Flyafrica Zimbabwe plans to relaunch flights under a slightly different name – flyafricazim – with the backing of new investors.
The airline terminated its franchise agreement with the Flyafrica group after the parent company was placed into liquidation earlier this year.
The ‘new’ airline owns the Flyafrica brand name in Zimbabwe and can therefore continue to operate under this name, says the company’s principle investor and Chairperson, Cassidy Mugwagwa. Additional investors have been signed on to the tune of US$25 million (€21.6 million) to develop a pan-African operation, says Cassidy.
The airline plans to begin operations on the Johannesburg-Harare route from mid-May. Flyafricazim also plans to establish operations between Johannesburg and Bulawayo as well as domestic routes within Zimbabwe.
After the termination of its franchise agreement with Flyafrica Ltd, Cassidy says flyafricazim needed to source new aircraft, reservation support, as well as web support and marketing. The company has done this through its purchase of Airconnect, which Cassidy explains handled many of these functions for Flyafrica in the past. “Contracts have also been entered into with other service providers. Aircraft have been sourced from Star Air Cargo and key staff, who originally worked for Flyafrica Ltd, have also been retained – so we are good to go.”
Not unlike the original flyafrica.com LCC model, the new airline’s strategy is to operate in a number of different countries “in order to spread its common expenses”, says Cassidy. “Unlike the Flyafrica Ltd model, which relied on the head airline in Zimbabwe to fund the five countries in which the airline operated, each country must be profitable, operate with a local partner and be able to sustain itself with minimal operating financial support from head office. In other words, one country must not be able to pull another down,” he says. The airline aims to launch subsidiary airlines in four countries over the next two years.
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Showing posts with label flyafrica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flyafrica. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 May 2016
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
ZIMBABWE: FlyAfrica - Questions But No Answers As Passengers Get Angrier
FlyAfrica
It was always my understanding that a key role for the media, print, electronic or new media on the web, was to investigate, ask questions and find answers, especially when, like in the case of an airline, public interest is at stake.
Therefore, when initially innocent questions are asked and the response immediately termed those questions ‘accusations’ then I, throughout my academic and professional career either got the meaning of a question wrong, or more likely did those who were asked react in panic and shot off their mouths, or in this case fingers without thinking much of the consequences, nor the availability of screenshots.
Communication from the airline, while claiming it was off the record, on the other side threatened a legal case against my first article published on the 29th not long after midnight, again letting contradictions rule as was already amply demonstrated in the initial post.
One of the greatest expressions of freedom in the United States, is the freedom of the media and unless it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, that one has acted maliciously, for instance with the intent to defame, no case brought against a media house was ever won by a plaintiff. It is called the freedom of speech and my speech, going by the comments received from readers, appears to have been remarkable restrained.
What the airline’s response however did accomplish was a close up monitoring of their Facebook page and the collection of various clients’ postings, expressing their indignation, disappointment and worse.
The question must be asked, as hardly any of those posts received any response, leave alone a substantive one, what is going on at Fly Africa in Zimbabwe, and for that matter also in Namibia where clients seem to have been stranded.
It is for readers to make up their own mind when they have studied the following collection and conclude how wisely, or unwisely, Fly Africa has acted when ignoring those posts and claiming that they were operating again as of the 29th, when to the best knowledge of this correspondent no flight took off from Zimbabwe on that day or since:
Elaine Tapson Rich Can I ask why you do this CONSTANTLY?! Cancel or change flights willy nilly as if people haven't got important appointments, meetings, connection flights etc. already booked to tie in with the flights they have booked with you? I recently booked a flight with you, took out insurance on the understanding that if you cancelled the flight you would get me onto the next flight out of Harare (at your expense) because I had a vital oncology appointment with treatment later that day, and what happened? You cancelled, your staff told us to book the next available flight and we were guaranteed reimbursement. The change of flight cost us $485 one way but did we get reimbursed? No way! We were told that the goal posts had changed and the insurance didn't really mean what we were lead to believe. We were treated with contempt by all your staff with no apology or empathy. I ignored, at my peril, everybody's warning about your unreliable and non-existent service! DON'T Fly Africa is what I say! You pretend to have your passengers welfare at heart - sadly you are not going to have any passengers left to "care" about soon. Wake up and start providing some sort of service because at this point, nobody is really very impressed.
