World Routes, the global airline and airport networking event, is celebrating yet more success following the announcement from three major international carriers that they plan to launch new routes as a result of key meetings during the recent gathering in Beijing, China.
Two new routes linking the Gulf with the US and Asia came about as a direct result of airlines meeting airports at the recent Routes World conference in Beijing.
United Airlines will operate seasonal daily Chicago O'Hare-Rome Fiumicino service May 1-Aug. 31 aboard a 767. American Eagle launched daily Charleston, S.C.-Miami service aboard an ERJ-145. Flight becomes twice-daily April 6. Qatar Airways will increase its five-times-weekly Doha-Stockholm Arlanda service to daily on March 28, when it replaces an A310 with an A330.
Gategroup announced a series of "major contract renewals" with Delta Air Lines and its Northwest Airliens subsidiary worth more than $1 billion "over several years" and encompassing deals with Gate Gourmet, Gate Safe, eGate Solutions, Pourshins and deSter. The company also recently extended its contract with Swiss International Air Lines for three years through 2015. New deal covers operations in Zurich, Geneva and Basel and is worth more than CHF600 million ($593.6 million)
Wizz Air will base a third A320 at Cluj-Napoca from June 12 and launch thrice-weekly service to Pisa and Cuneo. It also will launch thrice-weekly Bucharest Baneasa-Pisa on June 12, twice-weekly Timisoara-Forli on March 29 and thrice-weekly Budapest-Forli on March 30. The LCC said more new destinations from CLJ will be announced "shortly."
The future of air navigation services in the Middle East will depend on organisations looking closely at efficiency and cost-effectiveness and taking a holistic approach to solving those challenges.
The information systems at Cairo International's new Terminal 3 don't just set a new standard for North Africa - they're as good as any in the world, writes BRENDAN GALLAGHER
The use of biometric information such as fingerprints and facial images to identify travellers promises to increase security and efficiency at airports. Middle Eastern states are among the first to put the theory to the test, writes BRENDAN GALLAGHER
Continental Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines were fined a combined $100,000 and Mesaba Airlines $75,000 by the US Dept. of Transportation yesterday for their roles in the stranding incident at Rochester (Minn.) International in August. ExpressJet was the operator of CO Flight 2816 and Mesaba was responsible for ground handling. Passengers were stuck onboard the ERJ-145 for more than 5 hr.
Ryanair will set up its 37th base, and first in Norway, at Oslo Rygge in March with three aircraft and 16 new routes, it announced yesterday. It currently service six destinations from RYG. New destinations will be Aarhus, Berlin Schonefeld, Dublin, Dusseldorf Weeze, Eindhoven, Gdansk, Krakow, La Rochelle, Malaga, Memmingen, Palma, Paris Beauvais, Riga, Wroclaw, Valencia and Treviso. The LCC said its investment at the airport will exceed $200 million and that it eventually expects to serve 1.7 million passengers per year.
Emirates said it will begin serving Paris Charles de Gaulle with a 489-seat A380 on Dec. 29 rather than Feb. 1. "An operational review, coupled with demand on the route, has led to an earlier introduction," it said. EK operates the route twice-daily. The A380 will fly thrice-weekly to start, becoming daily Jan. 17. EK also announced a new five-times-weekly Dubai-Tokyo Narita service starting March 28 aboard a 777-300ER. Japan Airlines will codeshare.
The three-class service from Oman Air on its London routes began this week on the Muscat-based airline's new A330-300 aircraft and features new First Class, Business Class and Economy Class cabins, together with state of the art in-flight entertainment.
Emirates airline's low cost subsidiary flydubai is taking another major step in linking tourist destinations from the Dubai hub with the announcement today that Kathmandu is to become its 11th destination
