RAK AIRWAYS STUDIES INDIAN MARKETS
United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based RAK Airways is planning to offer flights to a range of additional destinations in India from Ras Al Khaimah following the arrival of a second Airbus 320. The aircraft was delivered earlier this month, and according to the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Omar Jahameh, it is now just waiting for the green light from Indian authorities before entering this lucrative market. "We have approached the Indian ministry concerned for permission to operate our services to more Indian cities. If the proposal is cleared, we will be able to carry out the plans by the year-end," he said. RAK Airways already operates flights to Kozhikode, alongside links to Cairo, Chittagong, Dhaka, Doha, and Jeddah. It plans to serve up to seven Indian destinations including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. "The airline had strong reasons to step up India operations as there was a large community of NRIs working in the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah and also on account of increasing tourism and business opportunities between the two countries," Omar Jahameh added during a press conference in the Emirate this week. "More than two million Indians are working in UAE, of whom 25 per cent live and work in the airline's northern home of Ras Al Khaimah." An estimated 6.44 million O&D passengers travelled between India and the UAE in the past year, up 3.8 per cent on the previous 12 month period. Emirates Airline dominates this market with a 28.3 per cent share of the traffic followed by Air India Express (19.5 per cent) and Air Arabia (11.0 per cent). RAK Airways accounted for just 0.6 per cent of the total, carrying an estimated 37,000 O&D passengers on its single route.
EL AL DROPS BRAZILIAN SERVICE
Israeli carrier El Al is to suspend its three times weekly service from Tel Aviv to Sao Paulo this winter, the only non-stop service between Israel and South America. The airline says that ongoing rises in the price fuel and high operational costs have forced it to take this decision following a recent re-evaluation of its international network. The last flight is now scheduled to take place on November 10. An estimated 221,000 O&D passengers travelled between Israel and South America in the past year with almost 33,000 flying directly between Tel Aviv and Sao Paulo. These passengers will now have to make alternative arrangements to fly on the route in the future, with Iberia expected to benefit from the El Al decision. Spanish national carrier Iberia is actually the largest operator between Israel and South America, carrying more passengers in the past 12 months than El Al. In that period its share of the market has also grown from 32.7 to 33.8 per cent. Its main traffic flow is between Tel Aviv and Buenos Aires where it handed around 26,000 O&D passengers, although strong passenger levels are also apparent on routes to Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota and Santiago.
RUSLINE TO ADD MOSCOW – LJUBLJANA LINK AND EXPAND INTO CHINA
Independent Russian carrier RusLine will next week inaugurate flights between Moscow and Ljubljana, a route currently served by Slovenian national carrier Adria Airways. The new flight from Moscow Domodedovo Airport will start on August 15 and will be operated on a twice weekly basis using a 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200. Adria currently offers flights to Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport with nine weekly frequencies, but is it currently undergoing a major business restructuring and is set to cut a number of routes and frequencies on others and it is not clear how this could impact its operations to the Russian capital. This new route is just part of a major network expansion at RusLine facilitated by the arrival of additional aircraft. The airline has a growing presence in the Russian capital but also provides important domestic and regional links from Russia’s regions and has an expanding charter programme to Bulgarian Black Sea resort destinations and the Mediterranean from cities such as Krasnador, Nizhny Novogord, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd and Voronezh. RusLine is also expanding into the Chinese market introducing services to Manzhouli on the Russia- China border in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the country. Manzhouli is China's busiest land port of entry, and is reported to be responsible for around 60 per cent of all imports from and exports to Eastern Europe. Air services are currently restricted to domestic destinations, the largest being Beijing (Air China and Hainan Airlines) and the Inner Mongolia capital Hohhot (Air China and Tianjin Airlines) but over the next five weeks, RusLine will introduce links to three Russian cities. On August 16, a twice weekly Krasnoyarsk – Irkutsk – Manzhouli service will begin, while from September 16 a twice weekly link to Ulan-Ude will be added.
FLYDUBAI TO SERVE AHMEDABAD
United Arab Emirates (UAE) low-cost carrier Flydubai is to launch flights to Ahmedabad from its Dubai International Airport base, its third destinations in India. The airline will offer a weekly service from August 27, adding to its existing links to Hyderabad and Lucknow. "The growing Indian expatriate population in the UAE and the increasing reliance our two nations have on each other for our economic growth and development, makes the introduction of quality, affordable direct flights between the UAE and India's numerous secondary airports very important," said Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer, Flydubai. An estimated 6.44 million O&D passengers travelled between India and the UAE in the past year, up 3.8 per cent on the previous 12 months. Flydubai’s sister carrier Emirates Airline already offers ten flights per week between Ahmedabad and Dubai, while Air Arabia has a daily link to the Indian city from the neighbouring Emirate of Sharjah. Around 81,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route to Ahmedabad from Dubai in the past year, while an estimated 46,000 flew from Sharjah. As you would expect, yields are stronger from Dubai with average one-way fares of $173 against $103 from Sharjah, although the arrival of Flydubai may impact this, although with only a weekly service this will not have a dramatic effect. Ahmedabad was recognised as the world’s third fastest growing city. The site of Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram and the base of India's independence movement, the 600-year old city has always been of national and international significance. In recent years, Ahmedabad has also become prominent as a seat of academia, attracting scholars and experts from around the globe to institutions like the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), National Institute of Design and the Indian Space Research Organisation. With the UAE's increasing focus on knowledge based industries, the new routes will support joint-ventures in areas like space, design, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and bio-technology.
Related Content
