Ryanair Holdings will add 10 new routes from Hamburg next summer as the low-cost giant seizes on a meltdown at Air Berlin to offer 20% more flights in Germany in 2017. Ryanair will open a base in Hamburg next month, stationing two jets there and adding seven routes from the north German city to take the total to 14. All of those destinations will be retained next year with three more, including Faro in Portugal and Thessaloniki in Greece, introduced, the company said Tuesday. Europe’s biggest discount airline is boosting operations in Germany after unprofitable Air Berlin last week announced the shuttering of its Hamburg base and five others in the country as it halves its fleet and cuts 1,200 jobs. Ryanair was already targeting expansion in the region’s largest economy, where it plans to capture 20% of traffic, up from about 5% now. “We know that the Ryanair offer will win through in the German market regardless of what happens to Air Berlin,” CMO Kenny Jacobs said. Some other carriers look “artificially good” because of the low oil price and also “could be vulnerable,” he added. <br/>
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TUI sought to reassure 2,000 workers at its German airline arm that a merger with the tourism unit of Air Berlin would see the carrier retain its base in Hanover and continue to provide flights for the world’s largest holiday company. Jochen Buentgen, MD of the TUIfly airline unit, wrote to staff Monday saying the enlarged business would also retain existing labour accords and that he would put himself forward to run its operations. A wave of absenteeism disrupted TUIfly services for a second day Tuesday after Air Berlin said last week that it was seeking a “strategic solution” for its tourist operation. Buentgen’s memo confirmed that talks are underway between TUI and Air Berlin shareholder Etihad Airways on a possible combination of the assets. In an earlier letter, Henrik Homann, who has responsibility for TUI’s six airlines, told employees the company has “too much flight capacity” operating “at a cost significantly higher than market prices.” That makes a partnership with Air Berlin an “attractive option.” A combination would bring together TUIfly’s 27 planes, 19 from Air Berlin’s Austrian subsidiary Niki, which employs 840 people, and 14 that the TUI unit operates on behalf of the Berlin-based company under a 10-year lease deal. Air Berlin is separating out its tourism operation after splitting into three, with another unit operating 40 planes for Lufthansa and its main arm keeping 75.<br/>
Tampa International Airport has landed a new nonstop route to Iceland. "We're extremely excited," said Santiago Corrada, CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, the official tourism marketing arm of Hillsborough County. He credited the "collaborative efforts" of TIA officials, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater and Visit Florida. "It opens up geographically an area that wouldn’t normally be available to us." It's not yet known when IcelandAir will begin service between Tampa and Reykjavik. A TIA spokeswoman did not return requests for comment Tuesday.<br/>
Bangkok Airways has been dealt a second blow in its court battle with the Koh Samui municipality over a land tax dispute for Samui airport. The Supreme Court yesterday ruled the SET-listed airline is not entitled to get back 119m baht in tax rebates plus interest paid between 2007 and 2010. The airline also lost a Supreme Court ruling on Sept 30 over 38.8m baht in land tax paid in 2011 that the carrier claimed should be refunded. The court ruled in the municipality's favour because Bangkok Airways has leased the airport to Samui Airport Property Fund for 30 years for a combined fee of 9.3b baht. That translates to 310m baht in annual fees, which forms the basis for the building and land tax calculation, resulting in tax payable of about 38.8m baht a year. <br/>
Guernsey's Aurigny airline is set to make losses of GBP4.6m this year despite having 15 years of debts written off, politicians have warned. The government-owned company was expected to make a GBP1.5m loss in 2016 and 2017. Rising maintenance costs of GBP1.4m were partially to blame for a GBP3.1m overspend, according to the States' latest set of accounts. The airline declined to comment. Guernsey Deputy Gavin St Pier described the figures as "clearly disappointing". "They have deteriorated so significantly and so quickly from those which were presented to the States really quite recently," he said.<br/>
Icelandair is to add 13% year-on-year international capacity and has confirmed plans to add another pair of Boeing 767-300s in 2017. The extra capacity—totaling a 13% increase in ASKs, or 8% more flights—will include two new destinations and increased frequencies to several gateways in both North America and Europe. “The difference [between the ASK and flight growth] is due to the increased weight of longer flights to North America in the schedule and the increased use of larger aircraft. Next year the fleet will include four 262-seat Boeing 767-300 aircraft and 26 Boeing 757 aircraft,” Icelandair said. In 2017, the Reykjavík-based carrier predicts it will handle 4.2m passengers, approximately 450,000 up on 2016. This represents huge growth from the 1.3m passengers carried by Icelandair in 2009. In recent years, the company has been building up a secondary bank of flights with departures to North America just before noon and midnight departures from Iceland to Europe. This development will continue next year.<br/>
Two American Samoa businessmen have filed separate complaints with the US Transportation Department over Hawaiian Airlines' new policy in which passengers can no longer pre-select seats via the airline's website or kiosk in its Pago Pago flights. The airline said a survey showed an increase in average passenger weight, which required the airline to redistribute weight in its Boeing 767 cabins to meet manufacturer's guidelines. It said this means limiting the number of adults per row, and reserving seats in certain rows for children under the age of 13. The new policy has been described as discriminatory against Samoans, with businessman Avamua Dave Haleck saying it is an injustice because it applies only on flights between Honolulu and Pago Pago. He said nowhere else in the Hawaiian system did it ask passengers to be weighed and nowhere other than American Samoa flights could online seat selections not be made.<br/>