Transaero announced plans to debut the Airbus A320 Family variant into its fleet from July 2015 in March last year when it confirmed a deal with ICBC Leasing, part of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, to introduce six A321 aircraft on operating leases for delivery through March 2016. These are the first of up to 30 A321s that are due to enter the Russian carrier’s fleet within the next five years.
In recent years China has overtaken both USA and Germany to become the largest outbound market in the world with Chinese travellers now the top source of tourism cash, according to the UNWTO. In 2012 their annual spend was estimated at $102 billion, growing to a market of 97 million and spend of $124 billion in 2013 and 110 million and $165 billion last year.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier, Emirates Airlines has announced that it will launch a service to Mashhad in Iran, its second service to the Western Asian country.
In his presentation highlighting aviation market trends in Russia, Ascend's Evgeny van der Geest provided an interesting insight into the current structure of the sector in the Russian Federation, including a growing lessor involvement - particularly from international businesses - which is fueling a fleet renewal process that is continuing to see the removal of older Soviet era airliners with western aircraft models.
Aeroflot Russian Airlines is reviewing its future long-haul fleet renewal after it was revealed just last month that the carrier had cancelled its order for 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The flag carrier had been due to take delivery of the aircraft in 2014 but previous delays with the programme meant that the deliveries had been put back to 2016.
The resumption of direct flights between Georgia and the UK should be among the main route development targets for the United Airports of Georgia team, according to a senior executive at Adjara Group Hospitality, the fastest growing, privately held owner and management company in the Georgian hospitality industry. It has been over two years since there were direct flights between Georgia and the UK.
airBaltic has an order for 13 CS300s, the first of which is due to arrive in the third quarter of 2016 and is understood to be considering converting options for a further seven aircraft. It plans to use the aircraft for a mix of short- and medium-haul flying, including its Riga – Abu Dhabi route which it serves in partnership with Etihad Airways.
Following an expanded Air Service Agreement signed between the State of Qatar and the Republic of the Philippines, the Doha-based carrier will now operate a full twice-daily service to Manila, in addition to its daily flights between Clark and Doha.
In a presentation at this year’s Routes Silk Road Strategy Summit, Guy Brazeau, Director, IATA Consulting revealed that airlines flying within Europe and to and from Europe were witnessing a significant decline in average passenger yields during the first half of this year, but far short of the decline being seen in the Russian domestic market where yields are alarmingly more than a third less than last year.
Ukraine is a huge market opportunity, but for many carriers there have been notable restrictions on air access. Negotiations on a full EU-Ukraine open skies agreement had reached a critical stage over the past couple of years, but have fallen on a more regional structure. This has initially seen the Ukraine Infrastructure Ministry allow the western Ukrainian city of Lviv to be linked directly to European Union destinations without any restrictions as a trial run.
Dubbed the E175+, the variant KLM ordered has a different winglet to the baseline aircraft to increase fuel efficiency. Embraer revealed in March 2014 when the first aircraft was rolled out that the winglets and other streamlining for the mid-generation upgrade would help to keep the aircraft competitive until the next-generation ‘E2’ models enter service in 2018 and which will reduce fuel burn by 24 per cent versus the original aircraft.
While the sun was shining on Tbilisi this morning Routes Silk Road delegates were given the opportunity to enjoy an escorted walking tour around the Georgian capital to learn more about its history and recent development.
The airline will initially operate with a fleet of three 78-seat turboprops acquired via Abu Dhabi-based VVIP charter airline Falcon Aviation Services. The first aircraft was ferried in a predominantly white livery from the Bombardier factory at Toronto’s Downsview Airport to the carrier’s Almaty International Airport base between June 30, 2015 and July 2, 2015 via Vancouver, Keflavik, London Southend and Minsk.
Established in September 1994 under the AirZena brand, the carrier initially provided charter flights to the United Arab Emirates, Italy, China, Egypt, India, Syria and regular scheduled flights to Austria. It was granted national carrier status in November 1999 and latterly the Georgian Airways title has been added.
As Ukraine’s leading carrier, UIA is playing an important role in developing air traffic from both the country’s capital Kiev and other cities across Ukraine.
Delegates who arrived early in Tbilisi for Routes Silk Road were able to enjoy a complimentary tour to the ancient town of Mtskheta yesterday, a location of extraordinary importance to the Georgian nation, located about 20km out of the capital city.
The troubled Asian national carrier Malaysia Airlines will be completely revamped as a business through the remainder of the year as its new boss takes drastic action to return the loss-making operator to profitability. Christoph Mueller, who joined as chief executive officer earlier this year from Aer Lingus has played important roles in the restructuring the Irish carrier and other European flag carriers.
Qatar Airways will initially operate five weekly flights to Zanzibar via Kilimanjaro, and commencing October 1, 2015, the airline will offer an additional two weekly flights making it a daily operation. Out of the daily flights from October, passengers will be able to fly non-stop to Zanzibar three-times-a-week and on a linked flight via Kilimanjaro four-times-a-week.
The new flights are operating twice weekly on Fridays and Mondays, between July 3, 2015 and August 28, 2015 and will carry almost 4,000 Chinese tourists into the UK on package tours and will contribute a forecasted £19 million to the regional economy. The flights will be operated by a 223-seat Boeing 767-300 configured with 32 Business Class and 191 Economy seats.
Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair has announced Gothenburg in Sweden as its 74th base from September, where it will base a single aircraft to launch additional frequencies to London Stansted.
