As part of Copenhagen Airport's Route Exchange membership, Routesonline takes a look at three significant routes to have been launched from Denmark's capital in recent years.
This week: A non-stop route between Mexico City and Barcelona; IndiGo advances European ambitions; and Ethiopian Airlines swaps Los Angeles for Houston.
WOW air is adding India to its route network later this year as the low-cost carrier seeks to use Iceland as a connecting hub for traffic between Asia and North America. Routesonline looks at the rapid growth of the airline and why India is a focus for expansion.
This week: Air India will resume services to Tel Aviv, Hainan Airlines to launch second UK destination, and Delta to link Cleveland to its Salt Lake City hub.
In the international market IndiGo is currently ranked as India’s sixth largest carrier behind local operators Jet Airways, Air India, low-cost carrier Air India Express and Gulf giants Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways. It will this year hold a 4.1 per cent share of international capacity from India, based on published schedules, up from 3.2 per cent in 2016.
A new four times weekly Delhi – Copenhagen route will commence from May 2017, according to Air India, and will be flown using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. A Delhi – Washington flight will operate on a three times weekly basis and will be flown using a Boeing 777 from July 2017. These will be the only non-stop operation on the two routes
Air Canada has their sights set on the European market with their latest route announcements, which will mean connections from Vancouver to some of the most important airports in the continent.
Lufthansa has confirmed it will base its first ten A350-900s at Munich and will enter commercial operation on the Munich – Delhi route from February 10, 2017. Alongside the Delhi route the type will also initially be used on flights from the Bavarian hub to Boston, USA.
The airline will offer the only non-stop flights between Vancouver and Delhi when it debuts the three times weekly route beginning October 20, 2016, in time for Diwali festivities. The service will be operated using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner equipment and will offer the fastest elapsed flying time into the India from Calgary, Edmonton and the US West Coast cities of Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles.
The German flag carrier has acquired the modern generation airliner to replace its older, less-efficient, four-engined A340-600s on scheduled routes from its Frankfurt and Munich hubs. It has ordered a total of 25 A350-900s and continues to plan the deployment of the remaining 15 aircraft.
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.
Have you wondered what enticed an airline to a certain destination? What the data says about demand on the city pair and connecting markets? What external factors may have influenced the airline in selecting a specific city pair? How this business case differs from others?
The revised Amsterdam operation and agreement with KLM will enable Jet Airways to increase its coverage of the European market, albeit on a codeshare basis. Alongside its existing Brussels services the carrier currently only serves two other European points: London Heathrow (daily from Delhi and twice daily from Mumbai) and Paris Charles De Gaulle (daily from Mumbai).
Jet Airways currently offers a mini hub operation at Brussels Airport with daily flights from Delhi and Mumbai in India connecting in the Belgian capital to daily continuation flights to Newark, USA and Toronto, Canada, but changes to its business strategy after United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier, Etihad Airways became an equity partner mean this demand is not being more efficiently handled via Abu Dhabi International Airport.
