Flybe is to fly 6w from Dublin to Yorkshire’s Doncaster Sheffield Airport from October 30, 2016, the day before Stobart Air ends its service on the route. Dublin-Doncaster was pioneered by Thomsonfly and Ryanair in 2005 and was an Aer Lingus Regional route operated by Stobart Air since 2015. Stobart is also scheduled to withdraw from Dublin-Cardiff and Dublin-East Midlands on October 31 leaving the airline with 15 routes, seven to England, three to Scotland, two domestic, one each to Channel Island and France (both seasonal), and the Isle of Man.
Stobart Air and CityJet will operate as two separate entities for at least the time being when the €80m sale of Stobart to CityJet enters endgame next week. Cityjet have secured backing from investment company Falko, which financed Cityjet’s acquisition of new Sukhoi Superjet aircraft and is supported by affiliates of funds managed by Fortress Investment Group. CityJet, headed up once again by founder Pat Byrne, is preparing to base aircraft at London Southend Airport, which is owned by Stobart Group.
The deal will be structured that will see Stobart Air acquire the shareholdings of existing investors and the separate leasing firm that acts as a holding company for some of the airline’s fleet.
Ryanair is to allocate an additional 10 aircraft to the Italian market, open 44 new routes and grow traffic locally by 10pc to 35m passengers next year and spend €400m on boosting its market share in Italy. This follows a decision by the country’s government to reverse a €2.50 municipal tax increase The tax was due to commence in September. Ryanair’s current market share is 26pc, making it the country’s largest airline ahead of Alitalia and Easyjet. The growth could increase market share to around 37pc.
United’s Belfast to Newark route is safe after the Stormont administration agreed to a subsidy of the equivalent of €161 per return ticket last week. The move means United Airlines keeps operating the service for the next three years, a route the airline was due to cancel next month. Ministers agreed by an extra €10.3m in funding.
Kuwait are to fly directly to JFK from the end of October, ending their stop-over in Shannon.
Norwegian Air International received a boost of €13.2m from its parent, the Bjørn Kos led Norwegian Air Shuttle NAI made a €53m ($60m) loss last year, according to accounts recently filed here. It generated revenue of $719m in 2015, which included ticket and ancillary revenue of $577.7m and revenue from wet lease operations of $141.2m. Norwegian Air Shuttle put $50m into its its Dublin-based subsidiary February, followed by another $25m in April Filings at the companies office show a further payment of $15m in July.
The Commission for Aviation Regulation is conducting a consultation on a process for considering a supplementary capital expenditure (capex) allowance to its determination of airport charges at Dublin Airport. This paper provides information
Aercap Holdings announced the delivery of a new Airbus A350-900 to Ethiopian Airlines, after it delivered the first Airbus A350 XWB to be leased to an African carrier to Ethiopian Airlines in June.
European Aviation Safety Agency published recommendations to keep better regulation of cockpit crews following a deliberate crash in the French Alps last year caused by a co-pilot. The authority had softened a previous recommendation that two people should always be in the cockpit, following talks with industry representatives. Instead it says companies should determine on a case-by-case basis whether one person should be left alone at the controls.
Avolon delivered a B737-800 to Nok Air.
Qatar Airways announced a code-share partnership with Vueling Airlines.
Dómhnal Slattery’s Avolon is among the contenders to acquire $12bn of aircraft assets being sold by US financial group CIT. US-based CIT is selling its aircraft leasing division, which has its main office at George’s Dock in the IFSC, in Dublin and operates in 50 countries, and its portfolio of 350 aircraft. A decision on second-round bids are due next week after first round bids reportedly came in at $4bn.
British Airways will no longer serve two meals to economy passengers on flights under eight and a half hours and premium passengers on flights less than seven hours.
Aer Lingus celebrated its one millionth transatlantic passengers, Ciarán Foy and Olwen Kelleghan.
Dublin Airport had its business month ever last month after handling 2.94m passengers, up 9pc. So far this year, the airport has handled 16m passengers. Overall growth is running at 12pc.
Surf Air, the Netflix of air travel, is extending its operations to Europe in October. For €3,200 per month, members can fly as often as they like on the daily flights to and from London Luton, Cannes, Geneva and Zurich.
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