Emirates Airlines Adds New Flight Service to Copenhagen

Emirates airlines launched today its non-stop daily service to Copenhagen, thus entering into the brand new territory of Scandinavia.

Aboard the inaugural EK 151 from Dubai were Richard Vaughan, the airline’s Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Worldwide; Salem Obaidalla, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe ‘&’ Russian Federation; Pradeep Kumar, Senior Vice President, Cargo Revenue Optimisation ‘&’ Systems and Luc Delcomminette, Vice President, Arabian Adventures.

Their guests on the first flight included Claus Rubenius, founder of RUBENIUS; Jens Lund, Chairman of the Danish Business Council in Dubai; Lars Oestergaard Nielsen, Managing Director, Maersk Kanoo (UAE) and an international media group.

“Copenhagen brings a new and exciting dimension to the Emirates’ network,” said Richard Vaughan, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Worldwide. “Emirates’ passengers from Scandinavia no longer need to travel to Germany to join our flights. They can travel directly from the Danish capital all the way to the Far East and Australasia, via our ultra-modern hub in Dubai”.

The Dubai-Copenhagen route, the airline’s 114th destination, will be served by an A330-200 in a three-class configuration. Up to 17 tonnes of cargo can be carried in the belly-hold of each flight.

“This new link opens up Scandinavia for Emirates on the cargo side too,” said Pradeep Kumar, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Cargo Revenue Optimisation ‘&’ Systems. “We have been sending in freighters to Gothenburg in Sweden since 2003, but this additional channel, feeding into our vast and efficient network, will be welcomed by importers and exporters by offering more frequencies and cargo capacity.” In the cargo hold going into Copenhagen today were garments, fruit and vegetables from the Indian subcontinent. On Emirates’ first flight out of Denmark, pharmaceuticals are being exported to Australia and the Middle East, along with seafood bound for the Far East.

After touching down in Denmark under the command of Danish Captain, Lars Schoyen, Copenhagen Airport arranged for a water cannon salute before the VIP delegation joined a welcoming reception inside the terminal. Teddy Zebitz, Emirates’ Area Manager Nordic Countries, led the proceedings, attended by Sheikha Najla Al Qassimi, the UAE’s Ambassador to Sweden; Per Tangsgaard Jensen, Danish Consul General to Dubai, Copenhagen Airports and other guests from the travel, business and aviation sectors.

“The route is great news for the many Danish and Scandinavian businesses that are operating in the growth markets of Southeast Asia, India, and Australia. It will also help attracting both business travellers and tourists to Denmark,” said Carsten Noerlund, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Copenhagen Airports.

“Emirates daily route, via Dubai, opens up South Asia, Australia and Oceania for Denmark and southern Sweden. It gives businesses here significant benefits and will facilitate their access to new markets and encourage further internationalisation,” said Lars Bernhard Joergensen, CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen and chairman of the route development programme, Copenhagen Connected.

Singapore Airlines Adds Flights to Mumbai as Part of Regional Route Expansion Program

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has said it will increase flights to Mumbai to 17 from 14 at present, as part of its regional route expansion from end of October and March 24 next year, according to media reports.

SIA said its weekly flights would also double to 14 to Guangzhou in China and increase weekly services to Bangkok to 35 from 28, ‘The Straits Times’ reported today.

Citing strong growth in regional travel, SIA said its subsidiary ‘SilkAir’ would also increase flights to Bangalore as well as Chengdu and Chongqing in China.

SIA said it was also seeing a pick-up in travel to Japan, after the earthquake and radiation scare of March.

SIA would resume its twice daily flight to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, the report said.

The SIA flight expansion comes after the International Air Transport Association reported this week a 9.5 per cent year-on-year growth in the number of first and business class travellers and 5.5 per cent growth in economy class in May this year.

Elsewhere, Austalia’s Jetstar is investing USD 500 million to add seven new planes to its fleet of 14 by this year-end, it said.

With more planes, Jetstar would increase its routes with flights to Beijing and Ningbo in China and Hanoi in Vietnam, the report added.

Delta Air Line Request Esensial Air Service Funds for Flight Routes to Sioux Gateway Airport

Delta Air Lines threatened Friday to pull out of Sioux Gateway Airport unless the federal government starts subsidizing its money-losing routes here.

The move puts the Sioux City airport at risk of losing commercial air service altogether. Delta, which offers three daily connecting routes to Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, has been Sioux Gateway’s only commercial carrier since 2008.

In a filing Friday with the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Atlanta-based airline said it can’t afford to keep its Sioux City routes going without Essential Air Service funds.

The EAS program gives subsidies to airlines to fly into small markets that otherwise would have no air service.

Airline and airport officials stressed there will be no immediate change to service at Sioux Gateway, where the termal building was recently modernized at a cost of $6.2 million. Delta’s filing starts a 90-day process in which the federal DOT will review the airline’s application for EAS funds.

Delta said it is losing too much money on flights at Sioux Gateway, where its 50-seat jets are on average only 51 percent full. That compares to an 83 percent load factor for its overall domestic system.

“We want to make it financially feasible to continue service to Sioux City,” Delta spokeswoman Kristin Baur said.

Local officials said they expect to retain air service, whether it’s with Delta or another carrier.

In the first six months of this year, the number of Delta passengers at Sioux Gateway was up 26 percent, compared to the same period last year, airport director Curt Miller said.

“I think we’re showing some real strength right now,” Miller said. “We’re having discussions with other air carriers about expanding the service here. … I’m comfortable that someone will want to step up and provice service.”

Dangling proceeds from a $500,000 federal grant as an incentive, Sioux City officials have been in talks with other carriers in recent months about adding routes to Chicago O’Hare.

Delta’s request for EAS subsidies at Sioux Gateway comes amid a fight over the future of the program. As part of broader reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, the House and Senate have approved different versions of bills that narrow the list of cities eligible for EAS subsidies.

House and Senate negotiators have been in talks to settle their differences on a wide range of issues in the FAA bill. In a statement Friday, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he has been in regular contact with the lead Senate negotiator, Jay Rockefeller, on the importance of preserving the program for airports like Mason City, Fort Dodge and Burlington, where EAS funds are now directed, and to preserve the rights of Sioux City and Waterloo to join the program.

Sioux City and Waterloo are among seven cities where Delta signaled Friday it could no longer afford to operate flights without subsidies. The airline also identified 17 other airports where its flights are already subsidized and it currently collects federal funds, but wants to end service anyway.

Delta said it is losing a combined $14 million a year in the 24 small airports in Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and South and North Dakota.

The federal government has the option of finding a replacement carrier for those markets, or rengotiating the subsidy rates with Delta.

If it authorizes EAS funds for Sioux Gateway, Miller said the DOT could open up the market for bids not only from Delta, but also other carriers.

The filing Friday is part of Delta’s strategy to cut its capacity by 4 percent to lower fuel costs and manage demand. Delta inherited its Sioux City routes after it acquired Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines.

Get Spirit Airline Ticket and Find More Information Spirit Airline New Flight Service

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• Nonstop service between Plattsburgh, NY/Montreal Area (PBG) and Myrtle Beach, SC (MYR) starts May 5, 2011.
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Mokulele Airlines Start Jet Service Flight To Maui’s Kahului Airport

Mokulele Airlines says it will start offering jet service to Maui’s Kahului Airport from Lihue and Honolulu on Feb. 1, a month earlier than previously announced. Read more