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We employ a global team of highly-experienced analysts who deliver a wealth of commentary about the aviation and travel industry. Our analysts don’t just report the news, they look at the big picture to help you understand how the latest news, issues and trends will affect your business. CAPA’s commitment to independence and integrity means every report is filled with accurate data and actionable insights to help you stay ahead of the game.
easyJet is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its first Berlin flight, which flew to Schoenefeld from Liverpool on 28-Apr-2004. In 2018 easyJet added Berlin Tegel to its airport network when Air Berlin exited, and it soon became the biggest operator by seats in the German capital city.
When Berlin Brandenburg Airport replaced its two predecessors on 31-Oct-2020, easyJet became the first airline to take off from the new airport the following day.
easyJet expects to fly to more than 50 destinations from Berlin this summer, including five new destinations. Moreover, it has demonstrated its commitment to Brandenburg with on-site investments, including a hangar.
Nevertheless, easyJet rationalised its Berlin operations in 2022 and it is far from its pre-pandemic capacity: for the week of 29-Jul-2024 its Brandenburg schedule has only 39% of the seats that it offered across Schoenefeld and Tegel in the equivalent week of 2019.
In 2018 and 2019 easyJet was Berlin's biggest airline. Ryanair assumes that mantle this northern summer.
Branding has become increasingly important as a field of marketing, and noticeably so in the air transport sector - where airlines are no longer assessed by their 'sexiness', as they were 40 or 50 years ago, but by a host of metrics that collectively identify their 'brand value', 'brand equity' and 'brand sustainability'.
A leading brand valuation and strategy consultancy, Brand Finance, has published an annual report on how branding applies to airlines and airports in 2024.
In the former case the biggest brands by all the metrics are also the biggest airlines with few exceptions.
The same is true of airports, with a noticeable paucity of winners among small airports in the sustainability category, where some of them have actually been the most active. Most of the 'leaders' are from cities that are global powerhouses.
Meanwhile, a spat in California between two neighbouring airports over the selection of a new name for one of them demonstrates how, at the end of the day, an airport's name can be its most important feature and benefit of all.
Both United Airlines and Alaska Air Group appeared to have cracked the code to create meaningful results in 1Q - typically the weakest quarter for US airlines.
Each airline's profitability in 1Q2024 was wiped out by the grounding of their respective Boeing 737 MAX-9 fleets early in 2024, after the inflight blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737-9.
Hopefully, the aircraft groundings should be a one-time event; but United and Alaska are bullish that profitability in 1Q2024 could become a common occurrence.
Edinburgh Airport – VINCI to take a controlling interest; becomes second largest UK airport operator
Quietly and stealthily, the French airports operator VINCI - with more than 70 assets worldwide, the leading private sector operator - has been building its portfolio in the UK, while all eyes have been on its acquisitions elsewhere.
Having already acquired Belfast International (100%) in 2018 and a majority stake in London Gatwick Airport the following year, VINCI has now moved to take a similar position to that at Gatwick by acquiring 50.01% of the equity at Edinburgh Airport, which serves the Scottish capital city and the second most visited tourist city in the UK.
The transaction should be completed in the summer of 2024, at which time VINCI would become the second largest airport operator in the UK by passenger numbers.
At the same time GIP, the majority shareholder at Edinburgh now, continues the downscaling of its airport activities...except where they concern VINCI, which is becoming the de facto operating partner of the funds manager (which has recently been wrapped up in the giant BlackRock asset manager).
But there are other factors to consider while the deal is secured, such as the position of the minority investors at Edinburgh, which represent major Australian pension funds.
And it does pose the question of whether VINCI might be tempted to go for a 'full house' of UK capital city airports by taking a look at least at what Cardiff Airport has to offer.
With capacity surging in the USA-Taiwan market, competition is set to heat up further as airlines add routes and a new competitor enters the fray.
The United States of America is an important market for Taiwan's airlines, and this is even more true in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Capacity between these two markets has soared well past 2019 levels, dominated mainly by Taiwanese airlines.
EVA Air and China Airlines are still the main players, but they have been joined by the newcomer StarLux Airlines. United Airlines serves Taiwan too, and Delta Air Lines is primed to launch its own direct Taiwan route.
Attention has focused on the Taipei-Seattle route in particular, with three airlines planning to begin service.
The rapid growth in the USA-Taiwan market further highlights the role of the Taipei hub as a connecting point between North America and Asia.
Europe's top dozen low cost airline brands carried 112 million more passengers than the top dozen non-LCCs in 2023.
