FLYBE DROPS LINKS TO FRANKFURT
UK low-fare carrier Flybe is to drop to key business routes between the UK and Germany. The regional carrier is expected to withdraw flights to Frankfurt from Birmingham and Manchester from next month, although it has not publicly confirmed its plans. According to the GDS, Flybe’s last flight on the Birmingham route will operate on July 21, while the Manchester service will stop from July 25. The airline currently offers up to twice daily services on each route as well as offering links to the German city from Southampton. Both routes are also served by Lufthansa on an up to four times daily basis. An estimated 176,000 O&D passengers travelled between Frankfurt and Birmingham in the last year, while 162,000 O&D passengers flew between the German city and Manchester. Flybe had secured a 27 per cent and 32 per cent share of these respective markets.
JET2.COM EXTENDS NEWCASTLE – KRAKOW OFFERING
UK low-fare carrier Jet2.com has confirmed that it will extend its flights between Newcastle and Krakow into the Northern Winter schedules. The airline had originally planned to drop the route at the end of the summer in late October but will now continue to serve the route twice per week until January 2, 2012. According to official CAA data, Jet2.com carried 2,175 passengers on the route in April and May, its first two months of operation. The region around Krakow attracts more visitors than anywhere else in Poland and is one of Europe's architectural gems, with its attractive churches, palaces and the popular Old Town. “Krakow is a very popular route from Newcastle so we are delighted to be able to extend the season until after Christmas, so holidaymakers can see the city when it’s transformed into a Winter Wonderland,” said Ian Doubtfire, Managing Director, Jet2.com. “It offers such great variety – from history and culture to a lively nightlife – it really is a destination which appeals to everyone.”
KLM TO LAUNCH RIO DE JANEIRO LINK
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has become the latest carrier to reveal plans to serve the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, following hot on the heels of other European, Middle East and Latin American carriers. The national airline of the Netherlands will introduce a three times weekly service from Amsterdam on November 1, resurrecting a route it last served in the late 1990s. Airlines are seeing a strong potential from the Brazilian market and with the country hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2106 a significant number of visitors are expected into the country. KLM will be the sole operator on the route between the two cities, although a large amount of traffic from the Netherlands already flies to Rio de Janeiro via other European capitals and KLM’s existing daily link to Sao Paulo. Approximately 34,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two airports in the past year with KLM accounting for just 6 per cent of this traffic.
CZECH CONNECT ADDS TO NETWORK
Independent operator Czech Connect Airlines will introduce two additional routes to its network during the last week of June, adding to the two seasonal routes it launched earlier this month. Among these new services, the carrier is to introduce a weekly rotation between Pardubice and Moscow Domodedovo from June 25, becoming only the second carrier to offer scheduled flights from the Czech city, which lies on the River Elbe, approximately 65 miles east of Prague. The only other scheduled link to the city is also to the Russian capital, operated by Transaero Airlines on a three times weekly basis, although Smart Wings does offer charter links to destinations in Bulgaria and Turkey. Czech Connect will also introduce a twice weekly Prague – Athens link from June 30, a route already served on a daily schedule by national carrier Czech Airlines. The carrier will offer a split schedule with one flight operating during the day and one overnight and will be mainly targeting leisure travellers. An estimated 285,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two cities in the past year, with easyJet also providing flights up until recently. These two new route launches follow the introduction of seasonal flights from Ostrava to Kavala and Split earlier this month. The popular northern Greek leisure destination of Kavala will be served weekly between June 14 and September 3, while the Croatian coastal town of Split will have a weekly link between June 15 and September 7.
RYANAIR TO ADD KATOWICE – BRISTOL LINK
Irish budget carrier Ryanair is to introduce a fourth link to Katowice in Poland this November with a twice weekly flight from Bristol, the largest city in south-west England. The airline started flying to the Polish city in November 2007 and currently offers flights from Birmingham, Dublin and London Stansted, handling around 700,000 passengers since its launch. This winter Ryanair will serve seventeen routes from Bristol, including existing links to Gdansk, Poznan, Rzeszow and Wroclaw in Poland. An estimated 4.31 million O&D passengers travelled between Poland and the UK last year with around 205,000 flying to or from Bristol. easyJet also serves the Polish market from the city with flights to Krakow.
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