British Airways offered more than 4 million departure seats from London Gatwick last year, but the airline has raised the possibility of leaving the airport as it grapples with the COVID-19 crisis.
This week: Philippine Airlines is resuming service between Cebu and Los Angeles; China Airlines plans to re-enter the market between Taipei Taoyuan and Routes Asia 2020 host Chiang Mai; and BA CityFlyer is filling a gap in the market left by Thomas Cook.
Loganair’s current schedule will provide over 1,000 flights each week across 46 routes, offering unrivalled connectivity for Scotland and with operations stretching as far afield as London, Norwich, Manchester, Dublin, and Bergen in Norway using a fleet of 28 aircraft. It has almost 300 flights each week to and from Glasgow, and is the largest operator at key airports throughout the Highlands & Islands including Inverness, Sumburgh, Kirkwall and Stornoway.
Under the new Air Service Agreement passenger flights can now increase from the current maximum of 40 per week for each nation to up to 100. There will be no limit on the number of all-cargo services, creating new opportunities for trade and businesses. A restriction on the number of destinations that airlines can serve has also been lifted, meaning services can be operated between any point in the UK and any point in China. Up until now, airlines could only serve six destinations in each country.
The new flight will commence from May 26, 2017 and will be flown using a 164-seat Boeing 757-200ER. It will be operated in conjunction with its Transatlantic joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic Airways, adding to the UK carrier’s seasonal service from Glasgow to Orlando.
Complementing its existing operations from London’s Gatwick and Stansted airports, Thomas Cook Airlines will introduce weekly flights from Luton Airport to Ibiza, Mahon and Palma in Spain and Corfu in Greece during the summer 2017 schedule. These flights will be operated using Airbus A321 equipment which will fly in and out of the airport on a ‘W’ pattern between Fridays and Mondays.
Emirates Airline will add a fourth daily rotation between its Dubai International Airport hub and London’s Gatwick Airport from October 1, 2016. The additional flight will be operated by a three-class Boeing 777-300ER configured with 360-seats: eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie flat seats in Business Class and 310 seats in Economy.
Asian carrier, Korean Air will operate three return services between Glasgow and the South Korean capital, Seoul during August 2016. This charter contract will be a gateway to over 1,000 South Korean tourists visiting Scotland and could provide a platform for a longer series of flights next year.
Air France’s decision to introduce services from Glasgow Airport is in response to a strong business case put forward by the airport and the decision to strengthen its links in the UK market as well as position Air France as a key intercontinental airline for Scotland. The research showed significant support for business and leisure sectors for the commencement of the route as well as a growing demand for connectivity due to Glasgow’s diverse economy across a variety of sectors.
Over the past four years easyJet has grown its capacity in Scotland by 20 per cent and following this year’s network in Scotland it now operates 62 routes from the country to points across Europe. Its Edinburgh network is its largest in Scotland and now stands at 36 routes.
Air Canada will use its leisure airline, Air Canada rouge to add flights to Budapest, Glasgow and Warsaw and resume a link to Prague last served in the 1970s, while Air Transat will offer new flights from Canada to Glasgow, Nice, Pisa, Rome and Zagreb.
Wizz Air made its debut in the Romanian market in July 2006 when it introduced flights to Tirgu Mures from Budapest and now offers flights from eight Romanian destinations comprising, Arad, Bucharest Henri Coanda, Cluj-Napoca, Constana, Craiova, Iasi, Sibiu, Tirgu Mures and Timisoara covering 95 routes to 15 different countries and offering more than two million annual seats from the country.
The airline, which supports seat-only and package holiday demand between the UK and destinations across Europe, the Mediterranean and into North Africa, is believed to have secured significant discounts to take late production aircraft ahead of Boeing’s transition from ‘Next-Generation’ to ‘MAX’ series production.
This week, Balkan Holidays, one of the leading tour operators to Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia, has announced a new route between Glasgow and Varna for its Summer 2016 programme. The new summer service is Glasgow’s first direct connection to Varna and will operate once a week on a Saturday starting in May 2016.
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.
TUI UK’s summer 2016 growth continues the UK’s largest holiday company’s strategy to ensure customers across the UK can fly from their local airport and stay at the best hotels in some of the most exciting destinations.
Wizz Air first launched operations in Poland in 2004 and has subsequently built up a strong presence in the country over the subsequent eleven years. As a result of these latest network additions it will now offer a total of 113 Polish routes to 20 countries from seven Polish airports.
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.
A report commissioned by Edinburgh Airport has outlined the employment and economic benefits of the 50 percent reduction in Air Passenger Duty (APD) in Scotland.
With five based aircraft, Berlin will become the airlines’ 73rd base, and will see the launch of sixteen new routes, bringing the total number of destinations to 22.
