Ethiopian Airlines' new five times weekly link to Oslo from its Addis Ababa hub will operate via Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport from March 26, 2017 using a two-class, 270-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner equipment.
As Airbus celebrates the milestone inaugural test flight of the new A350-1000, the largest variant of the A350XWB family, Routesonline looks at approaching two years of commercial operations with the smaller A350-900.
According to industry sources, it is understood that Ethiopian Airlines will introduce a new link to Victoria Falls from Addis Ababa in the first half of next year, bringing new connectivity options into the Zimbabwe market.
Destinations around the world welcomed 956 million international tourists between January and September 2016, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. This is 34 million more than in the same period of 2015, a four percent increase.
Over the past year major global airline brands such as Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, plus local southern African operators Air Namibia and Proflight Zambia, have already inaugurated flights from Durban, South Africa. These services have delivered important regional, continental and notably key intercontinental connectivity, complementing the existing transit options with Comair (British Airways franchise) and South African Airways via Johannesburg and Emirates Airline via Dubai.
Ghanaian start-up carrier Goldstar Air is confident that next year will mark the end of many years of planning and will finally see it launch short-and long-haul operations from Kotaka International Airport in Accra.
The Kenyan government has recently launched initiatives including visa free waivers for under-16s, reduction of entry park fees, incentives for charters and a scrapping of a 16% VAT on tourism services – a move that is expected to bring down safari costs.
The East African carrier recently introduced its first widebodied jet, an A330-200, into its fleet and a larger A330-300 is due to arrive to complement this. The aircraft will be used to launch flights into London from January 2017, serving Gatwick Airport in the UK capital.
Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) began operations of the Dreamliner on October 26, 2011. The airline currently has the largest 787 fleet with 52 aircraft, receiving their 50th in mid-August.
The latest update to the association’s 20-Year Air Passenger Forecast suggests that the developing Asia-Pacific region will be the source of more than half the new passengers over the next 20 years. China will displace the US as the world’s largest aviation market (defined by traffic to, from and within the country) around 2029, while rapid growth in India will see it displace the UK for third place in 2026, while Indonesia will enter the top ten at the expense of Italy.
With the handover last week of an A350-900 to Singapore Airlines it underscored the company’s growth that has transformed a European upstart in the 1970s to a global performer now offering a modern and comprehensive product line ranging from 100 to more than 600 seats.
Fleet renewal projects at major operators across Europe mean that numerous BAe 146 and Avro RJ regional jetliners are now starting to come out of mainland European airline service, but manufacturer BAE Systems says these aircraft are steadily finding new operators, markets and applications.
Singapore's Changi Airport was also named as the winner in the over 50m passengers category, while Shannon Airport was honoured in the Under 4m passengers category; Athens International Airport in the 4m-20m Passengers category; Dublin Airport in the 20m-50m passengers category and Tourism and Events Queensland in the destination Marketing category.
The year started optimistically with record low fuel prices and strong consumer demand, however a number of terrorist attacks, the UK Brexit referendum shock, an impending Chinese economy slowdown and the US election marathon, all appear to be taking their toll on the global aviation market.
World Routes is the only route development forum operating on a global scale, providing a meeting place for airlines, airports, tourism authorities and governments that want to plan new air services.
HNA Group’s airline operations are central to its expansion plans as it seeks investments to reach its goal of becoming a global top 50 company by 2030.
Have you wondered what enticed an airline to a certain destination? What the data says about demand on the city pair and connecting markets? What external factors may have influenced the airline in selecting a specific city pair? How this business case differs from others? Our new ‘Route Case’ offering will seek to provide the answers all within a single 20 minute meeting slot at our events.
Find out the expert views on key topics currently impacting the global aviation industry. Our ‘Ask the Expert’ stories allow you to choose the subjects that the Routesonline digital content team will discuss with respected industry professionals.
Ethiopian Airlines has come a long way during its first 70 years – and it has plenty of groundbreaking plans for the decades to come. Gary Noakes reports for Routes News.
The anticipated arrival of the first AirAsia X long-haul, low-cost flights at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport on the island of Mauritius in October this year is just one good example of the leisure potential that Africa holds for future air service connectivity.
As ISIS activity grows across North Africa, it has led to a devastating impact upon North Africa’s tourism - the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) shows that visits to North Africa fell by 8% in 2015. The decline has occurred as the security threat level has grown in the region, particularly in Egypt and Tunisia where high profile terror attacks have brought safety to the forefront of everyone’s minds.
ASM (Airport, Strategy and Marketing), the world route development consultants, have announced a new appointment within their Manchester-based company, to expand the business and client base.
