News From Around The EuroZone

Richard Maslen March 24, 2011

ALITALIA TO ADD FLORENCE – AMSTERDAM FLIGHT

Italian flag carrier Alitalia is to enhance links into the Netherlands with the introduction of a twice daily Florence – Amsterdam service from March 27. The route, operated in partnership with fellow SkyTeam member KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, will target tourism traffic to the Tuscany region. Elsewhere, it will increase frequencies to the Dutch capital from Turin with a new five times weekly Air One Bombardier CRJ900 flight complementing its existing daily schedule. In addition to these connections, Alitalia also serves Amsterdam from Rome Leonardo da Vinci International (21 rotations a week) and Milan Linate (13 a week). Over 2.4 million O&D passengers travelled between the two countries in the year ending January 2011 with Alitalia holding a 14.2 per cent share. Ryanair and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines each hold a 24 per cent split of the traffic, together flying 1.1 million passengers during the 12 month period.

ADRIA AIRWAYS EXPANDS AT PRISTINA

Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways is to expand its network from Pristina this summer with three new international routes. The airline is to offer a twice weekly service to Brussels between June 2 and September 29, and weekly rotations to Copenhagen (from June 21 to August 9) and Paris CDG (June 18 to September 17). It already offers flights from the Kosovo city to Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Ljubljana and Munich. In the year ending January 2011 it accounted for a ten per cent share of the one million O&D passenger traffic to and from Pristina.

FINNAIR INTRODUCES THIRD WEEKLY DUBAI FLIGHT

Finnair has revealed that it will operate a third weekly rotation on the Helsinki –Dubai route this coming winter. The seasonal leisure route will be operated by a Boeing 757-200. Approximately 26,000 O&D passengers travelled to Dubai from Helsinki Vantaa in the year ending December 2010, just over 43 per cent of these using Finnair’s direct flights. The remainder have made use of the one-stop services of foreign operators, primarily Turkish Airlines (THY) via Istanbul, Lufthansa via Frankfurt and Munich and Austrian Airlines via Vienna.

ICELANDAIR ADDS FLIGHTS TO ALICANTE

Icelandair is to add flights to the Spanish city of Alicante this summer with a new weekly connection from its Keflavik hub. The service will operate from March 27 on a Thursday, although the schedule will be switched to Wednesdays during the peak season. The airline will be mainly looking at point-to-point leisure traffic rather than its traditional balance of point-to-point and onward connections to its transatlantic flights, which have made its other routes to Europe successful. Alicante and its nearby Costa Blanca resorts are popular with Icelandic holidaymakers after a sunshine break. Last year approximately 15,000 O&D passengers used the route, which is already served by local rival Iceland Express three times every week. This summer Icelandair will add a third weekly rotation to Halifax between June 18 and September 22 and will also operate a series of four special flights between Keflavik and London Stansted from October 13 to October 27.

EASYJET ROUTE LAUNCHES

easyJet has confirmed the start dates of some of its new routes this summer. From June 6 it will add a daily Bristol – Rome Fiumcino (replacing its flights to Rome Ciampino); from June 17 a new three times weekly Manchester – Bilbao service will be introduced; from June 25 a three times weekly London Gatwick – Catania; from July 8 a four times weekly Paris CDG – Thessaloniki and from September 5 a seventh daily Milan Malpensa – Paris CDG rotation will commence. However, the UK carrier is to pull out of the Helsinki market, with Manchester – Helsinki flights stopping from June 13; London Gatwick from June 22 and Paris CDG from July 7.

AIRBERLIN ADDS MOSCOW LINK FROM BRAUNSCHWEIG

German carrier and Oneworld designate member airberlin has inaugurated flights to Moscow Vnukovo from the city of Braunschweig in the federal state of Lower Saxony. The twice-weekly flight was launched on March 18 and is being operated using an Embraer E190 of Austrian sister carrier Niki. This is currently the only scheduled passenger flight from the small airport, which mainly handles general and corporate aviation flights particularly associated with work at the nearby Deutches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR) aerospace centre or for car manufacturer Volkswagen, which holds a shareholding in the airport. airberlin has actually been carrying out some test flights from Braunschweig-Wolfsburg over the past year to validate new noise abatement approach procedures for DLR and Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS).

AIR FRANCE INCREASES CAPACITY TO ATHENS AND STOCKHOLM

European flag carrier Air France is to add up to three additional daily rotations between its Paris CDG hub and Athens this summer, as well as adding a fourth daily rotation to Stockholm Arlanda. The airline already offers four daily flights to the Greek capital but will increase frequency to six a day on selected days from May 2 and will then add a seventh service between July 11 and August 28. Aegean Airlines also serves the route on a daily basis but will increase frequencies to three times daily from May 2 after Olympic Air dropped its own services. On its link to the Swedish capital, Air France will introduce the additional flight from June 6. It secured a 53 per cent share of an O&D market of 308,000 passengers during the year ending January 2011.

SWISS TO OFFER SEASONAL BASEL – NICE LINK

Swiss European Air Lines is to offer a seasonal link between EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg and Nice this summer. The carrier will offer four flights per week for a seven week period between July 1 and August 19 using an Avro RJ100, adding to its existing four times daily service to the southern French destination from Zurich. The Basel – Nice route is already served by easyJet Switzerland with a daily schedule, carrying 67,000 O&D passengers in the year ending January 2011.

BE THE FIRST WITH THE NEWS…

To keep up to date on a daily basis with the latest new route announcements and changes to airline flight schedules please bookmark our Breaking News page.