MOROCCO: Royal Air Maroc Receives First 737 MAX From Boeing

Boeing on December 21, 2018 delivered the first 737 MAX (CN-MAX, msn 60008) to Royal Air Maroc, which plans to use the fuel-efficient, longer-range version of the popular 737 jet to expand and modernize its fleet.

Morocco’s flag carrier – which welcomed its first 787-9 Dreamliner last week – will take delivery of three more 737 MAX 8s and three more 787-9s over the next few months as part of its strategic plan to strengthen its operations.

The 737 MAX 8 airplanes will build on the success of Royal Air Maroc’s fleet of Next-Generations 737s. The MAX incorporates the latest technology CFM International LEAP-1B engines, Advanced Technology winglets, and other airframe enhancements to improve performance and reduce operating costs. It also integrates engine technology to reduce the operational noise footprint of the airplane.

Compared to the previous 737 model, the MAX 8 can fly 600 nautical miles (1,112 kilometers) farther, while providing 14 percent better fuel efficiency. The MAX 8 can seat up to 178 passengers in a standard two-class configuration and fly 3,550 nautical miles (6,570 kilometers).

Royal Air Maroc plans to deploy its 737 MAX 8 on routes from Casablanca to Accra (Ghana), Lagos (Nigeria), London–Heathrow (England), Bologna (Italy) and Paris (Orly and CDG).

Boeing has also partnered with the industrial sector in Morocco, supporting the development of the kingdom’s aviation industry through initiatives such as the joint venture MATIS Aerospace that specializes in producing wire bundles and wire harnesses for airplanes.

Boeing is also helping to educate local youth through partnerships with EFE-Morocco and the INJAZ Al-Maghrib association.


Tourism Observer

UAE: Emirates Signs Code-share Agreement With Trenitalia

Emirates announced on Wednesday a code-share agreement with Trenitalia, Italy’s national railway company, allowing Emirates customers to visit new destinations across Italy.

Travellers can use one ticket to fly on Emirates and then reach other Italian cities by train.

Emirates currently flies to four Italian cities; Milan, Rome, Venice, and Bologna.

Customers can book their code-share trips through Emirates’ website and use their ticket to then travel by train.

First and Business class passengers will automatically be booked in First Class on Trenitalia’s trains.


Tourism Observer

POLAND: Wizz Air To Open 23rd Base

Wizz Air announced that it will open its 23rd base on 1 July in Iasi (Romania) with one new Airbus A320.

Already served by WIZZ flights, Iasi will be WIZZ’s sixth Romanian airport with base operations. The new aircraft will increase the number of routes served from Iasi to eight and will triple the seat capacity to 265,000 in 2016. The airline hopes this will stimulate the local job market in aviation and tourism sectors as consumers will have access to more low cost routes.

WIZZ will operate five new routes from its Iasi base to Bologna, Catania, Larnaca, Rome Ciampino and Tel Aviv starting 1 July, all initially operating with two weekly flights except for Iasi-Bologna service that will be operated with three flights per week. Frequencies on its existing popular Iasi services to London Luton and Milan Bergamo will also be increased.

Wizz Air now offers a total of 106 Romanian routes to 16 countries from eight Romanian airports. Seats on the new Iasi routes are already on sale from just RON 129 and can be booked on wizzair.com.

HUNGARY: WizzAir Announces New Routes Starting 2016

The flight operator WizzAir announced it would open a new flight station at Iasi in 2016 and it would introduce five new routes.

Hence, the new flights will operate routes to Bologna, Catania, Larnaca, Roma and Tel Aviv, while the flight frequency to London and Milan will be supplemented, according to Mediafax newswire. According to Gyorgy Abran, trhe commercial director of Wizz Air, the company will total 16 aircrafts in Romania operating from the flight stations where Wizz Air operates.

In 2016, the company will operate also another aircraft, Airbus A321, with 230 seats. Wizz Air operates from eight airports in Romania and reports a market share of 29.5 per cent. In 2014, the company carried 3.4 million passengers and estimates an increase of 9 per cent for 2015.

At Iasi, currently, Wizz Air operates three international flights, to Treviso, London and Milan Bergamo. The airport in Iasi is also operated by Tarom, Austrian Airlines and Blue Air, besides Wizz Air and the airport management estimates a passenger traffic exceeding 350,000 passengers in 2015 and an estimation of a double fold for the next year.