In 2019, the differential was 26 million.
The top 12 LCCs collectively had 8% more passengers in 2023 than in 2019, whereas the top 12 non-LCCs' 2024 passenger count was still 11% short of 2019 traffic.
Ryanair, Europe's biggest LCC and biggest airline overall by passenger numbers in 2023, had more than twice the passenger count of the next biggest LCC - easyJet.
Both had more passengers than Turkish Airlines, the leading non-LCC in Europe.
This report ranks the top 12 LCC and non-LCC airline brands in Europe by passenger numbers in 2023.
CAPA ANALYST PERSPECTIVE - a series where CAPA - Centre for Aviation's analyst team provide their personal views on a hot topic facing aviation around the world.
Although a major round of consolidation is still likely to occur in the Indian airline industry, the process is taking longer to play out than expected a year or two ago.
Planned mergers between some airlines and the financial and legal struggles of others in the post-pandemic period appeared to presage a significant reduction in the number of airlines in the Indian market.
Around the middle of 2023, Go First had ceased operations, efforts to revive Jet Airways had stalled and Spicejet looked to be in a fragile financial condition as well.
It is still far from clear if, or when, Go First and Jet Airways will re-emerge, but their prospects have brightened somewhat in 2024. And Spicejet has raised funds and reached deals to satisfy many of its creditors.
Meanwhile, the proposed integration of the Tata Group airlines Air India and Vistara is generally on track, despite some pilot workforce issues that have arisen recently at Vistara.
So although there will be fewer airlines in the domestic market - the timing and extent of consolidation in India remains a shifting target. This is largely because of the ongoing regulatory and legal quagmire the smaller airlines are stuck in.
Adrian Schofield, Asia Pacific Chief Analyst at CAPA - Centre for Aviation and Senior Air Transport Editor for Aviation Week Network, shares his observations.
Since the depths of the COVID-19 crisis, seat numbers in the market between Europe and Saudi Arabia have recovered strongly, outpacing the increase in the wider Europe-Middle East market and the overall Saudi Arabian market.
In the week of 8-Apr-2024, Europe-Saudi Arabia seat capacity is at 153% of the equivalent week of 2019, whereas Europe-Middle East is at 99% and Saudi Arabia overall is at 130%.
Saudia and Turkish Airlines lead the Europe-Saudi Arabia market, but their seat share has declined since 2019. Airlines from Saudi Arabia have gained share, thanks to flynas and flyadeal, whereas Western European airlines (British Airways, Lufthansa and KLM) have lost share in this market.
Low cost airline seat share is up strongly, not only driven by flynas and flyadeal, but also by Pegasus Airlines and Wizz Air.
Europe is a key element of the Saudi government's plans to develop the kingdom both as an aviation hub and a tourist destination.
Europe-Saudi Arabia market growth is set to continue.
Vietnam's two main airlines are boosting their service to China, either through new scheduled routes or strengthened partnerships, as they seek to further build on the robust recovery of the country's most important tourist market.
Vietjet is adding to its limited number of scheduled routes to large mainland China markets, augmenting its extensive charter network in China.
Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines is looking to upgrade its partnership with China Southern Airlines to a joint venture.
Mainland China was Vietnam's leading source of annual visitors before the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is on track to reclaim the leading spot. While Chinese outbound travel has generally recovered slowly, Vietnam has seen a stronger resurgence in such traffic than many other markets.
This market is in the spotlight at the moment, as a high-level Vietnamese government delegation has visited Beijing to emphasise the strong links between the countries. Both Vietnam Airlines and VietJet have timed announcements to coincide with the visit.
Hungarian government acquisition of Budapest Airport is imminent; VINCI joins the fray, possibly QIA
The almost two decades long saga of the Hungarian political party Fidesz's attempts to renationalise Budapest Airport (BUD), the jewel in the country's logistics and tourism crown, seems to be coming to an end.
Government sources are talking about the deal taking days, although weeks - if not months - are more likely as Hungary seeks to balance its books and reduce a crippling deficit.
It will not be a full nationalisation, as at least one private sector participant (VINCI) looks set to be involved along, possibly, with The Qatar Investment Authority, although the latter's participation remains questionable.
For VINCI it would mean a reduced degree of influence compared to what it is used to.
The loser is AviAlliance, the operator and main investor since 2005, which might be excused for asking "what did we do wrong?"
One thing is for sure: other countries in the region which have seen their airports privatised during the last 20 years will be looking to see if Hungary can fashion a new model which might better suit their circumstances amid a changing political landscape.