Jet Airways is currently India's second-largest international airline and the largest operator in the domestic market. It operates over 400 daily flights to 64 destinations. The carrier has grown its domestic and international traffic for four consecutive months and has recently been recognised in a string of awards, including “Best Long Haul Carrier” at the TM Travel Awards in Brussels last year.
Last month’s opening of Gold Coast Airport’s second passenger terminal coincided with double-digit month-on-month growth of international passenger traffic (in January). The new facility is designed primarily to meet the needs of low-fare carriers and the airport seeks to expand its long-haul network, working in partnership with the Queensland Government and Gold Coast Tourism to deliver new route incentives.
Operating from 36 UK airports, Flybe is the largest UK domestic operator (measured by weekly seat capacity and number of destinations). Announcing the first scheduled services for Kent International and Humberside to Edinburgh and Belfast City respectively, Flybe plays to its many strengths: operating high-frequency services to thin or new markets using suitably sized aircraft. Routes News examines this rise and asks if it can maintain it position amid competition from easyJet.
Vietnam is the latest Asian country to get an AirAsia subsidiary. Routes News examines what the establishment of Vietjet AirAsia means for the country and the carriers already operating there.
Michael Bell, partner and consultant at Spencer Stuart moderated this year's Routes Americas Strategy Forum. Here he offers a round up of the top talking points that took place in a packed room of airport and airline decision-makers.
Best known as a gateway for Disney tourists, Orlando International (MCO) is less well-known for its central role in feeding traffic to a diverse local economy, where key industries include major corporations, technology, aerospace and healthcare sectors and the USA’s second largest convention centre.
Norwegian Air Shuttle recently announced its first service into the Finnish market with scheduled services from Oslo and Stockholm (two of its three primary bases) to Helsinki. Routes News asks whether this just the start of a major expansion into the Finnish market?
Flydubai’s fleet of six Boeing 737-800s along with its low fares are helping the Dubai-based carrier to serve the shorter sectors and thinner markets that Emirates will avoid. Recent new destinations include Aleppo in Syria; Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Only three airports out of all the UK’s airports with more than 150,000 yearly passengers actually experienced traffic growth in 2009, according to the latest UK CAA passenger statistics.
By April, debt-ridden Air Jamaica will turn away from six key markets between the Caribbean and US, and lose three A320s –the latest restructuring since the Jamaican government put the carrier’s ‘for sale’ sign up in 2008. Routes News reports on its misfortunes and assesses the impact of the route cuts on its main Caribbean base in Kingston.
As a key leisure destination in Mexico, Cancun Airport continues to expand its infrastructure and network, having opened a second runway and a new control tower in October. The airport is actively targeting airlines to feed further growth, as well as add capacity on existing services.
Monarch Airlines is also a newcomer to Routes event and is attending Routes Americas in Lima this week. Among its wish list of new long-haul charter and scheduled destinations, Monarch is sizing up the Canadian market and more Caribbean routes with a view to securing new services for its summer 2010 schedule.
Turkish Airlines is increasing its fleet and is targeting the huge Europe to Asia traffic flows. TK is now larger in terms of weekly frequency than the Middle East carriers with a clear focus on its Atatürk hub. Routes News assesses its strategy to establish a leading hub, neatly aligned to its fast-evolving fleet mix.
It’s an unusual move, but the niche Swedish carrier, City Airline - which operates a small domestic and European network mainly for the business market - has formed a strategic partnership with Göteborg Landvetter (GOT) (its operational base) to help establish the airport as a key hub. Routes News evaluates the opportunity for Gothenburg as a future hub airport.
Limited competition in Serbia for low-cost traffic has prompted Wizz Air to test its market potential. It will serve scheduled flights to Belgrade from 24th July.
It’s a time of exciting change for Jetstar, which this week announced it would expand its Asian hub at Singapore Changi. This comes just a few weeks after it signed a partnership agreement with AirAsia earlier in the year.
Fresh from announcing its fiscal Q3 losses this week, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary announced that the airline is vying to grow its market share where it competes with BA, Air France-KLM group and Lufthansa. Routes News offers a snapshot of Ryanair’s market position in these key country markets.
Japan’s national carrier may be flying on empty reserves, but its newly appointed chairman-in-office, Kazuo Inamori, has announced that JAL will soon be making that all-important decision: whether it will align its large network with Delta’s SkyTeam or with American Airlines and its oneworld partners. Routes News examines in which areas the respective alliances stand to gain from JAL’s high yielding domestic, as well as its US–Japan and Japan–Far East routings.
Post-war Iraq has seen a resurgence of interest from foreign carriers, who are tapping in to a high net worth business market and the Iraqi expat community living in the UK. This week, Swedish charter carrier Viking Airlines became the latest to show confidence in Iraq, launching its scheduled offshoot – Viking Hellas – and flights from Manchester to Athens, with onward connections to Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Baghdad.
Blue Air’s decision to set up a permanent base at Larnaca is a natural step given the lack of LCC traffic in Cyprus. With this new opportunity, is this the first stage for the airport in becoming low-cost? Routes News puts the question to Ken Hassard, marketing manager at Hermes Airports.
AirAsia X pulled its Middle East connection this week by announcing that it has “temporarily” dropped its Kuala Lumpur to Abu Dhabi service – a route it served for just three months. Routes News offers a perspective on why it failed and analyses on to which markets AirAsia X is instead shifting focus.
Carriers to Copenhagen’s new low-cost facility, CPH SWIFT, must meet 30-minute turnaround times. The airport also seeks to process six million additional annual passengers under one roof. Plus the gateway has listed a host of new routings for this year.
TACA’s proposed “merger of equals” with Avianca – expected this year - will create one of the largest airline groupings in Latin America. Combined with a new codeshare agreement with US Airways, which came into effect on January 12, and a tri-hub strategy, TACA is poised to remain a strong brand in the Americas.
Touching down at Zurich airport in dense fog, the A380 was still impossible to miss among the thousands of onlookers, who caught a glimpse of the aircraft during an essential compatibility-testing period. Singapore Airlines plans to introduce the A380 for services between Zurich and Singapore from March 28.
The new decade kicked off in January with the news of AirAsia and Jetstar’s cost-based alliance but the question remains: does this mark the start of a new era for the low-cost model? AirAsia CEO, Tony Fernandes, shares his perspective with Routes News.
