Emirates Airline will add a fourth daily rotation between its Dubai International Airport hub and London’s Gatwick Airport from October 1, 2016. The additional flight will be operated by a three-class Boeing 777-300ER configured with 360-seats: eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie flat seats in Business Class and 310 seats in Economy.
Airlines and airports are always happy to get involved on April Fool’s Day, and this year it has been no different. Now the clock has struck twelve, and the pranks are no longer, we’ve drilled down the top April Fool’s jokes in the aviation industry this year.
There are now almost 390 Boeing 787 Dreamliners flying to destinations around the world and there remains a ‘buzz’ around the modern generation airline programme with the positive impact of what the manufacturer describes as a “game-changing airplane” being used in airline marketing to highlight the equipment.
Ryanair will station three Boeing 737-800s in Sofia from the end of October 2016 to support a network of 90 flights across 21 routes and which are forecasted to deliver around 1.5 million passengers per annum. This will position the carrier among the leading operators at Sofia Airport accounting for around a quarter of future traffic.
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the “unified global organisation” that unites the cruise industry, has revealed that global cruise travel is continuing to grow and evolve at a record pace. Demand for cruising has increased 68 percent in the last ten years and the industry as a whole supports a total economic impact of $119.9 billion.
Have you wondered what enticed an airline to a certain destination? What the data says about demand on the city pair and connecting markets? What external factors may have influenced the airline in selecting a specific city pair? How this business case differs from others? Our new ‘Route Case’ offering will seek to provide the answers all within a single 20 minute meeting slot at our events.
Twenty years after it first launched flights from Manchester, Virgin Atlantic is making history by offering the northern city’s first direct service to San Francisco as part of an expanded summer 2017 schedule that will also deliver a regular link to Boston. The two new routes will cut journey times to both US cities by eliminating the need for connections.
The airline is seeing an increase in demand for flights into Istanbul and this market demand has created an opportunity to deploy additional capacity into Sabiha Gokcen. Airlines do not generally like to split operations in a city due to the need to offer support resources in each location. However, capacity constraints at Ataturk Airport and the location of Sabiha Gokcen mean this is an easier decision to take.
The hijacking of an EgyptAir Airbus A320 en route between Alexandria and Cairo has once again brought the safety of air transportation in Egypt to the attention. Although this incident proved not be terrorism related, questions have been raised as to how the hijacker was able to embark on the plane wearing what appeared to be a suicide vest with explosives.
Xiamen Airlines is significantly expanding its international presence following the arrival of its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. Over a three year period (2015 -2017) it plans to introduce seven new long-haul markets to its network. This has commenced with flights starting to Amsterdam and Sydney last year. Alongside Vancouver the airline plans flights to Melbourne and Seattle in 2016 and it has recently applied for rights to serve Los Angeles and New York from 2017.
Flybe is basing two 118-seat Embraer E195s at the airport this summer offering flights to Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Jersey, Newquay, Malaga, Alicante and Faro. It will add the Dusseldorf link, its second route into Germany, from the end of October 2016 and further route growth is planned.
The largest carrier at Long Beach Airport is increasing both the number of destinations and flights, having been awarded three new slots at the airport.
Huge aircraft orders, the removal of dated regulations and a growing middle class who are eager to travel are all helping to bring India to the forefront of the aviation market. Passenger numbers are growing at a faster rate than the rest of the world, as India is on course to become the largest market by 2030.
The UK Government’s Regional Air Connectivity Fund was launched last year as a way of encouraging new routes to and from UK regional airports and improving connectivity for business and leisure travellers.
The aircraft will be the fourth 777 dedicated to its Gatwick operation that is configured in a three-class arrangement. Cape Town will be one of four long-haul destinations BA is launching from Gatwick this year, with flights to Costa Rica starting on April 27, 2016 daily flights to New York’s JFK beginning on May 1, 2016 and flights to Lima, Peru commencing on May 4, 2016.
The newly available daytime slots at Haneda herald a potential transformation in US air service to the Japanese capital and the regulator wants to start with a blank canvas so it can look at all options and explore opportunities for alternative US cities that are capable of supporting commercially viable service to Tokyo.
The new initiative will be led by senior executives from both carriers, who will meet regularly to coordinate new initiative rollouts, promote closer cultural integration between Air China and United, and prepare both companies for future joint opportunities, according to a joint statement.
The new route to Chiclayo will foster economic development in northern Peru, enhancing opportunities for stronger commercial ties with the American continent and will complement the airline’s existing flights into Lima. It extends the airline’s ‘Hub of the Americas’ operation from Tocumen International Airport in Panama City to 76 cities in 31 countries in North, Central, South America and the Caribbean.
The low-cost carrier will offer a weekly service from November 1, 2016 adding to the existing links it offers to the popular US conference and leisure destination from Copenhagen and Stockholm which were launched last November. The flight will be operated using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner configured with 291-seats.
The twin explosions at the airport on March 22, 2016 were shortly followed by another at a metro station in the centre of the Belgian capital and left about 34 dead and 250 wounded. So-called Islamic State (IS) has said it was behind the attacks and warned that more would follow. But, how can and will the industry react?
Have you wondered what enticed an airline to a certain destination? What the data says about demand on the city pair and connecting markets? What external factors may have influenced the airline in selecting a specific city pair? How this business case differs from others? Our new ‘Route Case’ offering will seek to provide the answers all within a single 20 minute meeting slot at our events.
Aer Lingus is understood to be wet-leasing at least one aircraft for mainly Saturday operations from Dublin between the end of May and early September this year. The aircraft will operate weekly flights from Dublin to Bilbao, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nice, Perpignan and Santiago de Compostela, our Airline Route blog has revealed.
The aviation landscape continues to change across the globe. We have seen the arrival of low-cost carriers, new hub operators in the Middle East, consolidation and the reinvention of the traditional legacy airlines, to name just a few of the recent developments, but one thing has remain constant, the undeniable potential to develop new air connectivity across the vast African continent.
