flydubai to move Kiev ops from Sikorsky to Boryspil in 4Q18 ch-aviation PRO exclusive

Saudia (SV, Jeddah) will resume scheduled flights to Nejran on May 18, ch-aviation schedule analysis has revealed.

The Saudi national carrier suspended its services to the Kingdom's southwestern city, located near the border with Yemen, in 2015 when the settlement came under repeated mortar attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen.

flydubai (FZ, Dubai Int'l) also suspended its flights from Dubai Int'l at the same time and has yet to return to Nejran, an airport that only opened for the first time in 2011.

Saudi Arabia is embroiled in the ongoing conflict in Yemen against the rebels, who are widely seen as a proxy for Iran. However, with the conflict geographically more distant, Najran's airport reopened on May 6 after a four-year closure, according to the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation.

Flights will operate daily from both Jeddah and Riyadh starting May 18 using A320 and A321 aircraft.

Precision Air (PW, Dar es Salaam) has strengthened its operations at Kilimanjaro, building it into a mini-hub and making it the biggest operator at the airport with six frequencies a day.

The initiative is aimed at enhancing connectivity in northern Tanzania by combining several routes in the region, Hillary Mremi, the carrier's marketing director, told The Citizen newspaper.

An additional frequency between Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam began on April 1, as did direct flights between Kilimanjaro and the designated capital of Dodoma in central Tanzania, operated with ATR72-500s.

Mremi said that passengers can now catch connecting flights from Kilimanjaro to six airports, namely Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Zanzibar, and Mwanza locally as well as Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta and Entebbe/Kampala internationally.

“Precision Air's prospective customers may now afford the luxury of time and time management at their disposal, whether they are heading to a business meeting or are just in time to catch a family event,” he said, adding that the new initiative also comes...

flydubai (FZ, Dubai Int'l) is open to talks with Airbus over a possible A320neo order given growing uncertainty about how long the global B737 MAX grounding will last.

According to Reuters, airline chairman Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told reporters during the Arabian Travel Market exhibition in Dubai this week that with thirteen B737 MAX (eleven B737-8s and two -9s) currently out of service, accounting for 2,170 seats or 21% of its overall capacity, flydubai had had to explore all possibilities.

"That gave me an option to talk to Airbus. You have to understand that we do not have a definite date on when this (MAX) aircraft will be flying," he said. "I have to see when this aircraft will be flying again and what assurances we will be getting, and how much compensation we will get. I don't want the delay to continue."

Al Maktoum did not specify when flydubai would decide on whether it would pursue a replacement order with Airbus.

As of March 31, 2019, flydubai had 237 B737...

The Pakistani Government will review the country's Open Skies policy citing the damage it has done to local carriers - PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Karachi Int'l) in particular.

According to Dawn, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry told a press conference this week that in tandem with the termination, the government will also review its agreements with foreign airlines operating to Pakistan.

Chaudry said that by allowing foreign airlines to cherry-pick their most favourable routes, the policy had eroded PIA's market share to the overall detriment of Pakistan's national interest.

“Most of the profitable routes were given to international airlines which led to a huge loss for PIA,” he said.

Successive PIA administrations have petitioned the government to curb foreign carriers' ability to serve whichever points in Pakistan they choose - the Gulf carriers especially.

At present, the ch-aviation capacity module shows Emirates, Saudia, Qatar Airways, flydubai, Air Arabia, and Etihad Airways account for 53% of Pakistan's 188,861 weekly international seats compared to PIA...