It’s a time of exciting change for Jetstar, which this week announced it would expand its Asian hub at Singapore Changi. This comes just a few weeks after it signed a partnership agreement with AirAsia earlier in the year.
Ryanair announced the following new routes: London Stansted to Fuerteventura, Fez and Figari beginning May 3; Nottingham East Midlands to Fuerteventura and Treviso from May 3; Bristol to Bydgoszcz and Kaunas from May 3; Cork to Alicante, Reus, Bordeaux, Faro, La Rochelle, Lanzarote and Malaga starting in June; Reus to Knock, Krakow, Bergamo and Treviso launching in May and June; Bratislava to London Luton (April 1), Bari and Palma (each May 4); Bergamo-Tenerife, Alicante-Poznan and Girona-Gdansk each on May 3; Pescara-Oslo Torp on May 1. Aer Lingus's summer schedule at Cork wi
Fresh from announcing its fiscal Q3 losses this week, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary announced that the airline is vying to grow its market share where it competes with BA, Air France-KLM group and Lufthansa. Routes News offers a snapshot of Ryanair’s market position in these key country markets.
Japan’s national carrier may be flying on empty reserves, but its newly appointed chairman-in-office, Kazuo Inamori, has announced that JAL will soon be making that all-important decision: whether it will align its large network with Delta’s SkyTeam or with American Airlines and its oneworld partners. Routes News examines in which areas the respective alliances stand to gain from JAL’s high yielding domestic, as well as its US–Japan and Japan–Far East routings.
Post-war Iraq has seen a resurgence of interest from foreign carriers, who are tapping in to a high net worth business market and the Iraqi expat community living in the UK. This week, Swedish charter carrier Viking Airlines became the latest to show confidence in Iraq, launching its scheduled offshoot – Viking Hellas – and flights from Manchester to Athens, with onward connections to Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Baghdad.
Blue Air’s decision to set up a permanent base at Larnaca is a natural step given the lack of LCC traffic in Cyprus. With this new opportunity, is this the first stage for the airport in becoming low-cost? Routes News puts the question to Ken Hassard, marketing manager at Hermes Airports.
AirAsia X pulled its Middle East connection this week by announcing that it has “temporarily” dropped its Kuala Lumpur to Abu Dhabi service – a route it served for just three months. Routes News offers a perspective on why it failed and analyses on to which markets AirAsia X is instead shifting focus.
Sharjah International Airport working with technology firm SITA has launched the world's first Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) kiosks with an Arabic interface.
Allegiant Air will base two MD-80s at Grand Rapids from April 27 and launch new twice-weekly flights to Myrtle Beach three days later, its sixth destination from the airport. It will increase its GRR service to 34 weekly flights and will have 60 employees based there.
Ryanair will base one additional 737 at Cork from June through August and launch new seasonal routes to Alicante, Reus, Bordeaux, Faro, La Rochelle, Lanzarote and Malaga. AirAsia X said it will suspend its five-times-weekly A340 service between Kuala Lumpur and Abu Dhabi at the end of February, citing "commercial reasons." It launched the route in November.
Qatar Airways today unveiled the launch dates of four recently-announced new routes for 2010 as part of the airline's continued aggressive expansion strategy.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines, the largest airline in Northern Europe and the national carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which offers a Dubai-Copenhagen service three times a week during the winter is offering a special deal of AED 3350 (plus taxes and fees) in its premium economy class, Economy Extra, to European destinations.
SITA implemented its baggage management system comprising BagManager and BagMessage for Middle East Airlines at Beirut. System initially will used for flights handled by Middle East Airlines Ground Handling and eventually will be made available to other handlers at the airport.
