New year brings more budget airline routes
Published: January 2, 2013
A new year calls for new travel destinations, and low-cost carriers can help make the dream of reaching distant shores a reality.
New airlines are springing up and old standbys are constantly fine-tuning their networks. Here are some of the latest new routes offered at airports near U.S. military communities in Europe.
Travel horizons for those who fly from Venice’s Marco Polo Airport broadened in 2012 with the appearance of Volotea, a budget carrier, which defines itself as an airline for Europe’s small and mid-sized cities. Destinations available from its hub in Venice include Nantes and Bordeaux, France, as well as Bilbao, Spain. Flights to Corfu, Heraklion/Crete, Kos, Mykonos, Rhodes and Santorini in Greece are offered by the airline on a seasonal basis.
Volotea’s network expands in March, when flights between Naples and Palermo, Sicily, begin. From June, Volotea will take passengers from Naples to Mykonos and Santorini, Greece. See more destinations and book flights at volotea.com.
Eindhoven, Netherlands, will be the latest low-cost flight destination available from Naples when Transavia launches a route between the two cities in February. Book at transavia.com.
Last summer, low-cost giant Ryanair designated Maastricht, Netherlands, as a base and unveiled three new routes from there — Dublin, London Stansted and Venice Treviso — which started up in December. Unfortunately, the airline ended all flights out of Verona, Italy, in October.
Starting in March, Ryanair will offer six new routes from Nuremberg. Destinations include Alicante, Spain; Cagliari, Italy; London; Malaga, Spain; Pisa, Italy; and Porto, Portugal. Other new Ryanair routes to be launched in 2013 include Frankfurt Hahn to Corfu, Greece; Rijeka, Croatia; and Tangier, Morocco. For a complete list of the airline’s new routes, see ryanair.com/en/new-routes.
EasyJet, another old player on the budget airline scene, has announced the anticipated launch of an interesting route — pending government approval — between London Gatwick and Moscow. Flights to the Russian capital from Manchester, England, begin in March and can already be booked at easyjet.com.
To follow airline industry news, including the launch of new routes around the world, visit Airline Network News & Analysis at www.anna.aero.
