In its latest annual results the carrier posted a net profit of €7.3 million, while the wider Air Mauritius Group posted a €8.5 million profit. The positive results mark the return to profit of the national airline over a full financial year after two consecutive loss making years.
In 2004, airlines offered 7.7 million seats from Lisbon Airport but this rose to just under ten million seats last year, a 27.7 per cent rise. This year, based on existing published schedules, the airport will surpass the ten million figure for the first time with capacity set to rise 7.8 per cent.
The company, which made a formal licence application to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) in April 2014, will follow in the footsteps of L’Avion and Open Skies in offering a product tailored to the premium market from the Parisian capital using Boeing 757-200 equipment.
This month Air China has added its latest US destination to its network after inaugurating flights between Beijing and Washington, its seventh destination in North America. The airline already offers flights from the Chinese capital to Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in the US and Vancouver in Canada.
The sale of the slot pair for the carrier’s daily Larnaca service - flights CY346 and CY347 - will result in Cyprus Airways switching its London operations to Stansted Airport from September 14, 2014.
The airline, like many other low-cost carriers, has been actively studying the launch of long-haul services across the Atlantic and this route is seen as WestJet testing the water before expanding its activities further.
The two destinations join Dubai in the network of Cebu Pacific Air's long-haul division which flies Airbus A330-300s configured in an all-Economy, 436 seat arrangement.
With a focus on strengthening existing relationships with airlines and building new relationships with the broader business market and consumers, BAC’s Asian push signals a new era in the development of the airport as one of the growth gateways into Australia.
The two new routes stretch from the north of Scotland with a new daily Inverness – Dublin service, to the south of England with a daily Southampton – Hamburg link, both of which will launch from October 26, 2014 at the start of the winter schedules.
The Boeing 777-300ER will offer 88 additional Economy Class seats, representing a 40 per cent increase in capacity versus the 777-200LR. This is in addition to offering customers a choice of eight First Class Suites and 42 Business Class seats on every rotation.
