AIR FRANCE CONFIRMS BATA LAUNCH DATE
Air France is to further expand its African network with the addition of a second destination in Equatorial Guinea to its network this autumn. The airline will offer a twice weekly link to Bata, an Atlantic Ocean Port City and the economic capital of the African country with a growing population. The flights will begin on September 29 and will be operated as an extension of Air France’s existing Paris CDG – Malabo service. Air France has been seeking to serve Bata for offer a year and had originally scheduled flights to commence in June 2010, but the Equatorial Guinea Government blocked its expansion. The airline will be using an Airbus A319 of its Dedicate fleet with 28 Business Class and 51 Voyageur Economy seats. These aircraft are perfectly suited to niche markets and offer a product designed to make travel easier for oil industry and construction professionals and business people which is tailored to the specific expectations of certain African markets. The French national carrier is the largest European airline in Equatorial Guinea and carried an estimated 11,000 O&D passengers on its existing daily flights between Paris CDG and Malabo in the past 12 months. Air Europa, Iberia and Lufthansa also offer non-stop links to Malabo, the Spanish carriers providing links to Madrid and the German national airline a three times weekly service to Frankfurt via Abuja, Nigeria. Cronos Airlines is currently the only operator to offer scheduled links to Bata with a twice daily service from Malabo using a BAe 146-200.
ESTONIAN AIR BOOSTS FREQUENCIES TO ST PETERSBURG
Baltic carrier Estonian Air is to increase its flights from Tallinn to St Petersburg from September 5 with an additional three weekly rotations. The airline already operates six flights per week on the route under a codeshare arrangement with Rossiya Airlines. These are operated using a Saab 340 turboprop. An estimated 14,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year, up 38.3 per cent on the previous 12 months, but Estonian Air is also looking to boost its transfer traffic via its Tallinn base. Around 2,000 additional passengers connected from St Petersburg to other Estonian Air destinations in the last 12 months, mainly the Scandinavian capitals. “Estonian Air is aiming to increase the share of transfer traffic and to make flying via Tallinn more attractive,” said Rauno Parras, Vice President Commercial, Estonian Air. “St Petersburg is an important destination for Estonian entrepreneur’s and holiday makers, while Estonia remains an exciting and popular destination with the inhabitants of St Petersburg.”
LUFTHANSA TO OFFER WEEKEND FRANKFURT – KLAGENFURT LINK
This winter Lufthansa is to introduce a twice weekly flight between Frankfurt and Klagenfurt. The service will operate at the weekends with Saturday morning and Sunday evening rotations from November 5 and will be operated by a Lufthansa CityLine Embraer 190. The German flag carrier already serves the Austrian city of Klagenfurt, the sixth largest in the country and a developing business and leisure destination especially for its festive markets ahead of Christmas. It offers up to three flights per day from its Munich hub, while fellow German operators airberlin and Germanwings provide links from Berlin, Cologne / Bonn, Dusseldorf and Hamburg. An estimated 15,000 O&D passengers flew between Germany and Klagenfurt in the past year with around half of these flying to/from Frankfurt, despite the lack of availability of a direct flight. The main traffic flow for these passengers has been via Vienna on the services of Austrian Airlines.
JETAIRFLY TO OPEN NEW LEISURE ROUTES
Belgian leisure carrier Jetairfly, part of the TUI Travel Group, is to offer services on three new routes during the Northern Winter schedules. The airline, which has operational bases at Brussels National, Brussels Charleroi, Liege and Ostend, will open new links to Algeria, Thailand and the Dominican Republic as part of an expanded winter offering. From October 31 a weekly link will be added from Brussels National to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, an additional stop on the airline’s existing flight to Punta Cana. This will be followed from November 1 by a weekly service between Brussels Charleroi and the Algerian city of Oran, while from November 5 a weekly Brussels – Phuket – Bangkok – Brussels route will be introduced. Jetairfly will be mainly targeting leisure travellers on its flights with many of the seats being booked as part of TUI Travel tour packages.
HAINAN AIRLINES EYES MADRID FOR LATEST EUROPEAN GROWTH
Fast-expanding Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines is planning to launch its first flights into Spain with a twice weekly link to Madrid. According to a preliminary flight schedule the first services from Shanghai Pu Dong could commence as early as September 19 although the schedule has not yet been uploaded into the carrier’s booking system, nor been confirmed by the airline. The Spanish capital will be served as an extension of Hainan Airlines’ existing Shanghai Pu Dong – Brussels route, with its return flight from Europe being moved four hours later to accommodate the additional sector. Air China currently offers the only direct service between Spain and China, a five times weekly flight between Madrid and Beijing. An estimated 484,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two countries in the past year, with just 5.9 per cent of these flying between Beijing and Madrid on Air China’s direct service. Around 102,000 O&D passengers are estimated to have flown between Shanghai Pu Dong and Madrid in the last year, all flying via Europe or the Middle East.
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