Leeds Bradford Lands Four Ryanair Routes
Bucking the trend: Michael Cawley, Ryanair's deputy chief executive calls Leeds Bradford airport "an exception" to the airline's UK-wide capacity cuts.
Ryanair will retain two based aircraft and add four routes to Leeds Bradford's winter schedule this year, bringing Ryanair's total network at LBA to 13 destinations.
Last week, Ryanair announced it would reduce winter capacity by 16% at UK airports, except at Leeds Bradford and Edinburgh. London Stansted is the worst hit airport, with a 17% capacity reduction, which the LCC blamed on the UK government's £11 APD tax. "LBIA handled 2.5mppa last year but expects to increase this to 2.8mppa by April 2011", said Tony Hallwood, the airport's commercial director.
Oman Air Heads for Milan Malpensa
Oman Air will fly from Muscat to Milan Malpensa four times a week from November 1.
The flight is an extension of its existing non-stop service to Munich, which is operated with wide-body A330-200 aircraft.
London Heathrow, Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle are the other European destinations in the airline's network.
Alexandria Gains Abu Dhabi Links
Etihad has revealed plans to serve Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city.
The airline plans to start the four-times weekly service in July, pending government approval. The route will be operated by A320 aircraft.
The route has also managed to attract LCC Air Arabia Egypt, which starts services between Alexandria and Abu Dhabi on July 12. Abu Dhabi is the LCC's fifth destination from the Egyptian city.
Afghan Carrier Connects Kabul and Vienna
Afghanistan's, Kam Air will begin direct flights from Kabul to Vienna in early August.
It will be Kam Air's first European destination and the service will be operated thrice-weekly with B767 aircraft.
easyJet Opens Basel Route
LCC easyJet is expanding at Copenhagen, announcing four non-stop flights a week to Switzerland's cultural capital, Basel.
It will be the only carrier serving the route, which starts on November 1 with A320 aircraft.
IATA BSP data shows that O&D traffic on the route is low with under four thousand passengers flying the route in the period between April 09-10. Passengers currently fly on Swiss International Air Lines via Zurich as a primary transit point. However, new low-fare competition from easyJet will be sure to stimulate the market.
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