Etihad Airways treated delegates to an engaging presentation at the 20th World Route Development Forum Strategy Summit, outlining the carrier’s expanded network by the end of 2015, writes Jonny Williamson for The HUB.
A World Routes media briefing confirmed recent reports that Cebu Pacific Air will be inaugurating a three times weekly link between Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam from October 5, 2014. This will be just days after the carrier makes its debut in the country with flights to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh commencing on October 1, 2014.
There are not many countries in the world where six new runways will be constructed and four brand new regional airports opened for traffic in a decade. But, that is exactly what is underway in the Sultanate of Oman over the past few years as the country seeks to diversify its economy away from relying on its oil and gas resources and to focus more on other sectors such as tourism and other areas of business.
Lufthansa is likely to receive the green light from Indian authorities to fly the A380 into Mumbai, but without the strong transfer traffic its current operating slot affords, it is unlikely to want to move the service to accommodate the utilisation of the larger aircraft and may have to wait up to 15 months until the airport completes work to support simultaneous A380 operations.
The network growth is being facilitated by the continuous growth of the airline’s fleet and the new non-stop Doha - Cape Town route will be operated by one of the carrier’s new Boeing 787 Dreamliners which are configured in a two-class arrangement with 22 Business Class and 232 Economy Class seats.
The total traffic for the four days is an increase of 36 per cent over the same period at the end of Eid Al Fitr in 2013, when 133,007 passengers took an Etihad Airways flight.
Qatar Airways will boost capacity on routes from Doha’s Hamad International Airport to Madrid and Perth through increased frequencies on the route to Europe and the permanent deployment of a larger capacity airliner on the Australian link.
As Airbus and Boeing go head-to-head in negotiations for Emirates Airline’s outstanding order of 70 extra-widebodied aircraft, aviation intelligence expert OAG has revealed the critical importance of Emirates’ choice and how it could impact up to 88 per cent of the carrier’s flights.
Etihad and THY will both hope to attract passengers from their wider networks across the Middle East, Africa and Indian subcontinent to support point-to-point demand. According to MIDT data, an estimated 229,000 bi-directional O&D passengers flew to/from San Francisco from destinations across the Middle East, while approximately 84,000 flew to/from the US city from destinations in Africa.
The closure of the Manchester operation will enable flynas to concentrate its activities at London Gatwick. It launched a twice weekly flight from Jeddah on April 8, 2014 and will launch a twice weekly service from Riyadh on July 27, 2014. The airline hopes to capitalise on the high-traffic Eid holiday period over the launch week of operations for the new route.
flydubai will become the first carrier to operate direct flights from Dubai to both Sarajevo and Zagreb. It will introduce a twice weekly link to Sarajevo from December 8, 2014, while a three times weekly offering to Zagreb will follow from December 16, 2014. Both routes will be served by its dual-class 737-800s.
The new daily flight will launch from October 27, 2014 and will be operated using a 278-seat Airbus A330-200 complementing the existing Dubai low-cost offering of Wizz Air and providing an alternative global connection option to the current flights of Qatar Airways via its Doha hub.
UAE national carrier, Etihad Airways, has revealed plans to launch its first passenger flights to Algiers, Edinburgh, Entebbe, Hong Kong, Kolkata and Madrid in the first half of 2015, while Brisbane will get its first non-stop flights using the carrier's new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
Saudi Arabian low-cost carrier flynas has an ambitious long-haul expansion strategy, underpinned by new flights to the UK, writes Justin Burns for our sister magazine Routes News.
El Al has responded to the opening of the skies between Israel and the European Union with newly launched low-cost brand UP, reports Martin Rivers for our sister magazine, Routes News.
Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is currently working to introduce new businesses processes to make it easier for foreign companies to invest in Kenya.
The new route will launch from July 28, 2014 and will be flown on a five times weekly basis using a two-class Airbus A330-200 configured with 30 Premier Business Class seats and 187 Economy Class seats.
In 2004, airlines offered 7.7 million seats from Lisbon Airport but this rose to just under ten million seats last year, a 27.7 per cent rise. This year, based on existing published schedules, the airport will surpass the ten million figure for the first time with capacity set to rise 7.8 per cent.
