16 FEBRUARY 2015
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- COMMENT: Aer Lingus – What happens next?
- Addis expansion
- Air Travel 2014
- ANA new travel class
- CSeries progress
- Dame Deidre celebrates 25 years of the Aviation Club
- Dreamliner for American Airlines
- Helicopter conference in London
- Hilton Garden Inn – Istanbul Airport
- Korean goes ‘Suites’ + a special AND FINALLY
- Larnaca to Tel Aviv
- Lufthansa strikes
- Luxair renews fleet
- Marriot at Lyon
- Monarch helps Blind Veterans
- Ryanair appeals – again
- Serviced Apartments
- Stansted expansion
- Tenerife from London
- UK welcomes business visitors
- US and Gulf carriers’ dispute
- ON TOUR: The Business Travel Show
- AND FINALLY: Bargains at United Airlines. Danes fly cheap.
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ANA new travel class
From March onwards ANA is introducing new travel classes and enhanced in-flight services on flights to Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta. ANA is targeting the high volume of business travellers flying between these destinations and the rising demand from international passengers connecting to the wider Southeast Asian and North American ANA network.
Dreamliner for American Airlines
American Airlines will introduce the Boeing 787 Dreamliner between Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Chicago O'Hare (ORD) beginning on 7 May. The aircraft will go international from DFW to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) on 2 June followed by Buenos Aires (EZE) on 4 June.
Bookings for all these services are now open.
Korean goes ‘Suites’ + a special AND FINALLY
Whilst no news has been released concerning possible upgrades for its 10-strong A380 fleet (all delivered) Korean Air has revealed its revamped executive class on the A330-300 equipped with new ‘Prestige Suites’.
COMMENT: Aer Lingus – What happens next?
Aer Lingus is the de facto national airline of Ireland, although in truth far smaller these days than Ryanair. Over the last bumpy 20 years or so it has been vastly less profitable as well.
Is it to be finally gobbled up by British Airways, but retaining its identity, or is it to remain an independent stand-alone? IAG says all is secure, but for five years only. What happens then? Will the Irish contemplate a British backed European takeover? Then there is the question of the Aer Lingus UK franchise operation connecting the US through Dublin, now said to be 25% of the transatlantic services? Etihad hold 5.9% of Aer Lingus whilst Qatar has recently purchased 20% of IAG. They are allegedly not the best of friends.
And where does Michael O’Leary and Ryanair stand with all this?
Addis expansion
Ethiopia will complete expansion work on the capital's airport in 2018 to triple the number of passengers it handles.
A site will also be selected soon for a new hub to deal with 10 times the number in future, a senior official said.
CSeries progress
The Bombardier CSeries prototypes have completed flutter, cold-weather and passenger-evacuation testing passing the 900-hour mark en route to the 2,400 hours expected to be required for certification of the initial CS100 version.
Dame Deidre celebrates 25 years of the Aviation Club
Controversially appointed to succeed Sir Roy McNulty as Chair of the CAA in 2009, dubbed by the Daily Telegraph “Queen of Quangos”, Dame Deidre Hutton won over a sceptical audience at the 25th anniversary Aviation Club lunch last week. In closing she made it clear that the CAA fully backed the idea of a new runway for London and warned of the opposition which she said “had to be charmed”.
Helicopter conference in London
Following directly on from the Corporate Jet Investor conference last week (9-10 February) at London’s Royal Garden Hotel, the helicopter industry held their own gathering (11-12 February) at the same venue.
Two topics focused interest. Fuel and safety.
Larnaca to Tel Aviv
Now rapidly expanding again after the collapse of Cyprus Airways (See BTN 19 January) Aegean has introduced Larnaca to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion in direct competition with Israeli airline Arkia and also El Al’s very limited services.
Marriot at Lyon
Lyon, the second-largest metropolitan area in France, now has a Marriott Hotel, the previous Hilton rebranding on 30 January. The property joins a further 23 Marriott Hotels in France.
Ryanair appeals – again
The UK Court of Appeal has rejected Ryanair’s petition to overturn Britain's Competition Commission (now called the Competition and Markets Authority – CMA) for the airline to divest itself of a 29% stake in Aer Lingus.
Serviced Apartments
In a statement prior to the Business Travel Show (See See ON TOUR – The Business Travel Show in this issue) the Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP) says it is confident of doubling its size by the end of this year, as it reported membership up to 90 (from 74 in 2014), a 20% increase during the last quarter.
US and Gulf carriers’ dispute
American airlines have lost at least five percentage points of their share of flight bookings from the United States to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia since 2008, due to fierce competition from Gulf carriers.
ON TOUR: The Business Travel Show
A PREVIEW
The Business Travel Show returns to Olympia in 2015 for its 21st outing. The occasion, Europe’s largest specialised exhibition and conference for buyers and managers of business travel, will take place on 25-26 February 2015 at Olympia Grand. The long-established and reputable event provides business travel buyers and managers with access to suppliers, knowledge and contacts to help them develop successful travel programmes.
Air Travel 2014
Figures released by Airports Council International (ACI) show that global passenger traffic ended the year strong with a growth rate of 5.1% year over year.
Hilton Garden Inn – Istanbul Airport
Now open is the Hilton Garden Inn Istanbul Ataturk Airport, about 4 miles from Europe’s fastest expanding hub. It is the brand’s seventh property in Turkey and offers 217 guest rooms.
Lufthansa strikes
The German pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) said further and more widespread strikes were possible in a row with Lufthansa over early retirement benefits, as a two-day strike at the airline's Germanwings budget unit completed on Friday.
Luxair renews fleet
Owned 49.96% by the Government of Luxembourg, but with Lufthansa as a 13% shareholder, Luxair is embarking on a two-stage fleet renewal strategy.
The airline’s present fleet comprises five Boeing 737 NGs, seven Bombardier Q400s and six Embraer ERJ145s.
Monarch helps Blind Veterans
The Monarch Foundation and charity partner Blind Veterans UK have teamed up to deliver ‘sighted guiding’ training into Monarch Airlines’ cabin crew training programme to mark this year’s centenary of the charity.
Stansted expansion
Speaking at the ‘Future Travel Experience’ industry conference in London, Andrew Harrison, Managing Director, Stansted Airport, outlined owner MAG’s vision to transform the airport by upgrading and rejuvenating the passenger areas, whilst offering airlines a more tailored and differentiated airport product.
Tenerife from London
If you want to fly from Heathrow to Tenerife this summer there is plenty of choice.
IAG has found room in its Heathrow slots package to re-introduce the once popular route, announcing Iberia Express as the operator of a thrice-weekly service into Tenerife’s Reina Sofia airport in the south.
UK welcomes business visitors
The UK Home Office Visitor is to consolidate from the current 15 visa application paths to just four as part of a simple new streamlined system for business and leisure travellers to Great Britain.
The changes will affect all those wishing to visit the UK from April – from business and tourism visitors to sportspeople and entertainers. They will all be just travellers.