The LCC expects to fly just a quarter of its normal schedule over the coming months although looking ahead to next summer and two new seasonal bases will open in Spain and Portugal.
Ryanair Group’s Austrian subsidiary Lauda faces an “existential crisis” with its main base in Vienna expected to close before the end of the month, group CEO Michael O’Leary has warned.
More European airlines have outlined how they intend to rebuild their networks over the coming weeks after the mass fleet groundings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
As 1,200 delegates gather in Hannover for the 14th annual Routes Europe, Routesonline reveals the continent’s top ten busiest international passenger routes and looks at the services which have grown at the fastest rate over the last 12 months.
Austrian leisure airline Laudamotion will increase its fleet to 25 aircraft this summer across its four European bases as it continues to expand its route network.
The island remains one of the most popular summer destinations from the UK and Northern Europe and so basing aircraft there better matches customer demand, which is higher from early spring to late summer. The move is likely to open new network opportunities in the future and will help easyJet connect the island with more airports across Europe not currently served by the airline.
The UK Government’s Regional Air Connectivity Fund was launched last year as a way of encouraging new routes to and from UK regional airports and improving connectivity for business and leisure travellers.
The new routes will launch from May 28, 2016 and will operate on a weekly schedule with flights to Ibiza, Malaga and Palma on Saturdays and Faro on Sundays. These are all markets currently served by BA from at least two other London airports – City and Heathrow, while Ibiza, Faro and Malaga are also served from Gatwick.
Eurowings, as part of the ongoing fragmentation and restructuring of Lufthansa’s long-haul offering, will introduce widebody Airbus A330 aircraft on 12 October 2015 from Cologne and Hamburg to Palma Mallorca.
Niki said at the time the flights were announced that it believed there would be sufficient demand for the short flights, which despite a 25 minute block time were estimated to be just ten minutes in length. The majority of this demand would have been to feed its wider network from Vienna International Airport, according to the carrier.
The airline plans to increase its summer flight schedule for 2016, to include passenger flights to the Balearic Islands seven days a week, up to twice per day. Germania is also set to station a fourth aircraft at Bremen from 2016 to cater for increased demand.
Austrian Airlines has announced its plans to expand its North American offering to include five-weekly flights to Miami, as well as additional flights to destinations in Europe.
The Austrian low-cost carrier is to launch flights from Bratislava to Brussels and Palma in summer 2015 and to facilitate its new services will operate one of the shortest international flights in the world between its base in Vienna and the Slovakian capital.
The new links to Ibiza, Palma and Reykjavik will depart Birmingham late at night and return in the early hours of the morning, supporting the carrier’s plans to enhance fleet utilisation.
