Tag Archives: Geneva

Pegasus Airlines adds new routes to Geneva, Hamburg and Prague

Pegasus Airlines (Istanbul) continues to rapidly expand its network with the addition of three new European destinations, Geneva, Hamburg and Prague, making a total of 83 destinations in 34 countries.

Pegasus flights to Prague will launch on June 19. Flights will run three times a week departing Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport at 12:50 and Prague Vaclav Havel Airport at 15:05 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Pegasus flights to Geneva launch on June 21. GVA is Pegasus’ third destination in Switzerland, after Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg and Zurich. Flights will run four times a week departing Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport at 12:25 and Hamburg Airport at 08:20 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Pegasus flights to Hamburg launch on July 1. HAM is Pegasus’ 8th destination in Germany, after Stuttgart, Munich, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Berlin, Nuremberg and Frankfurt. Flights will run four times a week departing Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport at 11:40 and Geneva Airport at 14:30 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

With the addition of these new European destinations, Pegasus Airlines now flies a scheduled service across Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the Caucasus to include 83 destinations in 34 countries.

Previously Pegasus Airlines announced as of June 12, 2014 the company will operate flights from Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen to the Kingdom of Bahrain, located in the Persian Gulf. Pegasus flights to Bahrain, literally translating as ‘The Two Seas’, will run three days a week leaving London Stansted at 12.55 and connecting from Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport to Bahrain International Airport at 22.15 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to arrive at 02:05. The returning flight from Bahrain to London will leave at 03.05 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, arrive at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen at 07.20 and connecting to London Stansted at 10.20, arriving at 12.15.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-82R TC-CPF (msn 40879) arrives at Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg (EuroAirport).

Pegasus Airlines:

Air France-KLM reports a net loss of $843 million in the first quarter

Air France (Paris) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Air France-KLM Group) together reported a new loss of €608 million ($843 million) for the first quarter. This was narrowed from €641 million ($888 million) in the same quarter a year ago.

Read the full report (in English): CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Manuel Negrerie/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 F-HEPG (msn 5802) of Air France with Sharklets and the special 80 And/Years emblem arrives at the Paris (CDG) hub.

Air France Aircraft Slide Show: CLICK HERE

KLM Aircraft Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Bottom Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-406 PH-BDT (msn 24530) of KLM climbs away from the runway at Geneva.

Qatar Airways to add Djibouti on July 27

Qatar Airways (Doha) has announced a further expansion of its route network in Africa with Djibouti joining its ever-growing list of destinations served direct from the airline’s Doha hub.

Thrice-weekly nonstop flights will operate from Doha to Djibouti beginning on July 27, 2014.

The fast-growing airline will launch scheduled flights to Philadelphia and Larnaca in April; Edinburgh and Istanbul (Sabiha) in May; Miami and Tokyo (Haneda) in June and Dallas/Fort Worth in July.

Bordered by Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, Djibouti has an economy that is largely concentrated in the service sector and the country has limited international air services – a void Qatar Airways is set to fill with its huge international network of routes via its Doha hub.

The Doha – Djibouti route will be served with an Airbus A320 featuring up to 12 seats in Business Class and up to 132 seats in Economy.

Qatar Airways:

El Al selects ViaSat’s Exede for inflight Internet service

El Al Israel Airlines (Tel Aviv) has agreed to be the launch customer in Europe for Exede® In The Air in-flight Internet service from ViaSat Inc. To begin, ViaSat plans to deliver the service to El Al Boeing 737s flying routes from Tel Aviv into several European cities. The two companies plan to immediately begin working toward certification and installation of the Exede terminals on EL AL aircraft with a target date to launch service within one year.

For El Al, ViaSat is responsible for providing and managing a complete in-flight Internet service to the aircraft, including airborne terminals, antennas, radomes, and air time from the Eutelsat KA-SAT high-capacity Ka-band satellite. Additional details of what services will be offered to EL AL passengers will be announced closer to the launch of service.

Exede in-flight Internet service is designed to eclipse the service quality and speeds of other in-cabin airline broadband services. The major differentiator is an innovative, high-capacity Ka-band satellite system developed by ViaSat. The more favorable economics of the ViaSat system enable airlines to provide a consistent, high-speed service level to each passenger, rather than simply an aggregate amount of bandwidth to the plane that leaves passengers competing for service. The system is capable of delivering 12 Mbps or more to each connected passenger.

El Al:

Ukraine International Airlines decreases the number of flights due to the current political crisis

Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) (Kiev) has decreased the number of flights operated each week from 343 to 305 due to the on-going political crisis in the Ukraine. The country is split along east (pro Russian) and west (pro European Union) areas of the country and whether it wants the country to be aligned with the European Union or the Russian Federation (the Ukraine was once part of the old Soviet Union). The two groups have been clashing in often violent rallies in various parts of the country. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin has put its armed forces in western Russia “on alert” according to the The Telegraph (so much for the recent “Olympic Spirit”). Despite this background of violence and tension, Ukraine International Airlines is planning to expand operations on April 1.