Marietjie Coetzee
Today at 8:11am
So while you are fighting with Zimbabwe, a group of passengers were stranded in Windhoek yesterday without explanation. Only put on the next flight out to Lanseria on Friday. One lady had to get to Jhb urgently due to a death in the family. A young man had job interviews lined up. What did you do? Nothing!!! Most of us had to fork out thousands to purchase tickets on Air Namibia or BA. We need answers, please..
Mandi Mitchell to flyafrica.com
15 mins ·
The letter sent out to clients to the cancellation and subsequent refund to let down customers clearly stated we must be patient for 24 hours. This period has come and gone and not one of my emails has been answered, and the Byo Flyafrica office is not giving us any answers either! Can someone please give out an updated statement, or better yet, answer the emails sent on your feedback call center
Cee Cee Capwell to flyafrica.com
1 hr ·
So what about this siphoning and externalisation of funds? Any comment on that by any chance?
Peter Dorgan to flyafrica.com
1 hr ·
will fly Africa fly today ?
Duwayne Goddard to flyafrica.com
2 hrs ·
Good Morning flyafrica.com Please may we kindly have a status on flights.
Many Thanks.
Tony Gibson to flyafrica.com
2 hrs · Boksburg, South Africa ·
I think a public statement confirming the resumption of flight schedules would answer a lot of questions right now. Are you flying from today or not?
Melisa Mel Gambara They are not even answering phones!!!! May you please tell us what is going on.
Michael Taylor to flyafrica.com
2 hrs ·
Rumours start when you stop communicating to you pax, what the .... is going on, conflicting info here, please reply., I'm meant to fly, do I book saa or BA now? Let me know before it's too late !
Fungie Pfachi i JUST BOOKED SAA. NO ANSWERS AND THE PEOPLE AT OR TAMBO WER POLITE BUT HAD NO ANSWERS.
Melisa Mel Gambara to flyafrica.com
2 hrs ·
Have flights resumed or not?? I've noticed that you guys have stopped responding to this question and you deleted your post about things being back to normal. We want answers you guys, you have our money.
Jens La Barré to flyafrica.com
2 hrs ·
It is very sad to see so many complaints from many people on all social media platforms. Just a heads up - your venture will fail unless you start being on time with your flights. I certainly won't use your services until customer feedback improves.
Judy Breedt Micillo to flyafrica.com
3 hrs ·
Is the flights on for JHB today and what time as we believe the times has been changed
Kashan Krawitz-Irmak Sitting at Whk airport the lady at fly Africa office not very assuring
Like · Reply · 1 hr
Fungie Pfachi to flyafrica.com
5 hrs ·
Yet again a cancellation after all those confirmations that your schedules are back to normal... what a fraud... so disappointed..
Carolyn Sole to flyafrica.com
12 hrs ·
Hi there - can you confirm if normal flights have resumed as of this afternoon as promised? We await your confirmation before booking with other carriers to replace existing Fly Africa flights - Thanks
What does one call such an operation if I may ask the question, emphasis on question, not making a statement? Shambolic? Unprofessional? Deceptive perhaps even? The client posts above seem to give plenty of answers towards that end and it would only be appropriate if the airline could at last respond to each and every one of them with a substantive answer, not one which is aimed to pacify them or fob them off.
Notably have local Zimbabwean media also now taken up the story and the Zimbabwe Chronicle has under the following link just shed more light on to the sad affair, notably exposing that promises that operations would resume on the 29th were clearly premature at best and willfully misleading at worst, quoting the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Hon. Joram Gumbo. http://www.chronicle.co.zw/aviation-authority-grounds-fly-africa/
NewsDay, another Zimbabwean publication, equally came out strongly and their take on the affair is available via https://www.newsday.co.zw/2015/10/29/low-cost-airline-fly-africa-hits-the-skids/
What is one to make of a corporate entity, which is confronted with the question of owing money to their local Civial Aviation Authority and spits venom by talking of accusations when the Minister responsible for the sector two days later in public confirms that indeed CAAZ is owed money. Again, that question most readers will be able to answer themselves, as none has been forthcoming from the airline directly.
