News From CIS and The Middle East

Richard Maslen March 24, 2011

TRANSAERO BOOSTS DOMESTIC RUSSIAN FREQUENCIES

Independent Russian carrier Transaero Airlines is to increase capacity on four of its domestic routes from Moscow Domodedovo and two from St Petersburg this summer. From the Russian capital it will add a third weekly rotation to Blagoveschensk; a seventh to Novy Urengoy and will double flights in the peak season to Ulan-Ude to four a week) when compared with last year. From St Petersburg it will offer twice weekly flights to both Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Vladivostok; routes which were previously served on a weekly basis. Based on network statistics for this summer, Transaero will be the second largest domestic operator from Moscow Domodedovo with a 16 per cent share of the weekly capacity, and the sixth largest from St Petersburg Pulkovo International, a market dominated by Aeroflot Russian Airlines and S7 Airlines.

AZERBAIJAN AIRLINES TO FLY TO ABERDEEN

Azerbaijan Airlines is to add a twice weekly service between its Baku Heydar Aliyev International base and Aberdeen in the northeast of Scotland. The route, which will be inaugurated on May 22, will be the BAA managed airport’s first medium-haul link and will be one of only two UK destinations to be served directly from the Central Asian country this summer. This is a special oil industry specific flight and at the airline’s request is only being sold through specialist travel contractors. Azerbaijan Airlines already offers three flights per week on Baku – London Heathrow, a route which will be operated under a codeshare with bmi British Midland International from April 1.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS TO LAUNCH FLIGHTS TO MALDIVES

Etihad Airways has announced it will commence operations to Malé, the capital city of the Republic of Maldives, on November 1, subject to government approval. The airline will offer a daily return service from its Abu Dhabi base using a two-class Airbus A320 and offering 1,904 seats each week. “Malé is gateway to the premium leisure destination, the Maldive Islands, and given the strong increase in visitation numbers we are seeing in the market, the time is right to launch services to this popular holiday destination,” said James Hogan, Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways. “We expect the services will appeal to UAE leisure travellers, as well as customers from our major European markets, particularly with the strong connectivity options on offer and following the additional frequencies that will come online on a number of our key European routes this summer,” he said. Etihad’s schedule offers an afternoon arrival and evening departure and has clearly been designed to offer customers maximum leisure time at their destination. In fact, European travellers can take advantage of overnight flights in both directions, offering them a full extra day in the Maldives. Middle East rivals Emirates Airline, Oman Air and Qatar Airways already serve the Maldives with 22, 4 and 14 weekly flights, respectively.

ARMAVIA DROPS KRASNADOR SERVICE

Armenian carrier Armavia is to suspend its own flights between Yerevan and the Russian city of Krasnodar from the end of this month but will continue to serve the route under a codeshare arrangement with Kuban Airlines. The Independent Russian carrier is based at Krasnodar and offers a variety of domestic and international links from the city, which could provide additional feed into these flights. Approximately 49,000 O&D passengers utilised the route in the year ending January 2011, with more than half using Armavia’s flights.

QATAR AIRWAYS TO SWITCH EGYPTIAN FLIGHTS

Qatar Airways has announced that it will become the latest carrier to switch its services to Alexandria from El-Nozha International to Borg El Arab Airport, approximately 25 miles (40km) southwest of the city. The airline will move its daily flight from Doha on March 27 but will maintain its existing schedule due, it says, to “operational reasons”. El-Nozha International is set to undergo a major re-development over the coming two years, but it has been suggested that in the future it may simply just be the domestic gateway to Alexandria. Approximately 27,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the year ending January 2011.

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