10 MARCH 2014
- Ethiopian to Vienna
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- Aer Lingus success
- Alitalia update
- AOA dinner
- Doha city tour
- easyJet at Westminster
- Ethiopian order?
- Farnborough 2014
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Aer Lingus success
The news comes as Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Aer Arann, announced a 23% increase in numbers for January, compared to the same period last year.
Almost 80,000 passengers flew with the airline in January – up from 65,000 in 2013.
Doha city tour
“Our aim is to promote Qatar as a tourism destination and provide Qatar Airways passengers with a unique experience of Doha, free of charge,” said Nigel Burnell Stoker, Acting Head of Qatar Airways Holidays.
“Based on the feedback we have received since February 1, it is clear that passengers transiting in Doha genuinely enjoy the city tour. We currently operate four daily tours, running at full capacity.”
Passengers with five to 12 hours of transit time in Doha can book by visiting the Doha City Tour counter at Doha International Airport. It is done on a first-come, first-served basis and is subject to seat availability on the coach.
Farnborough 2014
The event is already 90% sold and a number of ‘aviation firsts’ might well include a fully kitted out Airbus A350 AWD and the promising Bombardier CSeries. ATR is rumoured to be ready to unveil an entirely new version of its top selling turboprop at the show.
Ethiopian to Vienna
Ethiopian flights to Vienna will bring the total number of its international destinations across five continents to 80. With Vienna nine European cities are served by the airline. Ethiopian says that through commercial cooperation with Austrian Airlines, a fellow Star Alliance member with a strong network in Central Europe, it aims to provide both way connectivity options for travellers.
Alitalia update
Clearly, dealing with the Italians is not as straight forward as with the Air Berlin investment.
Asked in an interview how confident he was at this stage of the deal going through, James Hogan said: "It's 50-50."
"We had also entered into due diligence with other airlines in the past and walked away."
Hogan said that the deal could only go ahead if Alitalia met Etihad's criteria on costs, profitability, restructuring, network and strong management.
easyJet at Westminster
It could hardly be for new aircraft. Britain’s largest, and clearly from the turnout, most influential airline, is not in the market for new planes. Last June the airline announced an intention to acquire 35 Airbus A320, for delivery between 2015 and 2017, and 100 of the Airbus A320neo from 2017.
AOA dinner
AOA Chairman, Ed Anderson, opened proceedings with an upbeat speech, praising the positive language contained in the Government’s recent Aviation Policy Framework and urging all political parties to support the Sir Howard Davies Airports Commission, and commit to acting on the recommendations contained in its Final Report.
Ethiopian order?
Speaking in Addis Ababa, Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of the airline, would not be drawn regarding a favoured aircraft, noting that Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer all have future products available. He did not rule out Chinese and Russian products but seemed less than enthusiastic. China has a major investment programme in Ethiopia but the success of the airline over the last two decades has been put down to non-government interference in what is a nationalised business.