Another Zimbabwean publication, www.zimeye.com uses language this correspondent has deliberated avoided, as their article shows: http://www.zimeye.com/fly-africa-crashes-down-grounded/
Affairs of this nature, especially when involving airlines, naturally have an impact on the credibility of the entire industry with the one causing such issues to spill over into the public domain of course most affected. Time will no doubt tell how this will pan out, how the purported legal case of Fly Africa against their local Zimbabwean shareholders goes, but for now, it is wait and see and keeping an eye on this site for updates as and when available. Should the airline respond will that response, needless to say, of course also be published here.
It was always my understanding that a key role for the media, print, electronic or new media on the web, was to investigate, ask questions and find answers, especially when, like in the case of an airline, public interest is at stake.
Therefore, when initially innocent questions are asked and the response immediately termed those questions ‘accusations’ then I, throughout my academic and professional career either got the meaning of a question wrong, or more likely did those who were asked react in panic and shot off their mouths, or in this case fingers without thinking much of the consequences, nor the availability of screenshots.
Communication from the airline, while claiming it was off the record, on the other side threatened a legal case against my first article published on the 29th not long after midnight, again letting contradictions rule as was already amply demonstrated in the initial post.
One of the greatest expressions of freedom in the United States, is the freedom of the media and unless it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, that one has acted maliciously, for instance with the intent to defame, no case brought against a media house was ever won by a plaintiff. It is called the freedom of speech and my speech, going by the comments received from readers, appears to have been remarkable restrained.
What the airline’s response however did accomplish was a close up monitoring of their Facebook page and the collection of various clients’ postings, expressing their indignation, disappointment and worse.
The question must be asked, as hardly any of those posts received any response, leave alone a substantive one, what is going on at Fly Africa in Zimbabwe, and for that matter also in Namibia where clients seem to have been stranded.
It is for readers to make up their own mind when they have studied the following collection and conclude how wisely, or unwisely, Fly Africa has acted when ignoring those posts and claiming that they were operating again as of the 29th, when to the best knowledge of this correspondent no flight took off from Zimbabwe on that day or since:
Elaine Tapson Rich Can I ask why you do this CONSTANTLY?! Cancel or change flights willy nilly as if people haven't got important appointments, meetings, connection flights etc. already booked to tie in with the flights they have booked with you? I recently booked a flight with you, took out insurance on the understanding that if you cancelled the flight you would get me onto the next flight out of Harare (at your expense) because I had a vital oncology appointment with treatment later that day, and what happened? You cancelled, your staff told us to book the next available flight and we were guaranteed reimbursement. The change of flight cost us $485 one way but did we get reimbursed? No way! We were told that the goal posts had changed and the insurance didn't really mean what we were lead to believe. We were treated with contempt by all your staff with no apology or empathy. I ignored, at my peril, everybody's warning about your unreliable and non-existent service! DON'T Fly Africa is what I say! You pretend to have your passengers welfare at heart - sadly you are not going to have any passengers left to "care" about soon. Wake up and start providing some sort of service because at this point, nobody is really very impressed.
Marietjie Coetzee
Today at 8:11am
So while you are fighting with Zimbabwe, a group of passengers were stranded in Windhoek yesterday without explanation. Only put on the next flight out to Lanseria on Friday. One lady had to get to Jhb urgently due to a death in the family. A young man had job interviews lined up. What did you do? Nothing!!! Most of us had to fork out thousands to purchase tickets on Air Namibia or BA. We need answers, please..
Mandi Mitchell to flyafrica.com
15 mins ·
The letter sent out to clients to the cancellation and subsequent refund to let down customers clearly stated we must be patient for 24 hours. This period has come and gone and not one of my emails has been answered, and the Byo Flyafrica office is not giving us any answers either! Can someone please give out an updated statement, or better yet, answer the emails sent on your feedback call center
Cee Cee Capwell to flyafrica.com
1 hr ·
So what about this siphoning and externalisation of funds? Any comment on that by any chance?
