Airport News - Europe.

Jul 19, 2009

Air Arabia Maroc

Air Arabia Maroc will commence thrice-weekly Casablanca-Amsterdam service Aug. 3 aboard an A320, becoming four-times-weekly Aug. 24. Jul 16, 2009

British Airways

British Airways is choosing not to disclose bookings for its new London City-New York flights scheduled to start 29 September, reasoning at this point the niche business travelers targeted by the flight are not prepared to book flights for travel later in the year. The carrier is attempting to create a niche product targeting business travelers in London's financial district through daily flights with Airbus A318s configured with 32 lie-flat seats. Jul 17, 2009

Eurostar

Eurostar unveiled sales results for the first six months of 2009. Despite the recession, Eurostar reported a 4 percent rise in leisure sales against the same period in 2008, following a surge in inbound travel to the U.K. and a drive to encourage U.K. travelers to take full advantage of the increased availability of the lead-in GBP59 (USD 97) return fare. According to Richard Brown, chief executive of Eurostar, ODespite market conditions, we still have good reason to be optimistic. We are benefiting from the strong euro and seeing substantial increases in travelers from Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, which is also helping the U.K. economy. In addition, there is growing evidence of travelers switching from plane to high-speed train for longer, connecting journeys.O Jul 16, 2009

London

Terrorists are planning attacks on London's tourist hotspots by sending explosive-laden boats down the Thames river, with an intelligence official claiming that the Mumbai strikes showed the way, a media report said. The Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and Canary Wharf figure among over 100 "key site" vulnerabilities thought to be under terror threat, the Daily Star newspaper quoted security sources as saying. Jul 15, 2009

Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines

Lufthansa and Brussels are now offering code-share flights on selected long-haul routes as part of their agreement to expand their cooperation and open up their networks to each otherOs passengers. The first jointly operated long-haul services are Brussels Airlines flights from Brussels to Entebbe, Uganda, and the new Lufthansa connection from Frankfurt to Libreville, Gabon. Flights on both theses routes can be booked with immediate effect under the partnerOs flight number. Lufthansa passengers can thus fly to Entebbe via Brussels under a Lufthansa flight number. Lufthansa does not operate its own flights to this destination in Uganda. Jul 16, 2009

Madrid-Barajas Airport

The recent deployment of 65 Defibtech Lifeline automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at the Madrid-Barajas Airport, which serves 130,000 passengers a day, adds to the companyOs outstanding track record of transportation-related deployments. Jul 14, 2009

Malev Hungarian Airlines

Malev Hungarian Airlines launched twice-weekly Budapest-Uzhhorod service. Jul 13, 2009

Ryanair

Ryanair announced an expansion to its Oslo area service comprising new routes from Rygge to Brussels Charleroi (seven-times-weekly), Bremen (thrice-weekly), London Stansted (twice-daily) and Madrid (four-times-weekly) beginning in October and to Alicante (twice-weekly), Girona (twice-weekly) and Bergamo (thrice-weekly) in November. It also will launch flights from Oslo Torp to Paris Beauvais (seven-times-weekly) in September and to Krakow (four-times-weekly) Lodz (thrice-weekly) and Rome Ciampino (thrice-weekly) in November. Jul 16, 2009

TAM Airlines, Bmi

Since July 7th, TAM and Bmi expanded their share code to include the city of Dublin. By means of this agreement, clients of both airlines in Brazil and Ireland can enjoy simplified reservations procedures, also having a connection with only one ticket for only checking the luggage until the final destination. Jul 15, 2009

Transaero Airlines

Transaero Airlines launched Moscow Domodedovo service to Omsk (six-times-weekly) and Krasnodar (twice-weekly) aboard 737s. Jul 13, 2009

Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines, Mahan Air

Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines and Iran's Mahan Air were added to the EU's list of banned airlines, while Garuda Indonesia, Airfast Indonesia, Mandala Airlines and Premiair were removed from the "blacklist." The latest update, issued yesterday, did not include Yemenia Yemen Airways despite recent controversy following the June 29 A310-300 crash that killed 152 passengers and crew. All airlines from Zambia and Kazakhstan were added to the list with the exception of Air Astana, which will be allowed limited access to EU nations. Jul 15, 2009

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic Airways is asking passengers to register their disapproval of the planned increases in the UK's Air Passenger Duty, set for November 2009 and 2010. "The UK government has been quietly increasing APD by huge amounts and claiming it is an environmental tax. Yet, there's not a shred of evidence to suggest the GBP2 billion-plus currently raised is going towards environmental or sustainable projects," Virgin President Richard Branson said. All VS e-tickets will include an anti-APD message and passengers will be asked to write to their local member of parliament urging them to oppose the tax. The airline is providing a sample letter. Similar protests in Belgium and the Netherlands were successful and led to scrapping of planned tourist/green taxes. Jul 16, 2009

Wizz Air

Wizz Air will launch thrice-weekly Budapest-Dusseldorf Weeze service on Sept. 21 and twice-weekly Sofia-Eindhoven on Oct. 25. Jul 15, 2009

Yemenia, Airbus

ICAO President Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez last week rejected European Commission VP-Transport Antonio Tajani's call for a global "blacklist" banning airlines for safety reasons, Reuters reported. Tajnai outlined plans for a global list that would be similar to the EU's list of banned carriers following the Yemenia Yemen Airways A310-300 crash. "I don't think [a blacklist] is the solution at the global level," Gonzalez said. "Discouraging passengers from going on particular aircraft or particular airlines on certain routes will not necessarily reduce accidents. At present, I cannot be in favor of a world blacklist because I don't have a mandate from the states of ICAO to do this, but I fully agree with Commissioner Tajani we have to work together" to improve safety. Jul 13, 2009

ZZ AirGuide 090720

Editorial eMail: edit@AirGuideOnline.com For Air Transport & Travel Business Experts contact our Director of Content Aram Gesar eMail: bizintel@AirGuideOnline.com For Advertising and Marketing: advert@AirGuideOnline.com For Custom Content: content@AirGuideOnline.com ISSN 1544-3760 - Copyright [c] 2009 AirGuide / Pyramid Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Print Get the Mag Weekly Updates