Turkish Airlines Expands in Germany
Turkish Airlines (THY) is to introduce flights to two additional destinations in Germany this summer, increasing its network in the country to eleven cities. The airline will introduce a four times weekly route between Istanbul and Bremen from April 26, 2012, increasing to a daily operation from May 1, 2012. A four times weekly link to Leipzig will follow from May 28, 2012 which will also increase to a daily schedule with effect from June 25, 2012. Both routes are currently served by airberlin. This month THY is offering 155 weekly flights on its nine routes between Turkey and Germany positioning itself as by far the largest carrier in the market. It currently has at least a daily service on each of these routes with a three times daily offering or more to Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. THY currently offers over 25,000 seats a week into Germany from its home market; 32.4 per cent of the total available capacity this month. In the past year an estimated 7.39 million O&D passengers flew between Germany and Turkey, up 26.5 per cent on 2010. THY’s strategy is to develop as a major network carrier offering regular connections from Istanbul across multiple markets. In Germany it has been the number one carrier in terms of capacity for the past five years, although its share of available seats has fallen by just under a third from 35.4 per cent to 25.1 per cent. In fact, last year SunExpress almost overtook the carrier as the largest operator in the market, due to its own notable expansion in partnership with Lufthansa.
Danube Wings to Introduce Cambridge’s First International Link
Slovakian regional carrier Danube Wings is to launch its first flights into the United Kingdom and in the process will introduce currently the only scheduled international route from Cambridge Airport and the first scheduled link to the UK from the Franche-Comté region of Burgundy, in France. The airline will offer twice weekly seasonal flights between Cambridge and Dole-Jura Airport, a mainly general aviation facility located 7 km southwest of Dole and southeast of Tavaux. It will use a 70-seat ATR 72 turboprop on the route which will operate between June and September 2012. There are currently no direct scheduled services from Dole-Jura Airport, also known as Franche-Comté Regional Airport although Ryanair will launch services from Porto from next month. Danube Wings already serves the small Eastern French facility on a charter basis but will open a base at the airport this year and offer flights to three other destinations - Bastia, Girona and Nice. “I am ecstatic to welcome Danube Wings to the Airport,” said Archie Garden, Airport Director, Cambridge Airport. “This is a groundbreaking development and the first of many exciting international services we plan to bring to Cambridge, especially with one of Europe’s rapidly developing airline companies and to such a beautiful and largely undiscovered region of France. We couldn’t be happier with Dole-Jura our next destination.” The birthplace of famous French chemist Louis Pasteur, Dole is located in the heart of the picturesque Jura region and lies on the banks of the River Daubs, just a short distance from the major cities of Dijon and Besançon. Formerly known as the County of Burgundy, the province of Franche-Comté, which incorporates Dole, Jura and the surrounding area, is known as the lake district of France, with dozens of lakes, interspersed between picturesque small towns and villages. The new flights also give easy access to the city of Dijon and to French-Swiss border, with places such as Lausanne, Basel and Geneva all easily accessible. Danube Wings will also launch flights on April 6, 2012 from its Bratislava base and Košice to the Italian city of Venice. The combined route will be operated on a three times weekly schedule in cooperation with Italian carrier Megaride Air and will involve a 90-minute stopover in the Slovakian capital for passengers flying to or from Košice.
Hong Kong Airlines Introduces London Link
Hong Kong Airlines inaugurated flights between Hong Kong and London this week introducing a new option for passengers between the UK and the former British colony in Asia. The carrier has been offering a daily service between Hong Kong and London Gatwick from March 7, 2012 using an Airbus A330-200 configured in what it describes as an “all Club Class offering”. This arrangement comprises 34 Club Premier and 82 Club Classic seats. “The latest addition to the Hong Kong Airlines network highlights our commitment to the UK market, and our ongoing work to strengthen our position in one of the world’s leading aviation hubs,” the airline’s President Yang Jian Hong said during a visit to London to mark the inaugural service. “Hong Kong Airlines is proud to play a part in promoting the future of luxury travel with our unique all Club Class aircraft.” In the past year almost one million O&D passengers travelled between Hong Kong and London with around 96 per cent of these travelling from London Heathrow where Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways all offer flights. There are currently more than 60 weekly rotations between Hong Kong and London which together provide more than 20,000 weekly seats in each direction. Hong Kong Airlines is targeting the premium share of this market, but not just those flying to Hong Kong and is offering convenient connections for passengers looking to travel to onward destinations across China, Japan and Southeast Asia, including Bangkok, Tokyo and Singapore.
Doubts Over Serbian Venture's Network Plans
Kon Tiki Sky, the airline operating brand of one of Serbia’s leading tour operators, Kon Tiki Travel, is reporting a significant new network of operations within Europe for summer 2012, although we have been unable to confirm details of its planned operations. The virtual carrier launched operations last year with a single leased Boeing 737-300 on a charter basis, but is now understood to be expanding into scheduled low-cost operations. It claims to be offering availability from Bucharest, Constanta and Skopje, although in the past week it has dropped plans for a major network of flights from Antwerp and is now claiming to be opening a base at London Southend Airport instead. According to its website, the venture was due to introduce flights at Antwerp from May 1, 2012 including a twice daily business link to London Southend. This was due to be complemented by four weekly flights to Girona, three weekly services to Sofia and twice weekly links to Alicante, Bucharest and Skopje. From the start of June it said it would expand into a number of Balkan markets with flights to Bucharest, Constanta and Skopje. However, over the past 24 hours these proposed operations have been removed from its website, with the venture now claiming: "Kon Tiki Sky is proud to announce the opening of its new base at London Southend Airport. New flights from London Southend will soon be announced." Alongside these claims, the airline says that from Bucharest it plans to offer at least twice daily services to Chisinau, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Suceava and Timosoara from June 18, 2012. From Skopje it plans links to Ancona, Basel, Bergamo, Berlin, Bologna, Bratislava, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Istanbul, Malmo, Rome, Stuttgart and Trieste from the same date, while from Constanta it plans to offer tickets to Bergamo, Berlin, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Dusseldorf, Girona, Hamburg, London Luton, Madrid, Malmo, Paris, Rome, Stuttgart, Suceava and Timosoara. According to Kon Tiki Sky, its flights will be provided on the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) of Romanian business venture Alfa Air Services. Efforts to substantiate its network plans have failed to add any light to the proposed venture.
Related Content
