Corporate Travel News For Europe/MEA

Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation, via its official Twitter account, announced (03-Jan-2018) it signed an agreement with Cyprus' Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, providing for the launch of air service between the countries and the development of civil aviation relations.

El Al announced (03-Jan-2018) plans to launch three times weekly Tel Aviv-San Fransisco service from 4Q2018, operating with Boeing 787 aircraft. El Al CEO David Maimon said: "The acquisition of the 787 Dreamliner fleet enables us to expand our long-haul network. San Francisco is a city of strategic importance to EL AL, with great emphasis on the business market". San Francisco will become El Al's sixth destination in North America, alongside New York (JFK and Newark), Los Angeles, Boston, Miami and Toronto. [more - original PR]

Ryanair launched (03-Jan-2018) the following connecting services at Porto Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport:

• Barcelona-Porto-Faro;
• Barcelona-Porto-Lisbon;
• Barcelona-Porto-Ponta Delgada;
• Barcelona-Porto-Terceira;
• Bologna-Porto-Faro;
• Brussels Zaventem-Porto-Ponta Delgada;
• Brussels Zaventem-Porto-Faro;
• Dortmund-Porto-Lisbon;
• Dusseldorf Wetze-Porto-Lisbon;
• Dusseldorf Wetze-Porto-Ponta Delgada;
• Madrid-Porto-Lisbon;
• Mallorca-Porto-Lisbon;
• Milan Malpensa-Porto-Lisbon;
• Milan Bergamo-Porto-Faro;
• Milan Bergamo-Porto-Terreira;
• Milan Bergamo-Porto-Ponta Delgada;
• Memmingen-Porto-Lisbon;
• Nuremberg-Porto-Farro;
• Valencia-Porto-Faro;
• Valencia-Porto-Lisbon. [more - original PR]

VivaColombia CEO William Shaw reiterated the carrier's focus in 2018 is to modernise its fleet and stabilise operations (El Colombiano, 29-Dec-2017). He said the carrier does hope to increase frequencies on existing services to offer passengers more options. Responding to if he sees the carrier expanding to other markets in Latin America, he said "we continue to study routes to where we see more potential for LCC services," adding it hopes to replicate the Ryanair model and connect all cities in Latin America, "just as it is done in Europe".

British Airways submitted an application to UK CAA to lease six A320s from Qatar Airways, effective Feb-2018 to Apr-2018 (Luchtvaartnieuws.nl/Up in the Sky, 02-Jan-2018). British Airways requires the aircraft due to a delayed delivery.

Ryanair UK confirmed it applied for an AOC from the UK CAA (Reuters/BBC News, 02-Jan-2018). Ryanair stated: "A subsidiary company Ryanair UK filed an application on 21-Dec last for an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) with the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK. This may be required for Ryanair's three UK domestic routes in the event of a hard Brexit in Mar-2019".

Menzies Aviation announced (02-Jan-2018) it was awarded the following ground handling contracts:

• Cathay Pacific in Adelaide, Perth and Christchurch;
• Samoa Airways in Auckland and Sydney;
• Corporate Air in Sydney;
• Air Canada in Melbourne;
• Air China in Brisbane;
• Vietnam Airlines Cargo in Sydney and Melbourne.

Menzies stated it also renewed contracts with Korean Air, British Airways Cargo, AirAsia X Cargo, Royal Brunei Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air North and Fiji Airways but failed to renew its contract with Etihad Airways for ground handling services in Australia. [more - original PR]

Fraport AG subsidiary Fraport Brazil commenced (02-Jan-2018) operation of Fortaleza Pinto Martins Airport and Porto Alegre Salgado Filho Airport. Fraport Brazil was awarded a tender to operate the airports under 25 to 30 year concession contracts in Mar-2017 and plans to invest approximately BRL600 million (USD184.1 million) at both airports on infrastructure expansion and improvement projects. [more - original PR]

Norwegian Group outlined (02-Jan-2018) the following expansion plans for 2018:

• South America: Norwegian confirmed plans to launch four times weekly London Gatwick-Buenos Aires service with Boeing 787 equipment, effective 14-Feb-2018. The route will be the carrier's first to South America;
• Premium cabin upgrades: Norwegian plans to introduce an expanded Premium cabin on 787 aircraft which will have 60% more seats. The 56 seat cabin configuration will offer more than a metre of legroom and 11 inch Panasonic monitors. The new cabin will be fitted on Norwegian's final 20 787 orders set for delivery from Feb-2018;
• New US destinations: Norwegian plans to launch Chicago and Austin services from London Gatwick in spring 2018:
  • Chicago: Daily, effective 25-Mar-2018;
  • Austin: Three times weekly, effective 27-Mar-2018;
• WiFi: Norwegian plans to roll out inflight WiFi on long haul routes;
• Fleet: Norwegian plans to add 11 787 aircraft to its fleet in 2018 to be used on long haul routes from London Gatwick. Norwegian also expects to take delivery of 12 new 737 MAXs which will be used on services from Edinburgh, Belfast and Ireland to the US east coast.
• Frequency increases from London Gatwick:
  • Boston: To increase from five times weekly to daily;
  • Oakland-San Francisco: To increase to daily;
  • Los Angeles: To increase to twice daily on select days. [more - original PR]

Primera Air CEO Hrafn Thorgeirsson confirmed the airline is considering plans to launch services to Montreal and Washington DC (Forbes, 30-Dec-2017). Mr Thorgeirsson stated: "We're definitely looking at more destinations both in Canada and in America. It would be either Washington, DC, or Montreal, or perhaps both. Those are the next two that I would expect to come out with a decision on for North America. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw them coming in 2019".