New routes launched during the last week (Tuesday 30 March – Monday 5 April):

Route of the Week:
City Airline’s Göteborg Landvetter to Alicante, Palma, Rome and Barcelona

City Airline’s CEO Jimmie Bergqvist accepted the Route of the Week diploma from anna.aero’s assistant editor Andreas Akerman, who experienced on site how passengers were greeted with red carpets, flower decorations, cider, chocolate truffles and more by the airline’s marketing assistant Michael Erixon and Göteborg Landvetter Airport’s project manager Gunilla Thorstenson. After a speech by the airport’s director aviation business Brett Weihart (background), City Airline board member Madeleine Dering cut the ribbon.

• The Gothenburg-based carrier City Airline, featured in this week’s airline analysis, has transformed from a business-oriented ERJ-135 and -145 operator into a hybrid business/leisure carrier with the introduction of MD87 aircraft and launch of flights to Rome Fiumicino (FCO) and four Spanish routes from its Göteborg Landvetter (GOT) base. Three of these Spanish routes, along with the Rome service, were launched in the last week (as defined by anna.aero). Speaking to the gathered passengers for the week’s final launch, the airport’s director aviation business Brett Weihart described this week’s and coming launches with the expanding airline as “extremely exciting”.

Vote for your Cake of the Week

Aigle Azur, the French carrier focusing on traffic to North Africa, on 1 April launched weekly flights between Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL) and Oran (ORN) in Algeria with 144-seat A319s. This is the airline’s sixth route to Oran, which it already serves from Lyon, Marseille, Paris CDG, Paris Orly and Toulouse, while the Algerian airport is the fourth destination served by Aigle Azur from Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg.

Vote for Cake 1 – Aigle Azur – Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg to Oran

• Aigle Azur, the French carrier focusing on traffic to North Africa, on 1 April launched weekly flights between Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL) and Oran (ORN) in Algeria with 144-seat A319s. This is the airline’s sixth route to Oran, which it already serves from Lyon, Marseille, Paris CDG, Paris Orly and Toulouse, while the Algerian airport is the fourth destination served by Aigle Azur from Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg.

Gregory Pomerantsev, airBaltic VP sales, and Natalie Jane Marsans, RIX aviation marketing adviser, cut the cake depicting Kuusamo’s coat of arms.

Vote for Cake 2 – airBaltic – Riga to Kuusamo

Alexandra Ringel, Hamburg airport’s manager aviation marketing, welcomed the airBaltic crew on the relaunched route from Vilnius with flowers and a cake in the airport’s trademark style.

Vote for Cake 3 – airBaltic – Vilnius to Hamburg

• airBaltic launched four new routes in the past week, all served three times weekly with Fokker 50s. The most notable new airport is Kuusamo (KAO) in northeast Finland, which on 31 March received non-stop connections with both Riga (RIX) and Lappeenranta (LPP). Further flights to Finland have been launched; the airline’s new Estonian focus city Tallinn (TLL) is linked with Tampere (TMP) as of 31 March. Finally, the growing Vilnius (VNO) base saw the relaunch of Hamburg (HAM) services on 30 March. The airline used to serve the route until October 2008.

This great cake was presented to the easyJet crew by Tina Lombardi, Alan Borg and James Baldacchino of the airline marketing team at Malta International Airport on arrival of the airline’s first flight to Malta from Milan Malpensa.

Vote for Cake 4 – easyJet – Milan Malpensa to Malta

• easyJet launched five new routes in the last week, with Geneva (GVA) contributing with two of the new services that notably are the only to lack competition. Dortmund (DTM) interestingly gets another route, even though the airline no longer has a base at the airport. The service to Palma (PMI) was, however, operated in the past, until October 2008.

Passengers travelling on the first flight from Newcastle to Hannover were treated with some German apple cake by the lovely ‘Heidi’ and ‘Helga’, who here are seen fully supported by Laura Marsh, Flybe’s sales manager northern England and Jon Sunderland, Newcastle Airport duty manager.

Vote for Cake 5 – Flybe –  Newcastle to Hannover

• Flybe has expanded its network into Hannover (HAJ) by adding three weekly flights from Newcastle (NCL) on 31 March. The route, which is the airline’s fourth non-stop service to Hannover, already serving the German airport from Birmingham, Manchester and Southampton, will be operated with Q400s.

James Baldacchino and Alan Borg from Malta’s airline marketing team welcomed Norwegian’s cabin crew with a delicious-looking cake, flowers and traditionally dressed Maltese people. An anna.aero source calls the accordion player’s hat “brilliant and spectacular”.

