Tag Archives: GVA

EasyJet to start Berlin Schoenefeld-Tel Aviv service on February 4, pilots in France protest large profits and lack of sharing

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton) will launch a new route connecting Berlin (Schoenefeld) and Tel Aviv starting on February 4, 2014 per Airline Route.

Meanwhile pilots in France staged a one-day strike yesterday to protest the large profits and the lack of sharing with the employees. The company reported its pretax profit rose by 51 percent in the fiscal year ending on September 30.

Read the full report from The Telegraph: CLICK HERE

EasyJet (UK):

Alitalia is thrown a lifeline, will continue to fly (for now)

Alitalia (2nd) (Rome) received good news yesterday (October 11) when its board of directors (including Air France-KLM) approved a capital increase as part of the Italian government’s sponsored 500 million euro bailout plan according to this report by Reuters. However with the airline losing an estimated 10 million euros a day, this amount will be exhausted in the next two months. Clearly the airline needs another financial overhaul to reduce costs and increase revenue. The Italian government has also called for Alitalia to join an alliance.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Embraer ERJ 170-200LR (ERJ 175) EI-RDB (msn 17000331) climbs away beautifully from Geneva.

Alitalia:

EasyJet to expand operations in Hamburg and Berlin

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has announced that it will open a base in Hamburg as well as increasing its fleet in Berlin in the Spring of 2014. The announcement was made by chief executive Carolyn McCall at an event at Airbus’ facilities in Hamburg.

Building on its success to date in both Hamburg and Berlin, EasyJet’s new base will open with three A319 aircraft with the airline increasing its fleet in Berlin by an additional plane.

EasyJet will more than double its network from Hamburg with 15 additional new business and leisure routes on the top of its existing portfolio of six routes offering almost 170 flights a week during summer 2014. With more frequencies and early morning departures from Hamburg the schedule will make easyJet more attractive to business passengers.

EasyJet (UK):

Etihad Airways’ equity alliance strategy, is Alitalia the next partner?

Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi) has no intention of joining one of the traditional airline alliances. Instead it is quickly building an alliance of aligned airlines in which its has an equity share. The latest target is reportedly loss-making Alitalia (2nd) (Rome).

Alitalia, which is currently 25 percent owned by the Air France-KLM Group (Air France and KLM are code-share partners of Etihad), was rescued from bankruptcy in 2008. It was acquired by a consortium of Italian companies including bank Intesa Sanpaolo and is reportedly discussing with Etihad Airways about a possible new partnership according to this report by Reuters.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Meanwhile Etihad Airways is moving ahead to increase its equity in Virgin Australia Airlines (Brisbane), following recent approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board to increase from a 10 percent shareholding to 19.9 percent.

Etihad Airways equity alliance is a planned alternative to the legacy airline alliances. The Etihad equity alliance now has five members, following a deal to invest in Serbia’s national airline, Air Serbia (Belgrade).

Etihad Airways also is awaiting regulatory approval for investment in a sixth airline, India’s Jet Airways (Mumbai), which gives the equity alliance a combined total of more than 420 destinations, 500 aircraft and more than 96 million passengers each year.

In other news, Etihad Airways has announced new services for the Australia market including:

Airbus A380 aircraft from Sydney and Melbourne to Abu Dhabi
Construction of premium lounges at Sydney and Melbourne Airports from 2014
Additional flights from Melbourne and Brisbane to Abu Dhabi
Commencement of nonstop flights between Perth and Abu Dhabi

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Painted in the special Formula 1 livery to promote the Abu Dhabi’s Grand Prix, Airbus A340-642X A6-EHJ (msn 933) climbs away from the runway at Geneva.

Etihad Airways:

AirEuropa to launch two new routes to Germany from Madrid

AirEuropa (Palma de Mallorca and Madrid) on March 31, 2014 will launch two new routes from Madrid to both Frankfurt and Munich per Airline Route. The new routes will be operated daily with Embraer 195s.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Embraer ERJ 190-200LR (ERJ 195) EC-LKX (msn 19000437) climbs away from Geneva.

AirEuropa:

Jet2 adds weekly East Midlands-Gran Canaria flights

Jet2 (Jet2.com) (East Midlands) on July 15 added weekly service between its East Midlands base and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. Jet2 now serves Gran Canaria from Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds/Bradford, Newcastle and now East Midlands.

Jet2:

Despite the protests of founder Stelios Haji-Iannou, easyJet finalizes its Airbus order

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton) has firmed up the purchase of 135 Airbus A320 family aircraft (100 A320neos and 35 A320ceos). The initial agreement was announced earlier in June.

Founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou was critical of the order and did not want to approve the order as a stockholder. However enough stockholders gave their approval for the order to proceed.

Haji-Ioannou started easyJet in 1995 when he was 28. In 2000, EasyJet PLC was partially floated on the London Stock Exchange. Stelios’ family remains its largest single shareholder.

