Bmi is applying to operate daily London Heathrow-Tel Aviv service beginning in spring 2008 following a UK-Israel accord that allows each government to designate a second carrier on the route. AirBridge Cargo, Volga-Dnepr Group's scheduled service operator, will launch weekly Amsterdam-Tel Aviv-Moscow 747F flights from Oct. 7. Earlier this month it started weekly Moscow-Tokyo-Krasnoyarsk service.
Tripoli's new €1 billion ($1.39 billion) airport will handle 20 million passengers upon completion, the Arab Air Carriers Organization reported. Construction has started on the facility and is being carried out by a consortium of six companies, including Vinci (France), TAV (Turkey) and Oderbrecht (Brazil). A French research consultancy is supervising, AACO said. No completion date was announced. The 1,165-hectare site will be able to handle up to 100 aircraft. An additional €2 billion has been set aside to modernize other Libyan airports.
Jetairfly will launch Brussels-Aqaba service with a stopover in Sharm el Sheikh aboard 737-800s from Oct. 25. Silverjet will launch its second daily Newark-London Luton flight on Sept. 23. In August, the all-business-class carrier flew 4,654 revenue seats with an 80% load factor. "We continue to see strong forward bookings at increasing yields," CEO Lawrence Hunt said, adding that the airline is "seeing a good mix of business and leisure customers which allows us to spread our risk."
The Indian government granted Jet Airways the right to fly to a number of Gulf destinations from Jan. 1, ending a three-year prohibition against private Indian carriers operating to the region.
Continental Airlines will expand capacity at its Cleveland Hopkins International Airport hub by 40% over the next two years, starting with 50 new flights operated primarily by regional jets and the addition of 20 new nonstop destinations by next summer. Cleveland is CO's No. 3 hub behind Newark and Houston Intercontinental. Many of the RJs will be reallocated to Cleveland from the Newark hub; new 70-seat Q400s operated under an agreement with Colgan Air will take over some of the Newark service.
While Air China charted an ambitious international expansion plan that includes opening 12 new routes to the US and Europe in 2008 and 2009, China Eastern Airlines is taking a more cautious approach, with only one new international route planned in the next two years. According to the 2008-09 long-haul routes distribution program released by CAAC, CEA will start Shanghai-Los Angeles service next year but will stay away from further international expansion.
Dragonair will re-launch four-times-weekly Hong Kong-Katmandu flights aboard A320s from Dec. 2. United Airlines will launch daily Los Angeles-Frankfurt flights aboard 777s from Dec. 15. UA currently flies to Frankfurt twice-daily from both San Francisco and Chicago O'Hare and thrice-daily from Washington Dulles. Ethiopian Airlines will increase frequencies to China from the end of October. Addis Ababa-Guangzhou will rise to six-times-weekly from four and Beijing via Delhi will increase to five-times-weekly from four.
Ryanair said it will base 12 aircraft at Milan Malpensa and launch 50 international and 10 domestic routes from the airport in response to Alitalia's plan to nearly halve its 340 daily flights from MPX ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5). In a statement dubbed "Ryanair's Manifesto for Malpensa," the Irish LCC said it is willing to commit up to $1 billion between 2008 and 2012 at two airports, MPX and Orio al Serio near Bergamo, where it currently has a base.
Air China announced an expansion of its international network comprising 12 new routes to Europe and the US in 2008 and 2009, as well as more frequencies on nine additional routes to the West. According to the long-haul routes distribution program released yesterday by CAAC, Air China will begin serving Berlin, Istanbul and Warsaw from Beijing in 2008. The following year it will begin flying daily from the capital to Toronto, Washington Dulles, Manchester, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Vienna and Milan and from Shanghai to San Francisco and Rome.
ANA, Shanghai Airlines and Air China will codeshare on flights between Tokyo Haneda and Shanghai Hongqiao beginning Sept. 29. The flights, operated by ANA and Shanghai, will be introduced from the mostly domestic airports to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between the countries, ANA said. Japan Airlines also will operate the route, flying daily from Sept. 29 aboard a 767, switching to a 747-400 on Oct. 28. China Eastern Airlines will codeshare on those flights and also operate its own daily service.
