Wizz Air Adds to Katowice Network
Central and Eastern European low-cost specialist Wizz Air is to launch a twice weekly service to the Norwegian city of Stavanger from its base at Katowice in Poland. The new flight will commence on April 25, 2012 and will position the budget operator as the biggest carrier between Poland and Norway, a market also served by Norwegian, Ryanair and SAS Scandinavian Airlines. Wizz Air’s first ever flight departed Katowice on May 19, 2004 and the carrier now offers direct flights to 20 destinations from the Polish city with 68 weekly flights offering over 10,500 seats each week from the city. It is the largest operator from the southern Poland facility accounting for more than 60 per cent of the weekly capacity. “Wizz Air is committed to growing its route network in Poland and is pleased to offer an increase in services offered from Katowice airport. Adding the Stavanger route opens a gate to one of the most important industrial hubs of Norway from the Katowice/Krakow area,” said John Stephenson, Executive Vice President, Wizz Air.
airberlin to Continue Curaçao Connection
German carrier airberlin has confirmed that it will continue to offer direct flights to the Caribbean island of Curaçao this summer, the only non-stop link from Germany. The airline launched the weekly rotation from Dusseldorf during the current Northern Winter schedule using an Airbus A330-200. “The new long-haul connection between Dusseldorf and Curaçao has developed very well during winter season, so based on demand we are going to continue operating it on our summer schedule,” said Paul Gregorowitsch, Chief Commercial Officer, airberlin. “Departure times are ideal for transfer passengers, or those who arrive by other means of transport - from the Netherlands, for example - so we can assume that, in summer, there will also be many guests from Germany and other countries in Europe who will choose to fly to Curaçao with airberlin.” An estimated 340,000 O&D passengers travelled between Europe and Curaçao in the past year with the majority of passengers beginning or ending their journeys in the Netherlands; no real surprise given the Caribbean island’s heritage. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and TUI carrier ArkeFly are the only other airlines offering links from Europe with flights from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
Turkish Cargo Launches Freighter Flights to Mitiga
Turkish Cargo will launch scheduled freight flights to Libya this weekend inaugurating a twice weekly connection to Mitiga Airport, close to the North African country’s capital Tripoli on January 8, 2012. The airline is offering flights every Wednesday and Sunday using an Airbus A310-300F freighter with 36 tonnes of capacity, but will substitute a larger A330-200F, with 65 tonnes of cargo space when demand requires. The cargo specialist already has a limited presence in the Libyan market managing the belly hold capacity on the passenger flights of Turkish Airlines (THY) between Istanbul and Benghazi. The airline will offer direct links to Mitiga from Istanbul, but the return flights will operate via Zurich in Switzerland. Mitiga International Airport (IATA: MJI, ICAO: HLLM) is located about 8 kilometres (5 miles) east of downtown Tripoli. It is a former US and Libyan Air Force facility that was opened to civilian operations in 1995. Turkish Cargo is understood to be the first overseas freight carrier to establish scheduled cargo flights into Mitiga.
Adria Airways Returns to London
Slovenian national carrier Adria Airways is to relaunch flights to London during the Northern Summer 2012 schedule after dropping the route for the winter season. The airline will offer five flights per week between Ljubljana and London Gatwick from March 28, 2012. These will be mainly flown using Airbus A319 equipment although a single rotation is scheduled to be operated by a Bombardier CRJ900. In the past year an estimated 141,000 O&D passengers travelled between Slovenia and the UK, a market that has grown 6.7 per cent in the past 12 months. Adria Airways has seen its share of the traffic decline in the past couple of years following the arrival of easyJet in the Slovenia market - the UK carrier currently offers a link to Ljubljana from London Stansted. The London route was one of a number of flights dropped by Adria Airways last year after it completed a restructuring of its route network to return to profitability. It was reported at the time that the Ljubljana – London Gatwick route was one of its least profitable services with reported losses of over €1 million.
CityJet Fights for More London City Traffic
Irish carrier CityJet, a wholly-owned subsidiary of European giant Air France-KLM is set to announce an expanded schedule of services between Scotland and London City Airport, according to a report this weekend in The Scotsman newspaper. The interview with the airline’s Chief Executive Christine Ourmieres for its Scotland on Sunday edition on January 8, 2012 suggested the carrier will be establishing a new operations base in Edinburgh and was considering launching links between London City and Aberdeen. The airline will fight to win market share from British Airways, whose BA CityFlyer subsidiary already offers flights to Scotland from London City with 42 rotations per week to Edinburgh and 22 to Glasgow. In comparison CityJet offers 15 flights per week to Edinburgh and 13 to Dundee. An estimated 333,000 O&D passengers travelled between London City and Edinburgh in the past year, with CityJet holding just a 20 per cent share of this traffic. “The new base shows our commitment for the future – it is the next step of our development in Scotland. We will try our best against BA and are confident of winning market share. We are working with airport authorities and finalising our plans, which include improving the frequency of flights,” Christine Ourmieres was quoted as saying.
Ford Returns to London Southend
International car giant Ford has this week resumed charter flights from London Southend shuttling its employees to its overseas production plants via Cologne, Germany and Craiova, Romania. The company has initially chartered a Boeing 737-300 from UK carrier Jet2.com for the flights, which started on January 9, 2012, but has signed a long-term agreement with German carrier Germania to use one of its Airbus A319s during the summer. Ford, whose UK headquarters are based in Warley, near Brentwood, Essex, had originally offered dedicated shuttle flights for its employees from London Stansted but moved to London Southend in 2006, using its own Avro RJ on the flights crewed on its behalf by local carrier Flightline. However, the collapse of the charter provider in 2008 resulted in the end of the services with Ford instead making use of scheduled flights to transport its staff.
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