Aigle Azur (2nd) (Paris-Orly) is dropping the Paris (Orly)-Moscow (Vnukovo) route on October 26 per Airline Route. The route was an important connecting route with partner Transaero Airlines (Moscow) (see map below).
Since July 2012, Aigle Azur has been serving the Paris (Orly)-Moscow (Vnukovo) route in partnership with Transaero Airlines.
Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 F-HBIB (msn 3289) touches down at EuroAirport serving the Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg area.
Aeroflot Russian Airlines (Moscow) has announced its schedule changes for its winter schedule valid until March 28, 2015:
During winter season 2014/2015 Aeroflot plans to fly to 52 countries including 8 CIS countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan and Ukraine).
Aeroflot will operate its own flights to 121 destinations โ 69 of which are abroad โ including 46 destinations in Europe, 13 in Asia, 5 in the USA, 5 in the Middle East and Africa. The winter CIS network covers 11 destinations: Baku, Bishkek, Yerevan, Minsk, Tashkent, Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Odessa, Karaganda, Chisinau.
Starting from February 1, 2015 Aeroflot will add two new destinations, twice daily to the Russian cities of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk.
During the winter season Aeroflot will fly daily to Tbilisi and Chisinau.
Aeroflot will continue operating on the routes which were opened last summer season: Moscow โ Karaganda, Moscow โ Rostov-on-Don, Moscow โ Novy Urengoy.
Aeroflot will also introduce additional frequencies on already existing routes from Moscow to the following destinations (flights per week): Saint Petersburg (from 98 to 108), Krasnodar (from 39 to 48), Mineralnye Vody (from 7 to 21), Orenburg (from 7 to 14), Simferopol (from 14 to 35), Ekaterinburg (from 35 to 42), Volgograd (from 21 to 28), Irkutsk (from 10 to 21), Novosibirsk (from 21 to 28), Tyumen (from 14 to 21), Rostov-on-Don (from 7 to 21), Yakutsk (from 5 to 6), Minsk (from 21 to 28), Vilnius (from 7 to 14), Dusseldorf (from 21 to 28), Bucharest (from 4 to 7), Amsterdam (from 14 to 21), Helsinki (from 7 to 14), Bangkok (from 10 to 14), Los-Angeles (from 6 to 7), Miami (from 3 to 4).
Instead of the flights to Gelendzik, Heraklion, Dubrovnik and Split operated only during the summer season, Aeroflot will fly to Phuket. Two traditional summer destinations โ Thessaloniki and Tivat โ will become year-round for the first time.
In total Aeroflot Group and its code sharing partners will fly to 333 unique destinations in 68 countries including Russia.
In other news, Aeroflot is transferring the assets of grounded Dobrolet (2nd) (Moscow) to its new subsidiary called Byudzhetny Perevozchik, (translated as Budgetary Carrier).
The new subsidiary will operate low fare Boeing 737-800 flights from Moscow (Sheremetyevo) to Belgorod, Kazan, Surgut, Perm, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Samara, Volgograd and Tyumen according to Russian News.
Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) has been forced to lay off 280 staff members, a third of its workforce, including 70 pilots due to slumping traffic. The company is restructuring to meet the current conditions. As part of this restructuring, the company is grounding or leasing out its six Airbus A320s as it attempts to reduce its fleet according to Reuters. Tragically the airline has put its emphasis on serving destinations in eastern Europe. The current on-going conflict in the eastern Ukraine has translated to a drop in traffic.
The holding company of the flag carrier issued this statement:
The new Czech Aeroholding management reviewed in detail the economic results of all companies incorporated in the Czech Aeroholding Group, including Czech Airlines, upon its appointment at the turn of June and July 2014. The second largest shareholder, Korean Air, was then informed about the situation in Czech Airlines, too. Together, they agreed to draft a restructuring plan with the goal of keeping the current revenue upon decreased costs. This plan was unanimously approved by all shareholders in a General Meeting at the beginning of September. Several restructuring measures, predominantly in the revenue area such as a new one-way tickets concept, flight schedule changes and changes to the companyโs transport network (including those in the Russian market), have already brought first results. For the first time in several years, Czech Airlines will record a net operational profit for the entire summer season. Concurrent with the restructuring plan, negotiations among all shareholder regarding investments into Czech Airlines are currently in progress. Upon their closing, Czech Aeroholding and all shareholders will inform the general public of their future steps in regards to Czech Airlines.