Read the full story from The Telegraph: CLICK HERE

The airline issued this statement:

As a result of social and political crisis in Ukraine the travel activity to/from Ukraine has leveled off.

Decline in demand for business and tourist trips affected advanced ticket reservations to Ukraine in February and March. This fact forces the airline to optimize flight program by decreasing frequency on certain routes within the period of February 24 –through March 29, 2014. Thus, the number of UIA-coded services is decreased from 343 to 305 scheduled flights per week. Due to well-developed partner network, UIA clients are offered alternative routes both on UIA-coded and partner airlines` flights.

As soon as the demand for air transportation is back to normal, UIA will increase the flight frequency quickly and efficiently to regenerate the previously scheduled traffic performance.

Starting on April 1, 2014, UIA plans to increase frequencies, offer new routes, and operate seasonal flights. Ticket sales for UIA new routes: Kiev – Chisinau, Kiev – Minsk, Kiev – Dushanbe, Kiev – New York, as well as additional flights to London, Barcelona and summer seasonal flights to Nice are already open.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Embraer ERJ 190-100LR UE-EME (msn 19000614) of Ukraine International Airlines arrives in Geneva.

Ukraine International Airlines:

Ethiopian Airlines first officer hijacks his Boeing 767-300 to Geneva

Ethiopian Airlines (Addis Ababa) flight ET 702 was hijacked today (February 17). The Addis Ababa to Rome flight with 202 passengers and crew members was apparently hijacked by the first officer seeking asylum in Switzerland.

Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot locked the captain out of the cockpit.

The pictured Boeing 767-3BG ER ET-AMF (man 30563) has safely landed in Geneva at 0600 (6 am) local time.

The hijacker was taken into custody.

The company issued this “diversion” statement:

Ethiopian Airlines flight 702, on scheduled service departing from Addis Ababa on February 17, 2014 at 00:30 (local time) and scheduled to arrive in Rome at 04:40 (local time), was forced to proceed to Geneva Airport. Accordingly, the flight has landed safely at Geneva Airport and all passengers and crew are safe at Geneva Airport.

The cause of the diversion of the flight is under investigation. Ethiopian Airlines has made all the necessary arrangements to ensure that its esteemed passengers are being properly handled while in Geneva and can proceed to their intended destinations, to Rome and Milan, at the earliest.

Ethiopian Airlines wishes to apologize to its esteemed customers for the inconvenience caused by this diversion.

Read the full report from CNN: CLICK HERE

Ethiopian Airlines:

Video:

Algerian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules with 99 passengers and four crew members crashes in eastern Algeria

Algerian Air Force (Algiers) Lockheed C-130H Hercules (believed to be the pictured 7T-WHM) crashed today (February 11) in the mountains of eastern Algeria, killing the 99 passengers and four crew members on board, including women and children, according to CNN quoting the Algerie Presse Service. There have been conflicting reports on the exact number of people on board. All occupants except one are believed to have died in the crash.

The Hercules was carrying members of the Algerian Air Force and their dependents. The passenger aircraft was flying from Tamanrasset in southern Algeria to Constantine in the east, the Defense Ministry said in a statement according to CNN. The C-130H crashed in a mountainous area near Aïn Kercha, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) south of the Constantine Airport.

The aircraft is believed to have been on an approach to runway 34 at Constantine Airport when it crashed.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Algerian Air Force Lockheed C-130H (382G) 7T-WHM (msn 4919) departs from Geneva.

Bottom Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf/AirlinersGallery.com. Another view of 7T-WHM arriving at Munich.

Norwegian’s passenger traffic increases by 24% in January to 1.5 million passengers

Norwegian Air Shuttle’s (Norwegian Long Haul) (Norwegian.com) (Oslo) traffic is exploding. The fast-growing carrier reported its traffic grew by 24 percent in January 2014 to over 1.5 million passengers. The company issued this statement:

Norwegian carried more than 1.5 million passengers in January 2014, an increase of 24 percent compared to January last year. The load factor increased despite major capacity growth.

In January, 1,530,441 passengers flew with Norwegian. This is an increase of 24 percent compared to January 2013. The total passenger traffic (RPK) increased by 50 percent and the total capacity (ASK) increased by 45 percent this month. The load factor was 74.8 percent in January, up 2.6 percentage points.

“I’m very pleased that we in a low season month like January increase the load factor, even with major capacity growth. The fact that 1.5 million passengers chose to fly with us prove that low fares and new, comfortable aircraft are important, “said CEO Bjørn Kjos.

Norwegian operated 99.6 percent of its scheduled flights in January, whereof 78.3 percent departed on time. The on-time performance is affected by challenging weather conditions in Scandinavia.

