Air Italy in recent schedule update filed frequency variation for Milan Malpensa – Miami route, in summer 2019 season. During following period, the airline’s Airbus A330-200 aircraft will operate 4 times a week, instead of 5: 25APR19 – 25JUN19, 29AUG19 – 25OCT19.
IG969 MXP1255 – 1710MIA 332 x234
IG970 MIA1910 – 1105+1MXP 332 x234
(Routes Online)
Olbia, 18 gennaio 2018 – In riferimento alle recenti dichiarazioni rilasciate dal Ministro dei Trasporti e della Regione Sardegna riguardo all’esito della gara sulla Continuità Territoriale della Sardegna, Air Italy desidera fare alcune precisazioni.
Come noto la Compagnia ha avviato nel corso del 2018 un profondo cambiamento, che ha avuto inizio con la presentazione del nuovo brand e della nuova strategia di business, incentrata su un network di collegamenti con hub principale sull’aeroporto di Milano Malpensa.
Da maggio a dicembre 2018 sono stati inaugurati progressivamente cinque collegamenti intercontinentali da e per Milano e nel corso del 2018 sono entrati in flotta otto nuovi aerei, tre B737 Max e cinque A330-200.
Nel 2019 Air Italy prosegue nel percorso di sviluppo perseguendo con coerenza gli obiettivi del business plan presentato nel 2018. Inoltre dal 31 marzo verrà lanciata la nuova linea nazionale fra Milano Malpensa e Cagliari.
Riguardo all’aggiornamento di questa settimana, relativo al bando di gara sulla Continuità Territoriale in Sardegna, la Compagnia ha appreso con rammarico i risultati emersi dalla pubblicazione delle offerte economiche, incluso il fatto che i criteri adottati dal bando per i punteggi assegnati alle offerte non abbiano tenuto in considerazione gli investimenti fatti in Sardegna da Air Italy, relativamente alle persone e alle infrastrutture della base di Olbia. Questo punto è di estrema importanza in quanto in passato l’investimento e le risorse già presenti in Sardegna venivano considerati, tanto da avere una maggiore rilevanza nella valutazione complessiva dell’offerta. E’ invece da notare che fra i criteri del bando 2018/19 vi erano elementi direttamente o indirettamente collegati alla dimensione della compagnia aerea (numero di aerei in flotta e numero di accordi commerciali con vettori terzi) ed è di tutta evidenza che la dimensione di Alitalia e quella di Air Italy siano molto diverse, a tutto danno di quest’ultima.
Abbiamo, infatti, presentato un’offerta commercialmente valida e coerente con livelli di redditività bassi ma sostenibili. Air Italy confida che la Regione Sardegna stia vagliando attentamente gli atti del procedimento, effettuando le dovute verifiche sulle offerte presentate, tenendo anche in considerazione la complessiva situazione di Alitalia.
Al contrario di quanto affermato dal Ministro dei Trasporti italiano, Air Italy non ha beneficiato di finanziamenti pubblici, mentre il vettore risultato primo nella graduatoria per l’assegnazione delle due rotte fra Olbia, Milano Linate e Roma Fiumicino è in Amministrazione Straordinaria e beneficia di un prestito concesso dallo Stato Italiano pari a 900 milioni di euro, senza contare i finanziamenti miliardari versati nelle casse della ex compagnia di bandiera negli ultimi dieci anni. Al contrario Air Italy non ha mai percepito alcun tipo di finanziamento pubblico, mentre Meridiana – fino al 2016 ha usufruito esclusivamente degli ammortizzatori sociali previsti per tutto il comparto del trasporto aereo in Italia in situazioni di crisi aziendale.
Vogliamo rassicurare le Istituzioni sul fatto che Air Italy stia esaminando molto attentamente la situazione, anche al fine di valutare ogni iniziativa finalizzata a tutelare gli interessi della Compagnia e dei nostri dipendenti in Sardegna.