Peter Dorgan to flyafrica.com
1 hr ·
will fly Africa fly today ?
Duwayne Goddard to flyafrica.com
2 hrs ·
Good Morning flyafrica.com Please may we kindly have a status on flights.
Many Thanks.
Tony Gibson to flyafrica.com
2 hrs · Boksburg, South Africa ·
I think a public statement confirming the resumption of flight schedules would answer a lot of questions right now. Are you flying from today or not?
Melisa Mel Gambara They are not even answering phones!!!! May you please tell us what is going on.
Michael Taylor to flyafrica.com
2 hrs ·
Rumours start when you stop communicating to you pax, what the .... is going on, conflicting info here, please reply., I'm meant to fly, do I book saa or BA now? Let me know before it's too late !
Fungie Pfachi i JUST BOOKED SAA. NO ANSWERS AND THE PEOPLE AT OR TAMBO WER POLITE BUT HAD NO ANSWERS.
Melisa Mel Gambara to flyafrica.com
2 hrs ·
Have flights resumed or not?? I've noticed that you guys have stopped responding to this question and you deleted your post about things being back to normal. We want answers you guys, you have our money.
Jens La Barré to flyafrica.com
2 hrs ·
It is very sad to see so many complaints from many people on all social media platforms. Just a heads up - your venture will fail unless you start being on time with your flights. I certainly won't use your services until customer feedback improves.
Judy Breedt Micillo to flyafrica.com
3 hrs ·
Is the flights on for JHB today and what time as we believe the times has been changed
Kashan Krawitz-Irmak Sitting at Whk airport the lady at fly Africa office not very assuring
Like · Reply · 1 hr
Fungie Pfachi to flyafrica.com
5 hrs ·
Yet again a cancellation after all those confirmations that your schedules are back to normal... what a fraud... so disappointed..
Carolyn Sole to flyafrica.com
12 hrs ·
Hi there - can you confirm if normal flights have resumed as of this afternoon as promised? We await your confirmation before booking with other carriers to replace existing Fly Africa flights - Thanks
What does one call such an operation if I may ask the question, emphasis on question, not making a statement? Shambolic? Unprofessional? Deceptive perhaps even? The client posts above seem to give plenty of answers towards that end and it would only be appropriate if the airline could at last respond to each and every one of them with a substantive answer, not one which is aimed to pacify them or fob them off.
Notably have local Zimbabwean media also now taken up the story and the Zimbabwe Chronicle has under the following link just shed more light on to the sad affair, notably exposing that promises that operations would resume on the 29th were clearly premature at best and willfully misleading at worst, quoting the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Hon. Joram Gumbo. http://www.chronicle.co.zw/aviation-authority-grounds-fly-africa/
NewsDay, another Zimbabwean publication, equally came out strongly and their take on the affair is available via https://www.newsday.co.zw/2015/10/29/low-cost-airline-fly-africa-hits-the-skids/
What is one to make of a corporate entity, which is confronted with the question of owing money to their local Civial Aviation Authority and spits venom by talking of accusations when the Minister responsible for the sector two days later in public confirms that indeed CAAZ is owed money. Again, that question most readers will be able to answer themselves, as none has been forthcoming from the airline directly.
Another Zimbabwean publication, www.zimeye.com uses language this correspondent has deliberated avoided, as their article shows: http://www.zimeye.com/fly-africa-crashes-down-grounded/
Affairs of this nature, especially when involving airlines, naturally have an impact on the credibility of the entire industry with the one causing such issues to spill over into the public domain of course most affected. Time will no doubt tell how this will pan out, how the purported legal case of Fly Africa against their local Zimbabwean shareholders goes, but for now, it is wait and see and keeping an eye on this site for updates as and when available. Should the airline respond will that response, needless to say, of course also be published here.
Wednesday, 9 September 2015
IVORY OAST: Air Cote d’Ivoire Consolidates Operation To Nigeria
Air Cote d’Ivoire, which started operation to Lagos in January has said it is consolidating on the route, which has become the most promising and recently in Lagos decided to fete its business partners in Nigeria, including travel agents in appreciation of their support and also pledged to continue to provide the best service to the Nigerian passengers.
The airline said its objective was to service Africa but now it was concentrating its operations in West and Central Africa with Abidjan and Lagos as major destinations.
Country Manager for Air Cote d’Ivoire, Moustapha Fofana, said there is a niche market between Nigeria and Cote d-Ivoire as there is increased business in the two countries which makes it necessary to have direct, regular flight between Lagos and Abidjan.
He said such growing market was created by private business owners, diplomats and corporate establishment representatives who need to shuttle between the major cities of Lagos and Abidjan, so there was need for an airline to step in to fill the gap of a direct flight emanating from Abidjan to Lagos.
“This country (Nigeria) offers a huge business market with a growing movement of individual businesses and telecoms, banks, manufacturers, oil and gas multinationals from Nigeria to Cote d’Ivoire,” said Fofana.
Fofana said since the commencement of operations early 2015 patronage has kept going higher and higher.
“The Nigerian market is the best thing that has happened to us. We are flying into Lagos and the patronage has been so encouraging and we hope as the market improves one day in the future we may fly into Abuja,” he said.
According to him, the airline was established as a flag carrier of the government of Cote d’Ivoire in 2012 with institutional investors, including Air France, which also the airline’s technical partner.
According to Fofana, the oldest aircraft in the fleet of the airline was five years and the target was to develop an airline that would be the first choice of travellers between the West African and Central African sub-regions.
“We want to connect Central and West Africa by easing air traffic movements,” said Fofana. “We don’t seek to enter Europe, America or Asia, at least not for now.”
He said in the last three years, the airline has been able to launch direct flights from Abidjan into 19 capital cities in Central and West Africa.
“The business of the airline is to connect West Africa and Central African and subsequently Africa,” he said.
Fofana also noted that the Nigerian market is very important for Air Cote D’Ivoire in the light of its performance since operations began into Lagos.
“The company commenced operations three years ago and we believe this is the right time to be in the Nigerian market. Our connections allow corporate organisations and business travellers to connect major cities in West and Central Africa in the shortest possible time with four weekly flights out of Lagos to Abidjan on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and three times weekly to Kinshasa on Monday, Thursday and Saturday using an A319 except on Wednesdays,” he said
According to Fofana, the airline prides itself on offering customers personalised services, comfortable and spacious Business Class seats, power outlets in every Business Class seat and two for every three Economy Class seat; Individual Headphones in all classes as well as several other value added benefits through its Frequent Flyer Programme known as “SMILE.” In the area of safety, Fofana stressed that Air France is the airline’s technical partner both as an investor and in the area of aircraft maintenance.
“We have regular safety checks on all our aircraft three times a year; notably every Friday, half yearly in Casablanca and yearly in Toulouse, France.”
Air Côte d’Ivoire commenced flight operations into Lagos on January 3, 2015 with its Airbus A319-TUSTSA with capacity for 12 business and 96 economy passengers while the inaugural flight departed Lagos the following day.
The airline based in Abidjan succeeded the former country’s flag carrier, Air Ivoire.
From its hub in Abidjan it operates to over 14 destinations in West and Central Africa including Accra, Bamako, Brazzaville, Conakry, Cotonou, Dakar, Doula, Freetown, Kinshasa, Lagos, Libreville, Lome, Monrovia, N’Djamena, Niamey, Ougadougou, Pointe Noire and Younde.
Saturday, 5 September 2015
CROATIA: Dubrovnik Airport Expecting 1.6m Passengers In 2015
airBaltic launched flights to Dubrovnik. Initially launched with a weekly service, the airport pair is now served twice-weekly, with the additional departure beginning on 18 June. In S15, airBaltic will be the 21st largest carrier at Dubrovnik, offering 274 seats per week to the Latvian capital.
