Tag Archives: aviation

Azerbaijan opens up is air space

BAKU/DEC. 27 2019 (The Bulletin) — Following Georgia and Armenia, Azerbaijan said that it will grant international airlines so-called ‘Open Sky’ access, a move driven by growing demand for stopovers on East-West aviation routes.

By granting the fifth and seventh tenants of the UN’s Freedom of the Air, Azerbaijan will allow international airlines to use Baku, or any other airport, as a stopover between two other destinations.

This is typically used to link Asia and Europe. Airlines will also now be able to use airports in Azerbaijan without flying to or from their home country.

Georgia and Armenia have already pushed ahead with these reforms and have seen their passenger traffic jump as a result.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 432 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 27 2019

Hungary’s Wizz Air to start flying from Armenia

Leave a Reply

YEREVAN/DEC. 16 2019 (The Bulletin) –Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air said it was setting up new routes to Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport from Vilnius and Vienna, going head-to-head with Ryanair which will also start flying to the Armenian capital next year.

Wizz Air was the first European budget airline to expand into the South Caucasus when it set up operations out of Georgia’s second city of Kutaisi in 2016. Since then its routes to Kutaisi have spanned out across Europe. Georgian politicians hold up Wizz Air as a foreign investment success story that has created jobs and helped the tourism sector.

Announcing its new routes on Twitter, Wizz Air said: “This magical country has brought us more than just one of America’s most famous reality families. From the world’s oldest winery to a record-breaking cable car to chess masters, it’s time to uncover the true hospitality this country has to offer.”

Reuters quoted Wizz Air as saying that it expected the two twice-weekly routes to start up in April 2020.

For Armenian aviation officials, the start of Wizz Air flights from Zvartnots represents another success after they persuaded Ryanair to start flying from Armenia. Footfall at Armenian airports rose 9% this year.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 432 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 27 2019

Turkey’s Pegasus completes sale of Air Manas stake

Leave a Reply

DEC. 14 2019 (The Bulletin) — Turkish budget airline Pegasus Airlines has completed the sale of its 49% stake in Air Manas, a Kyrgyz airline, to Belfast-registered AviaTrade for 99,000 euros, online media reported by quoting Kyrgyzstan’s civil aviation authority. Air Manas currently operates one aircraft between Bishkek and Osh. It is unclear who is behind AviaTrade. It was registered in January 2018 but has yet to file any accounts at Companies House, the British corporate registry.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 432 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 27 2019

Passengers numbers at Armenian airports rise 9.%

Leave a Reply

DEC. 5 (The Bulletin) — Passenger numbers going through Armenia’s airports in November were 9.4% higher compared to 2018, Armenian International Airports told media. In general, passenger flow has increased across the South Caucasus. Armenian aviation also gained a boost when Russia cut direct air-links with Georgia. Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport then positioned itself as the connection between Moscow and Tbilisi.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 431 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 9 2019

Turkmenistan Airlines resumes flights to Europe

Leave a Reply

DEC. 7 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan Airlines flew its first flight to Europe after a 10-month ban for failing safety standards. Most of Turkmenistan Airlines’ routes have been designed to connect Europe and Asia via Ashgabat. Two of the most popular of these had been from London Heathrow and Birmingham to Amristar in northern India. After it failed the European Safety Aviation’s test, Turkmenistan Airlines had hired Germany’s Lufthansa as a consultant to reapply for a licence to use European airspace.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 431 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 9 2019

Kazakhstan delays IPOs again

Leave a Reply

NOV. 25 (The Bulletin) — Hoping for high valuations, Kazakhstan will delay by a year plans to sell off stakes in Air Astana, Kazakhtelecom and energy company Kazmunaigas, media reported by quoting Kazakh finance minister Alikhan Smailov. Stakes in nuclear company Kazatomprom were sold off last year on the London Stock Exchange but the IPOs of other companies have been delayed several times.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 430 of the weekly Bulletin.

Air Astana sets up route to Paris from Almaty

Leave a Reply

NOV. 25 (The Bulletin) — Air Astana, the Kazakh airline owned by Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and BAE Systems, will replace its flight to Paris from Nur-Sultan with a new route from Almaty from June next year. The move may mark a shift back to Almaty acting as the main entry point into Kazakhstan for European airlines. A few years ago, when the government was trying to promote Astana, as Nur-Sultan was known, it insisted that flights should fly into the Kazakh capital.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 430 of the weekly Bulletin.

Ryanair starts flying to Georgia

Leave a Reply

NOV. 7 (The Bulletin) — Irish budget airline Ryanair started flying to Georgia. The inaugural flight was from Marseille to Kutaisi, Georgia’s second city which has developed a reputation as a hub for budget airlines flying into Georgia. Ryanair will fly to Kutaisi from Marseille and Bologna twice a week. Tourism has boomed in Georgia this year, driving up the number of airlines flying to the country.

ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin.

Air Astana to open direct route to New York

Leave a Reply

FEB. 4 (The Conway Bulletin) — Air Astana, which is 51% owned by the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and 49% owned by BAE Systems, said it will start flying direct to New York’s JFK Airport from 2020. Last year Air Astana agreed a $2.5b deal to buy three 787 Dreamliners from Boeing. The Kazakh government also plans to list Air Astana on a foreign stock exchange this year.
END

>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Wizz Air to expand routes from Georgia

Leave a Reply

FEB. 4 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air said it would start up flights to Basel, Copenhagen, Brussels, Tallinn, Eindhoven and Bari from its base at Kutaisi in Georgia. Wizz Air is credited with bringing mass tourism from Europe to Georgia since it set up a base at Kutaisi in 2016. It already operates flights to 21 European destinations from Kutaisi.
END

>This story was first published in issue 399 of The Conway Bulletin on Feb. 8 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019