Network Planning Focus

After a decade of growth, international route networks were shattered by the global pandemic. Amid a myriad of operating challenges, airlines and airports have been rebuilding their networks, largely by restoring established routes but also developing services to new markets.

Asia-Pacific carriers continue to announce international growth plans, with codeshare partnerships forming and new routes set to be launched.

News

SAA emerges profitably from ‘holding pattern’: CEO

South African Airways chief executive John Lamola believes that the Star Alliance carrier emerging profitably from its first full-year of operations since resumings flights almost two years ago underlines it is in good shape to expand.

News

Atlantic Airways broadens co-operation with Icelandair to tap US market

Faroese carrier Atlantic Airways, which is tentatively venturing into transatlantic operations, is to build on its co-operation with Icelandair, as the Icelandic carrier expands to serve the Faroe Islands.

Interview

Douglas plots ‘clean sheet’ Riyadh Air mission to connect Saudi Arabia

It may remain two years away from launch, but ambitious Saudi Arabian national carrier start-up Riyadh Air is certainly making itself known.

News

Clark says DWC terminal would enable Emirates to reach ‘critical mass’

Emirates airline president Tim Clark believes the potential opening of a passenger terminal at Dubai World Central airport would enable the Dubai carrier to achieve a step-change in its growth.

News

Pegasus ‘working on new aircraft order’ as Sabiha Gokcen expansion nears

Pegasus has signalled that it intends to place a new aircraft order, as its Sabiha Gokcen airport home prepares to open its second runway.

All Networks news

In depth

How domestic capacity return varies across key markets

Domestic markets have been a salvation for many airlines as the global pandemic continues to batter international travel.

Asia-Pacific ‘travel bubbles’ fail to inflate

Despite government talk about “travel bubbles,” “green lanes” and the like, the Asia-Pacific’s biggest international air travel markets remain a long way from anything approaching normalcy.

Where the airline industry was when the music stopped

Another year of strong profit and traffic growth in 2019 for leading carriers illustrates the highs the industry had reached before the coronavirus pandemic, but offered no warning of the crisis to come that has pushed airlines to the brink.

Why transatlantic return matters so much to airlines

When Virgin Atlantic broke the news it would need to cut over 1,000 more jobs, even having secured its future within £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) in refinancing commitments, it underlined just how damaging the failure to reignite the key transatlantic market was.

IATA lowers 2020 passenger traffic hopes on stalled recovery

Airline trade body IATA has lowered its expectations for global passenger traffic this year amid a plateauing in the recovery and bleaker forward booking indicators.

Airline coronavirus recovery tracker: November 2020 update

Our regular examination of the latest global data for several key airline market indicators, including traffic and capacity in passenger and cargo markets, airport passenger throughput, in-service and stored fleets, jet fuel costs, and share price trends for the world’s largest groups.

Webinar

Network planning in the new reality

Sponsored by Miami International Airport and OAG

Airlines and airports are slowly picking up the pieces of networks shattered by a coronavirus crisis that has seen the majority of the world’s passenger flights grounded, and many countries shutting their borders to international travel. As the world of air travel opens up again, what factors will drive which routes will return first, and how might route maps change permanently? How are network planners choosing what services to reinstate and what tactics should airports use to retain or lure new customers, given that some airlines will not survive the crisis and many will be forced to drastically reappraise their networks. Will the crisis change the entire relationship between airports and airlines?

Airline insights

’Small flows through hubs’ will lead recovery, says KLM chief
The recovery of international air connectivity will favour KLM’s hub operations above point-to-point services, according to the Dutch flag carrier’s chief executive Pieter Elbers.
Pandemic forces Vistara to press pause on rapid growth
Indian carrier Vistara entered 2020 with plans for rapid growth, but the coronavirus pandemic has kept the airline from meeting its full potential.
Airports face long wait for air traffic return
Whilst the crisis facing airlines has dominated most of the headlines since the collapse of air transport demand from the global pandemic, the symbiotic nature of their relationship means airports are facing their own financial pressures from the slump in passenger numbers.