YEMENIA REDUCES CAPACITY TO GUANGZHOU
Yemenia reduced capacity on its Sana’a – Dubai – Guangzhou route to twice weekly on May 1 having served the link three times per week for the past month. The airline previously served the market on a twice weekly schedule, but increased capacity on April 1. No further information has been released by the airline for the reason behind these amendments. The airline carried an estimated 5,500 O&D passengers between Sana’a and Guangzhou in the past year giving it a 59 per cent share of the market. On the sector between Sana’a and Dubai, where it competes directly with Emirates Airline, Yemenia carried around 28,000 O&D travellers, down 15.8 per cent on the previous 12 months, although it maintained its 36 per cent share of the traffic.
AEROFLOT SETS COURSE FOR CAMBODIA
Aeroflot Russian Airlines is set to launch flights between Moscow Sheremetyevo and Phnom Penh to support the growing number of Russian visitors to Cambodia. A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was agreed during a Cambodian trade visit to the Russian capital and details of the planned flight are now being finalised. Aeroflot previously served this route in the 1980s and early 1990s with two flights per week. Although certainly not as popular as Egypt with Russian tourists, a growing number are now seeking alternative destinations and Cambodia has witnessed a rapid growth over the past few years. According to Ministry of Tourism statistics 19,395 Russians visited Cambodia in 2009, while last year this almost doubled to 34,170. With the introduction of a new direct service, tourism officials expect this to grow to more than 100,000 passengers per year and potentially increase beyond 250,000 by 2015. The majority of passengers between Moscow and Phnom Penh currently make use of special charter flights with only a limited scheduled demand being reported.
NASAIR TO LAUNCH RIYADH – ISTANBUL
As reported earlier this year, Saudi Arabian low-cost carrier Nasair is to further expand its network in Turkey and it has now confirmed the launch of a four times weekly Riyadh – Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen service from June 18. The link will accommodate the growth in demand from Turkish expats living and working in Saudi Arabia, as well as the more than half a million pilgrims who travel to Saudi Arabia each year from Turkey. It will be operated by Airbus A320 and Embraer 190 regional jets. Approximately 313,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two countries last year on scheduled services with flag carriers Turkish Airlines (THY) (74.3 per cent) and Saudi Arabian Airlines (22.8 per cent) dominating the market. This summer THY and Saudia will both offer flights from Istanbul Ataturk to Jeddah, Madinah and Riydah. An estimated 51,000 O&D passengers travelled between Istanbul and Riyadh in the past year, up 29.3 per cent on the previous 12 months. THY dominates this market with a daily schedule from Ataturk but no-one currently offers flights from Sabiha Gokcen on the Asian side of the city. The Turkish air travel market is one of the largest in the region from Saudi Arabia and Nasair is expected to grow further. It currently offers four direct flights between Jeddah and Istanbul each week, three weekly direct flights between Jeddah and Adana as well as twice weekly direct services between Antalya and Jeddah and Antalya and Riyadh.
AFGHAN AIRLINES TO SERVE BAHRAIN
Officials in the Afghanistan Ministry of Transport and Aviation have confirmed that Afghan carriers will soon begin flights to Bahrain. The arrangement is part of the bilateral agreement reached with the Kingdom of Bahrain earlier this year when it was confirmed that state-owned national carrier Gulf Air would inaugurate flights to Kabul. The airline will launch a four times weekly service from June 15, and it is expected that Afghan registered carriers will offer a similar number of frequencies. No public announcement has yet been made on which local airline or airlines will serve the route. Safi Airways is currently the largest airline in the country based on O&D traffic in the past year with an estimated 23.8 per cent share, followed closely behind by Ariana Afghan Airlines (23.6 per cent). Kam Air has a 21.1 per cent share, while Pamir Airways accounted for 11.4 per cent of the traffic in, out and within the country. The new flights will make travel between the two countries much easier, opening a huge commercial opportunity for Afghanistan’s well known traditional industries such as carpets and gems, and the industrial sectors namely construction and engineering, IT/telecommunications, transportation, and of course mining, which are poised for take-off. There is also a huge opportunity for Bahrain’s private sector businesses in Afghanistan, traffic from many of the international corporations and organisations working on multi-million development projects in Afghanistan and the vast Afghan community living and working in the Middle East, North America, Europe and Asia.
TABUK TO WELCOME INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS FOLLOWING UPGRADES
The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in Saudi Arabia has confirmed that it is currently studying applications from three airlines to launch international flights into Tabuk Regional Airport following its recent modernisation. A new terminal building and an upgraded runway were opened to traffic last month (April 18) at a cost of a reported SAR242 million ($64.5 million). The facility handled around 680,000 passengers last year but operations have been limited to the domestic services of Saudi Arabian Airlines. The national carrier offers flights to Abha, Dammam, Gassim, Gurayat, Hail, Jeddah, Jouf, Medina, Riyadh, Taif, Turaif, Wedjh, but a GACA representative confirmed that flydubai, AlMasria Universal and Nile Air had all applied to introduce overseas flights from Dubai and Cairo.
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