feather consulting
Economics, research & strategy
September 2012
Volume 12, Issue 1
Newsletter
Inside this issue:
We present our September 2012 Edition Newsletter.
• Qatar Airways
starts New
Route to Kilimanjaro
Hurghada Bounces Back
As Egypt adjusts to the new world created by its ambitious Arab Spring, the
Red Sea resorts of Hurghada and Sharm
el-Sheikh are seeing some recovery in
passenger traffic in the seven months of
2012.
• ANA Aeroportos 2
de Portugal Sale
Hurghada International Airport saw its
passenger traffic drop 26% to 5.97 million in 2011, but by July 2012 had seen
an impressive 38% jump in traffic compared to the same period last year.
Sharm el-Sheik International Airport has
faired less well having dropped 37% to Sun-loungers in demand again as Egypt’s tourist re5.41 million in 2011 but recovered with turn to the Red Sea resorts
an increase of 29% for the seven
The airports are operated by the Egyptian Airports
months of 2012.
Company a subsidiary of EHCAAN (Egyptian Holding
Cairo saw its traffic drop 19.4% in 2011 Company for Airports and Air Navigation) which is a
public owned Company incorporated since 2001.
but it only saw a 12% return in 2012 .
Dreamliner Success Continues
787 Dreamliner. Their main argument
was that the future of modern aviation
rested on aircraft operating on long
“thin” routes as opposed to long “thick”
ones which had been the conclusion of
their competitor Airbus in its decision to
build a large super jumbo the A380.
Passengers are keen to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner
now in operation with ANA in Japan
2
Today the debate seems somewhat academic as a mix of aircraft are needed by
airlines and both types are now regularly
seen at airports around the world. The
787 (210-250 seats) first became operational for launch customer ANA in Japan
in September 2011. There are now 19
aircraft flying and 845 on order.
The A380 (525 seats) first came into
commercial service in October 2007 with
For many years Boeing’s forecast team fought long Singapore Airlines and there are now 81
and hard to justify the company’s decision to build the aircraft in operation and 257 on order.
• No Consistent
Market in
Greece
3
• Enter Air—
3
Poland’s Largest
Charter Carrier
• New Development at Santiago de
Compostela
4
Special points of
interest:
• Virgin Atlantic
Returns to Canada
• The World’s Longest Non-Stop Air
Services
Qatar Airways Starts New Route to Kilimanjaro
An announcement was made by Qatar Airways at Farnborough to
launch a new air service to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania. This
marks a particular affinity that the airline has with high mountainous
regions: for a long time Qatar was the only carrier from the Middle
East to serve Katmandhu Tribhuvan International Airport, the principal
gateway airport to Everest and the Himalayas.
Kilimanjaro International Airport, became the first international airport
to be privatised in Africa in 1998 under a consortium agreement. However in 2009 the Government decided to buy back all the
share-holding and it now operates the company directly. In 2011 there
were just under 650,000 passengers handled at the airport.
For many years the airport was a stop for regular KLM Amsterdam
services, a route made viable by an uplift cargo of locally grown roses
and other flowers. Northern Tanzania is sparsely populated but tourist
opportunities provide significant economic potential with the major
attractions of the caldera of the Ngorongoro Crater, the wildebeest
Tourism development offers great traffic potential for
Kilimanjaro International Airport
migration of the Serengeti National Park, and Mount
Kilimanjaro itself.
ANA Aeroportos de Portugal Sale
The Government of Portugal is looking at ways to privatise
ANA Aeroportos de Portugal—the company responsible for
the airports of the country. Those under consideration include
the airports in mainland Portugal (Lisbon, Porto, Faro and the
Beja civilian terminal), in the Azores (Ponta Delgada, Horta,
Flores and Santa Maria) and on Madeira (Madeira and Porto
Santo). Options include the sale of all the airports in the group
as one entity, selling groups of airports or selling airports individually.
Lisbon Airport passenger traffic has seen a steady rise of
5.5% over the last 25 years. In 2011 it reached 14.8 million.
ANA’s main airport Lisbon handled 14.8 million passengers in
2011, up 5.4% on the previous year. In the first seven months
of 2012 traffic has slowed slightly rising by 2.6% on the same
period in 2011. The airport at Porto handled 6.0 million passengers in 2011 showing strong growth of 13.9% on 2010. In
the first seven months of 2012 traffic growth was weak with
only 0.3% rise recorded. Faro handled 5.6 million passengers in
2011 up 5.2% on 2010. In the first seven months of 2012 traffic
was also weak rising only 0.4%.
Virgin Atlantic Returns to Canada
Vancouver International Airport welcomed a new Virgin Atlantic
Airways’ service from London Heathrow earlier this year. This
marks the first time in a decade that the carrier has flown to Canada.
The new service will be operated four times weekly throughout the
summer of 2012.
The United Kingdom is Vancouver’s largest single greatest source
of overseas visitors. In 2011 there were over 0.66 million passengers
flying from the UK—up 1% on the year previously. Flights from
Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester as well as Heathrow were operated
to the city by a variety of carriers including BA, Air Canada and Air
Transat.
