There has been a growing demand for air connectivity between China and the popular leisure destination with O&D demand rising massively over the past ten years from just 8,000 bi-directional passengers in 2004 to around 66,000 in 2013.
Alongside the point-to-point market, the expanded frequency will provide better connection options for travelers from the UK to a range of markets across West Africa, including Abidjan, Abuja, Cape Verde, Libreville, Malabo, Niamey, N’Djamena, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou and Yaoundé.
From July 2, 2014, Air Seychelles will operate two return services per week between Seychelles and Paris Charles de Gaulle via Abu Dhabi with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, configured with 18 flat-bed Business Class seats and 236 Economy seats. The new Paris service will complement the existing double-daily services to Paris from its shareholder Etihad Airways.
Etihad Cargo expects the service to carry large quantities of electronics and textiles to Entebbe, with primarily perishable goods destined for the Gulf region and Europe loaded for the return flight.
The three new routes will boost the Jet2.com offering by over 35,000 seats at Leeds Bradford to around 1.3 million for summer 2015 and will grow its network to 48 destinations.
Although Norwegian had been serving Gatwick from various points across its network since October 2007 it only opened a base at London’s second largest airport in May 2013. It has already expanded its network to operate 375 weekly flights and 33 routes to and from the facility.
This latest announcement shows how the partnership between Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines, which launched on January 1, 2014, is increasing the network of each carrier. Virgin Atlantic will now have access to Delta's Atlanta hub, the busiest airport in the world, for the first time, providing greater access for the carrier to offer connections through to points throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Dobrolet will operate a fleet of Next-Generation Boeing 737-800s in a single-class, all-Economy 189-seat arrangement, initially growing to eight aircraft at the end of its first year of service and growing at a rate of eight aircraft per year thereafter to 40 aircraft by 2018.
AirTran Airways, initially formed as ValuJet in 1993, will operate its last scheduled flight on December 28, 2014 with AirTran Flight 001 (marketed as Southwest ‘WN5001’) operating between Atlanta and Tampa Bay that evening, the same flight number and routing of ValuJet's inaugural flight on October 26, 1993.
Flybe has confirmed it will launch new daily links from Birmingham to Hamburg and Oslo from October 26, 2014 through to March 27, 2015, while its new summer 2014 flights to Bordeaux, Cologne, Florence, Oporto, Reykjavik and Toulouse will be extended through the winter season.
The initial tentative schedule shows the aircraft will operate twice daily on the Toronto - Halifax route from May 23, 2014 through to May 25, 2014 and then on various dates through to the end of June 2014. Alongside this domestic link, Air Canada also plans to use the aircraft on its flights from Toronto to Zurich (from May 25, 2014 to July 14, 2014) and London (from July 2, 2014 to July 13, 2014).
The flight will be operated using a four-class Boeing 777-300ER and will seek to take advantage of the strong business and leisure demand. Located right in the heart of Europe, Zurich is a top banking centre but is also the gateway to the scenic mountains and lakes of Switzerland.
These two new routes adds to the carrier’s existing service to Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, which has been operating since 2006 and further strengthen the airport's long-haul network and Marseille Provence’s position as the French airport with the most long-haul destinations away from Paris.
The airline says the decision to close flights to these two destinations from the end of September 2014 is due to the “sustained weak performance of both routes”.
