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: Paphos - Beirut

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Boeing 737-800
Frequency	Three-weekly
Start date	19 October 2019
Distance	293 km
O&D traffic demand (2018)	200,226
Growth % YOY	20.9%
Average one-way fare $ (2018)	$76.12

Insight

Europe’s largest low-cost carrier Ryanair is to launch its first-ever flights to Lebanon, with a new three-times weekly route between Paphos in Cyprus and Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport. The winter season service will begin on 19 October 2019 using Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Lebanon will become Ryanair’s 38th country and is third in the Middle East alongside Israel and Jordan. According to data from OAG Schedules Analyser, three carriers currently serve the Lebanon - Cyprus market. Cyprus Airways, Middle East Airlines and Kuwait Airways operate 12-weekly, 18-weekly and four-weekly flights respectively between Beirut and Larnaca. However, Beirut - Paphos is unserved. Cypriote low-cost carrier Cobalt Air also flew between Beirut and Larnaca until its demise last year.

Data from Sabre Market Intelligence shows the number of passengers flying between Lebanon and Cyprus has increased from 97,300 in 2013 to 200,226 in 2018. Ryanair will be primarily targeting leisure traffic to Cyprus.

Route 2: Madrid – Cairo

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Airbus A319
Frequency	Four-weekly
Start date	2 March 2020
Distance	3,349 km
O&D traffic demand (2018)	68,953
Growth % YOY	49.5%
Average one-way fare $ (2018)	$239.54

Insight

Spanish carrier Iberia is to resume service to Egypt from March 2020 after a six-year hiatus. The oneworld member will operate between Madrid and Cairo four times per week using Airbus A319 aircraft. It previously served Cairo until August 2014.

According to data from OAG Schedules Analyser it will compete with Egyptair, which flies daily between the Spanish and Egyptian capital cities. In North Africa, Iberia currently serves Algiers and Oran in Algeria, and Marrakech, Tangier and Casablanca in Morocco. All destinations are served from Madrid.

In addition to launching service to Cairo, from next March the airline will also increase frequency of its Marrakech flights to two-daily, while Casablanca will also get two daily flights operated by Iberia Regional Air Nostrum.

Route 3: Honolulu – Fukuoka

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Airbus A330-200
Frequency	Four-weekly
Start date	26 November 2019
Distance	7,063 km
O&D traffic demand (2018)	160,075
Growth % YOY	-3.1%
Average one-way fare $ (2018)	$556.98

Insight

Hawaiian Airlines is to open a new non-stop service between Fukuoka in Japan and Honolulu starting on 26 November 2019. The airline will operate four weekly flights between Fukuoka Airport on the island of Kyushu and Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on O’ahu.

Fukuoka prefecture is home to more than 5 million of the 13 million residents of Kyushu, the third largest and most southerly of Japan's four main islands. In 1981, the prefecture became Hawai’I’s first sister state in recognition of their deep cultural and economic ties.

Hawaiian previously operated non-stop service between FUK and HNL from April 2012 through June 2014. It cancelled the service saying it had not seen “sufficient passenger growth”.

Hawaiian’s new FUK-HNL flights will complement the airline’s Japan network, which includes non-stop service connecting the Hawaiian Islands with both Haneda and Narita in Tokyo, as well as Osaka and Sapporo.

Source: Sabre Market Intelligence