Somon Air CEO Thomas Hallam wants to expand the Tajikistan airline’s network through codeshares and believes the Central Asia-India market is ripe for growth.
Routes analyzes some of the services returning as well as new routes being launched. This week we look at Qatar Airways adding a long-awaited Ghana service; Emirates upgauging its Moscow route; and Viva Air’s plans to open a Bogota-Cali link.
Russia’s S7 Airlines has unveiled bullish plans to resume fights across its entire domestic network in June, as well as launching five new routes in the coming weeks.
Aircraft delivery delays mean that Ural Airlines’ flights between Russia’s capital and Montpellier in southern France will not resume during the summer season.
This week: VietJet is launching its first direct service to Australia; Ethiopian Airlines is returning to Athens after 18 years; and Ural Airlines to enter Moscow - London market.
Leisure services to the Turkish holiday destination of Antalya feature heavily in list of the most-competitive routes in Europe this summer, analysis by Routesonline has found, while services involving Moscow airports dominate the most-competitive city pairs.
As the host nation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Russia is pushed yet further in the global spotlight. Routesonline analyses the country’s recovering aviation industry, examining the fastest-growing international markets, the top airports and the busiest routes.
Japan Airlines and Aeroflot are to start codeshare flights as part of a wider planned collaboration that could lead to a joint business being created in the future.
Although the 2018 Fifa World Cup comes at a time of gradual decline for Russia's aviation sector, the country is embarking on a strategy to up its infrastructure game and revamp many of its airports over the next decade.
The oneworld alliance member has an agreement with GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) to lease 17 Embraer E170 pre-owned jets, a contract that has enabled the manufacturer to fast-track deliveries without impacting its order backlog. The first of these aircraft, former Republic Airways examples, are starting to appear from airport paintshops in the airline’s instantly recognisable green livery and all 17 units are due to arrive before the end of this year.
The Yekaterinburg-based carrier will offer eleven weekly flights from Zhukovsky, the newest airport for the Moscow region from October 31, 2016 with four weekly flights to Astana, Kazakhstan; three weekly services to Dushanbe, Tajikistan; and twice weekly flights to Khudzhand, Tajikistan and Osh, Kyrgyzstan.
Although Transaero is continuing to fly, operational control of the airline has already been passed across to Aeroflot and bookings are no longer being taken beyond December 15, 2015. Although nothing has been formally confirmed on the likely bankruptcy of Transaero, these actions and an ongoing unscheduled safety audit by Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, will likely lead to the closure of the carrier, with creditors such as Sberbank and Alfa Bank set to bring bankruptcy proceedings against the carrier.
The airline had for a long-time used Domodedovo International Airport as its main scheduled base in Moscow, supplemented by leisure-based operations from Sheremetyevo International Airport. However, in May 2012 it introduced flights from Vnukovo, until then known mainly for its domestic activities within the Russian Federation.
The exploitation of the Arctic for oil and gas and the energy wealth in Yamal, mean Salekhard has meant a renaissance of one of Siberia's first outposts. The town was founded in 1595 by Russian Cossacks and initially known as Obdorsk and has played a crucial supporting role in developing the Russian Arctic, northern Urals and Western Siberia.
The Independently-owned full-service carrier currently operates five flights per week to Blagoveshchensk but from Moscow Domodedovo, but from May 26, 2015 it will increase to a daily schedule. It will further boost capacity between the Russian capital and the destination from June 22, 2015 with the launch of a new twice weekly offering from Moscow Vnukovo.
Vueling’s latest uploaded schedules show the Airbus A321 entering scheduled service on July 3, 2015 operating a morning return rotation on the Barcelona – Nantes route. The same day the aircraft will operate from Barcelona to Brussels and back and then in the evening to Granada and back before operating an overnight flight to Moscow.
Cathay Pacific introduced the link between Hong Kong International Airport and Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport in July 2010 and operated a three times weekly rotation using an Airbus A340-300.
Transaero’s new itinerary will be the only scheduled offering between the two cities and will represent the first scheduled link since Yakutia ended a short-lived Boeing 757 operation on the route in January 2014 after just three months of service. Prior to that S7 Airlines had served the route in 2012 and Vladivostok Air between July 2008 and October 2011.
