Corporate Travel News For Europe/MEA

Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam, speaking at World Routes, stated (24-Sep-2017) the airline is in "the final stage" of establishing a new venture in Zambia with the southern African nation's government. Zambia Airways could launch as early as 2018 as a JV and is being formed after Ethiopian Airlines' Malawian Airlines venture and establishment of a hub in Lilongwe failed to live up to initial expectations. "The market is not as big as we thought, so we are now looking into Zambia", explained Mr Gebremariam.

airberlin creditors committee announced (21-Sep-2017) Deutsche Lufthansa AG and easyJet as "selected bidders" for airberlin's aviation business, with negotiations to continue until 12-Oct-2017. Authority was granted to conclude one or more agreements with one or more of the selected bidders. With respect to the other business units of the airberlin group, sales negotiations with further bidders will be continued. [more - original PR]

Finavia SVP Joni Sundelin, speaking at World Routes, revealed (24-Sep-2017) Lucky Air will introduce a twice weekly Kunming-Chengdu-Helsinki service. The first regular flight into Finland from a Chinese carrier will commence on 10-Jan-2018, operated with A330-200 equipment. The Finnish airport operator has invested heavily in serving Chinese passengers and improving the customer experience at Helsinki Airport. "Having the first Chinese airline in Finland supports our goal to develop Helsinki Airport as an important air traffic hub between Europe and Asia", he said. Helsinki is already linked to Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Hong Kong by Finnair.

WOW air founder and CEO Skúli Mogensen, speaking at World Routes, stated (24-Sep-2017) that new generation airliners such as the A321neo and Boeing 737 MAX offer both opportunities and threats to the airline's business model. While the new generation airliners will allow passengers "to bypass Iceland" and take advantage of new nonstop transatlantic connectivity, they have also opened the door for the airline's own route development, for example its own flight from Keflavik International Airport, serving Reykjavik to Tel Aviv in Israel, is a 7hr 30min sector on a narrowbody aircraft. "We might not have considered this with a larger aircraft", he said, and noted that the arrival of new A321neoLR will open up further range options, especially smaller mid-sized cities that can't be served sustainably with widebody equipment. "Iceland has a great opportunity to now become a global hub", he added with network options both east and west.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines entered (21-Sep-2017) a new partnership with GetYourGuide, an online booking platform for tours and activities. The partnership means KLM customers can book over 30,000 tours and activities at more than 2500 destinations globally, directly through KLM's platforms. Most GetYourGuide tours and activities can be booked at less than 24 hours' notice and offer paperless tickets. The service is planned to roll out over the "coming days and weeks". [more - original PR - English/Dutch]

Kenya Airways commenced discussions with Kenya's Government, seeking protection from foreign competitors at its Nairobi hub (Reuters/Financial Times, 21-Sep-2017). According to Kenya Airways chairman Michael Joseph, the Government needs to introduce "more aggressive strategies" to avoid "destroying" the airline. Kenya Airways plans to discuss the issue further with Government following the presidential election in Oct-2017.

Alitalia and Alitalia Cityliner extended (21-Sep-2017) the binding bid period related the the group's insolvency proceedings from 02-Oct-2017 to 16-Oct-2017. 05-Nov-2017 remains unchanged for the "completion of the next procedural phases". [more - original PR - Italian]

La Compagnie ordered (21-Sep-2017) two A321neos from Airbus, due for delivery in 2019. The aircraft will operate in all business configuration, offering WiFi and full flat beds. According to the CAPA Fleet Database, La Compagnie operates two Boeing 757-200 in an all business class configuration. La Compagnie CEO Laurent Magnin said the purchase "is an important step in maintaining our unique position in the market as we continue to invest in our clients and evolve as a brand". [more - original PR]

Delta Air Lines and Aeroflot reportedly resumed codesharing on Aeroflot operated services from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Perm, St Petersburg, Samara, Sochi, Ufa, Volgograd and Yekaterinburg (Routes Online, 20-Sep-2017). As previously reported by CAPA, in Apr-2017 Delta Air Lines requested a renewed authority from the US Department of Transportation to operate scheduled service on a codeshare basis with Aeroflot. Delta requested the renewals for a period of at least two years.

Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism reported (19-Sep-2017) 7.0 million foreign arrivals in Istanbul in the eight months ended Aug-2017, up 10.8%. The largest number of visitors arrived from Germany, Iran and Saudi Arabia. [more - original PR - Turkish]