There are now almost 390 Boeing 787 Dreamliners flying to destinations around the world and there remains a ‘buzz’ around the modern generation airline programme with the positive impact of what the manufacturer describes as a “game-changing airplane” being used in airline marketing to highlight the equipment.
The hijacking of an EgyptAir Airbus A320 en route between Alexandria and Cairo has once again brought the safety of air transportation in Egypt to the attention. Although this incident proved not be terrorism related, questions have been raised as to how the hijacker was able to embark on the plane wearing what appeared to be a suicide vest with explosives.
The aircraft will be the fourth 777 dedicated to its Gatwick operation that is configured in a three-class arrangement. Cape Town will be one of four long-haul destinations BA is launching from Gatwick this year, with flights to Costa Rica starting on April 27, 2016 daily flights to New York’s JFK beginning on May 1, 2016 and flights to Lima, Peru commencing on May 4, 2016.
The aviation landscape continues to change across the globe. We have seen the arrival of low-cost carriers, new hub operators in the Middle East, consolidation and the reinvention of the traditional legacy airlines, to name just a few of the recent developments, but one thing has remain constant, the undeniable potential to develop new air connectivity across the vast African continent.
The air service development team at Dublin Airport have identified a number of unserved markets in Asia that can sustain regular scheduled flights to the Republic of Ireland’s capital city and are attending Routes Asia in Manila, Philippines to fill these network gaps. It particularly sees a notable role for Asia’s Star Alliance members at Dublin Airport having grown the number of airline members using the airport from this summer.
Strategically located close to Africa – one of their biggest trade partners – Tenerife is the perfect choice to host Routes Africa 2016. The Government of the island are dedicated to promoting connectivity within Africa.
Routes Africa, the only route development forum for the African region, will be hosted by Tenerife Tourism Corporation with the support of the Canary Islands Government this summer (26-28 June 2016).
The Gulf carrier is both the world’s strongest and most valuable brand, with an increase of 17 percent from 2015. Emirates brand value is weighted at $7,743 million.
An estimated 250,000 passengers a year are flying between India and Ethiopia with almost 90 per cent of the demand in the first half of 2015 taking advantage of Ethiopian Airlines’ pan-African network to connect via Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport.
Ryanair will launch flights from the city from November 1, 2016 with a twice daily link to the Spanish capital, Madrid, a daily service to Brussels Charleroi and London Stansted, a four times weekly link to Berlin and twice weekly flights to Fez, Malta and Warsaw Modlin.
The route, which departs from Dubai, will see an increased capacity due to a replacement of aircraft. This increase will help to meet the growing demand on the route into the African countries.
The latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer highlights that growth in advanced economy destinations (up five per cent) exceeded that of emerging economies (up four per cent) in 2015, boosted by the solid results of Europe (up five per cent). By region, Europe, the Americas and Asia and the Pacific all recorded around five per cent growth in international arrivals in 2015, while the Middle East increased by three per cent while Africa saw an estimated three per cent decrease, mostly due to weak results in North Africa, which accounts for over one third of arrivals in the region.
According to OAG schedule data, ANA has accounted for more than a quarter (25.1 per cent) of all 787 flights since the aircraft’s debut offering almost 30 million Dreamliner seats (29,435,351 as of January 13, 2016).
To date, passenger traffic between the major cities of Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, which have a combined population of over eight million people, has been limited by high air fares which we believe, have excluded large parts of the local population from air travel. The only alternative to flying is to undertake a long and difficult journey by road, which can take up to 12 hours.
Etihad currently operates five 787-9s serving the markets of Brisbane, Washington, Singapore and Zurich from its Abu Dhabi International Airport hub. The type will become the UAE national carrier’s flagship long-haul aircraft in the coming years with a further 66 aircraft due to be delivered.
South African low-cost carrier Mango will help launch a new Connecting Partner Model from global airline grouping Star Alliance as it seeks to further expand its network reach. The South African Airways (SAA) subsidiary will be the first ‘low-cost’ or ‘hybrid’ carrier to introduce its network into that of the wider grouping.
IATA projects that passenger numbers are expected to reach seven billion by 2034 with a 3.8 per cent average annual growth in demand (2014 baseline year). That is more than double the 3.3 billion who flew in 2014 and exactly twice as many as the 3.5 billion expected in 2015.
The new fastJet service will not only support local demand to/from Dar es Salaam but also provide new connection opportunities to the low-cost carrier’s international flights into Tanzania, significantly offering an alternate link to Johannesburg to support growing leisure demand from South African holidaymakers.
North African carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM) is to further expand its long-haul network from next year with the launch of flights between its Mohammed V International Airport hub in Casablanca and Washington Dulles Airport in the United States and Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport in Brazil.
The new flight will bring additional capacity into a market now controlled by British Airways after Virgin Atlantic Airways ended its own non-stop flights earlier this year. Sabre data shows an annual O&D demand of over 375,000 two-way passengers between the UK and Cape Town (around 1,030 passengers per day).
The introduction of the two additional return flights increases to nearly 4,200 the total number of seats available to passengers travelling by Etihad between the UAE and Morocco each week and comes as the carrier prepares to celebrate ten years of operations into the North African country.
The UK-Nigeria market is currently served on a daily basis by Arik Air, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways. There is an O&D demand of an estimated 2,500 passengers a day between the UK and Nigeria before you even start looking at connection options, and this has grown at an average annual rate of 9.2 per cent since 2010.
Norwegian is known to be studying a number of new markets for growth as it starts planning for the arrival of its new 787-9s. Although further growth in the US is among the scenarios under consideration, a number of other markets are also under evaluation, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Delhi, Mumbai, Cape Town and Durban.
The return of Africa’s largest carrier to the southern city, its third destination in South Africa, can be directly linked to recent World Routes forums, and of course, the hosting of this year’s event in Durban.
