Issue 98 - May 2015 Official Monthly Bulletin of AACO Arab world marks an increase of 1.3% AVIATION WITHIN THE ARAB WORLD GLOBAL ARAB AVIATION in March 2015 in international passenger numbers - p. 9 GROWTH p: 12 SPREADING OUT p: 26 PARTNER AIRLINES p: 48 - 59 ARAB AIRLINES ECONOMICS p: 13 COLLABORATION p: 34 INDUSTRY PARTNERS p: 60 - 85 Dubai ruler issues law on aviation safety in the emirate - p. 37 NEW APPOINTMENTS p: 14 ENVIRONMENT p: 36 AACO & RTC CALENDARS p: 86 - 89 EXPANSION p: 15 REGULATORY TONE p: 37 AACO MEMBERS & PARTNERS p: 90 - 93 Qatar hosts 3rd DGCA-MID meeting - LAURELS p: 18 AN AVIATION MARKET p. 44 IN FOCUS: AUSTRIA p: 42 TECHNOLOGY & E-COMMERCE p: 20 WORLD NEWS p: 44 MRO p: 21 ARAB AIRPORTS p: 21 Daily news on www.aaco.org Issue 98 - May 2015 A number of Arab states wit- In the UAE, Emirates announced a USD 9.2 billion deal with Roll- nessed developments in their air Royce for Trent 900 engines and a long-term TotalCare package for transport sectors during the past the 50 A380s that were ordered at Dubai Air Show in 2013 and which period, be it on the airlines’ or will start entering into service in 2016. On the other hand, Etihad airports’ levels. In Algeria, Air Al- Airways signed with OEMServices a 10-year A380 MRO deal for the gerie revealed its plans to launch provision of component pool and repair services for its A380 aircraft. a new cargo subsidiary with the Meanwhile, flydubai has placed new orders for the Recaro seat to arrival of two B737-700Cs in May equip the latest B737-800 aircraft deliveries starting in February 2016. and September 2016. The carrier has also received the regulatory In Qatar, Qatar Airways Group received 4 new A320s for Al Maha Air- approvals to establish four new ways. The four latest generation A320 aircraft, which carry the green subsidiaries as joint stock compa- Al Maha livery, will join the Qatar Airways’ fleet and operate on the nies which, aside from cargo, will airline’s key destinations across the Middle East, prior to the com- also see a catering firm, a ground mencement of operations of Al Maha Airways. handling firm, and an MRO firm Foreword being established. Also, Tassili In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saudia Airlines Cargo Company re- Airlines is seeking to continue ceived a new Boeing 777F aircraft, bringing the company’s fleet to 13 expanding its international reach aircraft. Three more B777F aircraft are expected to join its fleet be- from Houari Boumediene Airport fore the end of 2015. Saudia has also launched its second version of with plans to operate to further its mobile application, besides launching SAUDIA Connect app for IOS four destinations in France, which operating systems. The airline adopted new baggage handling solu- are: Lyon, Montpellier, Nantes, tions, Separately, flynas announced that it will be adding 2 A320s in and Metz. 2015; the first of the two aircraft will enter service in June 2015, to be joined by the second one in October. Moreover, flynas success- In Jordan, the net loss of Royal fully upgraded its Navitaire New Skies reservation system to introduce Jordanian went down by 64% in new features. Also, on 12 April the new Prince Muhammad Bin Abdul the first three months of 2015, Aziz International Airport in Madinah started its test run operations. compared to the same period in The airport, occupying an area of 4 million square meters, was built 2014. Meanwhile, Air Arabia Jor- at a cost of USD 1.4 billion. Moreover, King Fahd International Air- dan announced that it will com- port (KFIA) officially unveiled its “Cargo Village”. The Cargo Village is mence operations on 18 May spread over half a million square meters. from its Amman Queen Alia Inter- national Airport base with its in- In Oman, Oman Air is in the process of phasing out its ATR 42 and augural flight taking off to Kuwait E175 aircraft. The first ATR aircraft was taken out from service on 29 city, followed by the launch of March 2015, with the rest of these types to be phased out by late regular scheduled services to Jed- 2015 or early 2016. dah, Erbil and Sharm El Sheikh. Daily news on www.aaco.org Issue 98 - May 2015 5 Aviation in the Arab World During the past month more connections were added by AACO mem- bers to link a number of Arab cities. In addition, Gatwick, Dhaka, Kol- kata, Zurich, London, Entebbe, Lar, Novosibirsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Ankara, Zagreb, Athens, and Larnaca are all now served by additional connections provided by Arab airlines. More details on the intra-Arab and extra-Arab new services are available on pages 15 and 27 respec- tively. The relations between AACO members and other carriers were en- hanced in the past month. Oman Air