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: Madrid – Quito – Guayaquil – Madrid

Image: Plus Ultra

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Airbus A340
Frequency	Three weekly
Start date	12 July 2019
Distance	8,736 km (to Quito)
O&D traffic demand (year to 30 June 2018)	238,424
Growth % YOY	7.9%
Average one-way fare $ (year to 30 June 2018)	$326.60

Insight

Quito's Mariscal Sucre International Airport, the host of Routes Americas in 2018, has secured another new service to Europe. Spanish airline Plus Ultra is the latest carrier to announce plans to fly to Ecuador’s capital city. It will operate three weekly flights from Madrid using Airbus A340 aircraft. As reported by Airlineroute, the service will be a Madrid – Quito – Guayaquil – Madrid triangle routing, starting on 12 July 2019.

Iberia currently operates six weekly flights between Madrid and Ecuador, while LATAM Airlines Group and Air Europa each operate three. O&D traffic between Spain and the Latin American country has been growing steadily in recent years, rising by 5.6 percent to almost 400,000 passengers in the 12 months to the end of June 2018. Plus Ultra will be hoping to capture a share of the VFR traffic, as well as leisure travellers visiting the Galápagos Islands.

In May 2019, Quito will gain access to a third European capital when Air France opens a three-weekly service to Paris Charles de Gaulle. The route is in addition to KLM’s daily flight between Quito - Guayaquil and Amsterdam-Schiphol. The Quito - Paris route was scheduled to be operated by Joon. However, it is now likely to be on board Air France aircraft following the airline’s decision to end the Joon brand.

Route 2: Kannur – Abu Dhabi

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Airbus A320
Frequency	Four weekly
Start date	1 March 2019
Distance	2,500 km
O&D traffic demand (year to 30 June 2018)	319,000
Growth % YOY	4.9%
Average one-way fare $ (year to 30 June 2018)	$108.73

Insight

Indian low-cost carrier GoAir, recently revealed by Routesonline as one of the fastest-growing major airlines in the world, is adding a fourth international destination to its network with the launch of flights between Kannur and Abu Dhabi. The airline will operate a four-weekly service using Airbus A320 aircraft, starting on 1 March 2019. In January, GoAir began a daily service between Kannur and Mumbai, while it also flies from the coastal city to Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad.

The planned launch of the Kannur - Abu Dhabi route comes less than two months after Air India Express began operating between the two destinations. It currently flies three times per week but has announced plans to increase it to five weekly from the end of March.

Route 3: Milan Malpensa – St Petersburg

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Airbus A319 and A320
Frequency	Once weekly
Start date	27 July 2019
Distance	2,123 km
O&D traffic demand (year to 30 June 2018)	110,483
Growth % YOY	8.2%
Average one-way fare $ (year to 30 June 2018)	$141.94

Insight

Alitalia is to relaunch a connection between Milan and St Petersburg in July 2019, five years after suspending the route. The SkyTeam member plans to operate the route once per week on Saturdays, using Airbus A319 or A320 aircraft. It will face direct competition with Aeroflot Russian Airlines, which has a nine weekly service. Pobeda Airlines, the Russian low-cost airline and subsidiary of Aeroflot, also flies from Milan Bergamo to St Petersburg three times per week, but will end service in March. Alitalia also flies from Rome–Fiumicino to Mosco Sheremetyevo and will launch flights between Rome and St Petersburg in March.

Milan Malpensa, which is managed by SEA Group, handled a record 24.6 million passengers in 2018, its highest for more than a decade and 11.5 percent higher than the previous year. In July 2018, it was revealed that SEA has won the bid to host World Routes 2020 on behalf of Milan and the Lombardy region.

Source: Sabre Market Intelligence