. In the past year an estimated 148,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route, which is also served twice daily by Eithad Airways. Traffic has grown marginally in the past 12 months (up 0.6 per cent), although Royal Jordanian has notably increased its own share of the market, increasing six percentage points to 52 per cent.
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