Confidiamo che il Governo e le Istituzioni comprendano e supportino il nostro impegno affinché Air Italy diventi una compagnia aerea di successo, in grado di impiegare nuova forza lavoro e di servire il mercato italiano e globale.
Macau è comodamente raggiungibile con i voli giornalieri da Malpensa a Hong Kong di Cathay Pacific Airways.
Air Italy in this week’s schedule update removed planned Milan Malpensa – Bangkok service in summer 2019 season, which would see the airline continues 5 weekly service. Last flight for 2018/19 season is scheduled on 30MAR19 from Milan, 31MAR19 from Bangkok.
Previously filed schedule in S19 as follows.
IG931 MXP1445 – 0650+1BKK 332 x124
IG931 MXP1855 – 1100+1BKK 332 1
IG932 BKK0850 – 1540MXP 332 x235
IG932 BKK1300 – 1950MXP 332 2
(Routes Online)
Italian carrier Neos earlier this month launched scheduled charter service on MilanMalpensa – Mumbai route, operating on bi-weekly basis, with Boeing 767. Since 07DEC18, operational schedule as follows.
NO510 MXP2200 – 1035+1BOM 763 5
NO511 BOM1235 – 1715MXP 763 6
Operational routing variation on selected dates as follow:
Milan Malpensa – Pescara – Mumbai 18JAN19
NO510 MXP2015 – 2125PSR2235 – 1035+1BOM 763
Mumbai – Bari – Milan Malpensa 16FEB19
NO511 BOM1235 – 1625BRI1735 – 1905MXP 763
Milan Malpensa – Bologna – Mumbai 01MAR19
NO510 MXP2020 – 2105BLQ215 – 1035+1BOM 763
Mumbai – Rome – Milan Malpensa 02MAR19
NO511 BOM1235 – 1700FCO1810 – 1925MXP 763
Mumbai – Cagliari – Milan Malpensa 16MAR19
NO511 BOM1235 – 1720CAG1830 – 1955MXP 763
(Routes Online)
Oman Air in summer 2019 season plans to increase service on Muscat – Milan Malpensa route, currently served 7 weekly. Initially service operates 11 weekly from 31MAR19 to 28APR19, switching to 10 weekly from 29APR19. A330 operates this route.
WY141 MCT0200 – 0705MXP 330
WY143 MCT1440 – 1945MXP 330 D
WY142 MXP1040 – 1915MCT 330
WY144 MXP2205 – 0640+1MCT 330 D
WY141/142 operational days:
31MAR19 – 28APR19 Day x234
29APR19 – 26OCT19 Day 157
(Routes Online)
China Southern Airlines is making a bigger play for the Italian market as it seeks to gain ground on its rivals on China – Italy routes.
Posted
China Southern has applied to the Civil Aviation Administration of China to begin two new routes to Italy this summer, as well as increasing flight frequency on a third.
The carrier wants to open routes between its home hub in Guangzhou and Milan, the future host city for World Routes in 2020, and between Shenzhen and Rome. Both services would operate three times per week from July 2019.
In addition, the airline plans to add a flight to its three-weekly Guangzhou – Rome service from the same month.
The expansion comes less than four months after Wen Wenxing, the general manager of the Guangdong Airport Authority, announced at World Routes 2018 in Guangzhou that China Southern planned to open a string of new routes from the city.
Delta’s war on Qatar Airways is back in full swing, despite the US and Qatar having come to an agreement earlier this year. The latest attack from Delta comes in the form of an op-ed from CEO Ed Bastian, which is dishonest and hypocritical, to put it mildly.
Before I get into the actual content of this op-ed, let me share what I consider to be both Delta’s best and worst trait — Delta only cares about Delta, and they’re darn good at it.
Delta does a great job of taking care of their shareholders, employees, and customers, and that’s admirable. But they’ll do so at just about any cost. When you look at their filings with the DOT, it’s amazing how they’ll flip flop their stances on things as it suits their interests.
Like I said, Delta is fiercely loyal to Delta. And that’s good on one hand. But it’s also off-putting.
