QATAR AIRWAYS LAUNCHES SHIRAZ FLIGHTS
Qatar Airways has this week inaugurated flights between Doha and Shahid Dastghaib International Airport in Shiraz, its third destination in Iran. The twice weekly link was launched on June 5 and is operated with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business and 132 in Economy. The airline first launched flights to Iran in 2004 when it commenced flights to Tehran, followed a year later by flights to Mashad. It now serves Iran’s capital Tehran twice-daily with a further five-flights-a-week to the northern city of Mashad and carried an estimated 68,000 O&D passengers between Iran and its Doha International Airport base in the past year. According to Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Airways, the potential for the route “is huge” due to a significant lack of current capacity. “Iranian expatriates number between four and five million people, with many living in Europe and North America. We have good connections from these continents to Shiraz through our Doha hub, so facilitating travel for this expatriate community is now made much easier,” he said. Shiraz is home to over 1.5 million people and is one of the largest cities in Iran. As the capital city of the Fars Province, Shiraz is the economic centre of southern Iran. It is known as the city of poets, literature and flowers, with industries focused on cement production, sugar, fertilisers, textiles, wood products, metalwork, rugs and pile carpet weaving. It is also notable that more than 50 per cent of Iran’s electronics investment is based in and around Shiraz. “We will also look to add frequency and capacity to improve connectivity even further,” added Akbar Al Baker.
AIR MOLDOVA INAUGURATES CHISINAU – SOCHI ROUTE
Air Moldova is looking to establish its Chisinau International Airport base as an alternative gateway between East and West. The carrier launched a new twice weekly service to the Russian city of Sochi on May 31 and has scheduled the flight to not just support point-to-point traffic, but onward flights from the Moldovan capital to Frankfurt. The flights are being operated using an Embraer 190 and the airline has developed special fare options for passengers wishing to continue to the German city. “Launching of transit services will make it possible to promote development of the entire aeronautic industry of Moldova and will further on allow transformation of the Chisinau International Airport into a Regional hub. This will make it possible for Moldova to benefit from its geographical location,” it said in a statement. Air Moldova currently operates to 21 destinations, comprising Antalya, Athens, Bucharest, Frankfurt, Kiev, Larnaca, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Prague, Rome, Sochi, St Petersburg, Varna, Verona and Vienna. Its busiest route between Chisinau and the Russian capital Moscow, where it handled an estimated 140,000 O&D passengers, followed by its Frankfurt route, which carried around 60,000 O&D passengers in the past year.
EGYPTAIR TO SERVE DUBAI FROM ALEXANDRIA
EgyptAir will this month launch a daily connection to Dubai from the ancient Egyptian city of Alexandria, supplementing its existing flights into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the country’s capital Cairo. The airline has a double daily service to Dubai, ten flights per week to Abu Dhabi and a daily rotation to Sharjah and accounts for 40.3 per cent of the 1.34 million O&D passengers that travel between Egypt and UAE every year. The new flight will operate from June 20 and will be flown by an Airbus A320. While a large number of airlines have now transferred their operations in Alexandria to Borg el Arab Airport, EgyptAir continues to fly from El Nozha, currently offering domestic links to Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh, alongside international services to Beirut, Dammam, Jeddah, Kuwait, Madinah and Riyadh. An estimated 332,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two Alexandria airports and UAE in the past year. Flydubai currently offers a twice daily service from Borg el Arab to Dubai, while Air Arabia Egypt has five flights per week to Abu Dhabi and Etihad Airways four. Air Arabia also offers up to three flights per day from El Nozha to its Sharjah hub.
RUSSIAN CARRIER RESUMES YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK – BEIJING LINK
SAT Sakhalinskie Aviatrassy has this week inaugurated a weekly passenger service between the Eastern Russian city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and the Chinese capital Beijing, resuming a route it has not served for the past two years. The airline is offering just a Saturday rotation and will compete directly with Vladivostok Air which currently offers two rotations per week. An estimated 9,400 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year, a significant rise over the previous 12 month period when there were no direct flights. SAT Airlines currently operates a mixed fleet of Bombardier Dash 8 regional turboprops and older generation Boeing 737 jets. It mainly operates between points in Russia’s Far East region and destinations in China and Japan, including Dalian, Harbin, Hakodate and Sapporo.
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