This year, by contrast, with the addition of the new Virgin service
Virgin Atlantic A340-300 en-route to Vancouver Internaand additional flights from Bournemouth and East Midlands traffic
tional Airport.
had risen by over 4.4% in the seven months to July 2012.
Page 2
feather consulting
No Consistent Market in Greece
The impact of a tough economic conditions in Greece has
not been consistent felt across all airports in the country.
Passenger traffic at Athens International Airport, the nation’s largest, declined 11% over the two-year period from
2009 to 2011—reaching 14.3 million passengers by the
end of last year. Thessaloniki also saw a drop of 4% over
the same period to reach 3.96 million passengers. Most
other larger airports have seen rises with impressive gains
at Rhodes which rose by 20% over the same period to
reach 4.15 million, Kos, which saw a 29 percent increase
to 1.96 million and Santorini up 12% to reach 0.76 million
annual passengers.
Passenger Traffic at Greek Airports 2009-2011 shows
In 2012 the difficult economic situation continues further mixed performance.
to cause problems for Athens. In the seven months to July
2012 the airport saw a drop of 12% over the period down passenger traffic fell 14 percent to 4.8 million and domestic
to 7.4 million from 8.4 million a year earlier. International travellers were down 8.4% to 2.6 million.
The World’s Longest Non-Stop Air Services
The longest non-stop air service operated by any
commercial carrier across the globe is the route performed by Singapore Airlines from Singapore (SIN)
to New York Newark (EWR). This service which
takes nearly nineteen hours covers a great arc distance of 15,345 km. It departs at 10:55hrs in Singapore, arriving the same day at 17:50hrs in New York.
The return journey which is quicker by twenty five
minutes departs New York at 23:00hrs and arrives in
Singapore two days later at 05:30hrs.
The shortest flight routing would take the aircraft
over the North Pole. However the Airbus A340-500
on the route SIN-EWR flies eastwards trans-Pacific,
whilst the return flight EWR-SIN flies eastwards
trans-Atlantic. This makes the overall SIN-EWRSIN service an eastward round-the-world
The World’s Longest Non-stop Commercial Air Services.
flight. Apparently the carrier chooses these routings to make best
use of the jet-stream tailwinds over both the Pacific and Atlantic
which can significantly reduce the amount of fuel required for the
journey.
Enter Air—Poland’s Largest Charter Carrier
The rise of Enter Air has been rapid having only started operations
in April 2010 and yet it is already Poland’s largest charter carrier
and the second largest in the Eastern European region (after the
Czech operator Travel Service AS). Enter Air has three permanent
bases: Frederic Chopin Airport (Warsaw), the Katowice-Pyrzowice
Airport and the Poznań-Ławica Airport but operates throughout the
country with programs from other cities, including: Krakow, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Bydgoszcz and Łódź.
The airline has an all Boeing fleet comprising eight B737-400 and
three B737-800 aircraft. In 2011 it flew over 904,000 passengers to
and from Polish airports to destinations as varied as Antalya in
Turkey, Heraklion and Rhodes in Greece and Enfidha in Tunisia.
Overall in 2011 the charter sector in Poland amounted to nearly 3.3 A Boeing 737-400 of Enter Air—now Poland’s
largest charter carrier
million passengers, a rise of 5.4% on the previous year.
Volume 12, Issue 1
Page 3
New Developments at Santiago de Compostela
The ancient city of Santiago de Compostela in North
West Spain is famous as the destination for hundreds
of pilgrims who each year make the long walk of the
Camino de Santiago across Europe and Northern
Spain (-writer included!). Pilgrim numbers have
risen steadily over the last 25 years, increasing from
less than 2,000 in 1987 to nearly 300,000 in 2010.
A new airport terminal has recently been completed
for the city designed by architects Alberto Noguerol
and Pilar Díez, in collaboration with the Initec engineering studio. In 2011 the airport handled over 2.46
million passengers, up 13.4% on the previous year.
In the first seven months of 2012 however passenger
traffic was down 9.3% on the same period in 2011—
probably due to the collapse of the airline Spanair
which was a frequent visitor to the airport.
The new terminal facility has been designed to handle 3,200 peak-hour passengers which makes its
floor footprint far too large for the actual numbers
currently being processed. In fact AENA, the airport’s operator, appears to have mothballed at least a
third of the available terminal space, cordoning off a
part of the terminal from operational activity.
Ryanair is the airport’s largest operator, accounting
for just under 50% of all traffic. Other carriers include Vueling (13%) and Air Europa (8.5%). New
operators have commenced operations in the sum-
The spectacular façade of the Cathedral de Santiago in Spain is
the welcome destination of thousands of Camino pilgrims.
mer period including Iberia Express, Volotea and interestingly Aer Lingus.
Nearly 87% of all traffic at the airport is domestic to destinations
throughout Spain such as Madrid, Barcelona and Palma de Majorca. The
largest international destinations are London Stansted, Geneva, Milan
and Frankfurt Hahn.
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Economics, research & strategy
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