A German court has granted Etihad Airways temporary permission to continue operating all codeshare flights with airberlin to destinations in Europe, the US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Manchester-Beijing route is reported to be worth at least £250 million in economic benefits to the UK over the next decade, with two-thirds being felt directly in the Northern economy in terms of increased jobs, economic activity and tourism. By providing a non-stop service, the new route will also generate journey time savings worth £5 million every year for business passengers and avoid the inconvenience of changing planes at another airport.
The additional aircraft will arrive ahead of a July 22, 2016 launch of the four new routes and will also facilitate frequency growth in some of its existing markets. Wizz Air will offer new twice weekly links between Cluj-Napoca and Alicante, Berlin Schoenefeld, Billund and Doncaster Sheffield, with the German capital become the newest destination in its network of 113 airports.
The hosting of this year’s Routes Americas forum helped support Denver International Airport in securing the return of the German carrier’s Munich link. It was the first time that the German carrier had attended the regional event with delegates Daniel Pauli, Manager Network Planning Hub Munich and Stephan Vinson, Hub Development Frankfurt providing representation for its growth strategy at its two hub airports.
Norwegian is known to be studying a number of new markets for growth as it starts planning for the arrival of its new 787-9s. Although further growth in the US is among the scenarios under consideration, a number of other markets are also under evaluation, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Delhi, Mumbai, Cape Town and Durban.
Irish flag carrier, Aer Lingus, a recent addition to the IAG portfolio, is to launch flights between Dublin and Los Angeles, Newark, and Hartford during the summer 2016 schedule, while British Airways will relaunch its New York operation from London Gatwick after a seven-year hiatus.
Lufthansa is to launch a new three times weekly link between its Munich hub and Tehran from April 14, 2016 using an Airbus A330-300, while also boosting capacity on its existing Frankfurt – Tehran service by switching from an A340-600 to a Boeing 747-400. Meanwhile, Austrian Airlines is to introduce a second daily rotation on its Vienna – Tehran route from March 11, 2016 with a new day flight complementing its existing night operation.
The global network development forum makes its return to mainland China in September next year after a successful first outing in Beijing in 2009. It will be hosted by Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, which successfully delivered an exceptional Routes Asia forum in 2012.
Cuba is a strategically important destination for the Chinese government as it was the first Latin American country to recognise the People’s Republic of China and to establish trade relations and China is currently Cuba’s second largest trading partner after Venezuela with bilateral trade of bilateral of over $1.3 billion in 2014.
German aviation authorities are again questioning the continuation of codeshare routes for the upcoming winter schedule beginning Oct. 25 between Etihad Airways and its strategic equity partner airberlin.
The US adventure will start from December 2, 2015 with the start of the Medellin – Miami route and followed from December 16, 2015 by the Bogota – Miami link. Both markets will be served on a four times weekly basis using Airbus A320 equipment.
Although first formed as a charter business in 1990, Pegasus has taken-off in the scheduled market since it was acquired by ESAS Holding in 2005 and over recent years has been among the fastest-growing major scheduled airlines in Europe, even out-performing its local rival Turkish Airlines in terms of capacity growth.
Qatar Airways next year celebrates the tenth anniversary of its debut in the Hong Kong market having first launched flights from Doha in March 2006. The airline previously served the Doha – Hong Kong route on a twice daily basis introducing a second rotation in December 2011 and second daily service in September 2012, but scaled-back its own operations in 2014 at the time of Cathay Pacific’s entry to the market.
The introduction of a scheduled link from Manchester to China has been under discussion for a long time and there has been increased speculation over the past couple of years that an agreement is imminent. There was a suggestion that a route would have been launched this year, but issues with the crewing of its Airbus A330 fleet is understood to have delayed a final deal being agreed with Hainan Airlines.
Donghai Airlines plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in May of 2016 on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in an effort to fund its rapid fleet expansion.
The global airline industry is on a path toward financial sustainability, but will need to become more efficient and use new processes if it is to cope with the forecast doubling of passengers carried annually in 20 years, the head of IATA warned Tuesday.
Atlasjet Ukraine and UTair Ukraine airlines have asked Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, for permission to launch services between Russia and Ukraine in IATA winter season 2015/2016.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) group is consolidating its network among its subsidiaries, with long-haul low-cost offshoot Scoot adding one of its Boeing 787s to an existing Tigerair schedule to Guangzhou, China.
At the launch of its summer 2016 schedule, Brussels Airlines confirms new routes will be introduced from Brussels to Belfast City, Crete, Jerez, while new winter routes to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria and Tenerife will be continued into the summer.
The Barcelona-headquartered carrier, established by the original founders of Vueling, has developed bases in France, Italy and Spain after first launching flights in April 2012 from Marco Polo Airport in Venice, Italy using a fleet of Boeing 717-200s. It arrived in the Bordeaux market in 2012 and based on this month’s schedules the city’s Mérignac Airport now the fifth largest point in its network and second largest in France after Nantes Atlantique Airport.
