For business travellers, a growing segment of easyJet’s passenger count, the new bases will enable the carrier to better serve the demands of its premium passengers in Barcelona and Venice with new earlier morning departures affording a more flexible schedule for same day trip arrangements to Europe’s main economic centres.
The low-fare airline will introduce new year-round scheduled holiday flights from Norwich to Alicante and Malaga from March 2016, with the addition of Geneva expected later in 2016. The partnership will see one of Flybe’s stored Embraer E195 jets return to the skies, and planning is already underway to maximise its use by the airport.
The arrival of the first A330-200 marks the latest stage of a fleet-renewal programme which will eventually include the arrival of new A350s and Boeing 777-300ERs. In February 2014, Kuwait Airways announced the lease of 12 Airbus aircraft including seven A320ceo (with first deliveries commencing late last year) and five A330-200s in addition to the purchase of 25 aircraft including 10 A350-900 and 15 A320neo Family aircraft.
The basic details on the timescale for its C Series network debut were made as SWISS announced the conversion of ten of its 30 firm-ordered CS100 aircraft to the larger CS300 aircraft at the Paris Air Show. The original purchase agreement for 30 CS100 aircraft was signed by its parent company, Lufthansa, on SWISS’ behalf in 2009.
This new year-round service to Geneva will provide additional choice and flexibility or passengers travelling between Ireland and Switzerland and will continue a growth in air links into the Irish capital hub from members of the Star Alliance airline grouping.
Turkish airline, SunExpress has recently announced its plans for a total of 21 new routes for the summer 2015 season, with departures mainly from Antalya, Dalaman, Izmir and Konya.
The UK carrier is currently reinventing itself as a scheduled European low-cost operator following a change in ownership to better meet passenger demand. Through the review of its network strategy, the airline is focussing on offering customers greater flight frequency and more sociable departure times to short-haul European destinations from its main UK bases.
The expanded schedules for summer 2015 will see easyJet launch the route six weeks earlier than last year from May 14, 2015, offer a third weekly rotation in July and August and deploy a larger Airbus A320 on almost two thirds of the flights.
VLM will initially launch an up to twice daily link between Antwerp and Geneva from January 26, 2015, using a Fokker 50. The carrier will offer two flights every weekday on its 'launch' route with an early morning and early evening flight, particularly ideal for business travellers.
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 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.
This will be the first scheduled air link between Baku and Geneva and in fact the only non-stop flight offering between Azerbaijan and Switzerland. According to MIDT data there is a small but growing demand between the two cities.
European regional carrier Etihad Regional has launched a twice-weekly service linking Geneva in Switzerland, and Toulouse in southwestern France, its first year-round route to France from its Swiss base. The inaugural service, operated using a 50-seat Saab 2000 touched down at Toulouse’s Blagnac Airport at 4:40pm on April 17, 2014.
