Virgin Atlantic is closing its operations at LGW and cutting almost a third of its 10,000 staff as the airline scales back its business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week: Etihad Airways is launching a new service to Vienna; leisure carrier Condor is introducing long-haul flights from Dusseldorf; and Eastern Airways is once again operating its own scheduled network of routes.
Weekly capacity between New York and Manchester during the summer is set to drop by a third compared with 2019, but United Airlines is awaiting price stabilization before deciding whether to expand.
This week: Manchester is to become WestJet’s third destination in the UK; Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines is starting service to Finland; and Avianca has ended flights between Bogota and Havana.
This week: Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines adds second UK destination; Air New Zealand to serve Seoul; and IndiGo moves in on Jet Airways' routes.
Complementing its existing operations from London’s Gatwick and Stansted airports, Thomas Cook Airlines will introduce weekly flights from Luton Airport to Ibiza, Mahon and Palma in Spain and Corfu in Greece during the summer 2017 schedule. These flights will be operated using Airbus A321 equipment which will fly in and out of the airport on a ‘W’ pattern between Fridays and Mondays.
The new flying for Brussels Airlines is being made possible by the positioning of one of its Embraer ERJ-145s into the Belgian capital. This aircraft will enable it to offer an improved flight schedule on its existing East Midlands – Brussels route and enable UK business travellers to spend a full day in Brussels and return in the evening, without having to overnight in the city.
The airline, which supports seat-only and package holiday demand between the UK and destinations across Europe, the Mediterranean and into North Africa, is believed to have secured significant discounts to take late production aircraft ahead of Boeing’s transition from ‘Next-Generation’ to ‘MAX’ series production.
Irish budget carrier Ryanair has acquired a single Boeing 737-700 and although this will be used mainly for crew training purposes, it will also be flown on scheduled services and act as a standby aircraft to cover for operational and technical delays.
The further five year agreement which actually took effect from November 1, 2014, will see the airline grow the number of seats on offer across Manchester Airports group's portfolio of London Stansted, Manchester and East Midlands by 15 per cent - including a 21 per cent increase at Manchester - compared to figures in 2013.
TUI UK’s summer 2016 growth continues the UK’s largest holiday company’s strategy to ensure customers across the UK can fly from their local airport and stay at the best hotels in some of the most exciting destinations.
This ‘start up aid’ will be made available from the Regional Air Connectivity Fund which was announced by the UK government in June 2013 and is open to airports with fewer than five million passengers per year. This fund has already been partly distributed to support strategic routes to London from Newquay and Dundee but is now being extended to bids for more routes.
The carrier will launch a twice daily operation between London City and Aberdeen from October 27, 2014 using a 78-seat Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 following British Airways’ recent announcement that it would be withdrawing from the route at the end of the summer season.