Copyright Photo: OSDU/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 OK-MEI (msn 3060) in the special “Prague Love You – Prague Airport” arrives at Moscow (Sheremetyevo) from Prague.
Flydubai (Dubai) has announced the launch of flights to Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Flights to the East African country will commence in October, expanding the airlineโs network in Africa to 12 destinations.
In other news, Flydubaiโs inaugural flight to Moscow landed today (September 23) at Vnukovo International Airport.
Previously Flydubaiโs inaugural flight to Almaty landed at Almaty International Airport on September 16 and was met too by a traditional water cannon salute. This marked the start of the airlineโs operations to Kazakhstan.
Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8KN A6-FDZ (msn 40253) arrives back at the Dubai hub.
Aeroflot Russian Airlines (Moscow) on October 26 will resume service to Tbilisi, Georgia from Moscow (Sheremetyevo). The resumed route will be operated on a daily basis with Airbus A320 aircraft per Airline Route.
On the financial side, Aeroflot has reported on its first half results: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Keith Burton/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 VP-BWH (msn 2151) approaches the runway at London (Heathrow).
Estonian Airย (Tallinn) reported a first half net loss of โฌ5 million ($6.6 million), down from a net loss of โฌ6.1 million ($8.0 million) in the same period a year ago.
The airline issued this full financial statement:
Despite tougher competition Estonian Air improved its half year net result by 18%. In the first half of 2014, Estonian Airโs revenue amounted to EUR 32.9 million, which is 8% less compared to the same period last year but net result of the company improved by 18%, which amounted to EUR 5.0 million loss.
During the first six months, Estonian Air carried 260 thousand passengers, of which 251 thousand on regular flights. This is 8% less than in the same period last year but less than the decrease in roundtrips (10%) in the same period 2013.
โThe result of the second quarter is on the same level as in the same period last year, but nevertheless we expected to see more positive results,โ said Jan Palmรฉr, CEO of Estonian Air. โDuring the second quarter Estonian Air has continued to perform in line with the restructuring plan, but in addition we must now intensify measures in response to harsher market. Competition in Tallinn airport has become tougher as new carriers have entered the market and we have been influenced by continuing uncertain situation in Ukraine resulting in lower passenger volumes on Kiev route and lower transit passengers volumes flying from Europe to Russia,โ continued Palmรฉr.
The pressure on airlinesโ yield has increased in the whole Europe, forcing airlines to adapt to the changing market conditions. โIn the first half of the year, the total number of passengers fell slightly behind our forecast. This is mainly due to less number of operated flights compared to last year, which is due to demanding market situation. However, in June and July we have seen the passenger volumes coming back. Positively surprising high demand for our summer offers and two more summer destinations helped us to turn the number of passengers into growth again,โ added Palmer.
In addition to direct flights, Estonian Air is providing more than 280 destinations around the world together with partner airlines with minimum connecting time. For instance, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Amsterdam airports act as important hubs for connecting flights around the whole world.
Estonian Air, Estoniaโs national carrier, is the biggest operator at Tallinn Airport. The airline flies regular routes to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Moscow, Munich, St Petersburg, Kiev, Vilnius, Trondheim and Bromma. In addition, from May to September, Estonian Air will fly to Nice and Split, from June to August to Paris and from June to 1st of November to Berlin. From December 2014 to March 2015, Estonian Air will add seasonal flights to Munich.
Gulf Air (Bahrain) has announced the launch of nonstop services to Moscow from October 28, 2014. The airline will operate four flights per week to Domodedovo International Airport โ 42 kilometers (26 miles) south-southeast from the center of Moscow and the cityโs largest airport in terms of passenger and cargo traffic.
This route announcement follows Gulf Airโs recent commencement of services to a number of destinations including Sialkot in Pakistan, Tehran in Iran and the Greek capital, Athens, this year.
