Air Berlin will begin serving Pristina from Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover and Munich up to twice-weekly, daily from Zurich and weekly from Geneva on Nov. 4.
Niki wants 50% of the traffic rights between Vienna and Eastern Europe if Lufthansa's acquisition of Austrian Airlines Group is confirmed, President Niki Lauda told ATWOnline. "So far AAG has all the traffic rights to Eastern Europe, except our daily Vienna-Moscow DME service," Lauda said. "We have no idea how and if the merger will be completed. My company has to answer an additional 40 question from the European Commission regarding the process" by July 27.
Emirates has launched its first airport lounge in Africa at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, bringing the total number of lounges the airline has across its network to 23.
Ryanair will reduce winter schedule capacity at London Stansted by 40%, operating just 24 aircraft from the airport compared to the present 40. CEO Michael O'Leary said the decision "shows just how much [UK Prime Minister] Gordon Brown's £10 ($16.46) tourist tax and the BAA Monopoly's high airport charges are damaging London and UK tourism and the British economy generally," while reiterating that STN is one of Ryanair's two most expensive bases (along with Dublin).
National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. expressed guarded optimism regarding US FAA's announcement Monday that is "moving away from a culture of blame and punishment" in the reporting of operational errors by controllers ( ATWOnline, July 21). "We're hopeful that it is a sign of good things to come but we are a little puzzled by what the message really is here," a NATCA spokesperson told ATWOnline yesterday.
Netherlands Competition Authority rejected a complaint by easyJet that the difference in tariffs at Amsterdam Schiphol between origin/destination and transfer passengers is discriminatory and puts the LCC at a competitive disadvantage.
JetAmerica canceled its plan to operate ultra-low-fare service based largely out of Newark, Toledo and Melbourne, Fla. It originally intended to begin flying last week but postponed launch until mid-August owing to slot concerns ( ATWOnline, July 7). On Friday, CEO Jon Weikle said, "Finalizing the slots required to support our charter program at Newark has taken longer than expected and we have decided to suspend our operations in order to refocus on different markets.
Emirates will operate one of its two daily Dubai-Birmingham flights with an A380 on Sept. 9 to celebrate Birmingham International's 70th anniversary. "We hope that many travelers from around the region will take advantage of this opportunity to fly on the superjumbo for the first time," President Tim Clark said.
Germania will launch weekly 737-700 flights between Dusseldorf and Zonguldak, Turkey, on July 21. Turkish Airlines is adding a stop in Jakarta to its five-times-weekly Istanbul-Singapore service from Aug. 30. Route will be flown IST-SIN-JKT-SIN-IST. World Airways extended its contract with Allied Air to operate an MD-11 freighter on a fulltime basis through December 2011 on an Ostend-Lagos-Nairobi-Ostend routing. It has been operating the MD-11F on the route for Allied since October 2008.
