Updated schedules for the remainder of the year show the Gulf carrier will switch the aircraft type deployed on the routes to Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport and Warsaw’s Chopin Airport from its smallest aircraft, the Airbus A330-200, to a larger Boeing 777-300ER. The change will take effect from December 1, 2015.
Central and Eastern European low-cost airline specialist, Wizz Air, will slightly modify its existing model by introducing a second aircraft type to its fleet later this year. While maintaining the one fleet family concept, the budget carrier has switched 26 of its outstanding orders for the A320, for the larger A321 variant and will place the first aircraft into service in the last quarter of this year.
Speaking at the Routes Europe Strategy Summit in Aberdeen, a panel including representatives from Transavia France and Vueling as well as Budapest Airport and OAG, discussed low-cost carriers and their position in the European market.
Ryanair opened the Copenhagen base at the end of last month as it continues to develop its network offering from primary airports to support business as well as leisure demand. It is initially stationing a single Boeing 737-800 at the airport but expects a further three aircraft to arrive over the course of the year to support its network expansion.
Although Belgium represents the 6th source market for Tenerife with 2.7 per cent of the total tourists travelling each year to the island, they also represent the 4th source market and account for 4.7 per cent of tourists staying in 5-Star hotels, according to visitor information.
The airline will introduce a twice weekly connection between Budapest and Bologna from June 5, 2015 and a twice weekly link between Budapest and Glasgow from June 13, 2015. The latter service has been partly driven by recent surveys in which Hungarian consumers listed Scotland on top of their wish list for future routes from the carrier.
The start-up will inaugurate flights on April 2, 2015 with a three times weekly links to Budapest and Prague, while three times weekly flights to the Italian destinations of Milan and Rome will follow from April 3, 2015.
Hungary is a fast growing tourism market for China, with last year showing a 19 per cent increase of Chinese visitors travelling to Budapest. In fact, estimates suggest a Chinese diaspora of over 40,000 in Hungary and demand or around 90,000 bi-directional passengers per annum.
The airline, part of the Silk Way Group, first introduced flights between Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku and Budapest in March 2014 but strong demand for goods in and out of the European market has seen it switch from the 53-tonne capacity 767-300F to the 113-tonne capacity 747-400Fs.
Greek start-up, SkyGreece will launch services to Canada, with new routes between Athens, Thessaloniki, Zagreb and Budapest to Toronto, following approval from the Greek and Canadian authorities.
Ryanair will be basing an additional Boeing 737-800 at Athens International Airport during summer 2015, increasing its based fleet to four aircraft and plans to double its Athens traffic to approximately 2.2 million passengers per annum.
The low-cost carrier has announced new services from its Budapest base to Hurghada on the East coast of Egypt and Alghero in Sardinia, Italy, for the summer 2015 season.
Air Transat have released their timetable for summer 2015 to include a direct service from Montréal to Budapest, and from St. John’s (Newfoundland and Labrador) to London.
Budapest Airport continues to go from strength to strength and chief commercial officer Kam Jandu says the next target is a direct route to the US, writes Justin Burns for The HUB.
The new daily flight will launch from October 27, 2014 and will be operated using a 278-seat Airbus A330-200 complementing the existing Dubai low-cost offering of Wizz Air and providing an alternative global connection option to the current flights of Qatar Airways via its Doha hub.
Under the revised timetable, Qatar Airways will continue to operate four rotations per week on the Doha – Budapest – Zagreb linked flight routing using an Airbus A321, but every Monday, Friday and Saturday will operate separate flights to both Budapest and Zagreb.
It has been a tough few years for the airport, Hungary’s largest air gateway, following the collapse of national carrier Malev in February 2012, but the past year, during which it hosted the previous Routes Europe forum, has seen it continue to back fill the lost capacity and introduce links into new markets.