The latest round of drama with Air Italy
Air Italy is a fast growing Italian airline. As we know, Alitalia is a basket case of an airline that has been losing a ton of money. Ultimately their situation worsened significantly when Etihad decided to no longer flush money down the toilet, and pulled funding from Alitalia.
Air Italy was previously a small airline (at the time known as Meridiana), but Qatar Airways saw an opportunity here. So they bought a 49% stake in Air Italy, and have been doing everything they can to make the airline grow.
Earlier this year Air Italy began flying to New York and Miami out of Milan (previously they flew to the US out of Naples and Palermo), and in the past few weeks they’ve announced new 2019 flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Toronto.
The US airlines take huge issue with this, claiming that Qatar Airways is using Air Italy to create fifth freedom routes in a roundabout way. They claim this violates the agreement the US and Qatar reached earlier this year, which simply isn’t true. At the time the countries agreed to the following:
Within one year, Qatar Airways will release audited financial statements in accordance with internationally-recognized accounting standards, and within two years they will disclose any transactions with other state-owned entities, such as caterers or other companies that support airline operations
A side letter states that Qatar’s civil aviation authority is “unaware of any plans by Qatar Airways to start fifth freedom flights;” note that Qatar Airways doesn’t say they won’t, just that they don’t have any plans to as of now
Qatar Airways never said that they wouldn’t launch fifth freedom flights, let alone that an airline they invested in wouldn’t start service to the US (which is very different than a fifth freedom flight).
Ed Bastian’s outrageous op-ed about Air Italy
One of the things that I find most frustrating about “news” nowadays is that facts are no longer facts. We’ve gotten to the point where people can just present lies as facts, and somehow we’re okay with that.
Ed Bastian’s op-ed about Air Italy is filled with dishonesty.
“Qatar has been giving its new acquisition billions of dollars’ worth of new airplanes, including Boeing 787 and 737 jets, with plans to deploy larger Boeing 777 and A350s as well.”
Why can’t we just be honest here? So far the airline has been given A330s and 737s. They haven’t been given any 787s (though there are plans for that in the future), and there are no plans for the airline to get 777s and A350s.
“Qatar is using the tiny, close-to-defunct Air Italy to skirt its promise to the U.S. to not add so-called ‘Fifth Freedom’ flights to the U.S., which are routes that operate outside of a carrier’s home country – such as nonstop flights between the U.S. and Europe.”
Why can’t we just be honest about what’s happening here? A fifth freedom flight is when an airline operates a flight from their home country to another country via a third country. This includes something like Emirates’ flight from Dubai to Milan to New York, or Singapore’s flight from Singapore to Frankfurt to New York.
Is Ed Bastian really suggesting that Qatar Airways’ goal here is to fly people from Doha to Milan on Qatar Airways, and then connect them from Milan to North American gateways that they already fly to (with the exception of San Francisco) using Air Italy? Why would they do that? That doesn’t even make sense.
It’s one thing if Ed Bastian wants to argue “Qatar Airways is making a financially unsound investment and is dumping capacity.” We could discuss that reasonably, and I’d even largely agree. But this has zero to do with fifth freedom flights.
Let me actually take it a step further here. If their intent was to create fifth freedom flights, they’d have good fares from XYZ (whatever city you want in the region) to Doha to Milan to the US. But they don’t. So this simply isn’t even in the picture.
“These Italian routes, already highly competitive and well-served by existing carriers, are simply not economically viable without Qatari subsidies.”
How can you be so dishonest? These routes are already well-served by existing carriers? Not a single airline flies nonstop from Chicago, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, to Milan.
“It’s remarkable that in an era when global aviation is thriving, Qatar must keep its state-owned airline aloft with a massive infusion of subsidy dollars. The airline lost $1.3 billion in its most recent fiscal year, flew fewer passengers, and has said it may ask its government for another capital injection.”
