Continental announces its first route to Africa; Cancun is BA's latest leisure route; AeroSvit adds third German link; Iberia will soon open Oran service and Air India extends its Hong Kong service to Seoul Incheon.
Continental Announces First African Route
Continental Airlines plans to fly to Lagos, Nigeria from its Houston hub in November 2011, subject to government approval, connecting the two important energy centres.
Lagos, Nigeria's economic, commercial and cultural centre, will be its first destination in Africa, which it plans to serve using the new 787 Dreamliner.
Jeff Smisek, Continental's CEO said: "This flight will link two energy capitals and fill the growing demand for non-stop service between the two cities - a route which is currently not served by any other airline." Continental's partner United Airlines already serves Accra in Ghana and Delta also operated between Lagos and Atlanta.
Flying times will be approximately 11 hours eastbound, and 12 hours 30 minutes westbound. Figures show that about 12,000 O&D passengers travelled between the city pairs indirectly, between March 2009 and 2010.
Cancun: BA's Latest Leisure Route
British Airways will become the only UK scheduled airline to offer non-stop flights to Mexico's island resort, Cancun, when its starts serving the route from London Gatwick on November 3.
BA's subsidiary, Flying Colours, flew to Cancun between April 1998 and April 2002. The company since merged with Caledonian Airways to form JMC Air, a UK-charter based airline, which is now Thomas Cook Airlines.
Cancun remains a firm favourite with sun-seeking British tourists.
AeroSvit Adds Third German Link
Ukraine's flag carrier, Aerosvit, has announced that it plans to serve its first route to Germany from a regional market.
The airline will operate a daily services from Dnepropetrovsk to Berlin Tegel with E145 aircraft. The carrier currently serves Düsseldorf and Hamburg in Germany from Kiev.
Iberia to Open Oran Service
Spanish flag carrier, Iberia, will begin a twice-weekly service from Madrid to Oran in Algeria on September 16.
The route will be operated with an A319 aircraft and currently there is no carrier operating direct service on the route. However, Iberia does already serve the capital Algiers on a five-times weekly rotation from its Madrid Barajas hub.
Air India Expands to Seoul
Air India will fly from Delhi to Seoul Incheon four times a week from August 1.
The route will be operated as a tag-on of Air India's existing service from Delhi to Hong Kong.
Asiana currently operates a non-stop service from Delhi to Seoul Incheon. IATA BSP data shows that over 80,000 O&D passengers were carried on this sector between March 2009 and 2010. The data flags up a leakage of over 25,000 passengers, which Air India can try and capture.
Four carriers fly between Hong Kong and Incheon: Asiana, Cathay Pacific, Korean and Thai Airways International.
Related Content