Dubrovnik Airport is Croatia’s most southern airport, serving the south and coastal areas of the Dalmatia region. It has seen a rise in its tourism recently, helped especially with the city being the back drop to some of the scenes in the television series, Game of Thrones. The city is home to Croatia’s third largest airport, just behind Split and the capital, Zagreb. Looking at OAG Schedules Analyser data for the week commencing 10 August 2015, the airport will be connected to 50 destinations served by 32 airlines at its peak this summer. These destinations are spread across Europe, with the UK and Germany leading the way, as both countries each have 11 airports serving Dubrovnik. To see a further analysis of Croatia’s largest country markets, see anna.aero’s coverage of Croatia’s 2015 growth.
In 2014, Dubrovnik recorded its sixth consecutive year of growth, and in the past 10 years has seen only one year of declining passenger figures, which was in 2009. However the following year, the airport recorded its biggest yearly growth rate (in the last 10 years) of 11.8%, and ever since, passenger numbers have continued to rise steadily. So far in 2015, Dubrovnik has seen an average monthly increase of 3.9% per month, however the growth has been inconsistent, with February recording a decline of -4.9%, while March grew by an impressive 9.0%. With a capacity increase in seats for the week being analysed during S15 of 6.4%, anna.aero expects passenger numbers this year to reach record levels again, and potentially break the 1.6 million passenger barrier.
SVID says ‘Managerial and operational challenges’ for Dubrovnik
Entering Dubrovnik’s monthly passenger data for 2014 into anna.aero’s Seasonal Variation in Demand (SVID) calculator, the airport does not perform that well, generating a score of 88.7 ‒ a ‘Managerial and operational challenges’ rating. The airport ranks 39th out of the 41 airports analysed so far in 2015, lying between fellow ultra-seasonal airports of Ibiza and Menorca in Spain. The airport’s seasonality performance has declined marginally when compared to the result achieved in 2013, when it attained a score of 81.98, and also down from 2012, where it garnered a result of 79.86 ‒ which was still a ‘Managerial and operational challenges’ score. With this being said, 2014 was a still record breaking year in terms of passenger throughput, so although the SVID score has not improved, this may be something that the airport is prepared to face in order to increase traffic.
In order to gain a thorough understanding of Dubrovnik’s seasonality, anna.aero’s data elves also ran a comparison with two other airports in Croatia, Split (100.24 ‒ ‘Why bother opening in the off-peak?’) and Zagreb (6.46 – ‘Good’). From this, we can see that the two airports that lie on the Adriatic Coast (Dubrovnik and Split) show a strong pattern of seasonality, with the latter recording the highest SVID score by any airport so far this year. With both of these airports serving as strong transport hubs for incoming tourists wanting some summer sun, the SVID results are as expected. However, Zagreb is at the other end of the spectrum, having achieved a respectable score of 6.46 in comparison, due to its more year-round appeal as Croatia’s capital city.
32 airlines for S15, with only two serving this coming winter
While the schedules for the peak week in S15 show that 32 airlines will have operations at Dubrovnik, such is the ‘peakiness’ of the airport’s traffic, there will be just two carriers serving the airport in December 2015, unless of course a new carrier is announced or either British Airways and Croatia Airlines also decide to stop winter operations (highlighted in light green). These two carriers also form part of Dubrovnik’s top 12 airlines for the peak of this year’s summer season.
When comparing the August schedules for S15 to those experienced in the same week last year, the airport is anticipating a 6.4% increase in weekly seats. This year however sees the departure of Monarch Airlines and Aeroflot leaving the airport’s top 12 carriers ranking, with the former showing a 57% decrease in seats this summer, while the latter has now stopped operations altogether from Dubrovnik. As a result of this, we now see Thomson Airways and Finnair enter the airport’s top 12 airlines.
UK commands the show in terms of market demand
With 11 routes each, it’s understandable to see both the UK and Germany taking up the top two spots at Dubrovnik for country market demand. The former however has 44% more seats than the latter, meaning that frequency or aircraft density is greater on routes to the UK. The Croatian domestic market is significant, being placed in a respectable fourth spot. The only three destinations available for this coming winter are Zagreb, (Croatia Airlines), London Gatwick (British Airways) and Rome Fiumicino (Croatia Airlines). With 47 destinations being terminated at the end of S15, the extremely seasonality of Dubrovnik is obvious to see.