HUNGARY: Wizz Air Opens New Office In Romania’s Iasi

Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will open a new base in Iasi, eastern Romania, in the summer of 2016 and will introduce five new routes from the city to Bologna, Catania, Larnaca, Rome, and Tel Aviv. It will also increase the frequency of flights from Iasi to London and Milan.

The company will allocate an Airbus A320 aircraft for international flights from the Iasi airport.

By opening the new base in Iasi, Wizz Air reaches six operational bases in Romania.

The company, which will have 16 airplanes in Romania starting next year, has a market share of 29.5%, said Gyorgy Abran, Wizz Air commercial director.

“We transported 3.4 million passengers in 2014 and for this year we estimate a 19% growth,” he added.

Thus, Wizz Air may pass 4 million passengers in Romania this year and the number will continue to grow next year, after opening the new base in Iasi.

Wizz Air Adds Bratislava And Copenhagen To Its Network

The latest expansion and the flights to two new European capitals will increase the Wizz Air network to 116 airports across 38 countries as it continues its rapid growth. Its departure capacity has grown at an average annual rate of 64.4 per cent between 2005 and 2104 from just over 2.5 million seats to almost 17.5 million last year. This year capacity will grow by an estimated 24.0 per cent to over 21.5 million departure seats.

Central and Eastern European low-cost airline specialist, Wizz Air is to add two new European capital cities to its network as it expands its route network from Macedonia with three new routes from Skopje’s Alexander The Great Airport.

The carrier will launch its first flights to Bratislava, Slovakia and Copenhagen, Denmark, as well launch a new route to Berlin Schoenefeld as it reinforces its position as Skopje’s principal carrier and Macedonia’s de facto national carrier. All three routes will be operated on a twice weekly frequency with flights to Berlin commencing from March 21, 2016; Copenhagen from March 22, 2016 and Bratislava from March 28, 2016.

This will be the first scheduled route between Macedonia and Slovakia and will resurrect a link into Denmark that was last served by SAS Scandinavian Airlines over ten years ago in March 2005.

Wizz Air introduced operations in Macedonia in June 2011 with flights between Skopje and London Luton and is now offering a total of 24 routes to eleven countries from Skopje and Ohrid.

Elsewhere, Wizz Air has confirmed it will open a new base at Iasi International Airport, its sixth in Romania. The airline will station a single A320 in the largest city in eastern Romania to increase the number of routes served from Iasi to eight and will triple the seat capacity to 265,000 in 2016. The airline hopes this will stimulate the local job market in aviation and tourism sectors as consumers will have access to more low cost routes.

The new aircraft will facilitate the introduction of a three times weekly link to Bologna and twice weekly services to Catania, Larnaca, Rome Ciampino and Tel Aviv from the start of July 2016. It will also allow frequencies to Milan Bergamo to increase from two to three a week, adding to the significant growth of the Iasi – London Luton route which will grow from two to five weekly rotations from the end of March 2016.

Wizz Air first launched flights in Romania in 2007 and now offers a total of 106 Romanian routes to 16 countries from eight Romanian airports.

“We put Iasi on the map of aviation a year ago and it will now become the sixth Romanian airport where we establish base operations,” said György Abrán, Chief Commercial Officer, Wizz Air. “We have constantly expanded our operations in Romania, developed regional airports, and this announcement once again underlines our commitment to the country.”

The latest expansion and the flights to two new European capitals will increase the Wizz Air network to 116 airports across 38 countries as it continues its rapid growth. Its departure capacity has grown at an average annual rate of 64.4 per cent between 2005 and 2104 from just over 2.5 million seats to almost 17.5 million last year. This year capacity will grow by an estimated 24.0 per cent to over 21.5 million departure seats.

Analysis of OAG schedule data shows that the airline’s top five country markets – Poland, United Kingdom, Romania, Italy and Hungary – account for a 58.0 per cent share of its capacity offering.

OMAN: Italians Getting Attracted To Tourist Sites In Oman

As per the latest official data, 32,000 Italians chose to spend their vacations in Oman, which is becoming an increasingly attractive tourist destination.

With Emirates launching its fourth Italian gateway, Bologna, tourism officials feel that the number will grow steadily in the coming months.

“We are expecting our outbound and inbound tourists from Oman to grow by 10 per cent with the introduction of a direct flight between Dubai and Bologna,” said Celso De Scrilli, Chairman of Bologna Welcome – the official tourism information service in the city.

