Despite ongoing political tensions in the country and a consequent fall in passenger numbers during the first half of 2014, the carrier’s management is confident the second half of the year will see an increase of demand as tourists return to Thailand.
Cap Haïtien is viewed as a developing leisure destination for foreign visitors with the calm water of the bay, picturesque Caribbean beaches, wealth of French colonial architecture and many historic monuments making it a popular resort and holiday destination for Haïti's upper classes.
The airline has experience of the market having previously served the Bandar Seri Begawan – Ho Chi Minh City route for a six year period. It introduced flights on the city pair in March 2006 and operated up to a daily service at its peak. However, after reducing frequency to just a weekly operation in late 2011, the route was finally closed in February 2012.
Aurigny has provided important continuous air links from Guernsey to London’s Gatwick and Stansted airports. It has recently expanded its Gatwick schedule - following Flybe ending its competing operation on the route - and has debuted its brand new Embraer E195 in this market, the airline’s first ever jet aircraft.
Delta introduced Salt Lake City’s first regular transatlantic connection to Europe in June 2008 when it inaugurated flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and has seen traffic on the route grow over the subsequent years through a mix of point-to-point demand and transfer passengers connecting across Europe and further afield via the Air France network.
Air New Zealand and All Nippon Airways will both introduce flights with the Boeing 787-9 early next month, with Etihad Airways, Scoot, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways also due to the fly the new stretched variant of the Dreamliner before the end of the year.
The new service will expand the KLM network in Latin America to eleven destinations but does not actually mark its debut in Colombia as the Dutch flag carrier previously served the Colombian capital, Bogota, from October 1992 until March 1995.
The expanded Brisbane schedule will boost capacity on the route by 2,166 seats a week and will support the growing demand for connectivity to North America from Queensland. North America is actually Queensland’s third largest tourism market and the increase in services support the 4.2 per cent increase in passenger numbers experienced in 2013.
Etihad and THY will both hope to attract passengers from their wider networks across the Middle East, Africa and Indian subcontinent to support point-to-point demand. According to MIDT data, an estimated 229,000 bi-directional O&D passengers flew to/from San Francisco from destinations across the Middle East, while approximately 84,000 flew to/from the US city from destinations in Africa.
The closure of the Manchester operation will enable flynas to concentrate its activities at London Gatwick. It launched a twice weekly flight from Jeddah on April 8, 2014 and will launch a twice weekly service from Riyadh on July 27, 2014. The airline hopes to capitalise on the high-traffic Eid holiday period over the launch week of operations for the new route.
The carrier will launch a twice daily operation between London City and Aberdeen from October 27, 2014 using a 78-seat Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 following British Airways’ recent announcement that it would be withdrawing from the route at the end of the summer season.
This is the first start-up aid scheme that the European Commission has assessed under its new guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines which came into force on April 4, 2014. The guidelines have simplified the rules on public support granted by Member States for the start-up of new air transport routes.
AZAL plans to launch a twice weekly service between Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport and New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport using a 237-seat Airbus A340-500 but will likely deploy its Boeing 787 Dreamliners on the route; the first of two is due for delivery towards the end of this year.
WestJet Encore's move eastward is part of a strategic plan to “continue to liberate Canadians in smaller communities from the high cost of air travel,” continuing WestJet’s own pioneering developments in the larger Canadian markets through its 18-year history. The first step of this Eastern Encore expansion saw the introduction of flights to Ontario from June 27, 2014.
Amsterdam is already one of easyJet’s most successful network points with more than 3.5 million passengers flying annually to and from 21 destinations. It further strengthens the airline’s position at the airport, where it now holds a nine per cent market share having first introduced flights back in 1996.
According to reports in China, China Eastern Airlines is considering launching a three times weekly link to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport using an Airbus A330-300, significantly enhancing connectivity to Yunnan province in the far southwest of China.
flydubai will become the first carrier to operate direct flights from Dubai to both Sarajevo and Zagreb. It will introduce a twice weekly link to Sarajevo from December 8, 2014, while a three times weekly offering to Zagreb will follow from December 16, 2014. Both routes will be served by its dual-class 737-800s.
Latest data from The International Air Transport Association (IATA) for global air freight markets shows air cargo growth accelerated in May 2014, with 4.7 per cent growth compared to a year ago. This is up from the 3.8 per cent year-on-year growth recorded in April.