Vote for Cake 6 – Norwegian – Copenhagen to Malta

• Norwegian has added four summer sun routes to its Scandinavian network. Malta (MLA) takes pole position with flights added from both Oslo (OSL) and Copenhagen (CPH).

Qatar Airways’ sales manager (Denmark) Pia Lind (second left); Copenhagen Airport VP sales Carsten Nørland; Qatar Airways VP commercial Europe, Paul Johannes; and Günter Saurwein, the airline’s country manager Scandinavia, Finland & Baltic States celebrate the launch of the new route between Doha and Copenhagen.

Vote for Cake 7 – Qatar Airways – Doha to Copenhagen

Dr Sani Sener, President & CEO TAV Airports Holding, and Akbar Al Baker, CEO Qatar Airways, led the celebrations at the launch of the airline’s new Doha-Ankara service. The four weekly services strengthen the airline’s operations in Turkey, where it already operates daily flights to Istanbul. Al Baker said: “Commercial ties between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Turkey remain strong and continue to grow year-on-year. The two countries very much share the same cultural values and have a like-minded vision, with deep rooted relations, increased bilateral ties and growing commercial exchanges.”

Vote for Cake 8 – Qatar Airways – Doha to Ankara

• Qatar Airways has launched two new flights from its Doha (DOH) hub in the last week. On 30 March, the airline began serving Copenhagen (CPH), becoming the first ‘MEB3’ airline to serve the Scandinavian airport. Four weekly flights will be operated with A319s. Qatar Airways’ CEO Akbar Al Baker said: “The new route also further strengthens our position as the only Gulf carrier to Scandinavia. Only two days ago, Qatar Airways gincreased capacity to the Swedish capital Stockholm from four-flights-a-week to daily.” On 5 April, the airline followed with four weekly A320 services to Ankara (ESB), becoming Qatar Airways’ 88th destination. Al Baker commented: “More than 25 Turkish companies have projects worth over US$8.3 billion in Qatar, including interests in the New Doha International Airport, which is due to be completed next year.”

Oslo Rygge celebrated the launch of Ryanair’s base with several cakes and the Irish band ‘The Corner Boys’. Ryanair’s ex-sales and marketing executive for the Nordic countries, Erik Elmsäter (returning in a leprechaun outfit) seemed to enjoy Norwegian hospitality as the airport’s CEO Pål Tandberg spoke to the gathered crowd. See the Ryanair report further down.

Vote for Cake 9 – Ryanair – Oslo Rygge to 16 destinations

The rest of this week’s new routes

• Air Algerie began flying to Istanbul Atatürk (IST) from Constantine (CZL) two times weekly, on Wednesdays and Fridays, from 30 March. The airline already serves the Turkish city from Algiers and Oran.
• On 30 March, Air Zimbabwe began serving Johannesburg (JNB) from Victoria Falls (VFA) three times weekly with 737-200s. Both South African Airways and British Airways/Comair already fly the route with daily flights each, while there is even further indirect competition from Livingstone, just across the border in Zambia.
• On 3 April, airberlin launched twice-weekly services between Düsseldorf (DUS) and Naples (NAP) using A320s. The route used to be operated until October 2008 by both airberlin and TUIfly.
• AnadoluJet on 2 April launched four weekly flights between Ankara (ESB) and Bursa (YEI), Turkey’s fourth largest city. It is the only current commercial operation at Bursa airport, after SunExpress pulled out of the airport in May last year.

Avianova’s first passengers to travel from its new terminal at Moscow Sheremetyevo were greeted with a certificate after checking in for the airline’s first flight to Ulyanovsk, 750 kilometres away.

• Avianova, the expanding Russian LCC that just moved its operations to Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO), launched another new route from the airport on 2 April. Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport (ULY) is now served three times weekly using its A320s. From 23 April, the frequency will increase to four weekly flights. This is the airport’s only scheduled, commercial operations, while indirectly competing flights are offered to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Gazpromavia and UTair as well as to Domodedovo airport on Region Avia.
• Blue Air, the Romanian LCC, began flying three times a week from Sibiu (SBZ) in Transylvania to Valencia (VLC) using its 737-800s. The airline already serves Valencia from Bucharest Băneasa.

Cimber Sterling has launched a new weekly service from Copenhagen to Antalya, operated using a 737. Turkish authorities were previously very restrictive in allowing scheduled flights to destinations other than Istanbul and Cimber Sterling has benefited from a change of policy. Performing the ribbon cutting are: Lars Korup, route development manager, Copenhagen Airport; Lars Bording, executive vice president CCO, Cimber Sterling, and Signe Thorup, communication manager, Cimber Sterling.

