Lufthansa to Serve Two Moscow Airports
German national carrier Lufthansa has announced plans to launch a twice daily connection between Frankfurt and Moscow Vnukovo, complementing its existing flights to Moscow Domodedovo. The confirmation of the new route, which will launch on March 25, 2012 follows just weeks after the carrier revealed it will also serve the Moscow Vnukovo from Berlin as part of its significant expansion at the German capital city to coincide with the opening of the new Willy Brandt Berlin Brandednburg Airport. The additional service will bring daily links by the German carrier between Frankfurt and Moscow to six, with Aeroflot Russian Airlines also offering four flights per day to Moscow Sheremetyevo; S7 Airlines a daily service to Domodedovo and Transaero Airlines three flights per week to the same airport. An estimated 327,000 O&D passengers travelled between Frankfurt and Moscow in the past year, up 7.4 per cent on the previous 12 month period and Lufthansa has a 30.4 per cent share of this traffic. Moscow is the largest metropolitan region in Europe with a population of 14 .6 million and Vnukovo is the closest of its three commercial airports to the city centre with fast express train journeys taking just 35 minutes. Up until recently it has predominantly been used as the main gateway into Moscow for domestic and intra-CIS traffic and this will enable Lufthansa to potentially offer onward connections to other destinations with partner carriers. Vnukovo is also well linked to the Kaluga industrial base, a centre of the automotive industry and where a number of foreign companies have established assembly plants. This growth for summer 2012 will mean Lufthansa will offer more than 153 weekly connections between Germany and Russia, serving nine different destinations: as well as the two Moscow airports these comprise Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhniy Novgorod, Perm, Rostov, Samara, St Petersburg.
Flydubai to Switch Dubai Airports
United Arab Emirates (UAE) low-cost carrier flydubai is set to move its operations from Dubai International Airport to the new Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive Emirates Airline and Group, confirmed during the Dubai Air Show earlier this month. The fast expanding budget airline is expected to become the first scheduled passenger carrier to establish a base at the new airport, which will eventually become the sole gateway to Dubai, and will help ease the congestion at Dubai International and allow its sister carrier, Emirates Airline, to continue its dramatic expansion. Flydubai may be relatively new into the global market but it has already established a significant operation at Dubai International where it is currently the second largest operator. This month it is offering almost 700 weekly flights to more than 40 destinations with more than 130,000 weekly seats to and from Dubai per week.
Safi Airways to Serve Abu Dhabi
Afghanistan carrier Safi Airways is to inaugurate flights between Kabul and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the start of next year, becoming the only operator to provide passenger links on the route. It will launch a four times weekly service from January 5, 2012 using an Airbus A320 configured with 12 Business Class and 132 Economy seats. “The new flight to Abu Dhabi shows our commitment of Safi Airways’ growth within the GCC region,” said Hamid Safi, Chief Executive Officer, Safi Airways. “With the new addition of the A320, we are determined to keep adding more routes under Safi Airways’ destination list which will establish Safi Airways as the ‘ideal’ Afghanistan airline.” There is a growing demand for travel between Afghanistan and the UAE. Ariana Afghan Airlines, flydubai, Kam Air and Safi Airways already provide flights to Dubai while Air Arabia offers low-cost links to Sharjah. An estimated 489,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two countries in the past year, up a massive 37.1 per cent on the previous 12 month period. Safi Airways already holds the dominant position in this market with a 37 per cent share of the traffic.
Emirates Enhances Trade Links to Africa
Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Dubai-based Emirates Airline, has launched a new service on the burgeoning UAE - Africa trade route. The carrier is offering a new weekly cargo connection between Dubai and Ghana, in support of the thriving import and export industry generated by one of the world’s fastest growing economies. The flight to Accra’s Kotoka International Airport will operate via Lome, Togo, on the outbound journey and return to Dubai through Frankfurt, Germany and will be flown with a Boeing 747-400F with a capacity of 117 tonnes. “Ghana is booming at the moment – exporting items such as oil and gas equipment, pineapples, mangoes, a variety of vegetables, fresh fish and lobsters – so strengthening our commitment to West Africa with the introduction of this weekly freighter makes great business sense,” said Hiran Perera, SVP Cargo Planning & Freighters at Emirates. The new dedicated freight flight will supplement the airline’s existing passenger services to Accra which offers bellyhold cargo space to the freight industry. It has been serving the Ghanaian market since 2004 and currently utilises an Airbus A330-200 on its flights to Accra offering a weekly cargo capacity of 120 tonnes. “Ghana is rich in natural resources and recognised as one of Africa’s leading economies. This economic strength means it will play a pivotal role in the future development of Africa, making it an important trade route with tremendous scope for growth,” added Hiran Perera. According to Emirates SkyCargo, goods from Ghana will be distributed from Dubai to locations across the Middle East, Europe, the Far East and the United States. Goods going into Ghana will include electrical equipment, clothing and mobile phones from the Far East and pharmaceuticals from Europe, while the freight from Frankfurt to Dubai will include car parts, machinery and a diverse range of general merchandise.
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