I’m not sure how much Ed Bastian is keeping up with global politics, but in case he wasn’t aware, the country of Qatar has had its most challenging year in decades, given the blockade with its neighbors. I think it’s completely expected the airline wouldn’t be doing great right now. Of course they carried fewer passengers than the previous year, they’re not allowed to fly to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, which were previously some of their biggest markets.
Ed, are you this quick to forget the help that US airlines got after 9/11?
The irony in all of this
I think there’s a real conversation to be had about subsidies in the airline industry, and about the impact they have on global aviation. What bothers me is Delta’s horrible hypocrisy when it comes to this.
They take huge issue with Air Italy, right? Their issue is that they’re owned by a “subsidized” Gulf carrier and that they lose money.
For eight years, Delta had a transatlantic joint venture with Alitalia, meaning they were sharing revenue with them, and in turn, profiting off of them. Alitalia was 49% owned by Etihad, they lost a ton of money, and they were bailed out by the government repeatedly. Every single thing they’ve said about Air Italy should have also applied to Alitalia.
How many times did Delta say anything? Not once, because they stood to profit off it.
If government subsidies are such a huge issue, why would Delta invest in China Eastern, which is majority owned by the Chinese government?
Why would Delta partner closely with Jet Airways, which loses huge amounts of money and is owned by Etihad, another money-losing Gulf carrier?
The hypocrisy here is just astounding.
Delta isn’t opposed to government owned airlines. They’re opposed to government owned airlines when they don’t stand to gain anything.
Delta isn’t opposed to money losing and otherwise subsidized airlines. They’re opposed to these only when they don’t stand to again anything.
Bottom line
There’s a real conversation to be had regarding subsidies, but Delta isn’t having it. Instead they’re lying to no end and looking out only for themselves.
Do I believe Qatar Airways is dumping money into Air Italy, and that they’re growing too much too fast? Yes. Do I think this has anything to do with fifth freedom routes? No. Is it pathetic to me how Delta takes huge issues here, but had no issues with Alitalia for years, even though they were doing exactly the same thing? Yep.
Air Italy and Qatar Airways aren’t “disrespecting” Donald Trump, US airline jobs aren’t at risk (employment in the US airline industry is at an all time high), and if nothing else, the Gulf carriers spend a huge amount of money on new Boeing jets (which Delta doesn’t).
MALPENSA – Ryanair ha annunciato oggi un ulteriore investimento di 100 milioni di dollari all’aeroporto di Milano Malpensa con un aeromobile basato (saranno 5) per l’estate 2019, aggiungendo 2 nuove rotte estive per Almería e Madrid e aumentando i voli per Heraklion, Tegel, Kaunas e Tenerife. Il programma Ryanair per l’estate 2019 a Milano Malpensa offrirà 19 rotte in totale, che contribuiranno a fornire 2,6 milioni di passeggeri all’aeroporto di Malpensa il prossimo anno, con un aumento del traffico del 16%.
Il programma estivo di Ryanair a Malpensa offrirà: 5 aerei basati (un investimento totale di 500 milioni di dollari) 5 nuove rotte estive (Almería (2 voli settimanali), Berlino Tegel (6), Kaunas (3), Madrid (giornaliero) e Tenerife (2). Aumenteranno inoltre le frequenze per Heraklion (trisettimanale), per un totale di 19 rotte servite, 2.6 milioni di clienti (+ 16%), 1.950 posti di lavoro “on-site”. «Continuiamo a crescere su Malpensa con rotte, traffico, turismo e posti di lavoro», dichiara soddisfatto John Alborante di Ryanair. «Il 2018 è stato un anno record per Milano Malpensa che ha raggiunto il traguardo di oltre 24 milioni di passeggeri», sottolinea Andrea Tucci, Vp di Aviation Business Development di Sea. «Ryanair ha svolto un ruolo importante in questo successo. Siamo sicuri che l’annuncio di oggi porterà a nuovi record in termini di numero di frequenze e passeggeri nel nostro aeroporto».
Ryanair a Malpensa, 5 nuove rotte e un investimento da 100 milioni di dollari
