Airline News - Europe.

For more airline news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/order_formsubs.htm Jun 12, 2006

Adria Airways

Birmingham Airport has welcomed two new airlines in recent weeks. During the month of May Adria Airways commenced services to Ljubljana in Slovenia and HLX (Hapag-Lloyd Express) to Cologne in Germany. The Adria service is weekly. Ljubljana has a great deal of history and is dominated by the town's castle, which was first a fortress, then a prison and following that a home to medieval knights. With Cologne HLX is adding to the airline's German destinations that include Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf. The commencement of the service is ideally timed for the World Cup. The service departs at 1945 and arrives into Cologne at 2215 local each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and at 2100 on a Thursday, ideal timing for those who want a good night's sleep before the coming day. Our photo shows (left to right) Simona Debenjak, Olga Cadez, Igor Savchenko, Irena Majcen, Katja Percio, Irina Alexeenro, the inaugural Adria Airways crew arriving at BIA. http://www.adria-airways.com/ http://www.hlx.com/ Jun 11, 2006

Aer Arann

Aer Arann, the Dublin-based carrier, and one of the fastest growing regional airlines in Europe, is to introduce a four times per week (Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday) service to Newquay from Luton using a 66-seat ATR 72 aircraft. Flight time is 1 hour 25 minutes. Newquay (Cornwall), already served from Gatwick and Stansted, is to gain another London connecting point. It was a loser when British Airways dropped its Brymon services into Heathrow, said to be a factor in the disintegration of the local economy. With a single rotation on the operating day the service is aimed more at the leisure passenger but will also provide the quickest link into many parts of London from the southwest. This is Aer Arann's fifth route from Luton adding to existing services to the Isle of Man, Galway, Waterford and Lorient (South Brittany). http://www.aerarann.com/ Jun 11, 2006

Air One

Denied Volare, Air One looks beyond Europe. Privately held Italian carrier Air One is seriously considering launching long-haul flights from its Rome Fiumicino base, said Head of Network and Marketing Giorgio De Roni. Jun 6, 2006

Air One, Star Alliance

Air One is set to become a regional member of Star Alliance in the future, but the Italian carrier is aiming higher, Head of Network & Marketing Giorgio De Roni told this website at the IATA AGM. "First, I think, it makes sense that we become a regional member, then we will apply for full membership," he said. As a first step, Air One is planning to introduce more codeshare agreements with Star carriers. "We are talking to all of them," he said. Jun 8, 2006

British Airways

British Airways will begin scheduled services from Nottingham East Midlands and launch thrice-weekly flights to Tenerife South on Oct. 31 under the banner of its regional subsidiary BA Connect and operated by franchise partner GB Airways. Jun 8, 2006

British Airways, Malev Hungarian

British Airways and Malev Hungarian Airlines signed a codeshare agreement effective Nov. 1, placing BA's code on Malev's twice-daily London Gatwick-Budapest flights and seven Eastern European routes from BUD. Malev will place its code on BA's thrice-daily London Heathrow-BUD service and on flights to five British markets from LGW. Jun 7, 2006

Conte, Iberia

Conte also said startup of the BCN-based LCC in which Iberia will hold a stake is moving forward. Operations are scheduled to start in October and management will be appointed in the coming weeks. He refused to disclose the commercial name of the newborn. The name of the holding is Cat Air, an abbreviation of Catalonia Air. With regard to the naming of a successor to COO Angel Mullor, who left IB last week, Conte said no decision has been made. "We're studying if we should continue with the current [management] structure or introduce a new organization with the different activities being aligned in separate profit centers. We will start discussing this at board level next month." Jun 6, 2006

JAT Airways

JAT Airways resumed weekly flights from Belgrade to Monastir and Tunis. It will add a twice-weekly Belgrade-Cairo service this summer. Flights will be operated with two CRJ200s leased from Adria Airways that eventually will be replaced by two purchased CRJ700s. Jun 8, 2006

Malev Hungarian Airlines, OneWorld

Malev Hungarian Airlines, scheduled to become a oneworld member early next year, expects to report breakeven results for 2006. "We are expecting a drastic growth in terms of passengers thanks to the oneworld membership, which should double passenger figures from the 3 million of today," CCO Andras Zboray, said at the IATA AGM in Paris. Malev is planning to extend its network to more destinations in Eastern Europe starting with the Balkans, cities in the southeastern Mediterranean and other markets within 3 hr. of Budapest. It will add a third 767-300ER to its fleet next year. The carrier, which has debts of [euro]120 million ($155 million) and three failed privatization attempts, already has reduced its employment rolls by 10% and taken other initiatives to help its bottom line. It plans to sell its four CRJs and replace them with F70s and intends to extend third-party MRO work for carriers like Air Berlin and germanwings hoping to benefit from lower labor costs in Hungary, an "advantage we should have for another 10 years," Zboray said. Jun 6, 2006

MAT Macedonian

MAT Macedonian Airlines hopes to establish Skopje Airport as a regional hub for the Balkans and southeastern Europe. The carrier is evaluating Saab 340s/2000s for feeder services from cities like Sofia, Istanbul, Pristina and Podgorica. "We are also joining IATA's IOSA program, which should be completed by September this year," MAT MD Bojan Sodnik told this website. The airline operates one CRJ900, one 737-300 and one MD-80 during the summer season. It carried 200,000 passengers in 2005 and expects 7% growth this year. Jun 6, 2006

TAP Portugal

TAP Portugal is searching for solutions to improve services at its overcrowded Lisbon Portela base but said the situation will remain problematic until 2009, when a new terminal extension is scheduled to open. "There is no space for us in Lisbon available [for further expansion], so we have to divert traffic to Porto," VP-External Relations & Alliances Jose Guedes Dias said last week in Tokyo. In so doing, TAP will take advantage of the recently renovated infrastructure at Porto, which could be developed into a minihub. It already has increased operations at OPO with thrice-weekly flights to Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro launched May 8 and thrice-weekly services to Newark scheduled to begin June 6. "As a second step, flights from Porto to New York and Brazil could be increased to daily operations, which have connections from Porto to European cities, for example, London or Paris," Dias added. Jun 5, 2006