Austrian Airlines carried a total of 998,000 passengers. This comprises an increase of 66,100 passengers compared to the previous month of April 2015. In a year-on-year comparison this represents an expected decrease in total passenger volume of 4.7 percent from May 2014 due to the crises in Russia, the Ukraine and the Middle East. Moreover, the timing of holidays in May 2015 and the related rise in the number of days off in comparison to May 2014 resulted in a weaker level of bookings on the part of business travelers. The flight offering in available seat kilometers (ASK) rose by 5.0 percent, mainly as a result of North Atlantic flights which had not yet been part of the flight schedule in May 2014. Revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) were up by 0.9 percent. Capacity utilization of the flights (passenger load factor) was 75.4 percent on average, thus higher than the figure of 73.7 percent for April 2015.

In the period January to May 2015, the targeted reduction in the winter flight schedule was strongly reflected in the traffic results. Austrian Airlines proactively reduced its flight service in accordance with its business plan due to the weak demand at this time of the year, and increasingly shifted technical checks to this time span. Furthermore, the crises in Russia, the Ukraine and Middle East also led to a drop in demand. On balance, the airline’s flight offering measured in available seat kilometers was cut back by 1.2 percent from the previous year, whereas revenue passenger kilometers dropped by 4.8 percent. Passenger volume totaled 3.9 million, comprising a decline of 9.0 percent from the prior-year period, as expected. The passenger load factor was down 2.9 percentage points to 73.8 percent.

Europe
In the first five months from January to May 2015, Austrian Airlines cut back on its flight offering in Europe by 8.7 percent from the previous year, mainly due to the crises in Russia and the Ukraine. On balance, about 3.3 million passengers flew with Austrian Airlines in Europe. This corresponds to a decrease of 10.3 percent in a year-on-year comparison, in line with expectations. Capacity utilization fell by 2.8 percentage points to 71.2 percent.



In the month of May 2015 alone, Austrian Airlines carried about 844,100 passengers in Europe, comprising a drop of 6.1 percent from the prior-year level, as expected. On balance, capacity utilization on European flights was down 2.8 percentage points to 74.7 percent in May 2015. Available seat kilometers decreased by 2.5 percent.

Intercontinental
In the period January to May 2015, approximately 642,700 passengers flew on the long-haul flights offered by Austrian Airlines, a drop of 2.0 percent from the previous year. The offering measured in available seat kilometers rose by 5.7 percent as a consequence of North Atlantic flights which had not yet been offered in the prior-year period. Revenue passenger kilometers were up by 1.4 percentage points. The passenger load factor was down 3.2 percentage points to 75.9 percent.

In May 2015, Austrian Airlines carried about 154,000 passengers on its intercontinental flights, an increase of 4.1 percent from the prior-year level. Available seat kilometers were increased by 11.9 percent, whereas revenue passenger kilometers improved by 7.0 percent. The passenger load factor amounted to 75.9 percent, 3.4 percentage points lower than in the previous year.

EasyJet, Newcastle’s largest and Europe’s leading airline, is today celebrating the launch of three new routes this week from Newcastle International Airport to Split in Croatia (2 June), and the Greek islands of Rhodes (4 June) and Corfu (7 June).

The airline handed out ice creams and beach bags to passengers travelling on its inaugural flight from Newcastle to Split this morning, helping to get their summer holidays off to a flying start.

With the help of the ice cream parlour at Vallum – a local artisan food hub on Hadrian’s Wall – easyJet passengers enjoyed a choice of gelato flavours, including a Greek-style Lemon meringue, classic vanilla and summery raspberry ripple.

More than 20,000 passengers are expected to fly in and out of Newcastle on the three new Split, Rhodes and Corfu routes from June to October this year alone.

Jennifer Groves, easyJet’s UK Regions Route Manager, said:

“It has been fantastic to mark easyJet’s new routes by meeting our first passengers flying to Split today. We hope they enjoyed this morning’s events and are confident they will love all that the Croatian city has to offer.

“easyJet provides a great variety of destinations from the North-East with 15 exciting beach, city and ski destinations for customers to choose from. With easy and affordable service there really is something for everyone.”

Chris Sanders, Aviation Development Director at Newcastle International Airport, commented:

“We welcome these new easyJet routes which will make it easier for North East holidaymakers to reach Greece and Croatia this summer.

“Rhodes and Corfu are long time favourites from this airport while Split offers the prospect of beach holidays as well as the opportunity for three and four night short breaks in and around this interesting city.”

