TOMORROWS TRANSPORTATION NEWS TODAY!
LONDON (Reuters) – Norwegian Air (NWC.OL) plans to serve new destinations in South America from London, prompted by strong demand for flights to Buenos Aires which begin this week as it ramps up its budget operation on long-haul routes.
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Norwegian Air to South America
London Luton Airport has started the new year like it ended the last, with record traffic figures, as it handled over one million passengers in January for the first time in its history.
In total, 1,021,954 passengers (+3.6%) passed through the gateway in January to ensure that it has welcomed over one million passengers every month for 12 consecutive months.
Airport CEO, Nick Barton, says: “Last year was another record breaker at LLA, and we look forward to welcoming even more passengers as we enter our 80th year.
“Throughout 2018, passengers will see the airport transformed as we officially open our new terminal and reach the first phase of construction for the Mass Passenger Transit system, which will replace the current shuttle bus and create a rapid link between the train station and the terminal.
“However, this is only part of the solution to better public transport links and is why we continue to call on the government for four fast trains per hour between central London and Luton Airport Parkway.”
The newly expanded terminal will add eight new boarding gates and a greater variety of shops and restaurants.
The airport notes that passengers will also benefit from an increased number of destinations served from LLA due to the launch of a number of new routes in 2018.
They include Wizz Air introducing eight new services to cities such as Athens, Larnaca, Keflavik and Bari; and new easyJet routes to Genoa, Reus and three other destinations.
This follows a significant expansion of LLA’s route network in 2017, which saw the addition of 22 new routes, meaning that passengers can now choose from more than 140 destinations across Europe, Asia and Africa.
Facing the imminent threat of a strike by its pilots, Ryanair has offered for the first time in its 32-year history to recognize the rights of its pilots to unionize. The action is a last ditch effort to avert a planned pilot strike scheduled to take place on December 20. Ryanair had previously refused to recognize unions as part of its ultra low-cost model, which has helped to turn the small Irish regional airline into one of Europe’s largest air carriers. “Recognizing unions will be a significant change for Ryanair, but we have delivered radical change before,” Chief executive Michael O’Leary said in a statement. “We hope and expect that these structures can and will be agreed with by our pilots early in the new year.”
Ryanair pilots in several countries were threatening strike actions in the days leading up to the Christmas Holidays. Strikes had already been scheduled to take place in Ireland, Italy, and Portugal. The Irish based company stated that it had sent a letter to unions in Britain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain this morning. The letter stated that the airline was ready to hold talks to formally recognize the unions, and asked for confirmation that the planned industrial actions would be canceled. The pilots have been angered by Ryanair following the announcement of 20,000 flight cancellations that began in September, and are expected to extend into March of 2018. The airline blamed the cancellations on a lack of standby pilots due to a rostering error that followed rule changes by Irish regulators. Pilots have stated that Ryanair is facing a major staffing shortage, a claim that management has repeatedly denied.
In other news today, Ryanair has stated that it is looking into buying the assets of insolvent Austrian leisure airline Niki. Niki was formerly part of the now insolvent carrier Air Berlin, which is seeking a new buyer after Lufthansa decided to drop its bid for those assets two days ago. The airline wants to look into the possibility of using Niki’s take-off and landing slots at Berlin’s Tegel Airport to operate a 9 or 10 aircraft base at the airport. “At first look, Niki’s Tegel slot portfolio would be woefully inadequate to support a nine-aircraft base but we will review the utility of Niki’s slots as their availability becomes clearer,” Ryanair said in an email statement. The rest of the Air Berlin assets were divided amongst Lufthansa and European low-cost carrier EasyJet.
Air Berlin, Germany’s second largest airline, officially filed for bankruptcy protection on August 15, 2017. The move came after its main shareholder, Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi, stated it would no longer make any financing available for the struggling discount carrier. Etihad had purchased roughly 29% of the airline in December of 2011. The airline consistantly lost money while it carried around 80,000 passengers per day. Air Berlin was able to secure a 150 million euro loan from the German government to continue flying until the end of October 2017.
Lufthansa has emerged as the main winner in the bankruptcy filing, agreeing to purchase more than half of Air Berlin’s assets. The German flag carrier will pay around €210 million to buy 81 of Air Berlin’s planes, as well as agreeing to take on 3,000 of 8,500 employees. Lufthansa will also acquire Air Berlin subsidaries Niki, an Austrian leisure travel airline, and regional airline LG Walter. Reports have stated that the 81 planes being added to Lufthansa’s fleet was the maximum that regulators would allow.
In other Air Berlin news, the pilots of a flight from Miami to Dusseldorf have been suspended. The suspension followed a fly-by of the control tower in Dusseldorf before the plane landed, similar to the stunt pulled by “Maverick” in the Hollywood movie “Top Gun”. Before the flight landed, the Airbus A330 jet flew low across the runway, then banked around sharply to the left before landing on its second approach. Video of the fly-by can be seen in the video link below.
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