Ryanair will expand its Frankfurt Main airport base in 2018 with the addition of a further three aircraft and 34 routes. The Irish airline is a relative newcomer to Frankfurt Main after concentrating its operations at the smaller and more distant Frankfurt Hahn. The additional aircraft will bring the Frankfurt Main-based fleet to 10 next year. Ryanair said it will add 34 new routes from Frankfurt Main, bringing the total to 38. It will also operate one additional route from its Frankfurt Hahn base in 2018, bringing that airport’s destination total to 43. The additional routes will bring over 4.7 m passengers through Ryanair’s two Frankfurt airports next year.<br/>
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Southwest plummeted to bottom of the pack in August in on-time arrivals, as perennial frontrunner Delta soared to a commanding victory, according to results by OAG. At Southwest, operational issues look to be dragging down the carrier's performance in a big way. It finished August last among the big four with 70.5% of flights arriving on time. For much of August, long before Harvey hit, Southwest's on-time arrival numbers were mired in the mid-60% range. A spokesman blamed summer thunderstorms, Hurricane Harvey, and the high summer load factors. Southwest often has problems turning its Boeing 737-800 aircraft in the allotted turn time. The situation becomes more problematic in a hurry if a full flight arrives late to the gate.<br/>
Spirit has already had a rough 2017, but things are about to get a lot worse. After a costly spate of pilot-related cancellations in May, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma will continue to take a toll on Spirit's results through the remainder of this year. One of Spirit's most important markets happens to be Houston -- ground zero for Hurricane Harvey damage -- which represents roughly 10% of flight volume. In addition, the company's largest market by far is Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando is its third-largest market. Even before hurricane season began, Spirit's year was off to an ugly start. Its Q2 results were negatively impacted by $45m when its pilots stopped volunteering to work overtime, resulting in hundreds of May flight cancellations.<br/>
Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines plans to establish a major base at the new Istanbul airport scheduled to open late next year, helping the discount specialist to attract passengers from the European side of the city where rival Turkish Airlines currently dominates. Pegasus is likely to station a “considerable fleet” at the airport after a third runway opens in about 2020, CCO Guliz Ozturk said. While the hub will cater to 90m travelers a year, rising to as many as 150m, the airline hasn’t until now said it will have a significant presence. Pegasus currently bases almost 60 aircraft at Istanbul’s secondary Sabiha Gokcen airport on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, where the catchment totals about 8m people, compared with 10m on the European side.<br/>
Norwegian is recruiting an additional 40 Boeing 737 pilots for a new base in Dublin, Ireland, which will open later this year. Norwegian said the new base at Dublin Airport will help support the transatlantic operations and future growth in Ireland. The base will initially include approximately 40 pilots, but Norwegian is also “exploring options for further pilot and cabin crew positions at the base next summer.” The rapidly growing LCC said the pilots will operate flights from Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Belfast. Earlier this summer, Norwegian launched 24 weekly transatlantic flights from Cork, Shannon, Dublin and Belfast, serving the New York, Boston and New England areas on the US east coast.<br/>
WestJet says its airplanes flew fuller than ever in August as it set records for the most passengers moved in a month. The Calgary-based airline reports moving 2.3m people last month, an increase of almost 14% or 288,000 YoY. CE Gregg Saretsky says the August passenger numbers were the highest for one month in WestJet's 21 years of operation, and the one-day record was broken Aug 8, when a total of 81,423 guests got on board. Its August load factor was 90.6%. An analyst points out WestJet's increase in traffic in August impressively came in at almost double its increase in capacity through service additions over the past year.<br/>
AirAsia's long-established advocacy for Thailand having airports and terminals dedicated to low-cost carriers is coming to fruition. "I think we are getting to the stage where there will be LCC airports and terminals in Thailand," said Tony Fernandes, CE of AirAsia. He declined to elaborate on the latest outcome from discussions with Thai authorities, saying only the airline's proposition about dedicated terminals and airports floated two years ago has made good progress. AirAsia has been keen to see Thailand and Asean set up airports and terminals especially to serve burgeoning budget air travel traffic and as a means to drive costs among LCCs and passengers downs.<br/>