Sunday 28 April 2019

Why does Stockholm Arlanda Airport hide its buses?


Full article on economist.com

Always on the lookout for a bargain, Gulliver takes great pride in using public transport when he travels abroad. Journeys between airports and city centres are no exception. Most of the time finding the cheapest route takes no more effort than logging onto an airport’s website or opening a navigation app such as Google Maps. Sometimes, however, airports are not co-operative, trying their best to shove visitors onto convenient but overpriced transport links. Arlanda Airport near Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is by far the worst offender Gulliver has encountered...

Thursday 18 April 2019

Boeing counts the cost of grounding the 737 MAX


Full article on economist.com

When Boeing grounded the global fleet of 737 MAXs in March, Ryanair, the biggest buyer of the plane in Europe, insisted that the move will have little impact on its network. That was either wishful thinking or misinformation. Just three weeks later, the number of flights it had scheduled from London to Edinburgh, Britain’s busiest domestic route, fell 85%. Frequencies from London to Belfast plummeted 91%...

Monday 1 April 2019

Interview: Philippe Bohn, Air Senegal CEO


Full article in PDF format: page 16-18 & cover

When Air Senegal began operations in May 2018, it marked the West African nation’s third attempt at a state-owned flag carrier.

The failure of predecessors Air Senegal International and Senegal Airlines would come as little surprise to anyone familiar with the challenges of African aviation.

Senegal has a relatively small air transport market: just 2.3 million passengers pass through Dakar’s Blaise Diagne International Airport, its main hub, each year. The country’s population of 16 million would be a limiting factor even in the developed world, where most people can afford to fly. In the developing world, it makes running a commercial airline all but impossible.

Yet closed skies are not an option for Macky Sall, Senegal’s president, who was re-elected in February with a mandate to further advance his Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE) – a 20-year economic and social strategy aimed at delivering long-term prosperity...