Corporate Travel News For Europe/MEA

KLM announced (02-Oct-2023) the following highlights for its operations to South America in winter 2023/24:

• Daily service to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Panama;
• Buenos Aires to be combined with Santiago de Chile;
• San José served four times weekly, either nonstop or with a stopover;
• Six weekly frequencies to Lima, Quito and Guayaquil. [more - original PR]

KLM announced (02-Oct-2023) the following highlights for its operations to Africa in winter 2023/24:

• Daily frequencies to Johannesburg and Cape Town;
• Daily Boeing 777-300 flights to Nairobi and Accra;
• Tanzania: Five weekly frequencies to Kilimanjaro in combination with Dar es Salaam, and twice weekly frequencies to Zanzibar in combination with Dar es Salaam;
• Six weekly frequencies to Lagos;
• Five weekly frequencies to Kigali and Entebbe. [more - original PR]

Air Malta confirmed (02-Oct-2023) it will continue to operate flights up to and including 30-Mar-2024, with all bookings from 31-Mar-2024 to be cancelled and refunded. Air Malta tickets for travel on or after 31-Mar-2024 will not be transferred to the new airline that will replace Air Malta, while refunds are guaranteed by the Government of Malta as the principal shareholder. The 'Flypass' loyalty programme will be closed and will not be transferred to the new airline, which will launch a new "community based rewards programme to strengthen its customer value". The website of the new airline will be available on 01-Dec-2023, from when customers will be able to book flights for travel dates on or after 31-Mar-2024. [more - original PR]

Etihad Airways issued (28-Sep-2023) a commercial waiver as it plans to suspend daily Abu Dhabi-Dhaka service from 29-Oct-2023. Passengers with fully unutilised tickets may receive a full refund with no penalty or administrative fee, while partially used ticket holders may refund the unused portion of their ticket. According to OAG, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi and Biman Bangladesh Airlines will continue operating the route. [more - original PR]

Emirates Airline announced (28-Sep-2023) plans to introduce premium economy seating on the following frequencies, increasing the carrier's premium economy network to 14 destinations:

• Dubai-Sao Paulo: Three times weekly from 19-Nov-2023;
  • Increase to daily offering from Dec-2023
• Dubai-Tokyo Narita: Daily from 20-Dec-2023.

The services will be operated using newly retrofitted 484 seat A380 aircraft featuring the new cabin offering and refreshed interiors. Sao Paulo is set to become the carrier's first Latin American destination to receive the premium economy offering, while Tokyo Narita will be Emirates' first destination in Japan and second in the Far East to receive the product. [more - original PR]

EUROCONTROL reported (27-Sep-2023) the following highlights for European aviation, for the period between 18-Sep-2023 and 24-Sep-2023:

• The network recorded 31,994 average daily flights, -1% week-on-week, +8% year-on-year and at 93% of 2019 levels;
• Intra Europe: 25,207 daily flights, -1% week-on-week and 93% of 2019 levels;
• Intercontinental: 5974 daily flights, -1% week-on-week and 89% of 2019 levels;
• On the intercontinental network, the main regional flow was Europe-Middle East (1519 average daily flights, 2% above 2019 levels);
• Flows with other Europe (including Russia) remain "massively reduced" at -66% compared to 2019;
• UK-US was the top long haul country pair, with 332 average daily flights, -2% week-on-week and +2% compared with 2019;
• Mainline (+21% compared to 2022), non scheduled (+6%) regional (+5%) and low cost (+5%) sectors are recording growth since the pandemic;
• Business aviation and all cargo (Both -6%) are recording fewer flights year-on-year, with both segments levelling off. [more - original PR]

Singapore Changi Airport commenced (28-Sep-2023) operations in the northern wing of Terminal 2 on 28-Sep-2023, following 3.5 years of engineering and expansion works to bring the airport's capacity to 90 million passengers p/a. Details include:

• The expansion added 15,500sqm to the terminal building and increased T2's capacity from 23 million to 28 million passengers p/a;
• The terminal now features a central common use Fast and Seamless Travel zone in the departure hall, additional automated check in kiosks and bag drop machines and additional automated immigration lanes. T2 is also the first terminal at Changi to have automated special assistance lanes at both arrival and departure immigration;
• Systems and building equipment that had reached end of life were upgraded to more efficient models. Two baggage belts were lengthened to handle a higher volume of bags and cater to widebody aircraft. The baggage handling system now has enhanced security features and the early baggage storage system was upgraded from semi-automated to fully automated, allowing 2400 bags to be stored simultaneously;
• 80% of shops are open at T2 with more to join in the coming weeks;
• Lufthansa, SWISS and Singapore Airlines (services to Southeast Asia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) commenced operating at the T2 northern wing on 28-Sep-2023. Singapore Airlines' first class check in reception and the SATS premier check in lounge also opened at the terminal;
• Air Japan, All Nippon Airways, Etihad Airways, IndiGo and Singapore Airlines (services to the Maldives and Nepal) will move to T2 in Oct-2023, bringing the number of airlines operating at the terminal to 16.

The T2 southern wing reopened for arrivals in May-2022 and departures in Oct-2022. T2 will fully reopen by the end of Oct-2023. [more - original PR]

Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA Airways), via its official website, announced (27-Sep-2023) it has adjusted its schedule following the 24 hour strike action called by aviation sector and airport handling company staff for 29-Sep-2023. The carrier has cancelled 73 domestic flights, of which 68 were scheduled for 29-Sep-2023. International services remain operational.

Air France-KLM, via its official website, announced (26-Sep-2023) Air France and KLM will launch their enriched fare basis structure, on 17-Oct-2023. The group stated "the current fare basis structure is complex and offers no possibilities for further innovation", while "the revised fare basis structure gives more possibilities in coding a fare basis and filing fare products in different sales channels". In addition, it "offers Air France and KLM more flexibility to adapt to new products". As of 25-Sep-2023, the fare basis structure has been introduced in the systems. While the renewed structure may already be visible in the systems, it only applies to tickets issued as of 17-Oct-2023.

Etihad Airways partnered (20-Sep-2023) with Wamos Air to support the carrier's Jakarta operations as Etihad awaits the delivery of new aircraft. Wamos Air is set to operate the carrier's Abu Dhabi-Jakarta service from 01-Oct-2023 through 30-Nov-2023. As previously reported by CAPA, Etihad issued a commercial waiver for passengers affected by the operational change, who may request a full or partial refund with no penalty or administrative fees. [more - original PR]