Virgin Australia’s new seasonal flights to Launceston, Wizz Air adding connections from Hungary and Romania and Saudia returning to Manchester are among the latest new route announcements and services resuming.
The airline's first aircraft, an Airbus A320, arrived in Muscat on November 18, 2016 to coincide with the country’s National Day, which celebrates independence from Portuguese control in 1650. It will be followed by two additional aircraft to support its initial launch plans.
The A330-300 Regional is optimised for missions up to 2,700 nm (5-hour flight) covering short to medium haul routes and offers significant cost savings through a reduced operational weight of around 200 tons. The reduction in fuel burn per seat and maintenance costs will result in an overall cost reduction of around 20% compared with today’s long-range A330-300.
With effect from June 23, 2016, flynas will add a second daily service between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, increasing its combined offer with Etihad to four daily services. At the same time it will enter the Jeddah – Abu Dhabi market with a daily flight which will complement Etihad’s existing thrice daily services.
Saudi Arabia’s continued economic diversification, growth of the private sector and increasing popularity as a destination for the Middle East MICE industry is directly translating into increased demand for business travel within the region and Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways aim to be well-positioned to boost their positions in this market.
According to its latest schedule update, Saudia will place the 787-9 into passenger operation from February 1, 2016 with its first scheduled flight due to operate as ‘SV1020’ between Jeddah and Riyadh. The type will be used on various frequencies on this route as well as between Jeddah and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, while links from both Jeddah (daily on the SV588/589 rotation until February 29, 2016) and Riyadh (various frequencies) to Dubai will commence the same day.
What are the world's longest scheduled air routes by distance and block time? As Emirates Airline reveals plans to launch a Dubai - Panama City route in February 2016, Routesonline investigates.
A new UK long-haul carrier plans to launch operations late next year and bring a welcome upgrade for Economy passengers with a new business concept. The carrier, Firnas Airways, intends to offer a one-class operation on routes from the UK to Bangladesh, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia serving the strong ethnic travel flows with an enhanced premium economy offering.
The Gulf carrier has boosted its capacity into Jeddah for the last nine consecutive years and currently operates a mix of Airbus A330-200, A330-300, A340-600, Boeing 777-200LR, 777-300ER and 787-8 equipment across its two daily flights to meet demand requirements on particular days.
In a major expansion of its network Nile Air is adding three new routes during the first week of June, including a new country market, neighbouring Sudan. The new link between Cairo and Port Sudan will launch on June 6, 2015 and will be operated on a twice weekly basis, Nile Air’s first international service in Africa. It will bring competition and enhanced connectivity to a route currently served on a weekly basis by Sudan Airways.
Al Qahtani Group (linked to Gulf Air) and Qatar Airways were both selected in late 2012 to bring new competition into the Saudi Arabian domestic market as part of a series of reforms. Both have been working with the local regulator to establish their respective businesses, Saudi Gulf Airlines and Al Maha Airways, but despite an initial suggestion these carriers would take-off by the end of 2013, we are still awaiting their arrival into the local skies.
Now, Kamaruddin Meranun, group chief executive officer of AirAsia X, Indonesia AirAsia X has confirmed that following the success of its initial two routes plans are under discussion to add links between Denpasar and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Sydney, Australia, although no launch dates or schedules have yet been confirmed.
