Ryanair Selects Wroclaw as First Polish Base
Irish budget carrier Ryanair is to open a base in the Polish city of Wroclaw in spring 2012, its first in Poland and 46th across Europe. The airline will initially station a single Boeing 737-800 at Wroclaw’s Copernicus Airport from March at which time it will boost its network by more than a third with the addition of six new routes. The low-cost carrier is already the largest carrier at the facility offering links to 15 destinations in Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain and the UK. It currently offers more than 40 flights per week accounting for a 39.8 per cent share of the available weekly seats. The new additions to its network next year comprise Bournemouth, Chania, Malmo, Malta, Paris Beauvais and Venice Treviso. All but one of these destinations are new for Wroclaw, with Wizz Air already providing a three times weekly link to Paris Beauvais. In addition to this growth, Ryanair revealed this week that it is considering establishing operations from the new Warsaw Modlin Airport which is due to open next summer. The former military airfield is currently being converted into a civilian facility for use mainly by low-cost carriers. A spokesman for the airport confirmed to The HUB that the Irish carrier “is one is one of a number of carriers that Warsaw Modlin is talking to about serving the airport when it opens in Summer 2012”.
easyJet to Drop Gothenburg Flights
UK low-cost carrier easyJet is to suspend its only two links to the western Swedish city of Gothenburg. The airline currently offers a daily service from London Gatwick and a twice weekly link from Manchester but will drop the two routes from January 8, 2012 and January 9, 2012, respectively. The airline has not disclosed the reason for the cancellations, but it is taking a much harder view on under-performing routes and this is thought to be the reason behind the closure. easyJet is the sole carrier operating between Gothenburg and London Gatwick, although British Airways and SAS Scandinavian Airlines both offer flights from London Heathrow. At Manchester easyJet has competed directly with Swedish regional carrier City Airlines, which operates up to twice daily flights using Embraer ERJ145 regional jets. easyJet carried an estimated 98,000 O&D passengers on the London route this past year and 34,000 on the Manchester service; the latter a 44 per cent share of the total market.
SAS to Launch Bergen – Manchester Connection
SAS Scandinavian Airlines is to introduce a twice weekly link between Bergen and Manchester, although it is to close its existing route from the Norwegian city to London Gatwick. The Scandinavian carrier will launch the flights on January 6, 2012 with departures on Mondays and Fridays to support week-long and weekend travel options. “Norway is proving popular for passengers looking to travel to and from Manchester and we are pleased to have Bergen served by SAS. The city itself is well known for being the gateway to the famous fjords and has become one of Europe’s largest ports for cruise ships. We expect passengers travelling from the North will be keen to access unique travel experiences like the ones offered in Norway,” said Andrew Harrison, Managing Director, Manchester Airport. SAS already offers flights from Manchester to the Norwegian capital Oslo, a route that low-cost carrier Norwegian will also serve from October 30.
Vueling Boosts Offering From Madrid
Spanish carrier Vueling is to increase its offering from Madrid, despite shareholder Iberia revealing its plans to base its new low-cost division, Iberia Express, in the city. Vueling is already offering flights to Barcelona and Paris CDG from the Spanish capital as part of an agreement with Iberia that has seen it move more towards operating as a traditional airline. It has taken over these flights from Iberia and is operating them under the Vueling brand but providing interlining and through-ticketing to other destinations in the Iberia network. This winter it will provide a similar service on routes to Amsterdam (daily), Berlin Tegel (daily) and Copenhagen (three times weekly), which will be operated under a codeshare with Iberia. It is not clear what impact the formation of Iberia Express at Madrid will have on the existing operations of Vueling from the city. The start-up will launch flights in summer 2012 with four Airbus A320s, increasing to 13 by the end of the year. Iberia simply says it will “not modify” the existing relationships it has with Vueling and regional partner Air Nostrum.
