Five For Friday

Richard Maslen September 15, 2010

EMIRATES INCREASES JEDDAH FLIGHTS

Dubai based Emirates Airlines, will increase scheduled flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for this coming winter season. Its current daily flight which is operated with A380 equipment will increase to a 12 times-weekly operation. IATA BSP data shows that over 323,000 O+D passengers flew the market between June 2009 and 2010 with Saudi Arabian Airlines having a 50% share of the market and Emirates a 42% share.

JET2.COM TO ESTABLISH GLASGOW BASE

Low-cost operator Jet2.com has announced that it will establish a new base in Glasgow serving primarily destinations in the Mediterranean from next March. It will station a B737 and B757 citing a gap in the market, with Globespan having ceased operations earlier this year. easyJet is currently the largest scheduled operator in Glasgow operating 29% of all scheduled seats according to Flightbase scheduled data.

REGIONALE HEADS TO DUSSELDORF

Air France subsidiary, Regional Compagnie Aerinenne Europeenne will launch a new daily service from Toulouse in South-West France to Dusseldorf. The route will be operated with E145 equipment. Air France currently serves Dusseldorf from its Charles de Gaulle and Lyon hubs, however the thinner Toulouse route is ideally suited to the regional equipment of Regional.

BEIRUT GAINS ADDITIONAL BMI CAPACITY

Star Alliance member BMI has announced that it is set to increase scheduled flying from London Heathrow to Beirut, Lebanon. Effective March 26^th, its daily service will become double daily to be operated with A321 equipment competing with Middle East Airlines (MEA) which also offers a daily service. BMI focus is now largely based around markets in the Middle East and the CIS.

WIZZ UKRAINE ADDS SKAVSTA ROUTE

Wizz Air's Ukraine division will begin scheduled services to Stockholm Skavsta with a twice-weekly service from Kiev to Stockholm Skavsta beginning December 18^th. There is no scheduled link from the Ukraine capital to Skavsta, however national carrier Aerosvit operates five-weekly services to Arlanda.