Jet2.com and Jet2holidays are already expanding their biggest ever summer 2016 programme with the launch today of their brand NEW destination from Newcastle Airport, Girona (Costa Brava).

The addition of this popular summer holiday getaway means people in the North East now have even more Spanish hotspots to choose from for their sunshine break next year, and 35 destinations overall.

With Girona, holidaymakers can take their pick from some of the most popular holiday resorts on the Costa Brava including Lloret de Mar and Tossa de Mar. Flights begin operating in May 2016.

Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: “We promised next summer is going to be our biggest one yet. We’re now making it even bigger with the launch of this popular Costa Brava destination from Newcastle Airport. Our Spanish routes are some of the most popular so we’re thrilled to be further expanding these with Girona, giving our customers even more new and exciting places to visit.

“This new addition shows our ongoing commitment in giving people the best choice of holiday spots direct from their local airport. I’m confident it will be extremely popular for us next year and beyond.”

David Laws, Chief Executive at Newcastle International Airport said: “Spain is a very popular destination from the North East. I am sure holidaymakers will welcome this new Jet2.com and Jet2holidays service, making it much easier to get from Newcastle to rest and relax on the golden Costa Brava beaches next summer.”

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), today announced the signing of a collaboration agreement with Accenture to support the implementation of its business transformation program to improve productivity, efficiency and enable growth.

As part of the multi-million dollar agreement, Accenture will provide strategy and management consulting services in the areas of human resources, finance, and procurement and supply management to streamline Etihad Airways’ corporate processes and enable the development of best-in-class capabilities within those functions.

To support this, Accenture will work with the airline’s technology partner, SAP, to implement a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software solution. It will also set up and operate a new Testing Centre of Excellence for these solutions, which will be located in Abu Dhabi as part of Etihad Airways’ existing operations.

Accenture will work alongside Etihad Airways’ staff to ensure knowledge transfer of best practices, and to develop Emirati talent and skills to further support Abu Dhabi’s strategic growth plan.

Etihad Airways’ Chief Information and Technology Officer, Robert Webb, said: “To sustain Etihad Airways’ current and future growth, we need to achieve operational and organisational efficiency by creating an integrated approach to business processes, underpinned by a scalable, common technology platform.

“We believe that working with world-class business transformation and technology companies like Accenture and SAP will help us realise this goal and prepare our business for years to come with an increased focus on the guest.”
Omar Boulos, Managing Director for Accenture Middle East, said, “This business transformation, built on the next-generation SAP® HANA platform, will elevate Etihad Airways to the next level. By developing a technology-driven business strategy, Etihad Airways will benefit from improved productivity, and simplified and more integrated core business processes that will give the airline greater flexibility across the organisation.”

In addition to Accenture and SAP, Etihad Airways will also join forces with PA Consulting Group and Grant Thornton to help transform its corporate functions.

PA Consulting, a company specialising in management consulting, technology and innovation will develop the airline’s shared services strategy, and organisational design and change management.

Grant Thornton, one of the world’s leading independent assurance, tax and advisory firms will implement global best practice tax functionality, including automation, and will work closely with Etihad Airways, Accenture and PA Consulting Group to provide overall program quality assurance.

In October 2014, Etihad Airways chose SAP as its strategic technology partner to deploy a range of key SAP® ERP software solutions as a central part of its overall business transformation program. These include SuccessFactors for talent management, Ariba for procurement and business-to-business collaboration, and the SAP HANA® platform for business intelligence and analytics.

Malaysia Airlines is pleased to be appointed as the official airline partner for the exclusive International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards 2015 happening from 5 to 7 June 2015 at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Malaysia Airlines will be flying Bollywood celebrities including Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, and Hritik Roshan as well as key Hindi film industry players between Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kuala Lumpur to attend the star-studded event.

According to Malaysia Airlines’ Regional Senior Vice President, South Asia & Middle East, Mr. Azahar Hamid, “It is an honour for Malaysia Airlines to be a part of this glamorous event and flying in some of the best Bollywood stars to our homeground, Kuala Lumpur. The airline’s extensive network and world-class service makes it a desirable partnership. It is our commitment to serve our guests with our Malaysian Hospitality and we look forward to welcoming them on board Malaysia Airlines.

The IIFA is a first-of-its-kind effort to promote Indian Cinema globally, and the glitzy event was previoulsy held in the United States, Dubai and Macau.

