Top Story Archives - Air Service One

ITA Airways: 52 aircraft, over 60 routes by next summer, heavy focus on domestic flights this winter

Italy’s ‘new’, government-owned airline, ITA Airways (IATA code AZ, same as its predecessor Alitalia), officially launched operations on Friday 15 October. The airline plans to operate with 52 Airbus aircraft this winter (seven A330-200s, 27 A320s and 18 A319s). The airline’s future fleet plans appear to be 100% focussed on Airbus aircraft, including the A220-series. […]

October 18, 2021 | Airlines, Europe, News & Analysis, Top Story

Europe’s seat capacity at 70% of 2019 levels in October; US reopening soon

This weekend has seen airport and airline network planners and developers finally meet face-to-face for the first time in over 18 months, as the 26th World Routes Development Forum takes place in Milan, Italy. This is a positive sign not just for the aviation industry, but for the whole business community as such conferences in […]

October 12, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Europe, News & Analysis, Top Story

Ryanair and Wizz Air both announce new Venice Marco Polo bases with 34 new routes; only overlap is Cagliari

Well, that’s a coincidence, isn’t it? Europe’s two leading ULCCs have both announced on the same day that they will be making Venice Marco Polo Airport a base in 2022. Ryanair announced that it will base three of its new 737 MAX 8s (or 737 8-200 ‘Gamechangers’ as the airline prefers to brand them) at […]

October 7, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Europe, News & Analysis, Top Story

End of school holidays signals start of period of major demand uncertainty

Seven weeks ago, when the last issue of The ANKER Report was published, schools had just finished and families all across Europe were looking forward to a well deserved holiday. However, many of those hoping to travel internationally may well have been disappointed and frustrated, as many travel restrictions remained in place, making it potentially […]

September 14, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Europe, Top Story

Luxembourg traffic almost trebled between 2009 and 2019 as easyJet and Ryanair make their mark

Luxembourg is a small country in the heart of Europe which shares a border with Belgium, France and Germany. Covering an area of 2,600 km2 it is smaller than Hong Kong and every US state, and can easily be driven around in less than a day. However, with a population of over 600,000 and a […]

September 9, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Europe, News & Analysis, Top Story

Turkish Airlines passengers down just 23% in July compared with 2019; Asian market share declining as other regions recover faster

Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines has arguably the world’s most diverse network, as it serves destinations in more countries than any other airline. According to Cirium Data and Analytics schedule information the airline offered scheduled passenger flights from over 110 countries in both 2020 and 2021. Thanks to the airline also publishing monthly traffic statistics which […]

September 8, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Top Story

Network development of Europe’s major pan-European (U)LCCs compared: Sep 21 v Sep 19

Data compiled by The ANKER Report shows that some 1,300 new routes have been launched by airlines involving European airports between 1 January and 31 August this year. These have been split as follows across the eight months: January: 9 February: 39 March: 74 April: 60 May: 130 June: 409 July: 460 August: 119 Our […]

September 2, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Top Story

Four million passengers flew between UK and US in 2020 despite travel restrictions; JetBlue enters market

Last week JetBlue became the latest airline to venture into what was, pre-pandemic, the apparently highly lucrative air travel market between the UK and the US. Travel restrictions were recently eased for US citizens wanting to visit the UK. Sadly, there remain major restrictions for UK citizens wishing to travel to the US. Despite this, […]

August 17, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, North America, Top Story

Norwegian 2.0: 45% of flights in July operated on Norwegian domestic routes

In 2018, Norwegian carried 37.3 million passengers (with a load factor of 86%), making it one of Europe’s biggest airlines. However, the airline was struggling financially, having grown rapidly and also taken on the challenge of offering low-cost, long-haul flights, primarily to the US, from various countries in Europe. Even before the pandemic hit, the […]

August 10, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Europe, Top Story

The four (U)LCCs of Naples; Wizz Air joins easyJet, Ryanair and Volotea in opening a base

The Naples urban area is apparently the seventh largest in Europe and yet in 2000 its airport handled just four million passengers. By 2015 this had increased to just over six million. However, during the next four years passenger numbers increased by a massive 76% and reached almost 11 million in 2019, making it one […]

August 5, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Europe, News & Analysis, Top Story

Moscow Sheremetyevo takes over as Europe’s busiest airport in June with almost 3m passengers

Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport has become the latest European airport to be the busiest for passengers. In June the Russian airport, which is the main base for flag-carrier Aeroflot, welcomed 2.94 million travellers, beating Istanbul IST into second place. The Turkish mega-hub handled 2.80 million passengers. Moscow Domodedovo, which had led the way in May with […]

August 2, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Top Story

Eurowings Discover set to exert pressure on Condor at Frankfurt; 21 aircraft planned by mid-2022

Germany’s Luthansa Group already has a wholly-owned, lower-cost subsidiary, Eurowings (IATA code EW). It even used the airline prior to the pandemic to launch long-haul services from Frankfurt. Cirium Data and Analytics shows that in late October 2019, Eurowings was offering flights from Frankfurt to Barbados, Las Vegas, Mauritius and Windhoek in Namibia. So why […]

July 29, 2021 | Airlines, Airports, Europe, North America, Top Story