News From Around The EuroZone

Richard Maslen March 31, 2011

NORWEGIAN ADDS FLIGHTS FROM ARLANDA

Budget operator Norwegian has confirmed the launch of three additional routes from its base at Stockholm Arlanda in Sweden. From June 1 it will inaugurate a four times weekly link to Berlin Schoenefeld and will add a three-times weekly service to Prague the following day. At the same time it will also offer a seasonal domestic link to Visby, the historic city on the island of Gotland, until August 12. The route to Germany is already served six times weekly by Germanwings, Prague is linked to the Swedish capital by Czech Airlines and SAS Scandinavian Airlines, while commuter carriers Nextjet and Skyways serve Visby. Norwegian is the second largest carrier at Stockholm Arlanda, providing more than 250 weekly flights and over 45,000 seats per week from the airport to 30 destinations from this month, accounting for just under a quarter of its seat capacity.

VUELING TO OPEN FOURTH LINK TO LONDON HEATHROW

Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling Airlines is to inaugurate flights to London Heathrow from the northwestern city of Vigo this summer, its fourth link to the UK airport. The Barcelona-based carrier has three slot pairs at Heathrow; one is used for daily rotation to Bilbao, one for a daily service to La Coruña and one for a daily link to Seville. With little opportunity to secure additional slots there, it is to cut its Seville flight to four times per week, using the three additional slot pairs to add the new seasonal link to Vigo, which will likely launch from the start of May. “We are happy with the performance of all our flights at Heathrow and are committed to continuing service to all three destinations, Alex Cruz, Chief Executive officer, Vueling Airlines, told The HUB ahead of this week’s formal route announcement. “However, the local authorities have been campaigning for us to resurrect this link from Vigo and we know we can expect good passenger numbers.” Prior to the merger of Vueling Airlines and Clickair, the latter had previously served the Vigo – London market, initially serving Gatwick and then Heathrow, so Vueling’s management has first-hand traffic data on the route.

BLUE 1 TO LAUNCH HELSINKI – TAMPERE

Finnish Star Alliance carrier Blue1 is to inaugurate a domestic connection between Helsinki and Tampere, alongside its previously revealed new link to southern city from the Danish capital Copenhagen. The new six times weekly rotation will be launched on October 30. Blue 1 already flies to Tampere from Stockholm up to four times daily, a route it carried 22,000 O&D passengers in the year ending January 2011. The Helsinki – Tampere route is already served by Finnair, part of the rival Oneworld alliance, which operates up to 26 flights per week.

NIKI TO SERVE IRISH MARKET AND PRISTINA

Austrian carrier NIKI, part of the airberlin Group, is to introduce seasonal flights to Republic of Ireland this summer. The airline will operate weekly flights on the Vienna – Shannon and Graz – Shannon – Linz – Graz routes between May 28 and September 3. Aer Lingus is currently the only airline offering flights between the two countries with a six times weekly service between Vienna and Dublin. NIKI will be mainly targeting leisure travellers on the two routes. Meanwhile, the carrier has also confirmed that it will inaugurate a twice weekly flight between Vienna and Pristina from June 29 using its Embraer 190s. The route is already served by national carrier Austrian Airlines, which offers 12 flights per week using a mix of Airbus A320 Family and Next-Generation Boeing 737 aircraft. Around 55,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two cities in the 12 months until January 2011.

FINNAIR ADDS SEASONAL LINK TO PISA

Nordic carrier Finnair is to open a Helsinki – Pisa link this summer. The twice weekly service will operate between May 13 and August 13 with an Airbus A319 being used on the route. There have been no direct services between the two cities for over a year with Finnair last serving the market in 2009 and carrying around 5,000 O&D passengers. The Finnish national carrier already offers flights from Helsinki to Milan Malpensa, Rome Leonardo da Vinci International (Fiumicino) and Venice Marco Polo, providing more than 35 flights per week.

IBERIA TO DROP FUERTEVENTURA AND PALMA DE MALLORCA

Spanish flag carrier Iberia is to suspend domestic flights from Madrid to Fuerteventura and Palma de Mallorca from mid-April as it rationalises its own network and its activities with its regional and low-cost partners. According to the airline’s GDS timetable, it will operate its last link to the Balearic island of Mallorca on April 15 and will transfer its flights to low-cost carrier Vueling Airlines. This will mark the end of 75-years of service to Palma under the Iberia brand.

AIRBERLIN ADDS MALTESE CONNECTIONS

German carrier airberlin is to introduce weekly flights to Malta from EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, Hamburg and Nuremberg from May 1, its only current links to the Mediterranean island. Around 341,000 O&D passengers travelled between Germany and Malta on scheduled services in the 12 months up to January 2011, with national carrier Air Malta carrying around 265,000, giving it a 77.5 per cent share. The market from Switzerland is also dominated by Air Malta which holds a 79.1 per cent share of the 58,000 passenger O&D traffic. Further strengthening its position in Germany, Air Malta is to introduce flights to Hanover from May 1, with the launch of a weekly Sunday flight. The Mediterranean carrier already serves six German cities with 38 weekly flights in April to Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart.

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