Iberia Adds Flights to Colombia This Summer

Iberia is strengthening its Madrid-Bogota route in the summer months, offering two extra flights per week starting 9 August and three new flights per week --for a total of ten-- starting in September.

 

In August, the new flights are scheduled every Saturday and Sunday departing at 16:30 from Madrid and arriving at 19:55 at Bogota. The return flights from the Colombian capital will be at 23:35 and arrive at 16:40 the following day at Madrid airport. In September the additional frequencies between Madrid and Bogota will be offered on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

 

The additional frequencies offer Iberia customers more travel choices to and from Bogota. They are timed to provide easy connections on both sides of the Atlantic, in Madrid to/from Iberia’s 37 destinations in Europe, including Berlin, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome and Zurich, 11 cities in Africa and the Middle East, and in Bogota to/from all major Colombian cities.

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Better Product and New Connections inside Colombia

 

The aircraft used on the route feature Iberia’s newly designed cabin interiors in both Business and Economy sections.

 

The new code-sharing agreement between Iberia and Lan Colombia enables passengers to continue their flight with the Colombian carrier to seven destinations in the South American country: Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena de Indias, Medellín, Pereira and Santa Marta.

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FARNBOROUGH: Global focus for this year's show

With this year’s major aerospace event fast approaching, companies will be gearing up to demonstrate their capabilities and showcase their products in the flying displays.

This year’s Farnborough air show is expecting to see around 1,500 exhibitors, with 32% of these from the UK and 68% from the rest of the world. With 115 new exhibitors, Farnborough welcomes new exhibiting countries Croatia, Malaysia, Northern Ireland, Thailand and Tunisia.

There are currently 17 country pavilions ready to make their mark, with the USA, Russia, UK, Italy, and France taking prime spots with the most exhibition space. Morocco and Malaysia are also welcomed as new country pavilions for 2014.

With a total of 121 chalet units, the show will this year introduce its brand new permanent chalet line on row A as part of a series of developments, including brand-new exhibition halls.

Around 100,000 trade visitors are expected during the five trade days, with registered visitor and accredited media representation from 53 countries to date.

Around 50 military delegations are expected to attend, alongside seven acceptances from commercial and civil delegations, including NATS from the UK and Comac from China.

Mainframe manufacturers often choose Farnborough to showcase their military and commercial aircraft and the air show has long history of milestones, from the first of the Vickers V-Bombers in 1951, to the Concorde appearance in 1970 and the Airbus A380 and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner both making their debut appearance in 2012.

This year will be no exception with the first overseas appearance of the F-35B Lighting II and the Farnborough debut of the Airbus A350 in special livery highlighting Qatar’s status as A350 launch customer. Qatar Airways will also be displaying its A380, 787-8, and a sharklet-equipped A320. Farnborough looks like it’s shaping up to make a big impression in 2014.

The Space Zone will again be a popular key feature of the show, having already sold out and with key exhibits from the UK Space Agency, ESA, Roscosmos and the Italian Space Agency. A new feature will be a series of seminars due to take place each day.

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Ryanair Drops 222 Flights for This Summer

According to a report in the Irish Times, discount Ireland-based carrier Ryanair is dropping service to a large bomber of secondary airports as it realigns its strategy. RYAAY stock fell almost 3% in Friday morning trading.

Aviation industry website anna.aero conducted an analysis of airline routing data provided by Innovata and found that Ryanair is cutting 222 routes this summer. While RYAAY is eliminating routes to airports located some distance from popular destinations, Ryanair has also added 138 new routes to larger airports. RYAAY is moving its focus away from secondary airports toward serving primary airports in large European cities as part of an overhaul of its business model.

Ryanair is now adding routes to large airports in Rome, Brussels, Prague, Lisbon and  Athens as it ends service to smaller airports, including a number in Sweden and Britain. RYAAY has said that it plans to boost its appeal to business travelers.

RYAAY stock closed at $51.54 on Thursday.

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ČSA launching Zagreb service in May

ČSA Czech Airlines will launch seasonal flights from Prague to Zagreb this summer season. Croatia’s busiest airport has confirmed the service will be inaugurated on May 30 and will run until September 28. Flights from the Czech capital will operate only once per week, with a Friday evening arrival in Zagreb and a Sunday morning departure back to Prague. On Saturdays, the aircraft will be used on behalf of the start-up airline Air Croatia which will run services to Stockholm and Gothenburg from June 14. Air Croatia has previously confirmed it will be using the Czech carrier’s Airbus A319 for its flights this summer.

ČSA will resume services to Zagreb after a two year absence. In early 2012 it relegated its flights to Zagreb to its regional partner Central Connect Airlines (CCA). However, shortly after, in the summer of 2012, CCA declared bankruptcy and ceased all operations. Since then there have been no direct flights between the Croatian and Czech capitals. Zagreb was ČSA’s first international destination, launched back in 1930 with services operating on and off until 2012. The airline is yet to put tickets on sale.

Zagreb Airport says a total of eighteen airlines will maintain flights to 31 destinations this summer, seven of which are domestic services and 24 international. Apart from ČSA, others such as Germanwings, KLM Cityliner and Vueling will also launch new seasonal flights to the Croatian capital, while Trade Air recently inaugurated its commuter domestic service, linking Zagreb with Rijeka. Korean Air will operate a total of seven summer charter flights (three more than last year) using a mix of Boeing 777 and 747 aircraft. Zagreb Airport is still negotiating with several airlines to launch services to the city. Alitalia has previously said it too will resume flights to Zagreb in the near future.

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