Nigel Mayes is the senior vice president, consulting & product development at ASM. Nigel has more than 15 years’ experience in route development and is responsible for product development at ASM.

The sister company to Routes, ASM is the world‘s leading route development consultancy and has supported the creation of new air services since 1993.

Route 1: Tel Aviv – Manchester

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Boeing 737-800
Frequency	Three weekly
Start date	26 May 2019
Distance	3,804 km
O&D traffic demand (2017)	92,343
Growth % YOY	20.7%
Average one-way fare $ (2017)	$151.85

Insight

Israel’s flag carrier El Al is resuming its Tel Aviv – Manchester route, previously served by the airline on regular basis until June 2001. As reported by Airlineroute, the three-weekly service is scheduled to start on 26 May 2019 on board Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The route is currently operated by low-cost carrier easyJet, which began service in November 2012. It offers two weekly flights between Manchester and Ben Gurion International Airport. Leisure carrier Monarch Airlines also offered TLV-MAN flights in 2016 and 2017 until its demise in October 2017, leaving easyJet as the sole operator. Manchester has the largest Jewish population in Britain outside of London.

Route 2: Muscat – Athens

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Boeing 737 MAX 8
Frequency	Daily
Start date	1 June 2019
Distance	2,249 km
O&D traffic demand (2017)	3,857
Growth % YOY	13.5%
Average one-way fare $ (2017)	$353.78

Insight

Oman Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman, is adding Athens to its network from next June. The daily flight will be operated by Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Oman has strong bilateral relations with Greece and the introduction of this new flight will certainly help strengthen ties even further. Oman Air is undergoing a fleet and network expansion programme, which will see the airline operate up to 70 aircraft to about 60 destinations by 2022. The carrier has added a number of new services to Europe in recent years, opening routes to Moscow and Istanbul in 2018, as well as increasing frequencies on flights to Manchester.

Route 3: Milan Malpensa – Kharkiv

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Airbus A320
Frequency	Three weekly
Start date	21 March 2019
Distance	1,305 km
O&D traffic demand (2017)	9,025
Growth % YOY	17.1%
Average one-way fare $ (2017)	$153.86

Insight

Low-cost carrier Ernest Airlines is adding a third destination in Ukraine with flights to Kharkiv from Milan and Rome. The carrier plans to operate a three-weekly service from 21 March 2019 using Airbus A320 aircraft. The airline entered the Ukrainian market a year ago with flights from Milan Bergamo to Lviv. Ernest said Kharkiv had been chosen due to its strategic location in the densely populated eastern region of Ukraine, where there is a high demand for flights to Italy. Ukrainians living there often fly to Italy for tourism, work, to visit their relatives and friends, and many Italians are doing business in Ukraine.

Source: Sabre Market Intelligence