Ryanair will open a base at Malta International in May with one 737. It will launch six new routes from the airport, boosting the total number of destinations to 19 and the number of weekly flights to more than 120. It plans to serve 800,000 passengers per year at MLA. New service will be to Billund, Bologna, Krakow, Marseille, Seville and Valencia.
Nizhny Novgorod is an economic and industrial center that is Russia's fourth most populous city with nearly 1.5 million residents, but its airport handles only 300,000 passengers per year and is served by just one non-CIS airline (Lufthansa). Now the regional government is working to change that and has launched a process designed to modernize Nizhny Novgorod International into a facility capable of serving more than 2 million passengers annually in 2014.
Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport (RZE) is the gateway to the Podkarpackie region in South Eastern Poland – home to the expanding 'Aviation Valley'. The airport serves a catchment area of over 2.1 million people and its location attracts passengers from neighbouring Ukraine and Slovakia. 2009 was the airport's most successful year to date, posting traffic increases of 18.5%.
Overwhelmed with high staff costs, an expensive Madrid hub, intense pressure on its short-haul network from budget carriers, and announcing record (net) operating losses last year of €273 million, Iberia has decided that a new regional start-up with a lower-cost base would make sense to reduce the cost of its short-haul operations, which in turn feeds its long-haul network. Can it work? Iberia’s international spokesperson, Consuelo Arias, shares the company’s vision with Routes News.
Latvian national carrier airBaltic is the largest airline at its main base at Riga International Airport and at its secondary hub in Vilnius, while it is steadily increasing capacity from its Tallinn base.
Ryanair is making its first foray into Greece with six new seasonal summer routes. The Greek Government is, meanwhile, struggling to contain its €30 billion budget deficit. So why is the time ripe for the Irish LCC to move into the Mediterranean country? Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara speaks to Routes News.
Ghana’s capital Accra gained two new international services this week from Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines. Virgin’s thrice-weekly service will be competing on the route with British Airways’ daily flights. Routes News takes a look at the West Africa market and in particular Virgin’s role there.
Airline alliance activity is at an all-time high, with barely a week passing with out an announcement of a carrier joining, exiting or switching alliances. A man at the centre of much of this alliance activity is Star Alliance’s vice president for business development, Horst Findeisen. He shared his thoughts on what alliance membership offers airlines and what carrier bankruptcy means for the alliance with Routes News.
Air France KLM said it plans to reduce its summer schedule capacity by just 0.3% year-over-year, comprising an 8% lift in long-haul ASKs and a 4% reduction in the medium-haul network, as "tentative signs of recovery, depending on the country, have been perceived." The company will add Abu Dhabi (five-times-weekly from May 3) and Bata (twice-weekly via Malabo) as new AF destinations from Paris Charles de Gaulle and new KLM flights from Amsterdam to Denpasar (four-times-weekly via Singapore) and Aruba (twice-weekly). The summer program begins March 28.
Etihad Airways is expanding the range of services it offers business and leisure travellers with the launch today of its new destination management company – Hala Abu Dhabi.
