The expansion of partnership has not just been within the industry though – it is also looking at expanding collaboration with other transport providers, technology partners, environmental organisations and more.

JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit Airlines from under the nose of Frontier Airlines – and the premium it paid – could be the start of a trend as airlines seek to solidify their market penetration. Mergers and consolidation have accelerated as a result. Now they are providing an important safety net for carriers enabling them to serve strong, profitable markets and allow partners to support wider connectivity. Before the pandemic many had started to question the value of alliances. Hahn has a lot going for it, but only in the right hands.įor the surviving airlines, partnership and alliances appear as an increasingly attractive option. Moreover, while he isn’t ‘sanctioned’, he might yet be if the Ukraine war escalates further.īig decisions have to be made by the German government, to which the matter has been referred by creditors. Creditors are set to agree a sale but it will likely be to the investment company of a Russian oligarch with no aviation sector experience, and whose intentions for it are not known. But the COVID pandemic provided an arcane lifeline to Hahn as cargo volume grew again, followed by passenger traffic in 2022, and the prospects for both in 2023 are encouraging. Then Hahn was bought (in a consortium with minor German company interest) by the Chinese HNA Group, which was in deep financial trouble, and went into administration. But that growth wasn’t sustained – Fraport gave away its 65% stake and management expertise to regional government authorities for nothing, cargo volume diminished, and Ryanair fell out with the airport, shifting some services to Frankfurt. ‘Frankfurt’ Hahn Airport grew rapidly to over four million passengers annually and almost 300,000 tonnes of freight, alleviating pressure on Frankfurt Airport. 'Low Cost Airports and Terminals' as CAPA branded them. To what extent does the ‘Disney Effect’ impact on these figures? It is difficult to say for sure – because for all its pulling power, Orlando International is also a general tourism, VFR and business airport, with capacity stretching across the Caribbean and parts of South America, as well as domestically and to Europe.ĭisney has definitely had an impact as tourists flock back to attractions denied to them for over a year, but as traffic figures at other Disney location cities show, theme parks alone cannot always influence passenger numbers, and where travel restrictions apply they have no influence at all.Īn obscure military airfield in western Germany became a torchbearer for the new breed of converted facilities used extensively by budget airlines such as Ryanair in the early 2000s. Orlando is an interesting case because the area could (and does) claim to be the leading leisure destination in the world, courtesy of the numerous Disney (and other) theme parks and resort areas in its vicinity, which have reopened after the COVID pandemic.

In 2022 it handled 50 million passengers for only the second time in its history, the first time being in 2019. Orlando International, Florida, is one of those airports. The year 2022 was a good year, but the revival was already under way in 2021, and 2022 increases are about half of what was achieved in the previous year. In recent days several US airports have reported that in 2022 passenger numbers set new records, or close to it. Its airline,, expects to carry 11% more passengers in the year to Mar-2023 than it did in the year to Mar-2020. Jet2holidays has transformed over a number of years from being airline-led to a mix of the two, and is now more package holiday-led. For easyJet, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, their holiday companies feed customers into the airline (while also generating important ancillary revenue). Some such companies are airline-led, while others are package holiday-led.įor TUI, its airline's main purpose is to provide air services to its holiday customers. The top two places in the ranking by number of passengers licensed are Jet2holidays (whose airline is ) and TUI UK (whose airline is TUI Airways). Holiday companies authorised under the ATOL (Air Travel Organiser's Licence) scheme that also have their own airline account for half of the total number of passengers licensed under the scheme. Tour operators that are tied to an in-house airline are a crucial part of the UK's package holiday sector.

Southwest airlines baggage fees 2016