Emirates, a global connector of people and places, has commenced a daily nonstop service to the island of Bali in Indonesia. Flight EK 398 from Dubai arrived at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport on June 3, 2015 at 21.40 Bali time.

On board the inaugural flight were media from the GCC, and a senior management team from Emirates. The flight also transported passengers originating from more than 40 different cities to Bali, including Moscow, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and New York, among others, demonstrating Emirates’ global connectivity.

Bali is Emirates’ 146th global destination, adding to the airline’s route network in the Far East region, which now spans 18 destinations in 11 countries. The non-stop service between Dubai and Bali is operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a two-class configuration.

Emirates SkyCargo now offers 294 tonnes of cargo capacity per week from Dubai to Bali and Bali to Dubai, opening up new opportunities for businesses on the island as well as for those across the SkyCargo global network. Goods carried from Bali include marine products (tuna and other fresh fish), household goods, leather goods and handicrafts mainly going to Europe, while household goods, personal effects, perishables, pharmaceuticals and automotive spares are expected to be imported, not just into Bali but also to Surabaya and Balikpapan, as well as other catchment areas.

“Bali remains a leading tourist destination and a significantly important market for Emirates. There is high interest from across our network for flights to Bali, specifically in the leisure segment, and we are pleased to now be able to serve this demand and contribute to the island’s economic and tourism growth. We also look forward to connecting passengers from Bali to Dubai, and onward to more than 80 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas via one convenient stop at our world-class hub,” said Barry Brown, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations East.

Deputy Minister for Resource Development, Indonesian Ministry of Tourism, Prof. I Gde Pitana said, “We are delighted to welcome Emirates to Bali as we believe that the newdirect service will positively impact the Indonesian tourism sector and visitor numbers to Bali itself. The Island continues to attract tourists from around the world, and a direct route to and from Dubai with Emirates will help to increase access to other parts of the world, bringing new opportunities for travellers and businesses alike.”
Bali, which received more than 3.7 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2014, is likely to receive a further tourism boost with the new daily direct flight from Dubai.

On Emirates, throughout all cabin classes, passengers can enjoy more than 2,000 channels of entertainment on demand on ice, the airline’s award-winning in-flight entertainment system. Passengers also have the added bonus of a generous baggage allowance with 30 kilograms for those travelling in Economy Class and 40 kilograms for Business Class.
Emirates’ daily flight to Bali departs Dubai as EK398 at 0820hrs* and arrives at Bali’s Denpasar International Airport at 2140hrs* the same day. The return flight, EK399, departs at 2340hrs* and arrives at Dubai International Airport at 0500* the next day.

Emirates commenced services to Indonesia in 1992 with three flights per week via Singapore and Colombo, and since March 2013, the airline has been operating three non-stop flights daily from Jakarta to Dubai with a Boeing 777 aircraft.


Source: Emirates.

Miami’s booming! And this winter, airberlin will fly its passengers non-stop from Berlin to Florida. The first winter flight to Miami will take off from Berlin-Tegel on
5 November. Every Thursday and Saturday, airberlin will fly an A330-200 Airbus to Florida. “For Berlin residents, in particular, Miami is a leading long-haul destination. We’ve therefore adjusted our schedule for the coming winter. Together with our daily service from Dusseldorf, we now offer an ideal range of flights to Miami!”, said airberlin’s Chief Executive Officer, Stefan Pichler.

airberlin is also expanding its existing US services from Berlin this winter: airberlin will fly to Chicago every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday this winter, once more than last year. The number of flights to New York (JFK) from Berlin will also be expanded this winter, with two additional services. This winter, airberlin will therefore offer daily service to the Big Apple for the first time.

“In Dusseldorf, we’re already the number one when it comes to flights to North America. And now we’re also improving our performance in Berlin-Tegel, with a constant number of flights. The US is an important part of our network strategy. Within the United States, our passengers can access excellent connecting services with our codeshare partner, American Airlines”, said Pichler.

airberlin operates daily service from Dusseldorf to Miami and New York and three flights a week to Fort Myers. There are connecting flights available from many airports in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.


Source: airberlin.

Over one hundred aviation crisis management and emergency response professionals are gathered in Hong Kong for the 6th AAPA Emergency Response Conference organised by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), and co-hosted by Cathay Pacific Airways.