Gulf Air flights to Moscowโs Domodedovo International Airport will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft in a two-class configuration of 14 Falcon Gold seats and 96 seats in Economy.
Copyright Photo: Christian Volpati/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 A9C-AF (msn 4158) arrives in Dubai.
Dobrolet (2nd) (Moscow-Sheremetyevo), Aeroflot’s wholly owned low-cost carrier subsidiary, started scheduled passenger operations from Moscow (Sheremetyevo) to Simferopol, Crimea on June 10, 2014 as we originally reported. Since then, the airline introduced a second route to Volgograd. Planned new service to Samara, Ufa, Perm, Ekaterinburg, Surgut and Kazan will be postponed until further notice.
Due to new sanctions imposed by the European Union, the leases of the Boeing 737-800s from European companies has been cancelled leaving the airline without any aircraft. The airline has been forced to suspend its own operations starting today. However the carrier is wet leasing aircraft from Orenburg Airlines to fly their schedules.
The European Union blacklisted Dobrolet on July 30, 2014 as part of a sanctions package against Russia.
The airline issued this statement (translated from Russian):
Dear passengers!
In connection with the cancellation of the contract of leasing aircraft Boeing 737-800, due to the sanctions imposed by the EU in respect of airline Dobrolet, we are forced to temporarily suspend flights on all routes from August 4, 2014.
On the route Moscow-Simferopol-Moscow all passengers with flights to September 15 inclusive, will be transported by Orenburg Airlines at the date and time specified on the ticket.
On the route Moscow-Volgograd-Moscow all passengers with flights to August 20 inclusive, will be transported by Orenburg Airlines at the date and time specified on the ticket.
Flights on other routes are temporarily canceled, passengers will automatically receive a full refund.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience!
Update: On August 6, 2014 the airline announced it had ordered sixteen new Boeing 737-800s to be delivered in 2017-2018. This batch of aircraft may be coming from a non-European leasing company as Boeing has not confirmed this new order.
Copyright Photo: OSDU/AirlinersGallery.com. Leased from BBAM, Boeing 737-8FZ VQ-BTS (msn 41991) arrives back at the Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO) base.
Air Armenia (Yerevan) will start a new twice-weekly route to Frankfurt on September 2. Previously the growing carrier started twice-weekly Paris (CDG) service on April 30.
Air Armenia is a private airline established in Armenia in 2003 and is based at Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport.
For 10 years since its foundation, Air Armenia has only operated cargo flights, except for a short period in 2003-2004 when it was contracted to operate passenger flights.
Upon liberalization of air passenger transportation policy in Armenia in 2013, Air Armenia launched regular passenger services to Russia, and is planning to expand to other destinations in the CIS, Europe and Middle East.
Copyright Photo: OSDU/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 EK32039 (msn 1439) arrives in Moscow (Vnukovo).
Dobrolet (2nd) (Moscow-Sheremetyevo), Aeroflot’s wholly owned low-cost carrier subsidiary, has completed its first commercial flight from Moscow to Simferopol.
Aeroflot issued this statement:
A ceremony to mark the maiden flight on June 10 at Sheremetyevo International Airport, Aeroflotโs international hub in Moscow, was attended by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, senior executives from Russiaโs transport industry and Aeroflotโs top management.
The new carrier was named in honor of a predecessor of todayโs Aeroflot โ JSC Dobrolet.
According to the carrier, “the low-cost model is based on maintaining tight control of costs, particularly on some elements of service. As a result, Dobroletโs transportation costs are 20%-30% lower than classical established carriers, and may be further reduced in future.”
Simferopol, Crimea is Dobroletโs first key destination, with four daily flights to the Crimean city contributing to the transport integration of Crimea with other regions of Russia.
In August, Dobrolet will launch flights to St Petersburg and Samara. The route network will subsequently expand to other Russian regions, and from 2016 Dobrolet plans to fly to international destinations, primarily in Europe and the CIS.
The new airlineโs fleet will consist of new Boeing 737-800s in one-class configuration designed to carry 189 passengers. By the end of 2014 Dobrolet will operate eight aircraft.
Dobrolet plans to increase its fleet to 40 aircraft by 2018, operating 45 routes and carrying more than 10 million passengers.
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