In January, Norwegian took delivery of two brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft. A total of 15 such aircraft will be delivered in 2014 in addition to four 787 Dreamliners. Norwegian’s fleet is one of Europe’s newest and most environmentally friendly.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8JP LN-NOT (msn 37816) with Piet Hein on the tail departs for Oslo at Geneva.

Norwegian:

Brussels Airlines announces a major European expansion with nine new destinations

Brussels Airlines‘ (Brussels) CEO Bernard Gustin revealed the new commercial strategy of Brussels Airlines. In recent months, the airline has been working hard on the improvement of its productivity and decreased by 10 percent its cost structure. At the same time the company invested heavily in service and comfort for its passengers. The efforts led to a significant passenger growth, increased passenger satisfaction and improved profitability. This has allowed the company to invest in the expansion of its network. This spring and summer several new routes will be added to the Brussels Airlines schedule. Therefore two additional Airbus A319 aircraft will be added to the fleet over the following months.

In total nine new summer destinations were announced, as well as two new year-round destinations. It is the largest network expansion in the history of the company. With Ajaccio, Athens, Bari, Bastia, Cagliari, Figari, Malta, Montpellier and Seville, the airline is adding popular summer holiday destinations to its portfolio. The new year-round services to Krakow and Warsaw illustrate a strong investment in the Polish market. The flight frequencies to several existing destinations (Florence, Palermo, Marseille, Catania and Madrid) will also be increased, which results in a total of 400,000 additional seats offered in 2014.

Brussels Airlines:

EasyJet to launch five new routes from Rome Fiumicino, adding more pricing pressure on Alitalia

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has announced it will launch five new routes from Rome Fiumicino. The five new routes are year-round services to Montpellier, Thessaloniki and Belgrade along with summer services to the popular islands of Menorca and Rhodes.

This move continues easyJet’s expansion plan in Rome which will see it increasing its capacity by a third. In December the airline announced two new routes – a daily service to Prague and thrice-weekly services to Nantes, both of which will begin operations this spring.

With the launch of these new routes, easyJet now operates 33 routes to and from Rome Fiumicino (new pressure on debt-ridden Alitalia), with a total of 154 routes operated to and from Italy. EasyJet opened a base at Fiumicino in 2009 and currently carries three million passengers each year to and from the airport – this is expected to rise to four million annually through its expansion plans. 96% of easyJet’s Italian customers say they would fly with easyJet again and one in four Italians now say EasyJet is their preferred airline.

EasyJet has also announced plans to launch a third base in Italy this year with a new base opening in Naples this March. The airline has also announced a 35% expansion of services to and from Catania in recent months. easyJet is the largest airline at Milan Malpensa, Venice and Naples. The airline currently has 25 aircraft based in Italy.

On the financial side, the airline issued this financial statement for its fiscal first quarter:

Drive demand, conversion and yields across Europe

Seats flown grew by 4.1% to 16.1 million. Passengers carried increased by 4.2% to 14.3 million, and the load factor increased by 0.1 percentage points to 88.7%.
Revenue per seat grew as expected by 3.4% on a reported basis to £55.71 per seat or by 1.4% at constant currency despite strong prior year comparators from post-Olympic trading in the UK and a challenging competitive environment. The growth in revenue per seat was driven by careful management of capacity, combined with the performance of allocated seating and the management of fees and charges. Revenue per seat also benefited from longer average sector lengths in the quarter.

Maintain cost advantage

Cost per seat excluding fuel increased by 3.0% on a reported basis and by 1.2% on a constant currency basis. This was driven by anticipated increases in charges at regulated airports and by increases in maintenance costs associated with the planned ageing of the fleet and increased proportion of leased aircraft.

Build strong number 1 and 2 network positions

EasyJet announced a new base in Naples which will be operational from Spring 2014 and the routes which will be flown from its new base in Hamburg.

Disciplined use of capital

Continued strong balance sheet with cash and money market deposits of £1.1 billion as at 31 December 2013.

With first half bookings in line with last year, easyJet expects to report a first half loss before tax of between £70 million and £90 million assuming normal levels of disruption compared to the £61 million loss reported in the first half of last year. Last year Easter fell on March 31 resulting in £25 million additional revenue in the first half of 2013. In this financial year Easter will fall in April.

Commenting on the results, Carolyn McCall, easyJet Chief Executive said:

“EasyJet has made a good start to the year. We have delivered revenue per seat growth in the quarter against a challenging competitive environment and the tough comparison with the prior year. The performance in the quarter demonstrates our continued focus on cost, progress against our strategic priorities and easyJet’s structural advantage in the European short-haul market against both the legacy and low-cost competition.

Our strategy of offering our customers low fares to great destinations with friendly service and a focus on cost control ensures that we can continue to deliver sustainable growth and returns for our shareholders.”

EasyJet (UK):

Current Routes from Rome Fiumicino: