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airBaltic Starts First of Five Routes from Vilnius

By Budget Airline News

Latvia’s national airline, airBaltic, will start operations on the first of five direct routes from Vilnius. The first flight from Vilnius will be offered to Paris on December 18, to Munich – on December 19, to Berlin – December 21, to Amsterdam on January 4, and to Rome on January 11, 2010.

Tero Taskila, Chief Commercial Officer of airBaltic: “The Vilnius airport has now become more attractive for airlines. Over the next few weeks, airBaltic will be offering direct flights to five destinations from the Lithuanian capital. As of January 2010, we will be operating flights from Vilnius to seven different destinations. Based on success of the new routes, airBaltic will evaluate additional destinations.”

Nonstop flights to Paris will be offered on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Passengers will board a Boeing 737 aeroplane for a flight of two hours and 45 minutes. One-way ticket prices start at LVL 38 (EUR 54), including airport fees and service charges.

Nonstop flights to Berlin will be offered on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Boeing 737 will take one hour and 35 minutes to reach the German capital. One-way ticket prices start at LVL 38 (EUR 54), including airport fees and service charges. Flights to Munich will be offered by airBaltic on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Here, again, passengers will enjoy a Boeing 737 for a flight of two hours and 30 minutes. One-way ticket prices will start at LVL 35 (EUR 49), including airport fees and service charges.

Flights to the Dutch capital of Amsterdam will be offered every day but Saturday. The Boeing 737 will take two hours and 30 minutes to make the nonstop flight, and one-way ticket prices will start from LVL 38 (EUR 54), including airport fees and service charges.

The Italian capital city of Rome will be accessible to passengers from Vilnius on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays – on a Boeing 737 flight of two hours and 50 minutes, and ticket prices as low as LVL 38 (EUR 54) one way.

Wizz Air New Routes from Katowice to Munich and Venice

By Budget Airline News

Wizz Air, the largest low fare – low cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe announced today that it would launch new routes from Katowice to Memmingen/Munich West and Venice Treviso two times a week starting from 22 September and 29 September, respectively and 3 times weekly from the winter schedule.

The new services will complement the routes already operated from Katowice and bring the total number to 22.

All inclusive, one way fares for the new routes start from as low as EUR 12.49 to Memmingen/Munich West and EUR 17.49 to Venice Treviso.

Sterling Airlines Announces New Base in Malmo, Sweden

By Budget Airline News

Sterling Airlines, the Danish low-cost airline announced its further European development with the opening of its new base: Malmö in Sweden will become its 7th base.

Sterling Airlines expands its bases in Scandinavia and offers now even more destinations across Europe. From 10th March 2008, Sterling Airlines will have 2 Boeing 737 aircraft based in Malmö, the third largest city of Sweden. It will operate five new routes: one from England, London, two from Spain, with Barcelona and Alicante, one from Italy with Florence, and one from France with Nice.

Miss Carole Arnaud-Battandier, International Marketing Manager for Sterling Airlines, says: “Sterling Airlines has celebrated its 2 year-birthday on September 13, and successfully developed since September 2005 in 20 European countries throughout 41 cities and our 6 bases: Copenhagen, Billund and Aalborg in Denmark, Oslo in Norway, and Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden. We now announce our 7th base, Malmö, which is also our third base in Sweden.

We are proud to say today that the total of our routes for sales amounts 106, to suit best our Business & Leisure customers.”

She adds: “I am very pleased to announce our 7th base’s celebration with fares from 61 EUR and 22 GBP. Malmö is the third largest city of Sweden: enjoy this charming town paradise for pedestrians and bicycles, its cultural events and exhibitions all year long, its shopping facilities, and even its Ribersborg beach. Be amazed by the Turning Torso, the Lilla Torg Square or the Folkets Park. Malmö has lots and much more to offer to its visitors.

Wizz Air Orders Additional 50 A320 Aircraft

By Budget Airline News

Wizz Air announced that it had signed a contract with Airbus for an additional order of 50 firm A320 aircraft and 25 options increasing its total orders up to 107 aircraft. The new order follows Wizz Air’s existing A320 order, addresses its capacity requirements until 2014 and is the largest Airbus fleet order recorded in the CEE region. The firm aircraft deliveries will position Wizz Air to become one of the preeminent airlines in the region over the next decade.

In line with Wizz Air’s existing fleet, the new A320 aircraft come with enhanced cabin features and single-class configuration seating 180 passengers in comfortable leather seats.
The delivery stream of existing and new orders will result in the Wizz Air fleet having an average age of less than 3 years for the next 10 years promoting high operational efficiency and technical reliability, increased passenger comfort, environmental efficiency and one the lowest seat mile cost in the region.

“Wizz Air has demonstrated its ability for sustainable growth in a competitive environment, where low cost leadership is fundamental to market share growth and to remaining competitive. The A320 is a proven contributor to our low cost base and continues to deliver low seat mile costs, high operational reliability and customer satisfaction using an environmentally friendly platform. The new aircraft order will put Wizz Air in the league of the largest fleet operators in the region. By 2016 Wizz Air would operate a fleet of over 100 A320 aircraft.” said József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air.

“We are very proud to take part in the tremendous growth of Wizz Air in the Central and Eastern Europe region” said Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers, John Leahy. “The new order strongly underpins Wizz Air’s aspirations to expand. The A320 Family is clearly the leading aircraft in its category, and this milestone order really endorses the superiority of our product” he added.