Bologna Welcome promotes Bologna and its territory, by offering new opportunities to encourage and welcome national and international tourism. The airline is planning to connect tourists and businessmen from several Asian countries, including Oman to Bologna and to offer tourists from Europe the option of flying to the East though Dubai.

Unspoilt destination

Scrilli also said Oman is being recognised as a great tourist destination because of its rugged mountains and beautiful coastline. “I think it remains an unspoilt tourist destination,” he said.

Tourist agents, who sell Oman packages described it as a land of mountain springs, shifting sand dunes, lush orchards and spectacular wadis (valleys) with majestic castles, towering forts, falajs (irrigation conduits), frankincense trees, date palms and souqs (markets). “It is a must visit for all Italians,” one of them said.

According to official statistics, more than 50 million foreign tourists visit Italy every year, with the top destination being Veneto (more than 10 million) followed by Tuscany, Latium and Lombardy, with over 6 million each.

Emilia-Romagna, where Bologna is hosts almost 3 million tourists every year. “Worldwide, Italy is ranked 4th by the number of international visitor arrivals,” said Scrilli.

The Embassy of Italy in Muscat provides visas to Omanis wishing to travel to Italy. “In the last few years, many Omanis have visited Italy for tourism and about 4000 visas are released every year by our embassy,” according to an official of the Italian Embassy in Muscat.

The official also said that a special mention needed to be made for EXPO Milan 2015, which closed on October 31, and had received more than 21 million visitors. “It has been a huge success, to which our Embassy contributed by promoting and advertising it in Oman. During the six-month long exposition, the Omani pavilion alone was visited by more than 4 million visitors,” the official stated.

UAE: Emirates Starts Daily Direct Flights To Bologna

Emirates Airline on Tuesday launched direct, daily flights to Bologna, its fourth Italian city after Rome, Venice and Milan.

Airline looking to draw more leisure and business travellers from East and West

Water cannons received the Boeing 777-300 at the turmac of the city, which is rich in its art, culture, trade and known world-wide for its medieval historical centres.

Bologna has a “good customer base and we want to offer people the option of flying from here”, Thierry Antinori, Emirates Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial officer Commercial Operations Worldwide, told Gulf News.

“It is going to be a very popular destination,” he added.

Emirates airline is planning to connect tourists and businessmen from Asian countries to Bologna and to offer the tourists from Europe the option of flying to the East though Dubai.

In order to achieve the goal, the senior official announced during the press conference that Emirates airline will bring 12 media groups from the different far eastern countries to Bologna in the next two months.

Emirates wants “to show them the city, because it is not known as Venice or Rome, also because we want to be successful and, to be successful, part of the job is to do the job by yourself,” he said.

While Emriates airline has a total of 1,000 Italians working with it world-wide, the UAE has the biggest Italian community east of Europe.

Enrico Postacchini, Chairman of Bologna Airport, told Gulf News that the airport has a capacity of over seven million passengers a year. Plans for further investment to increase the capacity are under way, he added.

Bologna airport is among the top European airports in terms of connectivity, he added.

BELGIUM:VLM connects Antwerp to Birmingham

The airline VLM Airlines has announced a new route between Antwerp and Birmingham.

The flights depart three times a week, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11:35, arrival at 12:05 (one and a half hour flight), return flights starting again at 14:30 Birmingham for an arrival at 17:00 in Antwerp. "There are strong commercial synergies "between Antwerp and Birmingham, said Steve Blair, operations manager at VLM Airlines citing the fashion industries, diamond, automotive and chemicals." We are confident that this new route will be attractive for people looking for a city break and can be used as a gateway to Bruges, Ghent and Brussels, all less than an hour from Antwerp, "he said. From Antwerp, VLM already serves Geneva, Hamburg and Southampton. Antwerp is also served by CityJet (from London-City) and Jetairfly.

Recall that the Belgian airline, which has regular services to seven destinations in five countries, including Geneva, Hamburg, Southampton, Waterford and London Luton. early June announced its withdrawal from Liege Airport in Belgium with the cancellation of the four routes to Avignon, Nice, Bologna and Venice. Its fleet consists of 11 Fokker 50 configured for 50 seats. In addition to regular flights, it continues to offer charter flights and ACMI including on behalf of CityJet or Aurigny.