Destinations around the world welcomed 956 million international tourists between January and September 2016, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. This is 34 million more than in the same period of 2015, a four percent increase.
IAG chief executive officer Willie Walsh has revealed that alongside the operations of the Airbus A380 within the fleet of British Airways (BA), he could also present a business case for the Super Jumbo to fly with both Iberia and Aer Lingus.
Icelandair will launch a new route to Philadelphia on May 30, 2017, initially as a summer-only route through to September 20, 2017, although it is planned to grow to a year-round operation. The twice weekly Tampa service, adding to an existing Florida link into Orlando, will launch from September 7, 2017, growing the airline’s Florida offer to a daily rotation.
Although flying relatively under the radar for 30 years, Germania actually carries more than 2.8 million passengers per year from 20 departure airports in Europe to over 40 destinations within the continent, North Africa and the Middle East on a mix of charter and scheduled routes.
Tianjin currently has limited connectivity outside of Asia from Binhai International Airport, but is increasingly being seen as an alternative access point into China’s capital city, Beijing, which is just 120km away and a journey of just 35 minutes by high-speed train.
Over the past year major global airline brands such as Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, plus local southern African operators Air Namibia and Proflight Zambia, have already inaugurated flights from Durban, South Africa. These services have delivered important regional, continental and notably key intercontinental connectivity, complementing the existing transit options with Comair (British Airways franchise) and South African Airways via Johannesburg and Emirates Airline via Dubai.
Iraq's Ministry of Transport has now signed a comprehensive agreement for a long-term strategic advisory and implementation project from Lufthansa Consulting that will focus on restructuring the national carrier Iraqi Airways and the civil aviation authority (ICAA) and on optimising Iraq’s airports.
Ghanaian start-up carrier Goldstar Air is confident that next year will mark the end of many years of planning and will finally see it launch short-and long-haul operations from Kotaka International Airport in Accra.
The Kenyan government has recently launched initiatives including visa free waivers for under-16s, reduction of entry park fees, incentives for charters and a scrapping of a 16% VAT on tourism services – a move that is expected to bring down safari costs.
The East African carrier recently introduced its first widebodied jet, an A330-200, into its fleet and a larger A330-300 is due to arrive to complement this. The aircraft will be used to launch flights into London from January 2017, serving Gatwick Airport in the UK capital.
The expanded network, which includes six Chinese cities that have never been served directly by a Malaysian airline, is just the first stage of an ambitious plan to more than triple Malaysia Airlines’ China business, adding more than ten additional cities to its network by the early 2020s.
CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac has launched an initiative to tackle the airline's issues head-on, mainly cutting costs and growing long-haul operations. Air France-KLM returned to net profit for the first time in six financial years last year, turning a net loss of €225 million in 2014 to a positive net result of €118 million.
Air Berlin’s loss is the Irish carrier’s gain as their expansion in Germany reaches the business hub of Frankfurt. This follows Ryanair opening a base at Hamburg, stationing two aircraft at the airport.
Announced earlier this week, British Airways will begin service into the fourth busiest airport in California. Oakland International Airport will see traffic from London Gatwick four times a week.
It has been revealed that an ultra low-cost carrier could be making its way into Argentina. Flybondi, should it be approved, hopes to serve as many as 12 destinations within the country by the third quarter of 2017.
The Nordic flag carrier will temporarily suspend its flights between Helsinki and Chongqing from January 11, 2017 to May 2, 2017, as part of the airline's measures to create adequate room for pilot training for its Airbus A350 operations.
Irish regional carrier CityJet has reached a heads of terms agreement with Stobart Group to launch a network of up to 18 routes from London’s Southend Airport. The proposed up to four aircraft operation from April 2017 will bring up to 600,000 new passengers to Essex airport and complement the existing operations from easyJet.
With Routes Americas just around the corner, we've rounded up some of the things not to miss during your time in the entertainment capital of the world.
The UK must press on with providing more capacity at London airports following the decision to create a third runway at Heathrow, an industry expert has said.
JetBlue currently has a strong focus on the US East Coast and had shown its own interest in acquiring Virgin America ahead of its merger with Alaska Airlines to expand on the West Coast. Only two of its top ten markets by capacity this past summer were on the US West Coast.
Warsaw was one of the first destinations Wizz Air brought its low fares to in 2004 and since then it has carried more than 13 million passengers on a network that has grown to 48 routes across 25 countries, growing annual numbers beyond the 1.5 million figure last year.
Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) began operations of the Dreamliner on October 26, 2011. The airline currently has the largest 787 fleet with 52 aircraft, receiving their 50th in mid-August.
London’s hub airport has been given the green light for a third runway. This will be the first runway laid in the South East since the 1940s. The decision comes just three months after London City Airport was given approval for a £344 million expansion.
With the UK Government decision to back expansion at Heathrow, more than a year after the Airports Commission recommended the building of a third runway at the west London airport, Routesonline takes a look at data over the past ten years and how its existing capacity constraints have blunted its growth.
Following the announcement that World Routes 2019 will take place in Adelaide, Australia, hosted by South Australian Tourism Commission, Tourism Australia and Adelaide Airport, Routesonline takes a closer look at its aviation sector.