Austrian Boosts Winter Flights to Toronto
Austrian Airlines is to add an extra weekly rotation on its Vienna – Toronto services this winter to meet increasing demand on the route. The European flag carrier is to offer four weekly flights from October 30, up from its normal three times weekly schedule offered during previous winter schedules. The flights will be operated using a Boeing 767-300ER. There has been a notable rise in demand for air services between Europe and Toronto with O&D traffic up 9.5 per cent in the past year to approximately 3 million passengers. Austrian Airlines has just a 2.6 per cent share of this traffic, handling an estimated 76,000 passengers in the past year – although passenger demand has increased slightly over the past year Austrian’s market share has slipped slightly due to increasing flights between Toronto and other points across Europe. Austrian Airlines traffic on the route is supported by transfer traffic at its Vienna International Airport hub as in the last year the estimated O&D demand between Vienna and Toronto was just 47,000 passengers. The Star Alliance member holds a 41 per cent share of this market handling around 19,000 travellers, a figure that has grown by around 16.4 per cent when compared with the previous 12 month period, faster than the market average. Importantly, Austrian Airlines has also seen a positive rise in yields as average one-way fares have grown by 10.0 per cent to $577. Alongside Austrian Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa offer codeshare options on their Star Alliance partner’s flights, while Air Transat also provides non-stop services between Vienna and Toronto, albeit of a seasonal nature.
Condor Doubles Capacity to Panama City
German carrier Condor is to introduce a second weekly service between Frankfurt and Panama City next summer. The airline currently operates just a single weekly rotation via Santo Domingo, but will introduce the second frequency between June 25, 2012 and October 22, 2012 to support demand requirements on the route. An estimated 7,000 O&D passengers travelled between Frankfurt and Panama City last year and Condor, with the only ‘direct’ routing, carried around a 45 per cent share of this traffic. In the previous 12 months, prior to Condor’s arrival on the route less than 5,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two destinations, showing that Condor has stimulated the market, while at the same time attracting traffic that had previously flown via US hubs.
BAA Puts Edinburgh Airport Up For Sale
BAA has confirmed that it has chosen to keep control of Glasgow Airport and will commence preparations to sell Edinburgh Airport in order to comply with the UK Competition Commission’s ruling that it has to divest its interest in one of the two largest air gateways to Scotland. It expects to formally approach the market in the New Year with a view to agreeing a sale by next summer. Colin Matthews, Chief Executive Officer, BAA said choosing which of the two airports to sell has been a “difficult decision”. Over the past few years Edinburgh Airport has proved to be a resilient asset throughout the economic downturn with better traffic figures over recent years than at Glasgow Airport, but Matthews noted this would make it an “attractive asset” to prospective buyers. The two airports have seen a mixed performance during the past decade. At the turn of the Millennium, Glasgow Airport was the larger of the two airports handling almost 7 million passengers, and although this grew to a high of 8.8 million in 2006 the fall in traffic since then has been considerable. In each of the four subsequent years Edinburgh Airport has carried more passengers, surpassing nine million in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Across the decade Edinburgh Airport has seen passenger numbers increase by 67.93 per cent, while Glasgow Airport has seen a 3.89 per cent decline in the same period. However, it is not all about the numbers, as BAA’s decision shows. Although Edinburgh Airport has seen tremendous growth since 2000 its network is still highly focused on destinations in Europe. In fact its only long-haul scheduled flight is Continental Airlines twice daily link to Newark. Meanwhile, Glasgow Airport also has daily links to Newark by Continental Airlines; flights to Toronto by Air Transat; seasonal links to Orlando by Monarch Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways and Philadelphia by US Airways and a daily Emirates Airline link to Dubai alongside its European and North African flights. “Edinburgh is a great airport with a great team and a great future and we will be very sorry to see it leave BAA. We remain committed to Scotland and we will continue our long-term investment to improve passenger and airline experience at Aberdeen and Glasgow, as well as at Edinburgh until the sale is complete,” said Colin Matthews. “Glasgow Airport has great opportunities for future growth and development and we think BAA is well-placed to build on its recent success.”
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