QATAR AIRWAYS DROPS LONDON GATWICK TO FACILITATE MANCHESTER GROWTH
Further to our story last week about Qatar Airways expanding its presence in the UK with the addition of a second daily rotation between Doha and Manchester, it has emerged that the airline will be cancelling its daily Doha - London Gatwick link to facilitate this growth. The carrier says the closure of the route after seven years is due to “commercial reasons”. In a statement Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Airways said: “Following a thorough review and analysis over the past few months, we have concluded that we could no longer sustain the route for commercial reasons. While we continue to grow our business, developing the network further, we do it prudently, cautiously and carefully.”
JET AIRWAYS LAUNCHES DAILY MUMBAI – DAMMAM LINK
Indian low-cost carrier Jet Airways has confirmed that it will start services on the Mumbai – Dammam route from March 27. The company will utilise a Boeing 737-800 on the daily flight, competing directly with Air India and Saudi Arabian Airlines. In the year ending November 2010 approximately 142,000 O&D passengers used the route with Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) holding the greatest share of this market. Saudia offers six flights every week and uses widebodied equipment in the form of Boeing 747 and 777 aircraft on half these schedules.
VLADIVOSTOK AIR ADDS NEW DOMESTIC CONNECTION
Vladivostok Air is to launch a new weekly domestic link between Khabarovsk and Samara this summer. The flight will be operated with an Airbus A320 from June 14 to September 6, with an additional stop in Krasnoyarsk en route. The Far Eastern Russian carrier already offers twice-weekly flights between Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk but does not currently serve the Volga city of Samara. This is the first direct link between the two cities with passengers previously having to connect in Irkutsk or Moscow.
OMAN AIR BOOSTS REGIONAL LINKS
Oman Air is to boost its schedules into Tanzania increasing the frequency of its Muscat - Dar es Salaam route from four-times weekly to a daily schedule from March 27. Also, the carrier is to add an additional weekly flight to Colombo in Sri Lanka and Malé in the Maldives from June 1 increasing frequencies to six and five flights per week, respectively. The airline is the sole operator on these routes from Oman but there are strong links from within the Middle East region with more than 20 total weekly flights to Dar es Salaam from Doha, Dubai and Sana’a, 105 weekly flights to Sri Lanka and 30 to Malé.
CYPRUS AIRWAYS TO ADD LINK TO ST PETERSBURG
Cyprus Airways is to inaugurate flights between Larnaca and the Russian city of St Petersburg this summer. The carrier will launch a three-times weekly service from April 1, increasing to four-times weekly between June 9 and September 28. The Mediterranean island is a popular holiday destination for Russians and more than 315,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two countries in 2010. This figure is actually a lot higher as most leisure travellers would have booked package holidays, many flying on charter services. The introduction of the new scheduled link will increase travel options for the coming summer season, as well as offering Cypriot residents the opportunity for city break weekends in St Petersburg. Rossiya Airlines already offers a weekly link between St Petersburg and Larnaca, while Aeroflot Russian Airlines and Cyprus Airways have scheduled flights to Moscow.
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NOTE: Schedule data extracted from Flightbase for week commencing February 14, 2011; Traffic data extracted from IATA BSP system for the year ending December 2010.
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