Low-cost airlines information center
By Budget Airline News
EasyJet has announced it will offer flights from Edinburgh to Reykjavik, Iceland starting in March 2013. The initial schedule will be 2 flights per week on Mondays and Thursdays.
Iceland Express, another low-cost airline, recently dropped the same route for its 2013 summer schedule.
EasyJet also flies from London Luton Airport to Reykjavik, Iceland.
By Budget Airline News
Pegasus Airlines, a low-cost carrier based in Turkey, has announced a new international route from London to Dubai via Istanbul. Service will commence on October 18, 2012, with an initial schedule of 4 flights per week.
Flights will depart London Stansted on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Return flights will depart Dubai on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Total flying time is just over 7 hours plus a la-over in Istanbul.
Guliz Ozturk, the CCO of Pegasus, commented: “We are delighted to be launching flights to the Middle East’s glory that is Dubai. Having recently celebrated five years at London Stansted, in a year that also saw us become the airport’s fifth largest airline in terms of numbers of passengers carried, we look forward to adding to the airport’s choice of destinations for the British public.”
Dubai is Pegasus Airlines’ 57th destination.
By Budget Airline News
Low-cost airline Flybe has announced a new route from East Midlands Airport, UK to Chambery in the French Alps. This will be a seasonal route running from December 15, 2012 to March 30, 2013.
Online booking is now available and one-way fares start from £49.99 plus taxes.
By Budget Airline News
Wizz Air has announced it will offer direct flights from Budapest, Hungary to Tel Aviv, Israel starting December 6, 2012. The initial schedule will be three flights per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
In a statement, Wizz Air CEO József Váradi said: “Wizz Air is delighted to bring really low fares to Tel Aviv and launch its new route to/from Budapest. We expect our low fares to be a driving force in generating more tourism both in Budapest and Tel Aviv with our new route set to carry 45,000 passengers in the first year of operation. With fares starting from just €37.99 the airlink to Budapest will now be attractive for tourism and city breaks and also offer unbeatable value for business travelers. Israeli tourists will enjoy Hungary’s world class SPA’s, gastronomy and renowned wineries and we urge them to snap up the lowest fares quickly on wizzair.com.”
One-way fares start from just €37.99 including taxes.
By Budget Airline News
EasyJet has announced it will switch to allocated seating on all flights starting in November.
Passengers will be automatically allocated a seat on EasyJet flights. If they wish to select a specific seat, the fee will be £3. Passengers may pay an extra £8 to reserve a seat in the first six rows of the aircraft or £12 for a seat with extra leg room (i.e. exit row seat)
The new system will go into effect on different dates depending on the departure city. The schedule for the switch-over is as follows:
November 13, 2012: Gatwick South, Luton, Stansted, Southend, Bristol, Glasgow
November 20, 2012: Gatwick North, Milan Malpensa, Rome Fiumicino, Paris Charles de Gaulle
November 27, 2012: Belfast, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Basel, Geneva, Lyon, Nice, Toulouse, Paris Orly, Madrid, Lisbon, Berlin Schönefeld
EasyJet experimented with allocated seating over the summer and found it to improve customer satisfaction and likeliness to fly with EasyJet in the future.
Speaking on the subject, EasyJet CEO Carolyn McCall said: “This is an example of easyJet trying to do all it can to make travel easy and affordable for our passengers. Our customers asked us to trial allocated seating and we are really pleased with the positive passenger feedback during the trial. As importantly, we have shown that we can do so while delivering strong on time performance – the most important driver of passenger satisfaction.
We are confident this move will make our current passengers happier when flying with easyJet and will attract new passengers to fly with us in future.”
By Budget Airline News
Low-cost airline TUIfly has announced it will offer direct flights from Hanover, Germany to Helsinki, Finland. This new route will commence on December 20, 2012.
The initial schedule will be one round-trip flight per week. The outbound flight will depart Hanover on Thursdays, and the return flight will depart Helsinki on Sundays.
The Hanover – Helsinki flights have been confirmed for the winter schedule from December 20, 2012 until March 10, 2013.
By Budget Airline News
Icelandair has announced three new destinations for their 2013 summer schedule – Anchorage, Alaska, USA; Zurich, Switzerland; and St. Petersburg, Russia.
The new routes will be available on a seasonal basis. The airline plans fly to Anchorage, Alasaka from May until mid-September, offering two round-trip flights per week.
Flights to Zurich and St. Petersburg will begin on June 1, 2013, and continue until mid-September. Icelandair will offer four round-trip flights per week to Zurich and two to St. Petersburg.
By Budget Airline News
Low-cost airline Virgin Atlantic has announced it will offer London Heathrow to Manchester flights starting in March 2013. This addition will put Virgin Atlantic in direct competition with full-service British Airways which currently dominates this short-haul route.
Virgin Atlantic aims to launch London – Manchester flights by March 31, 2013, and will initially operate three daily flights using leased Airbus A319 aircraft.
In a statement, Virgin Atlantic CEO Steve Ridgway said: “Flying between Heathrow and Manchester is just the start for Virgin Atlantic’s new short-haul operation.
We have the means to connect thousands of passengers to our long-haul network as well as to destinations served by other carriers. Our new service will provide strong competition to omnipresent BA; keep fares low and give consumers a genuine choice of airline to fly to Heathrow and beyond.”
By Budget Airline News
In an effort to improve profits, Ryanair has announced it will be reducing its flights to Finland. The budget airline will stop flying to Turku for the Winter 2012/2013 season, and reduce the number of flights to Lappeenranta and Tampere by 50%.
Flights schedules to Helsinki have not yet been affected.
By Budget Airline News
August 12, 2012 – Italian low-cost carrier WindJet has cancelled all flights, leaving hundreds of travelers stranded across Europe. The airline is facing bankruptcy and the possibility of losing its operating license.
Passengers affected by the cancelled flights are advised to contact the WindJet Call Center at 89.20.20.
Passengers in need of alternate flight arrangements are advised to contact Alitalia, the national airline of Italy, which has offered to help affected travelers book new flights.
In terms of market share, WindJet was Italy’s fourth ranking airline. In January 2012 it was announced that WindJet would be acquired by Alitalia. However, Alitalia cancelled the acquisition in early August after the Italian antitrust authority announced the airline could not acquire the key domestic routes. Facing financial losses, WindJet cancelled all routes shortly after.
