Monthly Archives: March 2020

Air France-KLM figures showing traffic on Asia-Pacific routes down a quarter in February provide the first clear passenger data illustrating the impact on European carriers of the coronavirus outbreak. The Franco-Dutch firm is the first of the big three European carriers groups to disclose February traffic data, the first full month in which routes to mainland China in particular were impacted by the outbreak. Air France and KLM in late January began suspending flights to China, where between them they serve Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan and Xiamen. Air France-KLM passenger traffic was down 24.7% on Asia routes in February compared with the same month in 2019. The fall in traffic far outstripped the group’s reduction in capacity in this sector by 15.8% - resulting in an almost 10 point fall in load factor on its Asian routes to 80.9%. While traffic increased across most of the rest of its long-haul network, its overall long-haul passenger traffic was down 1.4%. February figures also provide the first indication of the impact on short-haul traffic, as the outbreak in northern Italy started to impact demand during the month. Short-haul passenger traffic was down 1.8%. Again this outpaced efforts to trim capacity. The group’s short-haul capacity was increased fractionally in February, leading to a nearly two point fall in load factors in this sector. Overall group Air France-KLM traffic fell 1.4% on capacity increased 1.9%. As a result group load factor was fell almost three points to 83.6%. The drop in traffic is even larger than the monthly figures suggest, as February data includes an extra day of the same month in 2018 because 2020 is a leap year. ”The following months will be more impacted given the [...]

Planes diverted as huge winds hit Ireland https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/1249138/Dublin-Airport-latest-storm-jorge-chaos-winds-Ireland DUBLIN Airport has been a victim to Storm Jorge with brutal winds of up to 90mph seeing a vast number of flights forced to divert. One British Airways flight was shown on airline trackers to have made it from Heathrow to Dublin only to have to return to the London airport after two failed landings. Another flight from Ryanair was seen circling in the Irish Sea a number of times before seemingly giving up heading to Scotland. An Aer Lingus A320 was seen on charts looping Dublin three times before heading to England. Dublin Airport tweeted at 2.30pm: “Strong gusty winds may cause delays to the flight schedule this afternoon @DublinAirport. “Please check latest flight information with your airline before travelling to the airport. One responded: “Sitting on the runway for over an hour now. The app says we’ve departed for Gran Canaria.  Storm Jorge is causing travel chaos across Ireland with flooding, heavy rain and gusts hitting 100mph. Rain has been falling as sleet or snow in places, especially in the midlands and north for a spell. It will make driving conditions very dangerous. The showers will be mix of rain, hail and sleet according to Met Eireann. The strongest wind in the world today hit Ireland on the west coast at 102mph. ESB Networks says there are around 1,000 homes, farms and businesses without power mainly on the west coast of Ireland. Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/1249138/Dublin-Airport-latest-storm-jorge-chaos-winds-Ireland Source feature Image : https://www.newstalk.com/news/warnings-place-storm-jorge-hits-ireland-975379