Qatar Airways continues expansion in Europe and Russia

QATAR Airways has announced that it will increase daily frequencies to the Scandinavian capitals of Stockholm and Oslo, alongside the Italian cities of Milan and Rome. Due to an increase in demand to key European destinations, especially from the Asia Pacific region, flights to Rome, Milan and Stockholm will increase to 17 per week from Doha’s Hamad International Airport, while flights to Oslo are set to increase from seven to 10 frequencies per week.

The award-winning airline has also announced that double daily flights to the Russian capital Moscow will increase to three times daily from 14 December, just five days before Qatar Airways’ inaugural daily flight to the Russian city of St. Petersburg. 

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Ryanair cancels Norwegian routes following airport passenger tax

RYANAIR has confirmed it will close its base in Oslo Rygge in October and reduce its traffic in #Norway by approximately 50 percent.

The move follows a decision by the government of Norway to introduce a new tax of 80 Norwegian kroner (£6.76/$9.78) to be paid by all airline passengers departing from any airport in Norway on domestic and international flights.

That 50 percent reduction in traffic translates to 900,000 fewer passengers and a loss of approximately 1,000 jobs as a result of the tax, argues Ryanair.

In Oslo, Ryanair chief commercial officer, David O’Brien said: ‘The illogical decision of the Norwegian government to introduce a flat rate, environmentally-unfriendly tax unfairly penalizes passengers on efficient, green, airlines such as Ryanair in favour of passengers on high fare, half empty, gas-guzzling airlines, and destroys the cost competitiveness of privately-owned Oslo Rygge Airport in favour of the state-owned Avinor monopoly.

‘As a result, Ryanair has no choice but to close its Oslo Rygge base which will result in our Norwegian traffic being cut in half. Since Oslo Rygge has confirmed it will be unable to sustain reduced non-based services offered by Ryanair, we will move our remaining eight Rygge routes to Oslo Torp from October.’

‘This tax will severely damage Norwegian tourism, particularly around regional airports. The Norwegian government has instantly made Norway uncompetitive and less attractive to airlines and tourists. The Italian government, which hiked passenger taxes in January, has already said it will review its decision, given the impact its tax will have on its airports.’

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