BRITISH AIRWAYS TO OFFER DAILY SCHEDULE TO RIYADH
British Airways (BA) is to further increase capacity between the UK and Saudi Arabia this winter by offering a daily schedule on its London Heathrow – Riyadh route from October 30. The airline currently serves the route five times every week but confirmed earlier this year that it would introduce a sixth weekly rotation for the Northern Winter, matching its capacity for the 2010/2011 season. However, it has now revealed that in fact will offer a daily schedule to support increased demand. “We are absolutely delighted with the demand from the Saudi Arabian market since we resumed flights two years ago. Our two Kingdoms’ share a great affinity and passengers are travelling for a wide variety of reasons from tourism to business to education,” explained Paolo De Renzis, Regional Commercial Manager Middle East, British Airways. “In response to this continuously growing demand, we quickly realised that the additional one flight a week from Riyadh, announced just over a month ago, wasn’t going to be sufficient. So, instead of adding one flight, we’ve decided to increase it to two, resulting in a daily service throughout the week from Riyadh beginning in end-October this year.” British Airways currently competes with Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and bmi British Midland International on the London Heathrow – Riyadh route, while Saudia also offers flights from Jeddah, a destination BA serves five times per week. An estimated 527,000 O&D passengers travelled between the UK and Saudi Arabia in the past year, the largest flow of traffic between Europe and the Kingdom, accounting for 30.7 per cent of the total traffic. Looking in more detail at the London Heathrow – Riyadh route, an estimated 161,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year. This is a 7.7 per cent increase on the previous 12 months and clearly shows the growing trade between the two countries. BA carried an estimated 37,000 O&D passengers (23 per cent of the total) in the last year, with Saudia holding a 38 per cent share and bmi british Midland International 25 per cent.
RÉGIONAL TO OPEN INTERNATIONAL LINKS FROM NANTES
Air France subsidiary Régional Compagnie Aérienne Européenne is to launch new connections to Brussels and Dusseldorf from the western French city of Nantes. The carrier will operate two flights every weekday to the Belgian capital and a six times weekly link to the German city from October 2. The routes will both be operated using Embraer ERJ135s under Air France codes. The national carrier currently offers scheduled links to 18 domestic and international airports from Nantes, the country’s sixth largest city, with flights operated by the mainline carrier and its regional partners BritAir, CityJet and Régional. It is currently working on increasing point-to-point connections from airports across the country to reduce its dependence on transfer traffic at its Paris CDG hub, having been hit hard by direct low-cost competition in the regions. There is already a limited market on both routes which will be stimulated by the introduction of non-stop flights. Interestingly, despite the strength of its Paris CDG hub and up to four daily flights, more passengers between Nantes and Brussels are taking advantage of the flights of easyJet Switzerland than Air France’s own services to connect between the two destinations.
SAS ADDS SECOND DAILY COPENHAGEN – POZNAN ROTATION
SAS Scandinavian Airlines is to inaugurate a second weekday flight between its Copenhagen base and the west-central Polish city of Poznań. The upgraded schedule will take effect from October 1 with the flights being operated using Bombardier CRJ900s and smaller CRJ200s of regional partner Cimber Sterling. The new flight will depart Copenhagen late in the evening and will night-stop in Poznań before returning in the morning. The new schedule will provide more flexibility for business passengers between the cities and enhanced connectivity in the Danish capital, as well as new flight options for leisure travellers. Poznań is an important centre of trade, industry, and education, and hosts regular international trade fairs. In the past year an estimated 9,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route. SAS holds a 77 per cent share of this traffic, with the rest flying on indirect flights by LOT Polish Airlines and Lufthansa.
LUFTHANSA ADDS EARLY MORNING FRANKFURT – HANOVER FLIGHT
German national carrier Lufthansa is to introduce a new early morning departure on its Frankfurt – Hanover route during the Northern Winter schedule. The additional flight will operate between 6am and 7am and in particular will provide day visitors with an extra hour at each destination as well as providing additional connection opportunities from Frankfurt for transfer traffic. The flight will be Lufthansa’s 7th daily rotation on the route and will be introduced from October 30. The airline is currently the only operator providing non-stop links between the two cities, using a mix of Classic Boeing 737 variants and Airbus A319s on its flights. It carried an estimated 69,000 O&D passengers on the route in the past year, but around 194,000 more passengers connected in Frankfurt to its wider global network. The largest passenger flows were into the US (18.3 per cent), China (8.8 per cent) and Italy (8.4 per cent).
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