British Airways Confirms Tripoli Route Relaunch
British Airways has announced it will resume flights between London Heathrow and the Libyan capital Tripoli from May 1, 2012, the latest airline to make a return to the North African market. The relaunch of services follows a thorough security review in conjunction with the UK Government and the Libyan authorities. “We are delighted to be returning to Libya,” said Keith Williams, Chief Executive Officer, British Airways. “Our flights to Tripoli have provided a vital economic link for many years, and it is good news for everyone that we can now restart operations.” The airline had previously served the route up until February 11 last year when the political tensions in the country resulted in the cancellation of the link.In the 2010 calendar year just over 70,000 passengers travelled between London Heathrow and Tripoli, according to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data. British Airways will offer three flights per week on the route.
Adria Airways Set to Switch London Airport
Slovenian national carrier Adria Airways is to reportedly move its UK operation from Gatwick to Luton Airport when it resumes links to London this summer. We reported earlier this month that the European carrier was to relaunch its flights to the UK capital from March 28, 2012 having dropped the route from Ljubljana during the winter months, but its schedule initially showed London Gatwick as the destination. It now appears that Adria has instead agreed a deal with London Luton and will switch airports. The airline will offer four flights per week all flown using Airbus A319 equipment. In the past year an estimated 141,000 O&D passengers travelled between Slovenia and the UK, a market that has grown 6.7 per cent in the past 12 months. Adria Airways has seen its share of the traffic decline in the past couple of years following the arrival of easyJet in the Slovenia market - the UK carrier currently offers a link to Ljubljana from London Stansted. The London route was one of a number of flights dropped by Adria Airways last year after it completed a restructuring of its route network to return to profitability. It was reported at the time that the Ljubljana – London Gatwick route was one of its least profitable services with reported losses of over €1 million.
THY Boosts Manchester Service
Turkish Airlines (THY) is to increase the frequency of its flights between Istanbul and Manchester by around 40 per cent this summer as it introduces an additional three weekly rotations on the route. The carrier currently offers a daily service between the cities but will add two further rotations from March 25, 2012 and a tenth flight from May 28, 2012. The three new rotations will be operated using a Boeing 737-800: the existing flights are scheduled to be flown using a mix of Airbus and Boeing short-haul equipment. THY is currently the sole operator on the route, although UK low-fare carrier Jet2.com is due to launch a twice weekly service from mid-March. THY has served the route since 1993 and has witnessed many peaks and troughs in passenger demand. However, in the past five years the estimated O&D traffic has grown by a fifth to 6,000 in the year ending September 2011. But, it is not all about point-to-point traffic as THY has a wider strategy to develop as one of the world’s leading hub carriers and is expanding its network and fleet to support this. According to estimates around 49 per cent of passengers on the Istanbul – Manchester service currently connect to other destinations from Istanbul Ataturk Airport, including additional destinations in Turkey, Ercan in Northern Cyprus and large flows also reported to cities in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria and Jordan.
Lufthansa Cargo Adds First Link to Detroit
Lufthansa Cargo inaugurated its first-ever flights between Frankfurt and Detroit/Michigan on January 23, 2012, supporting growing demand from the automotive and pharmaceutical industries in the US city. The German airline is offering a single weekly flight on the route, which is operated by a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F, but will add a second rotation from March. The service makes an additional stop in New York on the return leg. “The new freighter connection supplements the daily flights operated by Lufthansa passenger aircraft, and offers our customers more capacity and greater flexibility,” said Achim Martinka, Vice President The Americas, Lufthansa Cargo. “The automotive and pharmaceuticals industries, especially, are fueling the growing demand for fast and reliable trans-ports to and from Detroit.” The new connection is the seventh US destination served by the cargo airline’s all-freighter aircraft, which are complemented by belly-hold capacity on the passenger fights of sister carrier Lufthansa to 17 points in the country. “The Airport Authority is delighted to welcome Lufthansa Cargo to Detroit Metro Airport,” added Tom Naughton, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Wayne County Airport Authority. “Germany is Michigan’s second-largest trade partner, and we’ve enjoyed a strong relationship with Lufthansa’s passenger carrier for many years. The addition of dedicated freighter service to this market is a significant investment by Lufthansa in Detroit and strong step toward our region’s goal of developing a world-class Detroit Region Aerotropolis.” In the last year Lufthansa Cargo transported around 1.9 million tonnes of freight and mail, up five per cent on 2010, after expanding its capacity during the period by 8.6 per cent following the integration of Austrian Airlines’ cargo activities and the expansion of its AeroLogic joint venture.
Czech Connect Closes
In the past week small Ostrava-headquartered carrier Czech Connect Airlines suspended all operations and filed for bankruptcy after one of the company’s main investors pulled out of the business. The Czech Republic operator was only established last year and had focused on offering scheduled air links into Russia and charter services to support local tour operators. In the past year the carrier handled just over 100,000 passengers on its fleet of two Boeing 737s – one -300 and one -400 – with around 40 per cent of these travelling on its scheduled network. The airline had developed a small niche in the European market and this month had planned to offer flights from Brno Tuřany to Moscow Domodedovo and St Petersburg Pulkovo International; from Karlovy Vary to Ekaterinburg and from Pardubice to Moscow Domodedovo. The market for travel between Czech Republic and Russia is growing and growing fast. In the past year an estimated 842,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two countries, up 36.4 per cent on the previous 12 months and up 126.4 per cent across the past five years. There are currently over 100 flights per week between the two countries providing almost 15,000 seats in each direction. The two national carriers, Czech Airlines and Aeroflot Russian Airlines dominate with 43.7 per cent and 29.5 per cent shares of the available capacity but a further eight operators provide links. The majority of these (79.9 per cent) originate from Ruzyně International Airport in the Czech capital, Prague. Czech Connect had attempted to develop air links away from the capital and offer links into Russia from some of the country’s regional airports. However, it has faced competition on three of the four routes it was scheduled to fly this year with UTair also serving the Brno – Moscow market (albeit serving Vnukovo Airport in the Russian capital), Ural Airlines providing a weekly rotation between Karlovy Vary and Ekaterinburg and Transaero Airlines linking Pardubice to Moscow.
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