Top Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 G-EZTY (msn 4554) approaches Geneva for landing (click on the photo for the full size view).

EasyJet (UK):

Bottom Image: Airbus. An artist rendition of the A320neo.

Swiss to add six new routes from Geneva this fall

Swiss International Air Lines (Zurich) will be adding six further destinations to its Geneva-based network this fall: Stockholm (served four times weekly), Oslo (three flights weekly), London Gatwick (three flights weekly), Gothenburg (twice weekly), Belgrade (twice weekly) and Marrakesh (twice weekly). Swiss will also be turning its present summer-season services between Geneva and Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Porto into year-round operations.

Swiss customers travelling from Geneva will also see a new fare concept that replaces the current pricing model. In one major innovation here, both round-trip and one-way fares will be offered.

The new Geneva Economy Flex fare offers European travel from Geneva for as little as CHF 89 one-way. The new fare offers greater flexibility, too, since bookings can be modified at no additional fee; and one piece of registered baggage is included in the fare.

The new Geneva Economy Light fare offers European travel from Geneva for as little as CHF 39 one-way. One piece of carry-on baggage is included in the fare. Bookings here cannot be changed or cancelled once they have been made.

Swiss is further creating a local cabin crew base for 150 new flight attendants.

Swiss:

Scandinavian Airlines changes its cabin service strategy for Europe

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) is planing to introduce SAS Go and SAS Plus on June 9. The new services will replace SAS’s Business Class, Economy Extra and Economy Class. The airline issued this statement:

June 9 marks the launch of the new SAS service concept. SAS Go and SAS Plus will replace Business Class, Economy Extra and Economy Class. This change is a pro-active investment on SAS’ journey to create the most modern flight experience in Europe.

This new service concept was developed in close dialogue with SAS customers and employees. Ideas have also been posted in the My SAS Idea forum.

“The service classes that were created 30 years ago do not reflect the needs of the modern traveller. Time is now in short supply for most people, and our customers want time efficiency and attractive prices, without any hidden charges. SAS Go and SAS Plus meet both of these needs,” says Rickard Gustafson, CEO and Group President of SAS.

Developed for people who fly regularly

The number of passengers who travel more than five times a year is increasing. Traditionally, flying used to be divided into business trips and leisure trips, but passengers now want the same convenience and comfort whether they are travelling on business or for leisure.

“SAS’ most important job is to get customers where they want to go, when they want to go, and to do this as simply as possible. Modern travellers want simplicity and convenience on their journeys, both when they are travelling for business or pleasure. The new service concept gives these passengers exactly what they want,” says Rickard Gustafson.

The prices for SAS Go are similar to the prices of the old Economy tickets. With SAS Plus passengers get better value for money as the “from price” is on average around 30 percent lower than the ‘from price’ of today’s flexible products. And they include more services.

What you need is included

The price of the new service concept includes more than before. SAS Go always includes a checked bag at no extra charge, newspapers, coffee or tea on board, as well as several services to save time, including mobile check-in, and seat selection. SAS Plus includes two checked bags at no extra cost, SAS Fast Track, lounge access, meals and drinks onboard, as well as double the number of EuroBonus points; all of this is on top of the benefits offered by SAS Go. Breakfast is served to all passengers on domestic flights in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

This change to SAS Go and SAS Plus also includes a brand new concept on board, with the traditional airplane tray being replaced by an airborne cafe. The launch of Our Cafe will see all passengers on board being offered the same range of food and drink.

Read the full statement: CLICK HERE

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS:

SAS promotes its on-time record:

European routes from Stockholm:

Emirates launches a new route to Tokyo Haneda today

Emirates (Dubai) today (June 3) celebrated the start of its daily, nonstop service from Dubai to Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) with the launch of its inaugural flight. Haneda is the company’s third destination in Japan.

Emirates’ flight EK 312 departs Dubai at 0935, touching down at Haneda 0001 the following day. The return flight, EK 313, departs Haneda at 0130 and arrives at Dubai at 0705 the same day.

According to the airline, the Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft operating the route is equipped with eight luxurious private suites in First Class, 42 of its latest lie-flat seats in Business, and generous space for 216 passengers in Economy, along with gourmet cuisine in all cabins which has been tailored to Japanese passengers, served by Emirates’ multinational cabin crew.

The aircraft also features ice, Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment system which offers over 1,500 channels showing the latest Japanese blockbusters, subtitled Hollywood films and Japanese music and TV.

Emirates now operates services to 134 destinations in 77 countries from Dubai, earlier this year Emirates launched services to Warsaw and Algiers. In addition to Haneda, Emirates has announced plans to launch services to Stockholm starting 4 September, Clark International Airport (Philippines) beginning on 1 October; the same day as it begins its transatlantic route between Milan and New York.

Emirates: