Colombian flag carrier Avianca will launch the only scheduled non-stop link between South America and Boston's Logan International Airport when it inaugurates a new four times weekly link from its El Dorado International Airport hub in Bogotá from the start of June 2017.
Okinawa will host the first Japanese Routes Asia air service development forum this weekend (19-21 March) to boost international transport connections.
A record number of votes were received for this year’s awards. Discover which airports and destinations have been recognised for their marketing achievements by the airline network planning community.
The huge surge in demand for flights across Asia is placing severe constraints on capacity. Ahead of his participation at Routes Asia HKIA director C K Ng outlines how he is aiming to ensure the airport keeps pace including its new £15bn third runway.
After reviewing and restructuring its operations at the start of the decade and reducing its network by around a third between 2011 and 2013, Frontier returned to growth in 2014 with a year-on-year capacity rise of 9.8 per cent. This was followed by a 6.9 per cent growth in 2015, while last year brought a 16.2 per cent increase as the airline took the opportunity to expand, adding six ‘new’ markets to its network.
Routes Asia 2017 will bring together a top line-up of speakers from across the region to debate the major challenges and opportunities facing Asian aviation.
The confirmation of this deal follows extensive discussions between the management of Aer Lingus and its parent company International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) over the growth of the Dublin-based carrier’s long-haul network and the value IAG places in Ireland’s growing hub at Dublin Airport, one of fastest growing transatlantic departure markets of the current decade.
Flights between Japan and Hawaii represent a highly competitive market - around 1.5 million Japanese travel to Hawaii annually, with airlines enjoying consistently high load factors. ANA’s use of the Superjumbo on this route shows it is seeking to increase significantly its share of this lucrative market. It has even unveiled a colouful special livery for its first aircraft featuring the Hawaiian green sea turtle – a symbol of good luck and prosperity in Hawaii.
After a year of work, a Swedish government-appointed commission recommended in late November 2016 that airlines operating in Sweden should pay a tax of between 80 and 430 Swedish crowns ($9- $47) per passenger per flight to compensate for climate pollution. Under the proposal, the lower end would relate to domestic and European flights while a levy of between SEK280 (for city pair markets under 6,000km) and SEK430 (for city pair markets beyond 6,000km) would be added to medium- and long-haul international services.
As first revealed by our Airlineroute news stream in the middle of last month, Qatar Airways is deploying the first LATAM aircraft on one of its two daily flights between Doha and Munich. It debuted on the QR059/060 rotation from March 2, 2017 and another of the LATAM airframes will be used on the second QR057/058 service from April 1, 2017. The additional two LATAM A350-900s will be used on Qatar Airways’ Doha – Madrid route.
Subject to regulatory approvals, the new service will operate for a three month period between December 1, 2017 and February 28, 2018 and will complement Cathay Pacific’s current seasonal double daily flights to Auckland as well as strategic partner Air New Zealand’s daily service between Hong Kong and Auckland.
A striking new pier at Oslo Airport is scheduled to open in April, but the feature is only part of a thoroughgoing renovation that will lift capacity to 32 million.
Ahead of Routes Asia 2017 we spoke to Chin Leong Teo of Changi Airports International to hear his thoughts on the major challenges and opportunities facing aviation in the region.
While all operators to date have adopted the standard nine-abreast arrangement initially detailed by the carrier in its catalogue, Air Caraïbes has selected a dense ten-abreast configuration with a seat width of just below 17 inches, enabling it squeeze more returns out of the aircraft. This additional seat in each Economy row will mean the carrier’s A350-900 will seat just short of 400 passengers - 389 passengers in a three-class configuration (18 in Business, 45 in Premium Economy and 326 in Economy).
For a long time Ryanair has served the greater Frankfurt market via its operations from Hahn Airport, a secondary facility around about 120 km (75 mi) from the city. However, as part of its business maturity and to boost premium traffic the carrier is now serving more major airports and its arrival into Frankfurt is a major part of this network project.
As low-cost carrier Jambojet once again seeks rights to fly internationally from Kenya, we explore its growth plans and also look at the potential for new non-stop flights into USA after the US Department of Transportation (DOT) delivers a clean safety review for Kenya.
The spectre of terrorism has haunted Egypt’s aviation industry over recent years but Air Cairo is determined to press on with plans for innovation and growth. Martin Rivers writes for Routes News.
airBaltic will inaugurate the Riga – Abu Dhabi service from the start of the winter schedules on October 29, 2017 and will operate four weekly return flights using its CS300. The Etihad Airways ‘EY’ code will also be displayed on the flight under a full codeshare partnership.
As widely expected, European low-cost carrier Norwegian will introduce its new Boeing 737MAX fleet into operation on flights between the UK and Ireland and the United States of America. The budget airline will offer 38 new weekly transatlantic flights this summer from Edinburgh, Belfast, Cork, Shannon and Dublin serving ten routes.
The £3.8 million UK government funding is a significant investment in supporting the Londonderry - London route. Based on bmi regional using a 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 on the route and its 13 return weekly frequencies that will equate to 1,300 seats a week, 67,600 seats a year or 135,200 seats for the full two-year funding term. With 2,704 one-way flights scheduled to operate during this period that works out as over £1,400 of support per flight, or £28 per seat.
Phnom Penh, located in the south-central region of Cambodia, is the most populous city in Cambodia and is a gateway to World Heritage Site Angkor Wat, near Siem Reap. Recent growth and infrastructure development has led to Phnom Penh becoming a significant economic and tourism destination.
