Dortmund is the 2nd destination from Sibiu after the London Luton service began operations on 14 June. The service is initially to operate twice weekly, with one of its Airbus A320 aircraft.
The carrier has been presently focussing on charter and ACMI work but will begin to dip its toes back into the scheduled market using a mixed fleet of Fokker 50 turboprops and two Sukhoi Superjets after signing deal to become European launch customer for the long-range SSJ100LR.
The new business will operate with a small fleet of around four Boeing 737-800s transferred from its parent and will initially fly from Moscow to Belgorod and Volgograd in the European part of Russia, to Kazan and Samara on the Volga River, to Yekaterinburg and Ufa in the Urals Federal District, and to the Siberian cities of Tyumen and Surgut.
Scotland’s largest airports made a joint submission yesterday (28th October 2014) to the Smith Commission calling for Air Passenger Duty (APD) to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
The confirmation of the new route follows years of discussions between the management of Newcastle International Airport and various US partners to establish a scheduled westbound long-haul link to the US to support its highly successful Emirates Airline flight to Dubai.
Leeds Bradford Airport yesterday welcomed Aer Lingus on its inaugural flight from Dublin and released information about a new shuttle service with Flybe during their winter schedule.
The Greek airline has released its summer 2015 schedule to include a total of 38 new routes. The Star alliance carrier initially released 23 new routes in September, followed by a further three at the beginning of October and an additional 12 today (October 20, 2014).
Although Jota Aviation plans to initially establish its jet operations with the single BAe 146-200 it is already looking to the future and could even add a second aircraft before the end of 2014, although more likely in summer 2015, with a third example also an option for next year.
Amsterdam is already one of easyJet’s most successful network points with more than 3.5 million passengers flying annually to and from 21 destinations. It revealed earlier this year its plans to open a base at Schiphol Airport to further strengthen the airline’s long term strategic position at the airport, where it now holds a nine per cent market share having first introduced flights back in 1996.
SWISS International Airlines will be adding 20 new Zurich routes as well as launching a new-look cabin on its European Airbus fleet from November 2014 onwards.
The airline will introduce new routes to Alicante and Naples (a new market and return of a former destination) and boost frequencies to Dalaman and Faro as it offers 28 weekly flights from Leeds Bradford to ten sun and city destinations across Europe during the summer 2015 schedule.
Air services between Europe and Edmonton, the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and a developing cultural, governmental and educational centre, have been limited over recent years and the introduction of this additional transatlantic connection will help facilitate the growing long-haul demand for travel to and from the city.
The new link will provide the first regular link between East Africa and Dublin and will mark the return of flights between the Irish capital and Los Angeles, a market last served by Aer Lingus in November 2008. This will strengthen Ireland’s connectivity to the west coast of the United States, with California a major market for Irish tourism.
UK leisure carrier Jet2.com, the largest operator at Blackpool Airport, has already revealed it will move its entire operation to Manchester Airport from October 10, 2014, while Aer Lingus Regional and Citywing will maintain services to Dublin, Belfast City and the Isle of Man until the closure of the airport on October 15, 2014.
Icelandic carrier WOW air is to launch a new year-round link between Reykjavik and Dublin from next summer. The three times weekly route will commence on June 2, 2015 and will be the first scheduled service between the two cities.
Virgin Atlantic will end the Little Red flights, operated on its behalf by Aer Lingus, during summer 2015. The London Heathrow – Manchester route will close at the end of March 2015 and the links from the UK capital to Aberdeen and Edinburgh at the end of September 2015.
The new link will operate from May 29, 2015 until October 23, 2015 using a Boeing 737-700 and like the existing St John’s – Dublin transatlantic operation will provide a same-aircraft connection to and from Toronto with other connections available to Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and 16 other cities in WestJet's Canadian network.
Initially, British Airways will operate A380 service five times a week at Washington. The service will increase to daily by the end of October. It will supplement the daily 747 flights and the three weekly 777 flights out of the airport.
The new route marks only the sixth international route to be operated to the Brazilian capital and only the second from Europe – TAP Portugal has been serving the city from its Lisbon hub on an up to daily basis since July 2007. It also represents the first intercontinental network success since private consortium Inframérica took over the management of the airport in December 2012.
LOT has been in financial difficulties for several years, reporting significant losses and negative equity, but in 2013 it recorded for the first time in five years a net profit of PLN 26 million, instead of almost PLN 200 million loss envisaged in the Restructuring Plan presented to the European Commission. This was its first annual net profit since 2007.
Swiss regional carrier SkyWork Airlines will move its twice weekday link between its Berne base and London from City Airport to Southend Airport from the start of the winter 2014/2015 schedules at the end of October, although it believes the switch will not impact its strategy to provide an efficient offering to the business traveller.
The UK airport is growing quickly and the recent extension of its Runway has opened up additional long-haul opportunities for the airport. We spent a little time with Paul Kehoe during the recent World Routes in Chicago to learn more about the latest developments at Birmingham Airport and learnt that this year’s forum will probably prove to be its “best Routes ever”.
This year has seen the resurgence of Athens as an established international destination which has been measured in the significant increase in capacity being offered by airlines, particularly outside of Europe with the US, Middle East, and Asian markets recording the strongest development.