Gatwick, Zagreb, Barcelona, Rome Fiumicino and Helsinki make up the top five routes from Dubrovnik, with three of them also being the only destinations served this coming winter. What is surprising to note is that even though Germany has the second highest market demand, its first destination in the top 12, Frankfurt, only comes in at sixth place. Overall, the top 12 country markets make-up a substantial 89% of the overall seat capacity available this summer from Dubrovnik. A new addition to airport’s route portfolio this summer will be Milan Linate, with Alitalia scheduled to launch the route on 1 August with a twice-weekly frequency.
Dubrovnik Airport is Croatia’s most southern airport, serving the south and coastal areas of the Dalmatia region. It has seen a rise in its tourism recently, helped especially with the city being the back drop to some of the scenes in the television series, Game of Thrones. The city is home to Croatia’s third largest airport, just behind Split and the capital, Zagreb. Looking at OAG Schedules Analyser data for the week commencing 10 August 2015, the airport will be connected to 50 destinations served by 32 airlines at its peak this summer. These destinations are spread across Europe, with the UK and Germany leading the way, as both countries each have 11 airports serving Dubrovnik. To see a further analysis of Croatia’s largest country markets, see anna.aero’s coverage of Croatia’s 2015 growth.
In 2014, Dubrovnik recorded its sixth consecutive year of growth, and in the past 10 years has seen only one year of declining passenger figures, which was in 2009. However the following year, the airport recorded its biggest yearly growth rate (in the last 10 years) of 11.8%, and ever since, passenger numbers have continued to rise steadily. So far in 2015, Dubrovnik has seen an average monthly increase of 3.9% per month, however the growth has been inconsistent, with February recording a decline of -4.9%, while March grew by an impressive 9.0%. With a capacity increase in seats for the week being analysed during S15 of 6.4%, anna.aero expects passenger numbers this year to reach record levels again, and potentially break the 1.6 million passenger barrier.
SVID says ‘Managerial and operational challenges’ for Dubrovnik
Entering Dubrovnik’s monthly passenger data for 2014 into anna.aero’s Seasonal Variation in Demand (SVID) calculator, the airport does not perform that well, generating a score of 88.7 ‒ a ‘Managerial and operational challenges’ rating. The airport ranks 39th out of the 41 airports analysed so far in 2015, lying between fellow ultra-seasonal airports of Ibiza and Menorca in Spain. The airport’s seasonality performance has declined marginally when compared to the result achieved in 2013, when it attained a score of 81.98, and also down from 2012, where it garnered a result of 79.86 ‒ which was still a ‘Managerial and operational challenges’ score. With this being said, 2014 was a still record breaking year in terms of passenger throughput, so although the SVID score has not improved, this may be something that the airport is prepared to face in order to increase traffic.
In order to gain a thorough understanding of Dubrovnik’s seasonality, anna.aero’s data elves also ran a comparison with two other airports in Croatia, Split (100.24 ‒ ‘Why bother opening in the off-peak?’) and Zagreb (6.46 – ‘Good’). From this, we can see that the two airports that lie on the Adriatic Coast (Dubrovnik and Split) show a strong pattern of seasonality, with the latter recording the highest SVID score by any airport so far this year. With both of these airports serving as strong transport hubs for incoming tourists wanting some summer sun, the SVID results are as expected. However, Zagreb is at the other end of the spectrum, having achieved a respectable score of 6.46 in comparison, due to its more year-round appeal as Croatia’s capital city.
32 airlines for S15, with only two serving this coming winter
While the schedules for the peak week in S15 show that 32 airlines will have operations at Dubrovnik, such is the ‘peakiness’ of the airport’s traffic, there will be just two carriers serving the airport in December 2015, unless of course a new carrier is announced or either British Airways and Croatia Airlines also decide to stop winter operations (highlighted in light green). These two carriers also form part of Dubrovnik’s top 12 airlines for the peak of this year’s summer season.