Cimber Sterling has launched a twice-weekly service from Copenhagen to Sofia. “We have been in a close dialogue with Cimber Sterling about various route opportunities, and we see great potential in some of the routes to Eastern Europe,” said Carsten Nørland, VP sales, Copenhagen Airports.

• Cimber Sterling launched three new routes in the past week. As of 31 March, the airline flies four times weekly between Billund (BLL) and Dublin (DUB) using CRJ200s. The route used to be operated by Ryanair three times a week until October last year. Cimber Sterling also began serving Antalya (AYT) once-weekly and Sofia (SOF) twice-weekly on 31 March and 1 April respectively, both from Copenhagen (CPH) with 737-700s.

The ribbon was cut by Charles M. Duncan, president & CEO Continental Micronesia; Carlos H. Salas, executive manager Guam Airport; Joann G. Camacho, First Lady of Guam; Fong S. Wu, VP Chinese Chamber of Commerce; Gerald Perez, GM Guam Visitors Bureau; and David B. Tydingco, board chairman Guam Visitors Bureau before a traditional Chinese dance performance took place in the gate area for passengers and invited guests.

• Continental Micronesia, the Guam-based Continental Airlines subsidiary, began flying from Guam (GUM) to Hong Kong (HKG) twice-weekly on 2 April using 737-800s.

Jamal Al Hai, member of the National Federal Council of the UAE and SVP Strategy and Development Dubai Airports (left), and Ghaith Al Ghaith, flydubai’s CEO (right), present a gift to the Director General and Acting President of Civil Aviation in Kuwait, Bader Bou Taiban (centre), on the occasion of flydubai’s inaugural flight to Kuwait City.

• The fast-growing LCC flydubai launched two daily flights from Dubai (DXB) to Kuwait (KWI) on 30 March. This is the airline’s thirteenth destination and the fourth in the GCC region. Adel Al Awadi, deputy director general for Kuwait International Airport Affairs, commented: “We are delighted to welcome flydubai to Kuwait. Increasing numbers of low cost flights between the State of Kuwait and the Emirates strengthens the ties between our two nations and increases the opportunities for business, trade and tourism for both.”

• germanwings continued its spree of route launches out of Cologne/Bonn (CGN), the airport analysed last month. On 30 March, the Lufthansa-controlled LCC launched two weekly flights to Tel Aviv (TLV), a route which the airline has long sought the rights to fly. The route is operated in competition with airberlin’s two weekly flights that recently were taken over from TUIfly.

• Jet2.com has resumed its five weekly flights between Manchester (MAN) and Prague (PRG) on 1 April. The airline previously flew the route until January 2008. The route is currently served in competition with bmibaby and CSA Czech Airlines.

• On 1 April, Jetstar resumed flights between Cairns (CNS) and Osaka Kansai (KIX), which were previously dropped in December 2008, leaving the route unserved. The four weekly flights are operated with A330s. Jetstar’s CEO Bruce Buchanan commented: “Jetstar’s operating low fares model for the Australia-Japan air route, one of the nation’s most vital international air markets, is working where previous attempts to sustain this market are not.”

• Lufthansa has expanded its presence in Croatia with the launch of two new routes. On 30 March, two weekly flights were launched between Düsseldorf (DUS) and Dubrovnik (DBV), using CRJ700s, followed by the first of weekly CRJ900 flights between Munich (MUC) and Zadar (ZAD) on 3 April. Notably, the airline runs a pilot school at the latter airport. This is the only Croatian destination for Lufthansa to be served from Düsseldorf, while the airline already serves Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split from Munich.

Helsinki’s airport director Juha-Pekka Pystynen and Meridiana Group’s director of international marketing Davide Bertassello cut the ribbon for the new link to Florence, while the crew (Giuseppe Mazzantini, Fransesco Crea, captain Andrea Manglili, Nadia Brugnoli, Nisco Fabrizio and Giuseppina Pancaldo) looked on.

• Meridiana, the second largest Italian airline, launched two weekly services between Florence (FLR) and Helsinki (HEL) on 30 March. The A319 service, which is the longest route to be served from the Tuscan airport, is operated in partnership with Finnair.

• Midwest launched two new routes out of Milwaukee, WI (MKE) on 1 April. Raleigh-Durham, NC (RDU) will be served with 13 weekly flights using E-170s, while there will be 19 weekly ERJ135 flights to St Louis, MO (STL).

• Porter Airlines launched a daily Q400 service from its Toronto City (YTZ) base to Sudbury (YSB) in Northern Ontario on 31 March. Bob Johnston, CEO of Greater Sudbury Airport, commented: “Porter’s success has been rooted in the quality of the services it provides, and to our delight our community will now have the opportunity to experience Porter class first hand.”

