The low-cost carrier has announced new services from its Budapest base to Hurghada on the East coast of Egypt and Alghero in Sardinia, Italy, for the summer 2015 season.
In what is described as a new era of cooperation between the two national flag carriers, SAA will introduce the daily link from March 29, 2015, which will complement Etihad Airways’ existing flights between the two cities to offer a combined double-daily frequency on the route.
Tenerife has taken on an active role in enhancing air connectivity to the island and Turismo de Tenerife, the official agency on the island responsible for promoting the island internationally as a premier leisure destination has highlighted air connectivity as one of key priorities within the growth strategy.
The new airline will operate under a revised Eurowings brand but will be flown under the air operator certificate (AOC) of SunExpress Deutschland using the latter’s cockpit and cabin crews. It will be based at Cologne/Bonn Airport and will initially launch operations from the end of 2015, serving destinations in Florida, Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.
The enhanced focus on the African market is a key part of the carrier’s Long-Term Turnaround Strategy, and is in response to positive market growth. Over the course of the first week of December 2014, SAA is adding another seven weekly flights across four routes.
Emirates first introduced flights to Dar es Salaam in conjunction with its services to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. However, in March 2006 the airline initially split the route and introduced its first non-stop flights to the Tanzanian city, later establishing a dedicated daily flight to the destination from December 2006.
Two years can be an eternity for a startup airline and there are examples in East Africa that some did not survive the first two months of operations before folding again. The same cannot be said for Fastjet, Tanzania which celebrating its second birthday.
It is just over two years since the first 787 flights were launched to the UK capital and at periods this year more than 740 flights a month, around 24 departures a day have been recorded using the Dreamliner.
African low-cost carrier fastjet has taken a significant step towards launching operations in Zambia after its new local business received an Air Service Permit (ASP) from the authorities in Zambia, while fifth freedom rights from Uganda will enable it to grow its network from Entebbe International Airport.
Operating initially twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays, it will allow Gibraltarians to reconnect by air with the historic city of Tangier, as well as allowing Moroccans to discover all that Gibraltar has to offer. It will be one of the world’s shortest intercontinental services.
We've all sat and contemplated airports and their IATA codes for long enough, and some of their origins have remained a mystery. Why is Chicago O’Hare Airport ‘ORD’ and Orlando Airport ‘MCO’? At Routesonline we have done some digging and found out some of the answers to those burning questions.
The new link will provide the first regular link between East Africa and Dublin and will mark the return of flights between the Irish capital and Los Angeles, a market last served by Aer Lingus in November 2008. This will strengthen Ireland’s connectivity to the west coast of the United States, with California a major market for Irish tourism.
Today, Emirates fleet investment in Africa tops $7 billion with operating costs of over $2 billion and it currently operates to 22 passenger and six dedicated freighter destinations in Africa perating over 160 flights across the continent each week, connecting African economies and markets with Dubai and beyond to a global network of over 140 major cities.
Bahrain, which is located in the Arabian Gulf, has a history of aviation that dates back to the early 1920's. Historically it has acted as a gateway between the East and West providing a natural transit destination for early trade routes and a strategic hub for the Northern Gulf.
The HUB spoke to MEC Michael Mabuyakhulu during this year’s World Routes in Chicago to learn more about next year’s World Routes when he described the event as the aviation equivalent of the Football World Cup, which was hosted by South Africa in 2010. In terms of hosting the event, he added: “Durban is ready, KwaZulu-Natal is ready and Africa is ready.”
The carrier’s entry into Tanzania is no real surprise as the country is a regional hub for tourism in East Africa and in 2013 the country welcomed over one million tourists. According to the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB), this figure looks set with to double with two million tourists forecast by 2017.
As a record-breaking World Routes event in Chicago enters its last day, this lunchtime the Chicago Department of Aviation and Choose Chicago will officially hand the event over next year's host, the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
