News From Around The EuroZone

Richard Maslen April 07, 2011

AIR FRANCE TO ADD CAPE TOWN LINK

Air France will introduce a new three times weekly service between Paris CDG and the South African city of Cape Town from November 3. The flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-200 with a total capacity of 309 seats, equipped with 35 seats in the Business cabin, 24 seats in the Premium Voyageur cabin and 250 seats in the Voyageur (Economy) cabin. This will increase the airline’s flights between France and South Africa to 10 per week, complementing its daily service to Johannesburg, which was upgraded to an Airbus A380 in February last year. Around 1.6 million O&D passengers travelled between Europe and South Africa with Air France holding a 8.2 share of this traffic and its sister carrier KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 9.8 per cent. The Dutch carrier already serves Cape Town on a daily basis from Amsterdam Schiphol, alongside a daily rotation to Johannesburg. A city in the south-western corner of South Africa, located on the Atlantic coast, Cape Town is the second largest port, the country's legislative capital, seat of the South African Parliament and one of the top tourist destinations in South Africa. Last year more than 498,000 O&D passengers travelled between there and Europe with 38,000 using the currently indirect Paris CDG – Cape Town route.

NIKI UPGRADES BELGRADE LINK FOR WINTER

Austrian regional carrier NIKI is to increase links between Vienna and Belgrade this winter with eleven rather than six flights per week. The airline has revealed that it will offer two flights every weekday from the end of October rather than just one at present, with the single rotation on a Sunday continuing. A change of flight schedule from an afternoon to a morning and evening service will stimulate demand from the business market as well as offering leisure travellers wider travel options. National carriers Austrian Airlines and JAT Airways already serve the route on a twice daily regularity or better, but NIKI has successfully penetrated the market with lesser frequency and holds a 30 per cent share of the 140,000 passenger O&D traffic during the past year, with average fares around 20 per cent higher than its rivals. NIKI is currently the third largest operator on the route by demand, however, it is only just behind its rivals, with JAT Airways holding a 36 per cent share of traffic and Austrian Airlines 33 per cent.

NORWEGIAN TO SERVE TEL AVIV FROM STOCKHOLM BASE

Nordic budget carrier Norwegian is to further expand its network from Stockholm Arlanda, in addition to its new routes to Berlin Schoenefeld, Prague and Visby, announced last week. From June 26 the airline will offer a weekly rotation to Tel Aviv, a link that is expected to continue until the end of the Northern Summer schedules. Norwegian does not currently serve Tel Aviv from any of its Scandinavian bases, although Arkia has operated direct flights between the two cities in the past year when around 35,000 O&D passengers have travelled. The majority of these are currently flying via Frankfurt and Vienna, and although this is likely to continue across the summer, Norwegian’s new flight will offer an alternative and faster link between the two cities. As reported last week, 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.

EDELWEISS AIR DROPS TOKYO LAUNCH BUT ADDS ORLANDO LINK

Swiss carrier Edelweiss Air has dropped its plans to inaugurate services to Tokyo Narita following last month’s earthquake. The airline was due to add a weekly link to the Japanese capital from Zurich between May 28 and September 24 but lower demand means that this route is viewed as no longer viable. Edelweiss Air operates all of its flights under a codeshare with owner Swiss International Air Lines, mainly targeting leisure traffic and Swiss already offers a daily schedule between Zurich and Tokyo. The cancellation of this service has enabled Edelweiss Air to redeploy the Airbus A330-200 that was planned to serve the route and this will now be used to fly a weekly link from Zurich to Orlando between July 2 and September 10.

START-UP LAUNCHES ALTENRHEIN – VIENNA ROUTE

Austrian-registered start-up carrier People’s Vienna Line has acquired a former Finnair Embraer 170-100LR and launched services from St Gallen-Altenrhein Airport to Vienna. The airline, backed by the local authority of the Swiss regional facility, Airport Altenrhein AG, inaugurated the link to the Austrian capital on March 28, offering three flights every weekday and a single rotation at weekends. The route is presently served by Austrian Airlines’ regional subsidiary Tyrolean Airways up to 18 times per week under the Austrian Arrows brand. More than 55,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two cities in the past year and the start-up is trying to stimulate the market by initially offering competitive fares alongside special ticketing promotions. The average fare on the route in the past year was $233.

ATLASJET LAUNCHES TO TEHRAN AND PRISTINA FROM ISTANBUL

Turkish carrier Atlasjet Airlines has started flights from Istanbul Ataturk to Tehran Imam Khomeini and Pristina International. The airline is offering six flights per week to Tehran, a route that is also served twice daily by Turkish Airlines (THY), four times per week by Iran Air and twice weekly by Caspian Air. Mahan Air also served the route but temporarily suspended its flights this week and has subsequently added a flight to Istanbul’s second airport, Sabiha Gökçen, from the Iranian capital instead. Around 260,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year with THY holding a 41 per cent share. Meanwhile, a twice weekly service is being offered to Pristina, a route that is again dominated by THY. The national carrier offers a daily schedule and carried around 48,000 O&D passengers in the past year. With average fares on the route of between $134 and $140 each way, Atlasjet will compete on price, offering an alternative travel option to price sensitive customers. In fact the airline did offer a limited number of flights on the route in the past year with fares almost half those offered by THY.

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