News From CIS and The Middle East

Richard Maslen April 28, 2011

EL AL FACES SABBATH FLIGHT PROBLEMS

El Al could be forced into making a major decision on its future flight operations following the recent closure of its wholly-owned charter division Sun D'Or International Airlines. The company had operated a number of regular and ad hoc flights from Tel Aviv to destinations throughout Europe for its parent company, including flights on behalf of El Al on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. However, its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) was revoked on April 1 and El Al has subsequently turned to Arkia and Israir to provide capacity, most notably to maintain Sabbath operations. Now, a respected Israeli newspaper has reported that Arkia will stop providing flights for the national carrier from May 1 and that Israir is considering a similar move. The report in Globes quotes a senior executive at an Israeli charter airline as saying: "We gave El Al several weeks to organise itself and fly with our code, but we have the feeling that they're trying to trick everybody at the expense of the other airlines. It's unacceptable that this trick should become a permanent solution that will hurt us. They have to decide what they want to do. This cannot go on." El Al now faces a major dilemma of potentially suspending all flights on the Sabbath and losing substantial revenue, or flying on the Sabbath and losing haredi (ultra-orthodox) patronage.

SYRIAN AIR TO OFFER WEEKLY ALEPPO - ABU DHABI SERVICE

Syrian Air is to open a new link to Abu Dhabi from the country’s largest city Aleppo, adding to its three times weekly services from Damascus. The new flight will be introduced on June 1 and will be flown by an Airbus A320. There are no current links to Aleppo from Abu Dhabi, although budget carrier flydubai offers four flights per week from Dubai International. An estimated 580,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two countries in the past year with around 87,000 beginning or ending their journeys in Aleppo.

GULF AIR ADDS FIFTH FREQUENCY TO ISTANBUL

Gulf Air is to introduce a fifth weekly frequency on its Bahrain – Istanbul route, at the same time modifying its schedule. The new Thursday service will be introduced from May 17 and will be operated by an Airbus A320. An estimated 56,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two cities in the past 12 months, up 11.3 per cent on the previous 12 month period. The Bahraini carrier has seen its share of the market diluted from 38 to 26 per cent in the past year having seen its passenger numbers decline, although rival Turkish Airlines (THY) has reported a 25.8 per cent rise in traffic across the same period, thanks in a big part, it is believed, to its lower fares. THY currently offers a daily late night flight from Istanbul, which returns from Bahrain during the early morning hours. Gulf Air is to offer a split-schedule on the route – three flights will depart Bahrain to reach Istanbul early afternoon, while the two others will depart Bahrain late evening to reach Istanbul in the early hours of the morning. This is a model that Gulf Air is developing on a number of its routes providing passengers with more flexible options to choose their arrival and departures according to their business and leisure needs as well as potential onward connectivity options for those travelling beyond Bahrain.

ETIHAD SECURES TRAFFIC RIGHTS FOR BEIJING – NAGOYA SECTOR

United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier Etihad Airways now has traffic rights between Beijing and Nagoya, an extension of its five times weekly flight into the Chinese capital from Abu Dhabi. The new rights were introduced from April 1 and the airline hopes the additional traffic will boost this leg of the route. The airline carried an estimated 10,000 O&D passengers between Abu Dhabi and Beijing but less than 1,000 flew between Nagoya and UAE capital. There is a sizeable demand on the regional route and in the past year around 110,000 people travelled on the flights of Air China and China Eastern Airlines. However, Air China is currently the only carrier providing links with a daily Boeing 737-800 operated under an All Nippon Airways (ANA) codeshare. Etihad will be boosting the frequency of the Abu Dhabi – Beijing route from July 1 to a daily schedule.

AEROFLOT CUTS CAPACITY TO MONGOLIA

Aeroflot Russian Airlines is to reduce capacity on its daily Moscow Sheremetyevo - Ulan Baatar service during the peak summer season. The carrier is currently flying a Boeing 767-300ER on its daily rotation, but between June 25 and September 3 it will operate three of the flights (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday) with a smaller Airbus A320. An estimated 28,000 O&D passengers travelled between the Russian Federation and Mongolia in the past year with around 70.2 per cent travelling from one of the Moscow airports. MIAT Mongolian Airlines also serves the route with two flights per week.