launched a new codeshare agreement with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which enables Oman Air’s customers to book onto flights operated by KLM between Muscat and Amsterdam; and has also engaged in a joint venture agreement with Cargolux. Qatar Airways strengthened its relationship with fellow oneworld member S7 Airlines, with the implementation of additional codeshare routes across its network. It is noteworthy to mention that AACO is facilitating bilateral meetings between AACO member airlines on 31 May – 2 June 2015 at Routes Middle East & Africa 2015 in Bah- rain where member airlines will have the opportunity to bilaterally discuss various commercial agreements during the 3-day event. For more information on regulatory issues and the developments at the global level please go to pages 37 and 44 respectively. We focus on the Austrian aviation market in this issue. With a popula- tion of 8.58 million people, more than 25.9 million passengers used Austrian airports in 2014, creating a ratio of 3.02:1 of passengers to population. The Austrian aviation market linked 155 cities worldwide in March 2015, whereby the highest share of traffic of Austria is with Europe (more than 84.5% of total traffic share within Europe) with Frankfurt-Vienna city pair having the highest number of seats offered from Austria in March 2015. More details are available on page 42. THIS PAGE HAS BEEN LEFT BLANK ON PURPOSE Daily news on www.aaco.org Issue 98 - May 2015 7 Aviation in the Arab World Happened in 1965 OVERALL TRAFFIC - ARAB WORLD On 25 August 1965 the bylaws of AACO were signed We estimate international passenger numbers to, from, & within the by the following member airlines, at that time: Arab world to have grown by 1.3% in March 2015 compared to March • Royal Jordanian 2014, which follows an increase of 2% in February 2015 compared to • Sudan Airways February 2014. • Iraqi Airways Monthly International Passenger Numbers' Change To, From and Within the Arab World • Saudia Apr14 to Mar15* compared to same month in previous year • Syrian Arab Airlines 14% • United Arab Airlines 12% • Misrair 10% • Yemenia 8% • Kuwait Airways 6% • Middle East Airlines 4% • Air Liban 2% • Lebanese International Airways 0% • Trans Mediterranean Airways Apr-14 Jul-14 Jun-14 May-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15 An advertisement for MEA during its 20th anniversary: Mar-15* “Now! 3 daily flights to Jerusalem” Effect of Ramadan YoY Growth 12-Month Average Growth Source: AACO, IATA *Estimated In March 2015, AACO members increased the number of their offered seats to, from, and within the Arab world by 8.1%, while other air- lines increased their number of seats offered by 4.9%, leading to 7.3% year-on-year increase in the total number of seats offered. Daily news on www.aaco.org Issue 98 - May 2015 9 AVIATION WITHIN THE ARAB WORLD Aviation in the Arab World GROWTH Monthly International Passenger Numbers' Change Within the Arab World Apr14 to Mar15* compared to same month in previous year PASSENGER TRAFFIC International passenger numbers within the Arab world are estimated to have 20% shrunk by (1.4%) in March 2015 compared to March 2014. This follows a de- crease of (6.4%) in February 2015 over February 2014. 15% However, the recent developments that are taking place in Libya are behind 10% the decrease in passenger traffic within North Africa, as highlighted below. 5% Passenger traffic within the Arab World Mar 15* over Mar 14 0% Within Arabian Peninsula 3.9% -5% Within Near East (14.6%) Within North Africa (38.7%) -10% Between Arabian Peninsula & Near East 5.4% Between the Near East and North Africa (24.6%) Between Arabian Peninsula & North Africa (10.6%) YoY Growth 12-Month Average Growth Source: AACO, IATA *Estimated Source: AACO, IATA *Estimated International Passenger Numbers' Change Within the Arab World Dec14-Feb15 & Jan15-Mar15* compared to same period in previous year ARAB AIRLINES ECONOMICS 20% Air Algerie to launch cargo subsidiary during Q3 2016: Air Algerie will launch 10% its planned new cargo subsidiary with the arrival of two B737-700Cs in May 0% and September 2016 CEO Mr. Mohamed Salah Boultif told an investor’s forum organized by the Liberté Algérie newspaper. within within N East -10% Arabian Pen within N N East N East N As part of the carrier’s restructuring programme, Mr. Boultif said the govern- Africa N Africa Arabian Pen Africa -20% Arabian Pen ment’s state-enterprises regulatory commission (Conseil des Participations de l’État - CPE) had given their approval to the founding of Air Algérie’s four new -30% subsidiaries which, aside from cargo, will also see a catering firm, a ground -40% handling firm, and an MRO firm being established.