The decision of three major European operators to depart the AEA shows the dispute between Europe and the Gulf carriers is clearly heating up. It is a very rare move that a key member of an EU trade association withdraws, but for three of its membership to leave shows significant concern at its abilities to fulfil its role.
The market from Europe to Puerto Rico is currently massively underserved, with a significant percentage of indirect passengers already flying between the two markets. In the past 12 months this market size was an estimated 150,000 passengers, with 87 per cent having to travel indirect due to the current limited direct offering across the Atlantic.
Although Belgium represents the 6th source market for Tenerife with 2.7 per cent of the total tourists travelling each year to the island, they also represent the 4th source market and account for 4.7 per cent of tourists staying in 5-Star hotels, according to visitor information.
The arrival of the second A380 on the Doha- London route from July 1, 2015 reinforces Qatar Airways’ presence in the United Kingdom, with six flights a day between the two cities in addition to daily direct services from Doha to Edinburgh from May and double daily services to Manchester. The three-class aircraft will be operated on the ‘QR001/002’ flight.
Ethiopian Airlines is moving its European hub to Dublin Airport from next month which will see the airline transit 10 transatlantic flights per week through the airport to destinations in the US and Canada.
In the last five years, Europe has lost a total of 73 scheduled airlines, meaning that if the trend continues - there will be no European-based airlines in 25 years, according to John Grant, Executive Vice President of OAG.
The company part of the independent Jota Group, which also comprises Jota Sport, Jota Design and Jota Historic was set up four years ago to cater for the travel and cargo demands of the motorsports industry, but has grown to be a leading air charter specialist across the UK and Europe, introducing the larger BAe 146-200 jet in October last year.
OAG’s Analyser suite provides detailed and comprehensive insight into traffic flows, schedules, connections, route planning and network analysis for all parts of the aviation industry, providing the tools analysts need to identify trends, spot commercial opportunities and monitor competitor activity.
UK start-up carrier Anglia Airways hopes to launch scheduled operation before the end of the year once a final evaluation of aircraft and funding is secured. The airline plans to offer a network of domestic and European services from East Anglia with a fleet of up to five turboprop aircraft and continues to talk to both Cambridge and Norwich airports as a base for its operations.
The airport saw a 6.1 percent increase in passenger numbers for 2014, and after coming first in the category for airport’s under four million passengers at the Routes Marketing Awards, the airport has a lot to celebrate.
This year the airport will welcome six new airlines and 23 new destinations and has already seen an extra 670,000 passengers fly in and out of the airport during the first quarter of the year, up 17 per cent on 2014. As it celebrates its 75th anniversary it has boosted transatlantic capacity to North America to 328 flights per week by ten airlines serving eleven destinations in the US and four in Canada.
Latest data for March 2015 shows the airport handled 804,300 passengers during the month, a 10.5 per cent growth year-on-year. It was the first March in its history that the Warsaw airport broke the 800,000 passenger mark and the sixth straight month of record-breaking figures for Warsaw Chopin Airport, continuing a trend started in October 2014.
The annual Routes Marketing Awards are highly regarded as the most prestigious awards in the industry as they are voted for and judged by the airline network planning community. They provide the airline community with the chance to have their say as to which airport or tourism authority has provided the best overall marketing services to them in relation to route development and marketing over the past year.
Following a highly successful Routes Europe 2015 in Aberdeen, Scotland, attended by around 1,200 delegates from the aviation and tourism industries, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils will later today officially hand over to Kraków Airport and its partners, the Małopolska Kraków Region and the City of Kraków for the 2016 event.
Speaking to Routesonline on the sidelines of the Routes Europe forum in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, Roger Clements, chief commercial officer, Southend Airport, confirmed the Star Alliance member chose London Southend Airport for the service above other airports because of its efficient operations and fast access into Central London.
Digital marketing has evolved immensely over time, and with over 40 percent of the world now connected to the internet, it has never been more important.
Stansted is among the fastest growing airports in the UK over the past year with ten consecutive months of double digit growth. Annual passenger numbers for the last year (12 months to March 2015) are up 16.3 per cent compared with the previous 12 month period to 20,923,257.
The Lithuanian airport network has undergone a dramatic change, and is subsequently on the rise. Jurate Baltrusaityte, Chief Commercial Officer, Enterprise Lithuanian Airports, gave Routes delegates an insight into the future of the Lithuanian airport network, at the Routes Europe Strategy Summit.
It is clear that a route down the consolidation path has already started with legacy flag carriers coming together and even low-cost and regional airlines joining together through takeovers and mergers. But is consolidation the right way to move forward in Europe?
