go!, Hawaii’s low-fare interisland carrier, today announced expansion of its route network in Hawaii with the launch of go!Express, operated under a code share agreement with Mokulele Airlines. Beginning April 16, go!Express will offer 12 flights per day between Kona and Kahului, Kahului and Kapalua, and Kapalua and Honolulu.
source: PR-inside
A survey carried out by Certet (Center of regional economics, transports and tourism) has evidenced that 13% of the overall flights operating in Italy (718 per week) is low-cost, and has identified Ryanair as the leader airline with regard to the international routes (33.4% of the weekly flights) and WindJet for the national ones (616 flights).
The data related to the busiest route by passenger-traffic is very interesting, and reveals that the leadership gained by the Milan-London connections is due to the cheap tickets requested to reach the British capital, operative center for many no-frills carriers.
source: Avionews
A Spanish low-cost carrier is likely to join the other three which will be operating to Malta in summer.
Talks are being held with Clickair, a Catalan low-cost airline which, if successful, would link Malta International Airport with El Prat airport in Barcelona. Click Air is part-owned by Iberia Lineas Aereas airlines.
If the talks were to materialise, the Spanish carrier will start operating some time in June, joining Italian low-cost carrier Meridiana and Irish carrier Ryanair, which already operate to Malta. Towards the end of the month, Germany’s low-cost carrier Germanwings will start flights from Cologne and Stuttgart.
source: The Malta Independent
Tiger Airways has got the green light from Australian authorities to set up a domestic airline in Australia.
Tiger, which is 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines, said last month that it wanted to operate domestic Australian routes.
With the approval, the next step for Tiger Airways Australia is to obtain its air operator’s certificate from Australian regulators.
source: Channel NewAsia
easyJet, Europe’s leading low-fares airline, today announced the latest addition to its growing network, a route connecting London Luton and Zurich.
Zurich, the little big city, is Switzerland’s financial centre and largest city. Most famous for its banking sector, Zurich is also home to a picturesque old town with cobblestone streets built along the crystal blue River Limmat, with a surprisingly hip and trendy social scene on the banks of the stunning Lake Zurich.
source: Easier
British Airways is to announce plans for major expansion at London City Airport today, according to reports.
The airline is set to increase flights to Edinburgh and Glasgow from the hub, as well as launch new routes to Zurich, Frankfurt, Milan and Madrid, reports the Evening Standard.
Industry sources told the newspaper that it is possible the carrier will launch a bid for Dutch airline VLM in order to extend its operations at London City Airport.
Peter Simpson, managing director of British Airways’ CityFlyer division, said that the airline fully intends to pursue growth at the airport both now and in the future.
Scandinavian airline group SAS AB introduced a voluntary greenhouse charge on Wednesday for passengers who want to offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated by their flights.
The plan, which follows a similar initiative by British Airways in 2005, lets SAS passengers give money to environmental projects that have helped reduce the release of greenhouse gases, the company said. The money will be funneled through The CarbonNeutral Co., which specializes in helping companies offset carbon dioxide emissions.
source: Herald Tribune
Irish low-cost airline Ryanair plans to start serving larger airports in a bid to double passenger numbers, its chief executive said in an interview with German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche.
“‘If we want to be so big in five years’ time, we can’t avoid such airports,'” Michael O’Leary told the magazine in an interview released ahead of publication on Monday.
Ryanair has focused its network so far on airports where landing fees and other costs are low.
“‘Five years from now we will carry 85 million passengers, twice as many as today, and will have expanded our network,'” he said.
Ryanair plans to use part of its EUR2.4 billion euro (USD$3.2 billion) cash pile to pay a special dividend or buy back shares at the end of the year, the magazine said.
source: Airwise
Southwest’s expansion comes just a week after another low-fare carrier, JetBlue Airways, announced it was temporarily reducing its number of flights out of Pittsburgh and needed customers to fill more seats on flights from here to Boston and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Low-fare carriers have had mixed results in the Pittsburgh market. Since 2000, eight have launched service here, but only four remain. The remaining carriers have been able to bring down average fares, though, helping Pittsburgh become the nation’s 13th-cheapest midsize airport.
source: Times online
National air carrier Czech Airlines (ÄŒSA) last year again carried the largest number of passengers (more than 5.3 million) to and from the Czech capital, Prague. Domestic Travel Service, which operates under the Smart Wings brand, followed with 997,000 cleared passengers. U.K.’s easyJet Airline Company was next, followed by Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa and the U.K.’s British Airways.
Slovakia’s SkyEurope Airlines, which last year in April became the third airline with a base in Prague next to domestic ÄŒSA and Smart Wings, was number two in terms of the number of transported passengers by low-cost airlines after leader easyJet. SkyEurope Airlines carried more than 297,000 passengers in less than nine months, according to statistics provided by LetiÅ¡tÄ› Praha.
source: CBW
