Commercial air service is a significant enabler of economic growth, and this is particularly true in small rural communities where hub links and the access they afford to connect to other markets, both domestically and internationally, are essential. Airline consolidation, pilot shortages and competition from neighbouring airports are currently limiting air service options in many of these markets.
Southwest Airlines will launch daily flights into Northern Kentucky International Airport from Chicago Midway and Baltimore Washington International from June 4, 2017. The no-frills operator has been keeping a close eye on the Cincinnati market since Delta Air Lines started to downsize its own operations from the city.
14 years after the final flight of the iconic Concorde, Boom is working to bring supersonic travel back to commercial networks. We spoke to founder and CEO Blake Scholl to hear what impact he believes his business’ aircraft can have on global route development.
China's Hainan Airlines is seeking approval from the US authorities to begin flights linking Chongqing with Los Angeles and New York from the first half of this year. The carrier says the relaxation of US-China visa requirements is already dramatically increasing travel between the two countries, resulting in more demand for air capacity.
For a consecutive year, more than a third of airline industry profits in 2016 are expected to come from the carriers of North America, says ICAO. Last year the
Central Florida’s great weather and world-leading theme parks attracted 66 million tourists in 2015, making it a dream destination for any airport. But, with a new $1.8bn terminal in the pipeline and ambitions to access China’s major cities and upscale its successful Emirates route demonstrate, Orlando International is not planning to rest on its laurels.
The new Dash 8 Q400s will introduce 14 additional seats versus the ATR 72 it will replace and Island Air's website says the aircraft will be fitted in a two-class arrangement with 64 Standard and 14 Premium seats. It will launch commercial operations with the type in January 2017.
Barcelona seemingly has a good mix of the ingredients needed for IAG to make this new long haul low cost business work. It is a growing market in terms of demand and passenger flows are dominated by IAG airlines Vueling and Iberia providing a strong connecting feed into the long-haul operation to complement local traffic.
Airbus launched the A380 a decade ago with high hopes for the rise of the super jumbo, but demand is dwindling. So what now for the future of the ultra-size market?
An announcement last month that LOT Polish Airlines will return its direct long-haul service between Kraków and Chicago from July 2017 after a seven year absence provides a fitting end to what will certainly be remembered as one of the most successful years in the airport’s history.
Having lived in the shadow of Icelandair’s effective European and North American network strategy since it launched services in 2012, WOW air has now exploded into the low-cost transatlantic market with a network that covers almost 30 destinations in Europe and North America. And having grown capacity by over 90 per cent in 2016, it expects to continue its rapid rise as the low-cost long-haul model continues to stimulate traffic across the Atlantic.
The airline, based in the French territory of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, is understood to be considering the launch of low-cost charter services via the European mainland into at least three US destinations. In its formal application the airline says these services will be operated using Boeing 777 and 787-8 equipment.
Hainan Airlines' landmark Beijing - Las Vegas service has its roots in the US city hosting the World Routes air service development forum back in October 2013 and has been helped subsequently by regular meetings at Routes regional and world events. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) estimates the flights will account for $33.5 million in annual economic impact.
The connecting passenger flows at either end of the route will be key to the success of this route. The local demand between Santiago and Melbourne is around 16,000 bi-directional O&D passengers per year, but when you expand to Chile to Australia that grows five-fold to around 100,000 passengers and up to 585,000 passengers when you consider the whole of Central and South America and the Pacific region.
This will be the first time Cartagena will be linked non-stop to Europe in around ten years since AirMadrid offered flights from to the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Madrid back in the mid-2000s. Cartagena also successfully attracted flights from Italy with Blue Panorama Airlines at the start of this decade but these were purely on a charter basis.
European low-cost carrier Norwegian is set to open four new operational bases – two in the US and two in Europe – in 2017 to support the growth of its long-haul transatlantic network. The internal go-ahead for the expansion follows the final approval late last week by the US Department of Transportation for a foreign carrier permit for the airline’s Norwegian Air International business.
The new Belfast City route will commence from June 1, 2017 and will be operated using a 72-seat Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 turboprop. It will operate from Keflavik International Airport in Iceland, providing extensive connection options to the Transatlantic network of Icelandair from the mid-Atlantic island as well as support growing business and leisure flows into Iceland which is becoming an increasingly popular leisure destination.
The carrier, part of the HNA Group, will offer a daily flight between Hong Kong and Vancouver from June 30, 2017, initially using a 283-seat Airbus A330-200 but likely to be switched to the A350-900 once the first of its aircraft are delivered towards the end of next year.
Data from air service development consultants, Airport Strategy & Marketing (ASM) suggests that British Airways is initially taking tentative steps into the New Orleans when it launches flights between London Heathrow and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport next year. A demand forecast from the consultancy on the route shows expected demand outweighing available capacity from the day of launch.
