easyJet Establishes Lisbon Base
UK carrier easyJet is to open a base at Lisbon Airport in Portugal in April 2012 to expand its network from the Portuguese capital. The airline already serves Lisbon from 16 destinations, but will base two of its Airbus A319s in the city to introduce new flights to Amsterdam, Asturias, Bordeaux, Copenhagen and Venice from April 18 next year. In the past year it handled around 1.4 million O&D passengers on its flights from Lisbon, but expects this figure to rise by around a 15 per cent in its first year as a base. easyJet is already the second largest operator at Lisbon Airport with 72 weekly flights, offering more than 11,000 seats every week from the facility. It currently accounts for 6.9 per cent of the total weekly seat capacity, second only to national carrier TAP Portugal, which has a 66.5 per cent share. “We are delighted to be confirming easyJet’s new base in Lisbon. It illustrates our long-term commitment to the market and it will enable us to grow our operations further,” said Catherine Lynn, Customer and Revenue Director, easyJet. “Along with significantly contributing to the local economy, our new base will also boost visitors to Lisbon - with over two million passengers travelling to and from Lisbon, and more million in and out of Portugal in the first year, all travelling with easyJet.” The carrier plans to develop a network to make travel easier, offering more frequencies and early morning departures, which will enable Portuguese business travellers to take return trips within the same day to key European cities. The airline currently carries more than 100,000 O&D passengers on five of its routes to Lisbon: Madrid (around 264,000), Funchal (201,000), London Luton (149,000), Paris CDG (137,000) and London Gatwick (110,000). easyJet will initially offer four flights per week to Amsterdam, Bordeaux and Asturias from April 18, with three times weekly services to Copenhagen and Venice starting the following day, when the new base will be officially inaugurated. Only the Asturias route is not currently served from the Portuguese capital: TAP Portugal currently serves the other four destinations, while Air France has flights to Bordeaux and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Transavia to Amsterdam. The base announcement follows just weeks after easyJet also confirmed plans to expand in the French market with two aircraft being stationed at Nice and Toulouse for summer 2012. The carrier already has three bases in the country – Paris Orly, Paris CDG and Lyon) and says it will have a French fleet of 24 aircraft next year. It has yet to reveal its precise operational plans for the two bases but confirms that it will expand its network by around ten routes, split equally between the two airports. At Nice these will include domestic links to Bordeaux and Nantes, while from Toulouse its new flights will comprise the city destinations of Basel and Brussels. easyJet also plans to offer links between the two bases, a route currently flown by Air France and Vueling Airlines (the Spanish carrier also has a base at Toulouse). “France is a strategic market for easyJet, where the airline - already the country’s second largest - clearly has room to grow. Low-cost penetration is only 24 per cent - half the European average. This strategic investment will allow us to strengthen our position in one of Europe’s key markets,” said Catherine Lynn.
Vueling to Introduce Eleven New Summer Routes from Barcelona Base
Spanish carrier Vueling Airlines is to further expand its network from its Barcelona El Prat Airport base during summer 2012 with flights to eleven additional estinations. The low-cost carrier is already the largest operator from Spain’s second city with over 600 weekly flights to 35 destinations this winter, offering around 95,000 seats in each direction. It currently has a 23.0 per cent share of the total capacity but is seeing increasing competition from its budget airline rivals such as easyJet and Ryanair. Its expanded schedule for summer 2012 will see the introduction of a number of new markets across Europe, including cities in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. These flights will be served with between two and seven rotations a week. The new destinations comprise Aalborg, Brest, Cardiff, Copenhagen, Florence, Groningen, Lyon, Marseille, Munich, Stockholm and Strasbourg. A number of these are new markets from Barcelona El Prat, although Copenhagen, Lyon, Marseille, Munich and Stockholm are already served by other carriers. One of the most interesting new routes is Cardiff, Vueling’s only direct link to the UK from its home base. Although there are no direct links between Cardiff and Barcelona, easyJet does offer indirect competition from Bristol. “We are delighted to be increasing our network with these flights. They have been on the agenda for some time and we are delighted to add them to Vueling’s network,” said Alex Cruz, Chief Executive Officer, Vueling Airlines. “We will be able to fulfill the local catchment’s requirement for direct flights to Barcelona for leisure and business travellers as well as possible connections to a variety of our other destinations.”
