Khartoum International Airport

Gulf Air and Bahrain Air to battle in Saudi Arabia’s Dammam

Saudi Arabia’s Dammam King Fahad International Airport (KFIA), on the other side of the King Fahd Causeway connecting Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, is set to become a home away from home for Gulf Air and Bahrain Air. By the middle of Jun-2012, the two competing Bahraini carriers will be operating 37 weekly flights to/from the airport, located less than 100km from Bahrain International Airport, the home for both carriers and the sole commercial airport in Bahrain.

Dammam is Saudi Arabia’s third largest airport by passenger traffic, after Riyadh and Jeddah. It is also one of just four designated international airports in the country.

British Airways plans two phases to bring bmi, and its London Heathrow slots, to profitability

International Airlines Group (IAG) is targeting winter 2012/13 as its first opportunity to fully incorporate the 42 daily London Heathrow slots it will acquire as part of its purchase of bmi from Lufthansa, now approved by regulators with only minor concessions. The initial integration will look to bring the predominantly short-haul bmi operation to breakeven by increasing seat capacity on each slot pair, making network changes and leveraging IAG's marketing and distribution power on the inherited bmi network. The medium-term integration will see the short-haul bmi slots allocated for services on IAG carrier British Airways' (BA) long-haul operation, which is smaller than its major European rivals. BA will target emerging markets including Asia, Africa and Latin America.

This new and large increase in Heathrow capacity will require significant fleet adjustments, and already BA plans to delay retirement of Boeing 747 aircraft as well as to re-examine its purchase options, which it holds on 787 and Airbus A380 aircraft. It will also seek clarity from Boeing on its 777 successor programme.

Egypt unrest: Aviation in North Africa and Middle East threatened by political turmoil

The political instability engulfing some North African states has extensive implications for tourism and aviation across the region. Already dozens of governments are warning their citizens to avoid travel to Egypt. Several have chartered aircraft to ferry their nationals out. Cairo Airport has been met with chaotic scenes in the past few days as thousands of foreigners seek to leave. In this special report, CAPA reviews the immediate aviation and tourism impacts from the North Africa/Middle East civil unrest.