Global airlines are expected to record a collective $29.3 billion net profit this year, according to a new forecast from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Etihad Airways has said that introducing the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Zurich made logical sense as there has been a strong interest from Swiss travellers for the airline’s latest product.
The Star Alliance member will initially introduce a four times weekly service between Frankfurt and Nairobi from October 27, 2015, growing to a five times weekly service from December 11, 2015 through to the end of January 2016 flown by an Airbus A340-300.
The five-times-weekly operation will commence from September 14, 2015, and will be good news for many EU officials and businessmen who commute between Bremen and the European capital via other European airports.
The route switch follows agreements earlier this year for SAS to dispose of two of its slot pairs at the heavily constrained Heathrow Airport for a combined positive earnings impact of $82 million. The first slot pair was sold to an unidentified carrier for $60 million, while the second was sold to Star Alliance partner, Turkish Airlines for $22 million.
Under the agreement, Etihad and Tourism Malaysia will put into effect a range of joint marketing activities targeting Malaysia’s leading inbound visitor markets – the UK, US, Europe (Germany, France and Italy), and the Middle East region (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait).
Following the success of its flights between St John’s and Dublin last summer, the carrier is offering a daily operation between Halifax and Glasgow from May 29, 2015 until October 23, 2015 using a Boeing 737-700. Like the St John’s – Dublin operation, the link will provide a same-aircraft connection to and from Toronto with other connections available to Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and 16 other cities in WestJet's Canadian network.
Not happy with just a new third daily rotation by Emirates Airline to Dubai, the air service development team at Birmingham Airport are attending the inaugural Routes Middle East & Africa forum in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain to secure additional connectivity into the regions.
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.
The new flight, operated by a three-class Boeing 777-300ER, will add 5,040 international seats per week to and from the city, enabling customers in Bologna and the surrounding region to conveniently access key Emirates destinations in the Far East, Middle East, Africa and West Asia.
The Star Alliance member, part of the Lufthansa Group, currently operates four flights per day between Vienna International Airport and London Heathrow and will introduce the new Manchester link from September 10, 2015. The route will be served with Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 equipment.
May has seen a number of start-up carriers taking shape across the world, including Indian regional airline Trujet, and the resurrection of Djibouti’s national carrier, Air Djibouti.
The arrival of the third aircraft has enabled new links to Santorini and Thessaloniki in Greece, plus Pula and Dubrovnik in Croatia, to be introduced from Bristol, while the additional capacity will also enable capacity growth in the existing markets of Zante, Crete and Ibiza.
The regional airline closed its doors at 12:00 Noon on May 22, 2015 after operating flights that morning between Vilnius and Amsterdam, Paris and Tallinn. It is the latest in a long line of airline failures in Lithuania, which is proving to be among Europe’s most difficult country markets to serve.
The Government said that having carefully considered all elements of the offer, it considered that a sale of the State’s minority shareholding to IAG, on the basis of the terms offered, would be “the best means of securing and enhancing Ireland’s connectivity with the rest of the world and maintaining a vibrant and competitive air transport industry in Ireland”. And it would also “best serve the interests of the travelling public, Aer Lingus and its employees, the Irish tourism industry and the Irish economy as a whole”.
Qatar Airways’ CEO, Akbar Al Baker said that the airline would like to operate up to two passenger flights daily if there were no bilateral constraints, but the airline is thwarted by the Dutch government which refuses to give extra landing rights to the three major Gulf carriers.
The airline will base a new Airbus A320 at the airport which is already served by Wizz Air flights, making Debrecen the airline’s second Hungarian airport with base operations.
From October 23, 2015, the Irish carrier will commence 16 weekly flights between Liverpool and Dublin on a 174 seat Airbus A320, offering ideal connections onto Aer Lingus flights to North America via Dublin.
British low-cost airline, Jet2 has announced a total of twelve new routes from Edinburgh Airport next summer, bringing the total of routes operated by the airline to 26.
Falcon Holidays and Thomson Holidays will operate its new charter programme from Dublin with a Thomson Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which includes Premium Club. The new service to Montego Bay will begin on June 12, 2016, while the new Cancun link will begins on June 13, 2016.
The Doha-based airline will be launching the extra widebody aircraft on the route from October 1, 2015, alongside its existing Boeing 787 Dreamliner service on one of the two double-daily flights to Munich. From November 1, 2015, the second daily flight will also be operated by the A350.
Irish regional airline, CityJet will end its flights from Cardiff to Edinburgh and Paris from June 29, after the airline criticised Cardiff Airport’s decision to support flybe in setting up competitor routes to the two European cities.
