News for Europe/MEA

ACI EUROPE DG Olivier Jankovec stated (Sep-2017) airlines "routinely" call on airports of all sizes to "make their best offers" for the launch of new routes. Mr Jankovec said a "major airline" believes the calls "give all of the airports in our network the opportunity to secure the best outcome" from their route planning. Mr Jankovec criticised the scheme, stating: "This is clearly nothing more than airport competition at play, orchestrated by powerful, dominant and profitable European airlines". Citing route liberalisation and airport privatisation, Mr Jankovec emphasised competition between European airports continues to grow. He reported that major European airports compete for point-to-point and transfer traffic "in order to expand both their route/airline portfolio and reduce their dependence on established hub carriers", while small regional airports "have also become accustomed to market pressures, as they compete for no-frills and regional services". [more - original PR]

Pegasus Airlines CCO Guliz Ozturk stated (08-Sep-2017) the carrier's focus on CASK, cash and capacity contributed to recovery in 2017. Ms Ozturk said: "With a focus on our 3Cs business strategy this year to streamline Cask, Cash and Capacity we have been able to weather the market conditions and remain as Turkey's fastest growing airline. A strong domestic market in Turkey and growing traffic from all the regions we connect via our hub and spoke model... has meant we're on track to meet and exceed the targets for 2017". [more - original PR]

CAPA - Centre for Aviation, in a report entitled: 'Qantas' New York & London nonstops need long range aircraft, but secret ingredient is Qantas' brand', stated (10-Sep-2017) domestic strength and brand are key considerations for Qantas as it looks to ultra long-haul operations. While it will be a technical achievement for Airbus and Boeing to engineer variants of their A350 and 777X to allow service from Australia's east coast to London and New York, the real accomplishment will be for these services to achieve commercial sustainability. With the right aircraft, Qantas has a promising recipe of brand, loyalty and a home domestic market to create a customer loyalty base that should support the new services. [more - CAPA Analysis]

Court of Justice of the European Union ruled (07-Sep-2017) on compensation payable to passengers in the event of cancellation or long delay of a connecting service. The Court stated compensation "must be calculated according to the radial distance between the departure and arrival airports". The Court stated the fact that the distance actually covered by such a flight is, as a result of the connection, greater than the distance between the departure and arrival airports has no impact on the calculation of compensation. The Court considers that the nature of the flight (direct flight or connecting flight) has no impact on the extent of the inconvenience suffered by the passengers. [more - original PR]

Eastern Airways received (08-Sep-2017) the first of two new ATR 72-600 aircraft (MSNs 1448 and 1482) from Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) on 08-Sep-2017. Both aircraft are configured with 72 seats and will operate on Aberdeen-Scatsta oil contract charter services. Eastern Airways COO Tony Burgess added the aircraft "are ideally suited for the airports we fly to and environments we operate in", as the regional carrier expands its capabilities in the 70 seat market. Eastern Airways is a new customer for NAC. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]

Air France-KLM reported (09-Sep-2017) the following traffic highlights for Air France, KLM and HOP! for Aug-2017:

• Passengers: 7.6 million, +5.6% year-on-year;
  • Long haul: 2.6 million, +2.6%;
    • North America: 820,000, +6.1%;
    • Asia Pacific: 560,000, -0.7%;
    • Africa and Middle East: 542,000, +4.4%;
    • Caribbean and Indian Ocean: 351,000, +2.1%;
    • Latin America: 281,000, -2.7%;
  • Short and Medium haul: 5.1 million, +7.2%;
• Passenger load factor: 89.6%, +1.5ppts;
  • Long haul: 90.7%, +1.3ppts;
    • Asia Pacific: 92.3%, +0.6ppt;
    • Latin America: 91.2%, +2.7ppts;
    • North America: 90.8%, +2.5ppts;
    • Caribbean and Indian Ocean: 89.3%, +0.4ppt;
    • Africa and Middle East: 88.4%, stable;
  • Short and Medium haul: 85.5%, +2.5ppts. [more - original PR]

Armenia's General Department of Civil Aviation (GDCA) Head Sergey Avetisyan presented (08-Sep-2017) an action plan on aviation development, upcoming programmes and expected results of cooperation with international aviation organisations. Ongoing EU-Armenia talks about a common aviation zone commenced in 2017. Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan instructed Mr Avetisyan to work with partners to strengthen and develop aviation industry relations, providing the necessary conditions for the implementation of international services. Matters relating to the expansion of Armenia's air connectivity, airport and air transport market development and training were also discussed at the meeting. [more - original PR - English/Armenian]

Ukraine's State Aviation Administration held (08-Sep-2017) a round of consultations with Kazakhstan's aeronautical authorities. While the parties agreed the 1993 air services agreement currently in place meets existing requirements, Ukraine's State Aviation Administration plans to prepare a new draft agreement to reflect Ukraine's national liberalisation policy, as well as ICAO standards and practices. Ukraine and Kazakhstan plan to conduct the next round of consultations in Dec-2017. [more - original PR - Ukrainian]

DHL commenced (08-Sep-2017) twice weekly service from Oslo to Seoul and Shanghai with Boeing 747-400F equipment on 08-Sep-2017. The service is expected to meet strong demand for Norwegian seafood and connects with DHL's existing Lakselv-Oslo service. The carrier will increase Lakselv-Oslo frequency from weekly to twice weekly. [more - original PR]

Emirates president Tim Clark said the airline is not ready to commit to an order for additional A380 aircraft (Bloomberg, 07-Sep-2017). Sir Tim said: "I know they [Airbus] would like us to do something. At the moment we are not at that state of readiness. We need copper-bottomed undertakings that they would do everything they needed to do to keep the programme going. We don't want to be left with aircraft that have no value". Airbus reportedly hopes to secure an order from the airline at the Dubai Airshow in Nov-2017.