Celebrating the three new Ryanair routes out of Glasgow Prestwick – as well as the seasonal return of another three: Airport workers Lynn Ferguson, Maureen Bayley, Charmaine Taggart, Gail Gemmell, Nicola Clark and Amy Lucas celebrate the new routes.

Passengers on Ryanair’s inaugural flight from Oslo Rygge to Memmingen were greeted to southern Germany with Memminger brewery’s ice beer and local Ehrmann yogurt as well as information about the city of Memmingen. The flight had a load factor of over 98%, while the returning flight to Oslo was filled to 73%.

Noel Ryan, sales & marketing executive Kerry Airport, offers some cake to two lucky passengers on the first Ryanair flight from Kerry to Faro. Photo: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus

• Ryanair has been the week’s biggest route launcher – by far. The list amounts a staggering 56 new routes, which is far too many to report on in detail. The airport to see the largest number of Ryanair launches is Oslo Rygge (RYG), where the airline has established a base, as described in this week’s airport analysis. For celebratory pictures from the launch of Ryanair’s Oslo Rygge base, see Cake 9 above.

• Spanair began flying once-weekly between Alicante (ALC) and Algiers (ALG) on 3 April. The expanding Star Alliance member will serve the uncontested route with A320s, already serving Algiers from Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. Air Algerie previously used to serve the route until September 2006.

• Transavia.com, last week’s winner of Cake of the Week, on 2 April launched two weekly 737-800 flights between Nantes (NTE) and Porto (OPO). Except for the Funchal route launched last week, the airline’s other route to Porto is from Paris Orly.

• Ukraine International launched two weekly flights from Kiev Borispol (KBP) to Almaty (ALA) on 5 April. The capital of the Ukraine will be linked with Kazakhstan’s former capital using 737-500s, competing with only AeroSvit after Donbassaero withdrew from the route last month.

• Virgin Blue launched two weekly flights from Perth (PER) to the Australian territory Christmas Island (XCH) with 104-seat E190s on 1 April, taking over the route from National Jet (which used to fly via Cocos Islands). The island is known for tourism, exotic nature and its large asylum seeker detention centre. Thanks to anna.aero reader Chris Tudehope for supplying information.

The Welcome Air crew were welcomed to Cologne Bonn Airport with flowers from Maike Wülbers and Kerstin Schweitzer from the airport’s business development department.

• Welcome Air launched two weekly flights between Innsbruck (INN) and Cologne/Bonn (CGN) on 1 April. The Dornier 328 flights operate in competition with airberlin’s similarly twice-weekly 737-700 flights.

• A320 operator Wizz Air launched four new routes in the past week of which Riga (RIX), the airline’s new focus city (but not base), received one new connection.

US Airways on 2 April relaunched its seasonal service from Philadelphia (PHL) to Brussels (BRU), which from now on will operate year-round. The full 757’s crew is greeted here by Gisele Meynaerts, US Airways’ station manager Brussels, and Geert Van Dessel, Belgian chocolate expert and manager aviation marketing Brussels Airport.

Pictures from last week’s launches

Prague’s new easyJet route to Paris Charles de Gaulle was celebrated in a great way! The winners of Prague radio channel Radio City’s competition arrived at Terminal 2 with free return tickets to Paris. At the airport, they engaged in a further competition in which the fastest eater of the French delicacy roasted snails would win a voucher for the luxury hotel Marriott in Paris. No, we are not making this up! We wish we would have been there to see it happen.

G. Hardy Acree, Sacramento's airport director; Brad Tilden, president Alaska Airlines; and Roger Dickinson, chairman of the Sacramento county board of supervisors cut the ribbon for last week’s service to Kahului/Maui, while passengers were greeted with flower leis and Hawaiian dancing.

Blu-express’s commercial director George Michalopoulos and Server Aydın, CCO of Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW), held a press conference to celebrate the airline’s new route from Milan Malpensa (MXP), which was launched with six weekly flights on 28 March. The airline successfully started serving the Istanbul airport from Rome in December last year.

Prague Airport celebrated the arrival of the Chinese cargo carrier Yangtze River Express. The 747-400F will travel Shanghai Pudong (PVG) - Tianjin (TSN) - Prague (PRG) - Luxembourg (LUX). This is the first ever direct scheduled connection between Prague and continental China. Before landing, an inauguration ceremony took place in Prague Airport’s VIP Club Continental lounge. The ceremony was attended by representatives of Yangtze River Express Airlines and their business partners in the Czech Republic.

Last week’s launch of germanwings’ Hamburg to Palma de Mallorca was celebrated with flowers and a nice Hamburg cake, here seen handed over to the crew by the airport’s senior manager aviation marketing Gesa Zaremba.