Europe’s high frequency long haul network shrinks around hubs
Europe’s long haul network has maintained much of its overall footprint from before the COVID-19 pandemic, measured by the number of routes with at least one weekly return flight. However, there has been a much more dramatic fall in the number of high frequency long haul routes (defined as those with three daily return flights […]
TUI fly first in Europe to operate flights on Boeing 737 MAX
TUI fly becomes the first airline in Europe to operate passenger flight using the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. On February 17, 2021, TUI fly Belgium operated the first passenger flight on a Brussels-Malaga-Alicante-Brussels route. TUI fly Belgium flight TB1011 en route to Malaga Airport (AGP) took off from Brussels Airport (BRU) at 9:30am on February […]
Pressure intensifies to drop quarantines in favour of EU-wide passenger testing protocol
With less than 90 days to go before the year-end holiday season, European aviation bodies have intensified their call to replace quarantine measures with passenger testing. This will provide far greater assurance and ability for cross-border travellers to plan family reunions or vacations during this important holiday period. It will also serve as a lifeline […]
Resumption of Europe, U.S. flights into Cancun International announced
The government of Quintana Roo has confirmed the resumption of numerous flights into the Cancun International Airport. In a press release, the governor reports that according to the Comité de Aerolíneas de Cancún, flights from Europe and the United States will begin starting October. Domestically, “we have the reactivation of the Guadalajara-Cancun-Guadalajara route of Aeroméxico […]
Flight radar reveals how Europe’s skies are getting BUSIER with hundreds of flights jetting across the continent
New satellite images reveal the boom in air travel over Europe today as hundreds of planes take to the skies in response to loosening coronavirus restrictions. Live data recorded more than a thousand planes over the continent this afternoon – compared with just a few hundred at the height of the pandemic in April. It […]
Europe’s airline capacity begins slow climb
Total seat numbers in Europe are down 84.6% year-on-year in the week of 18-May-2020, according to schedules from OAG combined with CAPA Fleet Database seat configurations. This is almost 2ppts narrower than the previous week’s 86.5% drop and the smallest rate of decline since Mar-2020. Nevertheless, it is the seventh successive week of cuts broadly […]
EASA/ECDC Guidelines Welcomed – Essential that European States Adopt Harmonized Measures
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the release by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) of the COVID-19 Aviation Health Safety Protocol guidelines for the safe restart of air transport in Europe. The EASA and ECDC guidelines are aligned with recommendations provided by both […]
COVID-19 and European airlines: zero capacity becomes a reality
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has summarised the priority for his airline, which applies equally to all airlines currently: to preserve cash. «If we have to operate for three, six, nine, maybe even 12 months, with no flights and no revenues how do we survive?», he said (Financial Times/Reuters, 21-Mar-2020). The main tool at airlines’ disposal […]
Air France-KLM group chief executive Ben Smith appointed A4E 2020 chairman
Ahead of the annual A4E Aviation Summit in Brussels today, we speak to the association’s incoming chairman – Air France-KLM group chief executive Ben Smith – about the key challenges facing the European airline sector and the role A4E can play for its members. What do you hope to achieve as Chairman of A4E? I […]
TUI joins airline industry group A4E as sustainability shoots up the agenda
TUI’s move to join the Airlines for Europe (A4E) industry association at the end of 2019 came after the leisure giant decided to seek a louder lobbying voice on pressing issues such as sustainability and taxation. The European group’s chief executive for airlines, Kenton Jarvis, tells FlightGlobal that joining A4E gives TUI’s five operators – […]
