Kraków ROUTES EUROPE REPORT
ROUTES EUROPE 2016, KRAKÓW, POLAND APRIL 24-26, 2016
The Strategy Summit tackled the Brexit debate
Brexit and regional carriers in spotlight
Routes Europe 2016 was the busiest event yet with a 16% increase in pre-scheduled meetings compared with 2015. More than 4,500 meetings were
arranged for the Kraków event which was attended by 260 airline representatives and 550 delegates from an airport or tourism authority. The event started on April 24 with the day-long Strategy Summit, featuring top industry executives from the region discussing key issues. Speaking during a session entitled “What Europe Needs Is...” LOT Polish Airlines chief executive Rafal Milczarski warned that even if British voters did decide to stay in the EU when they voted on June 23, Brussels should treat it as a wake-up call. He added: “I hope the EU doesn’t
treat this as a one-time event... and that they don’t go back to how it was.” Meanwhile, Iberia Regional/ Air Nostrum network planning and scheduling director Miguel Oliver used a session discussing “Regional Carrier Trends in Europe” to warn that regional airlines with fewer than 40 aircraft will soon be a thing of the past.
He added: “There are also low-cost carriers Ryanair and they’re going to go for concessions and serve other long-haul carriers [out of key hubs].” One key session saw Henk Ombelet, a senior analyst at the Ascend Flightglobal Consultancy, present an
This year was the busiest event to date
analysis on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, asking is “The Hub Buster Busted?” He said when US manufacturer Boeing first introduced the Dreamliner, it was marketed as a hub-buster, allowing airlines to fly non-stop services between non-hub airports. But after almost five years, airline service data does not back up the promise, with just one in four current Dreamliner routes classified as a new air service. Ombelet added: “There are
from commercial service. Less than five years since Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways inaugurated the 787, the development of the route network served by it has been quite staggering, with 37 airlines operating 600 routes globally. By the end of this year that
operator count will surpass 40 airlines, offering about 300,000 Dreamliner flights a year. Ombelet revealed that of
Henk Ombelet
more than 600 routes, there are 368 long-haul routes operated on the 787 in 2016, of which 90 can be classified as new routes, including 10 scheduled to start later this year. About a third of these new
arguments for and against whether you can genuinely call the 787 a hub-buster. “It will allow some more hub-to-
smaller-point flying than perhaps was possible before, or earlier than before because the market size required to make a route profitable has reduced. “On its own, it is not going to change the long-haul business model of the airline industry.” Despite this, the Dreamliner helped airlines enhance their passenger offering and bottom lines while older, less efficient aircraft can be retired
routes are operated by low-cost, long-haul airline Norwegian. However, while half of the 35 airlines are using the aircraft on intercontinental routes, only 19 have started new routes with the type. Ombelet said the 787 was designed for long thin routes and the data from Ascend shows the new long-haul routes on which the aircraft is deployed are longer than existing routes and tend to be lower frequency. However, rather than a hub-buster, almost all the routes it serves currently are operating from at least one hub airport.
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routesonline.com ROUTES NEWS 2016 ISSUE 4 13
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