News From Around The EuroZone

Richard Maslen April 20, 2011

SAS DROPS WINTER LINK TO DUBAI

SAS Scandinavian Airlines is reported to have dropped its three times weekly Copenhagen – Dubai link from its forthcoming winter schedule. During the 2010/2011 season, the carrier operated two flights per week with an Airbus A340-300 and one a week with a smaller A330, but will now re-assign this capacity to other routes, according to sources. The airline has served the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a seasonal basis for the last four years but this winter would have faced strong competition from Emirates Airline, which is launching a daily year-round flight on August 1. Like most of its new routes, The Dubai-based carrier will use an Airbus A330-200 on the daily link, configured in a low density, three-class seating arrangement, but it is already planning to upgrade the route to a Boeing 777-200ER from February 1, 2012. SAS accounted for 32 per cent of the estimated 56,000 passengers that travelled between Dubai and Copenhagen in the past 12 months, with the remaining two-thirds travelling via another city. Austrian Airlines held the largest share of this market with 20 per cent of the total traffic routing via its Vienna base.

BRITISH AIRWAYS CONFIRMS RIO GROWTH

British Airways (BA) has confirmed that it is to double capacity on its flights from London Heathrow to Rio de Janeiro this winter, as first revealed by The HUB on April 8. The airline currently offers three flights per week on the route, but has confirmed that from November 3 it will add another three weekly rotations meaning that the flights will operate every day except Mondays. “We are experiencing a real increase in demand for Rio and by doubling the number of departures, we are able to offer our customers more choice and greater availability,” said Neil Cottrell, Head of Network Planning, British Airways. “Brazil is also experiencing strong economic growth and this capacity increase is a great opportunity for British Airways to be part of that growth.” BA competes directly with TAM Airlines between the two cities, while a large amount of traffic from the UK also flies via other European capitals. Approximately 95,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two airports in the past year with BA accounting for 37 per cent and TAM Airlines 24 per cent of this traffic.

AIR EUROPA INCREASES VALENCIA – PARIS CDG FREQUENCIES

Air Europa is to introduce a third daily flight between Valencia and Paris CDG, a route that it is currently the sole operator. The airline offers a morning and evening flight each day, but following the introduction of the third daily frequency from May 30 will re-time its schedules to offer morning, afternoon and late evening rotations. The SkyTeam alliance member carried an estimated 34,000 O&D passengers on the route last year, with fares averaging $138 each way. The flights are operated under a codeshare with Air France and the morning flight also carries Aeromexico’s code, and this explains why Air France dominates traffic on the route with around 78,000 O&D passengers flying between the two cities using the ‘AF’ code.

THY SECURES TRAFFIC RIGHTS BETWEEN SINGAPORE AND JAKARTA

Turkish Airlines (THY) began accepting passengers for the Singapore- Jakarta leg of its daily Istanbul – Singapore – Jakarta route last week after receiving fifth freedom traffic rights. The route between Singapore and Jakarta is one of the most fiercely battled links in the world, with 12 carriers already offering scheduled air services between the destinations. Approximately 2.7 million O&D passengers travelled between the two in the past year. Flag carriers Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia dominate the market with a 25 per cent and 20 per cent share of the traffic, respectively, but Indonesia AirAsia, Lion Air and Valuair also fly a sizeable chunk of this traffic. The other carriers serving the route comprise Batavia Air, Cathay Pacific Airways, JetStar Airways, Lufthansa, Philippine Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Tiger Airways. THY has also confirmed it is to inaugurate its three times weekly Istanbul Ataturk – Basra route on May 23. The carrier had previously said it would launch the new service on May 11, but for undetermined reasons has delayed the start. THY already provides direct links to Baghdad and it added Erbil to its network last week, when it launched flights to the Kurdistan city. It also plans to serve Najaf and Sulaymaniyah.

COMEFLY TO OFFER CHARTERS TO US

New Danish tour operator Comefly is to offer a series of charter packages into the United States this summer, including direct flights between Aalborg and Fort Myers. The travel specialist is the only venture to offer non-stop links between Denmark and Florida during the current season. It will offer five flights on the Aalborg - Fort Myers route on a weekly basis from June 21 as part of tour packages although seat only options are also available to passengers originating in the US. Comefly has plans to expand its activities in the future with flights to the Caribbean, Mexico and Brazil, and then later to the Maldives. These flights will all be operated by a chartered Monarch Airlines aircraft.