When comparing the August schedules for S15 to those experienced in the same week last year, the airport is anticipating a 6.4% increase in weekly seats. This year however sees the departure of Monarch Airlines and Aeroflot leaving the airport’s top 12 carriers ranking, with the former showing a 57% decrease in seats this summer, while the latter has now stopped operations altogether from Dubrovnik. As a result of this, we now see Thomson Airways and Finnair enter the airport’s top 12 airlines.
UK commands the show in terms of market demand
With 11 routes each, it’s understandable to see both the UK and Germany taking up the top two spots at Dubrovnik for country market demand. The former however has 44% more seats than the latter, meaning that frequency or aircraft density is greater on routes to the UK. The Croatian domestic market is significant, being placed in a respectable fourth spot. The only three destinations available for this coming winter are Zagreb, (Croatia Airlines), London Gatwick (British Airways) and Rome Fiumicino (Croatia Airlines). With 47 destinations being terminated at the end of S15, the extremely seasonality of Dubrovnik is obvious to see.
Gatwick, Zagreb, Barcelona, Rome Fiumicino and Helsinki make up the top five routes from Dubrovnik, with three of them also being the only destinations served this coming winter. What is surprising to note is that even though Germany has the second highest market demand, its first destination in the top 12, Frankfurt, only comes in at sixth place. Overall, the top 12 country markets make-up a substantial 89% of the overall seat capacity available this summer from Dubrovnik. A new addition to airport’s route portfolio this summer will be Milan Linate, with Alitalia scheduled to launch the route on 1 August with a twice-weekly frequency.
Tuesday, 1 September 2015
GABON: Gabon Launches Low Cost FlyAfrica.com
After Zimbabwe and Namibia, the South African group FlyAfrica.com launches new low-cost subsidiary in Gabon.
This is Gabon's President Ali Bongo who has himself announced the arrival of low cost Pan in Gabon following a partnership agreement between the Gabonese government and the South African group: "We must be connected between partner countries . Africa is our continent, it is up to us ", he said. It is true that Gabon no longer national airline since the collapse of Gabon Airlines in 2011. "The extension of FlyAfrica.com network of Southern Africa to Central Africa responds to the aspiration of the Heads of State of the continent ", welcomed in a statement FlyAfrica.com Group, owned by the South African company Paramount.
The headquarters will be based in FlyAfrica Gabon Libreville, the Gabonese capital. No decision has yet been taken regarding its fleet, offers and routes. But the goal is to provide low cost flights at very low prices, like the subsidiaries in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
If the group's subsidiaries FlyAfrica.com -Gabon FlyAfrica, Namibia and Zimbabwe FlyAfrica- FlyAfrica are legally separate, they use the same website, which now features eight destinations in Southern Africa (Windhoek, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Victoria Falls, Bulawayo, Harare and Lusaka) pending the opening of the destinations of the Gabonese subsidiary in Central Africa.
This is Gabon's President Ali Bongo who has himself announced the arrival of low cost Pan in Gabon following a partnership agreement between the Gabonese government and the South African group: "We must be connected between partner countries . Africa is our continent, it is up to us ", he said. It is true that Gabon no longer national airline since the collapse of Gabon Airlines in 2011. "The extension of FlyAfrica.com network of Southern Africa to Central Africa responds to the aspiration of the Heads of State of the continent ", welcomed in a statement FlyAfrica.com Group, owned by the South African company Paramount.
The headquarters will be based in FlyAfrica Gabon Libreville, the Gabonese capital. No decision has yet been taken regarding its fleet, offers and routes. But the goal is to provide low cost flights at very low prices, like the subsidiaries in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
If the group's subsidiaries FlyAfrica.com -Gabon FlyAfrica, Namibia and Zimbabwe FlyAfrica- FlyAfrica are legally separate, they use the same website, which now features eight destinations in Southern Africa (Windhoek, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Victoria Falls, Bulawayo, Harare and Lusaka) pending the opening of the destinations of the Gabonese subsidiary in Central Africa.
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