Air France will pilot a program by year end that will use biometric information encrypted on a small card to enable a passenger to obtain a boarding pass from a kiosk in the terminal and will provide access to a boarding portal. The so-called "smartboarding personal card" is one of a number of new technologies AF is developing to improve the entire passenger processing system. "All people are aiming for more autonomy," Deputy VP-Marketing Michel Teychene told ATWOnline. "If Air France can provide this autonomy, it creates a loyalty to the brand."
Air France KLM Group intends to make Paris Charles de Gaulle the premier hub in Europe in order to give the company a competitive edge in customer service. "There will be a rebirth [of] Air France through this hub," AF KLM Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta said last week in the French capital. "We want CDG to become a world leader in transportation."
Ryanair will establish its 23rd base at George Best Belfast City Airport, placing a new 737-800 there from Oct. 30 and launching four routes, including a four-times-daily service to London Stansted. In July, the LCC announced it would launch daily flights to Nottingham East Midlands, Glasgow Prestwick and Liverpool from BHD. The latter was doubled to twice-daily at yesterday's announcement. Air Berlin announced last week it would abandon its BHD-STN service.
Porter Airlines will expand the terminal at its Toronto City Centre base, adding three arrival and departure gates by Dec. 31. The airline said it will begin serving Newark "and other destinations" next year and intends eventually to serve 17 markets ( ATWOnline, June 22). The terminal investment was made possible by average monthly revenue growth of "over" 20% since Porter's October 2006 launch, it said, adding that June's net profit margin was 8%.
Cathay Pacific Airways will increase Hong Kong-Sydney service to 25-times-weekly from 21 beginning Feb. 1. Flights are aboard A330-300s. Ethiopian Airlines will discontinue its Addis Ababa-Amsterdam service and double flights to Brussels to six-times-weekly from three from Oct. 28. Lufthansa will launch thrice-daily Frankfurt-Bordeaux service on Oct. 28 aboard CityLine CRJ200s and CRJ700s.
Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel yesterday informed the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) that the merged Air India's board voted to join Star Alliance, according to the United News of India news service and The Economic Times.
Bmi will launch service to 14 international destinations on Oct. 28, increase service to two others formerly served by BMED and start flying daily to Cairo on Nov. 4 in what CEO Nigel Turner called "the single largest expansion of the bmi brand in the history of the airline."
SkyEurope Airlines confirmed it will close its Budapest and Krakow bases, ceasing operations in both cities from Oct. 28 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 3). A combined 10 daily flights will be suspended and crews relocated to other sites within the company. The carrier will switch free capacity to Prague and Vienna. "We have decided after much research that the way to achieve long-term success is to build our operation around Slovakia, Czech Republic and Vienna.
Japan Airlines will transfer its thrice-weekly Moscow service to Domodedovo from Sheremetyevo on Dec. 14, DME announced. Norwegian will launch twice-weekly Tromso-London Stansted service on Dec 8. Flybe will increase Newcastle-Jersey service to four-times-weekly from weekly from March 28.
American Airlines' stunning $1.3 billion terminal at New York JFK, which was inaugurated formally last week ( ATWOnline, Aug 30), opens at an opportune time for the airline as it confronts a growing challenge from Delta Air Lines. DL has made JFK a key platform for its aggressive intercontinental expansion, which includes adding more than 50 international routes in the past two years.
Emirates Airline will double Dubai-Shanghai Pudong services to two daily flights starting Feb 1. Viva Macau started thrice-weekly service with 767-300ERs between Macau and Sydney.
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise is threatening to walk away from its agreement to take a controlling stake in Auckland International Airport Ltd., citing the brewing legal battle between the airport and Air New Zealand over planned rate hikes. DAE said the potential legal proceedings constitute a Prescribed Occurrence that would permit it to cancel the investment. In a statement, AIAL said it "disputes the existence of a Prescribed Occurrence and does not consider that DAE has grounds to issue such a notice."
Integration trials have commenced at Singapore Changi's Terminal 3, which will open for scheduled flight operations on Jan. 9. The trials involve the terminal's check-in process, baggage handling system, immigration clearance system for departing passengers and security screening. Over the next few months the airport plans 50 trials with 5,000 participants.
