This week: Norwegian trims transatlantic services from the UK; KLM adds Vegas but cuts African routes; Ryanair's new French bases; Air France unveils new A330 economy cabins and more.
Airports could be open to the possibility of being tied to one airline alliance so long as there was a sound business case, according to Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport.
The shortlists for the prestigious Routes Europe 2018 Marketing Awards have been revealed, with 17 airports and six destinations in the running for an award.
Low-cost carrier Ryanair is to further expand its capacity from Manchester Airport this summer with the launch of ten new routes. It comes as new research reveals the UK airports which have enjoyed the largest passenger growth over the past year, with Manchester among the front-runners.
As widely expected, European low-cost carrier Norwegian will introduce its new Boeing 737MAX fleet into operation on flights between the UK and Ireland and the United States of America. The budget airline will offer 38 new weekly transatlantic flights this summer from Edinburgh, Belfast, Cork, Shannon and Dublin serving ten routes.
The flights from Aberdeen and Edinburgh to London Heathrow will be Flybe’s first ever scheduled flights into the UK’s largest airport and the world’s second largest international gateway, and will complement the carrier’s well-established London City flights from the two Scottish airports.
European low-cost carrier Norwegian is set to open four new operational bases – two in the US and two in Europe – in 2017 to support the growth of its long-haul transatlantic network. The internal go-ahead for the expansion follows the final approval late last week by the US Department of Transportation for a foreign carrier permit for the airline’s Norwegian Air International business.
Under the new Air Service Agreement passenger flights can now increase from the current maximum of 40 per week for each nation to up to 100. There will be no limit on the number of all-cargo services, creating new opportunities for trade and businesses. A restriction on the number of destinations that airlines can serve has also been lifted, meaning services can be operated between any point in the UK and any point in China. Up until now, airlines could only serve six destinations in each country.
Attending this year's World Routes in Chengdu, China with a five strong team, Edinburgh Airport are at the 22nd World Route Development Forum with the aim of attracting new airlines and selling Scotland to the world. But, above all they plan to use the event to reinforce a strategy to secure future direct connectivity between Scotland's capital city and China's growing gateways.
European budget carrier Norwegian has revealed that it is considering launching transatlantic flights from Edinburgh as well as potentially introducing UK domestic services as part of its backing to the case for Gatwick Airport’s expansion.
The airline launched the route on April 18, 2016 and is operating three flights a week between the two capitals using a 138-seat Airbus A319 aircraft in a dual business and economy class configuration. This summer a fourth weekly flight will also operate between June 22, 2016 and August 10, 2016.
Although the Air France-KLM Group low-cost brand has previously served the UK market from the Netherlands, the new links from Paris Orly into England and Scotland’s capital cities by its Transavia France operation represent its first ever flights between France and the UK.
Highlighting the value of aviation and enhanced network connectivity, an economic forecast has revealed that by 2020 Scotland’s busiest airport could be worth up to £1.6 billion GVA per year, and could support more than 40,000 Scottish jobs.
The new Tallinn - Edinburgh route will certainly stimulate demand in a market that currently see around 2,500 indirect passengers a year. However, when this city pair was previously served by low-cost carrier Ryanair on a three times weekly basis between January 2011 and the end of the summer, generating just under 30,000 annual passengers, according to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data.
The growth of Edinburgh as a destination is an example of how air travel is evolving. Scotland's capital is now served by some of world’s largest airlines with direct connectivity across Europe, the Middle East and North America. Its network next summer will encompass 174 routes serving 122 destinations.
Around 14 million annual seats are available between Ireland and the UK with this year’s offering the largest this decade and up 4.8 per cent on last year. Ryanair is the dominant carrier with a 53.7 per cent capacity share, ahead of Aer Lingus (including its Aer Lingus Regional operation) with a 32.4 per cent share.
Over the past four years easyJet has grown its capacity in Scotland by 20 per cent and following this year’s network in Scotland it now operates 62 routes from the country to points across Europe. Its Edinburgh network is its largest in Scotland and now stands at 36 routes.
The airline, which supports seat-only and package holiday demand between the UK and destinations across Europe, the Mediterranean and into North Africa, is believed to have secured significant discounts to take late production aircraft ahead of Boeing’s transition from ‘Next-Generation’ to ‘MAX’ series production.
Delta and Virgin Atlantic are showing that their anti-trust immune joint venture across the Atlantic is yielding new routes that previously may not have been viable.
This will be the airline’s fourth route from Liverpool, and will complement Flybe’s existing services to the Isle of Man, Belfast City and Amsterdam which commences on September 7, 2015.
The flag carrier and largest airline of Finland will commence services to Billund, Edinburgh, Svalbard and Pula next year for its summer 2016 schedule.