Estonian Air Increases Baltic Connections
Estonian Air is increasing its flights between its Tallinn base and the Lithuanian capital Vilnius offering a new lunchtime flight every weekday. The carrier will be serving the route up to three times daily, following the introduction of a second weekday rotation at the start of September. Estonian Air is the sole carrier on the route after airBaltic terminated its own flights, and uses a 33-seat Saab 340 turboprop between the two cities. An estimated 60,000 O&D passengers flew between the two Baltic capitals in the past year, up 7.4 per cent on the previous 12 months. “The decision to add more flights on the Tallinn-Vilnius route is due to the increased demand and improved connecting flight opportunities in Tallinn,” said Rauno Parras, Commercial Vice President, Estonian Air. The airline expects to enhance its yield on the route by offering more flexibility to business travellers and better connection opportunities from Tallinn.
airberlin Turkey Ready for Launch
A new joint venture between German carrier airberlin and Turkish operator Pegasus Airlines will begin operations tomorrow (November 1) offering flights between the two countries. The charter partnership has been established to provide additional flight options for German travellers to Antalya and will operate with a fleet of two Boeing 737-800s which will carry their own logo word ‘Turkey’ in cursive above the normal airberlin script. The start-up’s inaugural flight took place between Antlaya and Stuttgart on the morning of November 1 with its network set to expand to 14 German cities which will be served with 31 weekly flights during the Northern Winter schedules. Destinations include Berlin, Bremen, Cologne/Bonn, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Münster/Osnabrück, Nuremberg and Paderborn. "With airberlin Turkey, we are bringing a product to market that positions us very strongly on the Turkish tourism market. Furthermore, with airberlin Turkey, we are now, for the first time, including flights to Turkey in our winter flight schedule,” explained Detlef Altmann, Director of Tourism Marketing, airberlin. The new airline represents a deepening of the relationship between the two European operators and follows the launch of a codeshare arrangement in September. airberlin Turkey will continue to operate during the Summer 2012 schedules and its operational plans are currently being finalised. “We are planning to operate up to six aircraft by then,” added Detlef Altmann. An estimated 6.8 million O&D passengers travelled on scheduled services between Germany and Turkey in the past year, a market that has grown by almost a quarter (23.2 per cent) in the previous 12 months. Just over two million of these passengers (30.4 per cent) began or ended their journey in Antlaya, the largest flow and a figure that would be considerably higher when you factor in the additional charter traffic.
Flybe Enhances Network in Nordic and Baltic Markets
At the start of the new Northern Winter schedules this past weekend, Flybe has significantly expanded its network in the Nordic and Blatic markets through its new Finnish operation, part of Flybe Europe. The airline was formed in July when the low-fare carrier and Finnair announced their joint acquisition of regional operator Finnish Commuter Airlines (Finncomm). Flybe has now taken over the carrier’s full schedule and added ten new routes to its network for the winter season comprising flights from Helsinki to Jyväskylä, Mariehamn, Tartu, Trondheim and Umea, as well as links to Tallinn from Oulu, Stockholm Bromma, Tampere, Turku and Vaasa.
Turkish Airlines to Serve Second London Airport
Turkish Airlines (THY) is to inaugurate a daily flight between Istanbul and London Gatwick from December, increasing to five the number of daily flights it offers to the UK capital. The fast-expanding Star Alliance member currently offers four flights per day between Istanbul and London Heathrow, with daily flights to Manchester and five flights per week to Birmingham further expanding its presence in the UK market. The airline also served London Stansted up until the end of the Northern Summer schedules at the end of last month, via its subsidiary company AnadoluJet. The additional flight will be introduced from December 20 and will be operated by an Airbus A321. An estimated 2.1 million O&D passengers travelled between Turkey and the UK on scheduled services in the past year, up 36.1 per cent on the previous 12 months, one of the fastest growing markets in the world. THY has seen its share of the traffic decline during this period from 33.9 per cent to 27.0 per cent due to increased competition from budget operators, most notably easyJet.
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