Corporate Travel News For Europe/MEA

Air France announced (04-Oct-2017) plans to commence five times weekly Paris CDG-Seattle service with Boeing 777-200 aircraft from 25-Mar-2018. The aircraft is equipped with the latest long haul travel cabins in Business, Premium Economy and Economy. This new destination in the USA is in addition to the flights operated as part of the joint venture with Delta Air Lines. [more - original PR - English/French]

Qantas announced (03-Oct-2017) that following the implementation of a new air services agreement between Australia and Cyprus and the expansion of the air services agreement with Italy, Qantas will codeshare with Emirates on the UAE carrier's services to Bologna, Larnaca and Malta, effective 29-Oct-2017. [more - original PR]

Qatar Airways group CEO Akbar Al Baker said the company's 49% stake acquisition in Meridiana was followed by "a very frank talk with the unions" (Reuters, 01-Oct-2017). Mr Al Baker said Meridiana unions are "very accommodating... They realised we are not going to just shrink the airline in the beginning, but that we are going to massively grow the carrier to become the real national carrier of Italy".

Smile Air, via its official Facebook account, confirmed (Sep-2017) "curtailing" planned long haul operations by "dropping" its almost ready pair of Boeing 747-400 aircraft. The airline instead plans to focus on domestic as well as West/Central African operations.

Air Cargo Netherlands estimates up to 37 of the 150 full freighter landing slots per week will be cut at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport during the upcoming winter season, due to slot restrictions (Hangar.no/Air Cargo News, 03-Oct-2017). AirBridgeCargo Airlines, Cargolux Airlines International, Emirates SkyCargo, Kalitta Air, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Qatar Airways Cargo all stand to lose Schiphol slots and several cargo operators are reportedly exploring plans to shift operations from Schiphol to Maastricht Airport, Frankfurt Airport, Brussels Airport or Liege Airport.

Emirates plans to increase Dubai-Stockholm Arlanda frequency from daily to 10 times weekly from 08-Dec-2017, as per a 02-Oct-2017 GDS and inventory timetable display. The new frequencies will operate during the weekend with Boeing 777 aircraft.

Finnair announced (03-Oct-2017) plans to launch two new services from Helsinki to Bergen and Tromsø in May-2018, operated by Wideroe under a wet lease agreement. Finnair is responsible for ticket sales and marketing. Helsiki-Bergen route will be offered daily from 15-May-2018, operating with a new 144 seat E190-E2 aircraft (Check-in.dk, 04-Oct-2017). Helsinki-Tromsø route will be operated weekly on Saturdays. Both service schedule enables passengers to further connect onto Finnair's Asian and European network. [more - original PR - Finnair] [more - original PR - Finavia] [more - original PR - Bergen Airport] [more - original PR - Avinor]

Australia's Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) reported (04-Oct-2017) the following international traffic highlights to/from Australia for Jul-2017:

• Passengers: 3.5 million, +3.9% year-on-year;
• Available seats: 4.5 million, +4.4%;
• Flights: 17,157, +3.1%;
• Cargo: 88,164 tonnes, +8.0%;
• Aircraft movements: 18,091, +7.0%;
• Top 10 international carriers:
  • Share of passengers carried:
    • Qantas: 16.2%, +0.7ppt;
    • Jetstar: 9.1%, +0.1ppt;
    • Emirates: 8.5%, -0.3ppt;
    • Singapore Airlines: 8.3%, -0.1ppt;
    • Air New Zealand: 6.5%, +0.1ppt;
    • Virgin Australia: 6.2%, +0.1ppt;
    • Cathay Pacific Airways: 4.2%, -0.1ppt;
    • AirAsia X: 4.0%, -0.1ppt;
    • China Southern Airlines: 2.6%, +0.2ppt;
    • Etihad Airways: 3.5%, -0.1ppt;
  • Share of cargo carried:
    • Singapore Airlines: 15.6%, -2.0ppts;
    • Qantas: 12.4%, -0.6ppt;
    • Emirates: 8.8%, -1.1ppts;
    • Cathay Pacific Airways: 7.0%, -0.1ppt;
    • Air New Zealand: 6.5%, +0.2ppt;
    • Thai Airways: 4.0%, +0.8ppt;
    • China Southern Airlines: 3.7%, -0.1ppt;
    • Federal Express Corporation: 3.2%, +0.3ppt;
    • Malaysia Airlines: 2.8%, +0.1%;
    • Etihad Airways: 2.6%, stable. [more - original PR]

BITRE also reported LCCs AirAsia X, Cebu Pacific Air, Indonesia AirAsia, Jetstar, Jetstar Asia and Scoot/Scoot Tigerair accounted for 16.7% of total international passenger traffic to/from Australia in Jul-2017. LCC share in Jul-2016 was 19.1%.

France's Le Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA) assumed (03-Oct-2017) responsibility to investigate Air France's A380 engine incident on 30-Sep-2017. BEA said it was delegated responsibility from authorities in Denmark. BEA stated damage to the aircraft appears to be limited to the fourth engine and its immediate environment. The observation of the reactor shows that the engine fan detached during flight, causing it to lose air intake. [more - original PR - French]

Air Arabia CEO Adel Ali hinted at the possible inclusion of A321neoLR aircraft as part of a 2016 agreement with Air Lease Corporation involving the lease of six A321neo (Forbes, 30-Sep-2017). The aircraft are due to deliver from Jan-2019. Mr Ali said the A321neo will be used to open up new routes to China, Russia, the Far East, and Africa, but will not be used for the European market. "Certainly this is not being ordered just to plug airplanes into Europe... We see there are too many airplanes already flying into Europe. There's overcapacity on certain routes particularly", he said, adding: "We won't rule out anything. But I think we have not looked into Europe yet because we've got enough on the plate for those airplanes already". Air Arabia Maroc however may use the type to boost its eastern European market reach, he added. "Places such as Moscow and Nepal, where we could do with a bit more capacity, but we don't necessarily need to put more frequencies", he said.