Royal Jordanian and Saudi Arabian hybrid carrier flynas have announced they are dropping routes due to the stresses facing smaller Middle East carriers compared with the region’s giants.
Delta introduced Salt Lake City’s first regular transatlantic connection to Europe in June 2008 when it inaugurated flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and has seen traffic on the route grow over the subsequent years through a mix of point-to-point demand and transfer passengers connecting across Europe and further afield via the Air France network.
Air New Zealand and All Nippon Airways will both introduce flights with the Boeing 787-9 early next month, with Etihad Airways, Scoot, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways also due to the fly the new stretched variant of the Dreamliner before the end of the year.
June was Singapore Changi Airport’s best month this year for passenger movements, at 4.65 million, but still slightly off last year’s pace, reflecting the slowdown in aircraft movements to 28,130 during the month.
The new service will expand the KLM network in Latin America to eleven destinations but does not actually mark its debut in Colombia as the Dutch flag carrier previously served the Colombian capital, Bogota, from October 1992 until March 1995.
The expanded Brisbane schedule will boost capacity on the route by 2,166 seats a week and will support the growing demand for connectivity to North America from Queensland. North America is actually Queensland’s third largest tourism market and the increase in services support the 4.2 per cent increase in passenger numbers experienced in 2013.
Etihad and THY will both hope to attract passengers from their wider networks across the Middle East, Africa and Indian subcontinent to support point-to-point demand. According to MIDT data, an estimated 229,000 bi-directional O&D passengers flew to/from San Francisco from destinations across the Middle East, while approximately 84,000 flew to/from the US city from destinations in Africa.
The closure of the Manchester operation will enable flynas to concentrate its activities at London Gatwick. It launched a twice weekly flight from Jeddah on April 8, 2014 and will launch a twice weekly service from Riyadh on July 27, 2014. The airline hopes to capitalise on the high-traffic Eid holiday period over the launch week of operations for the new route.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has strongly recommended that airlines stop operating to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport, although it stopped short of the ban issued by its US counterparts.
A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-900ER has been damaged by a fire at Kano Aminu International Airport (KAN) in Nigeria as it was being refueled, Turkish spokesperson Ali Genc confirmed to ATW in Istanbul.
Austrian Airlines, which has taken delivery of the first of four additional Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s, will launch 4X-daily domestic Zurich-Lugano services on behalf of Swiss International Air Lines from Nov. 1.
The carrier will launch a twice daily operation between London City and Aberdeen from October 27, 2014 using a 78-seat Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 following British Airways’ recent announcement that it would be withdrawing from the route at the end of the summer season.
This is the first start-up aid scheme that the European Commission has assessed under its new guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines which came into force on April 4, 2014. The guidelines have simplified the rules on public support granted by Member States for the start-up of new air transport routes.
FAA issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) Tuesday prohibiting US carriers from flying to or from Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport following a rocket strike Tuesday morning that landed about a mile from the Israeli airport.
An Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330-200 parked at Tripoli International Airport got caught in the cross fire of battling militias on July 20 and was completely destroyed.
[UPDATED] Delta Air Lines has suspended service until further notice to and from Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport and its New York JFK hub after it diverted a Boeing 747 following reports of a rocket near Tel Aviv airport.