Welcoming delegates to Hong Kong in his keynote speech, Mr. Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General, said, “Flying is part of everyday modern life, and is the safest form of travel, with nine million passengers a day taking regular commercial flights. Nevertheless, accidents do occur from time to time. Every loss of life is a tragedy. Airlines have to put in place comprehensive contingency plans for such events, as well as other potential crises, that may significantly affect airline operations. Crisis management and emergency response preparedness are therefore closely linked.”

Mr. Herdman added, “We must always be prepared for such emergencies, however unlikely or infrequent. Working together, regulators and industry stakeholders need to be proactive rather than reactive, and ready to apply important lessons learned from past experience. Governments need to ensure that effective regulatory oversight, consistent with established ICAO standards, keeps pace with industry growth. Aside from the procedural aspects, there is also a human and social dimension to managing crises that affect the travelling public.”

Themed “The New Normal”, this year’s conference focuses on further developments in the aviation industry’s response to crises, including what can be learned from recent events. Topics addressed at the conference include: airline perspectives on mutual assistance and joint humanitarian response, regulatory and airport authority perspectives on crisis management, experiences of care team members and effective management of crisis communications. Conference delegates will also be able to participate in an interactive exercise and a site visit to the Emergency Centre of the Airport Authority of Hong Kong.

Mr Jack So Chak-kwong became Chairman of the Board of Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) today.This morning, Mr So met with AA management to become acquainted with the scale and complexity of round-the-clock airport operations at the Integrated Airport Centre. He was briefed on the airport’s contingency plans in case of operational issues, as well as the latest progress of the Midfield development. He also visited the Civil Aviation Department Air Traffic Control Complex.

Mr So said, “It is an honour to join the AA at this pivotal moment in the development of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). To meet Hong Kong’s future aviation demand, and to drive growth for both HKIA and the city, one of my top priorities will be advancing the airport’s important expansion projects. We will spare no effort to move forward with these developments, especially the expansion of the airport into a three-runway system.

“I look forward to working closely with the AA’s Board, management and staff, as well as the Government and legislators, our business partners and stakeholders,” added Mr So. “The airport will reach its full capacity very soon. It is important that we do not underestimate the challenges that lie ahead of us in order to achieve continued success at the airport. We will do our best to maintain and enhance HKIA’s world-class service, and strengthen Hong Kong’s position as a leading international and regional aviation hub.”

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker held high level meetings and a large press conference in Rome recently, to speak with Italian media to discuss the airline’s recent expansion in Italy.

During his visit, Mr. Al Baker also met with Her Excellency Federica Guidi, Italian Minister of Economic Development to speak about growing ties and infrastructure projects that involve several Italian companies in the airline’s hub in Doha, Qatar.

They discussed matters of mutual cooperation, including exploring synergies and areas of partnership in the aviation sector.With Qatar Airways recently announced further expansion in Italy, Qatar Airways will add extra capacity into three of the country’s gateways: Venice, Rome and Milan.

Rome and Milan will both have a 30 per cent increase in capacity from the airline’s hub in Doha with the introduction of wide body aircraft on their double daily flights, while capacity on the Venice route will increase by 70% with the introduction of an A330 aircraft, replacing the A320 that currently serves this route daily.”Qatar Airways’ growth in operations to Italy are extremely important in relation to the airline’s wider route map, as it is a central trading zone, with many countries from the Far East, Middle East and Africa connecting via Doha to reach the Italian gateways for both business and leisure purposes.
“In addition, Italian companies are having an ever-growing presence in the Gulf states, and Qatar Airways is well-poised to facilitate both freighter and passenger services with the increase in recently introduced capacity,” added Mr. Al Baker.

Qatar Airways flies with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and an A330 to Rome double-daily, while operating an A330 double-daily to Milan and daily to Venice.

Etihad Airways has launched an exclusive Twitter account to engage with Gold and Platinum members of its frequent flyer program – Etihad Guest, on the popular social media platform.

The Etihad Premium Twitter channel provides a dedicated online touch-point for Etihad Guest Gold and Platinum members to gain access to a range of exclusive benefits such as privileged content, tailored news and offers, and prioritised round-the-clock service in English and Arabic, including a five minute response time and retrospective mileage claims.

Elizabeth Selby, Etihad Airways’ Head of Social Media, said: “We are excited to be the first airline in the world to launch a Twitter account dedicated for its top-tier frequent flyers.

“The new channel aims to enhance the experience of our most valued guests by offering them a personalised service and delivering a range of unique benefits.

“It also allows Etihad Airways to create highly-focused campaigns and build stronger relationships with its premium audience through meaningful conversations.”