Air Lib slots at Orly reassigned!
Apr 2nd, 2003, 12:38 PM
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Air Lib slots at Orly reassigned!
Already posted this on the Europe board.
The french regulator COHOR reassigned most of the old Air Lib slots on March 31. Here are the planned routes - expect service to start sometime in June on most of them.
FRANCE (DOMESTIC):
Bordeaux - Virgin Express
Limoges - Britair (Air France group!)
Lorient - Britair (Air France group!)
Marseille - EasyJet
Nice - Easyjet
N�mes - Air Littoral
Perpignan - Aeris and Air France(!)
Tarbes-Lourdes - Aeris
Toulon - Virgin Express
Toulouse - Aeris
ITALY:
Bari - Volare
Milano Linate(?) - EasyJet
Milano Malpensa - Volare
Rome - Virgin Express
Venice - Volare
SPAIN:
Barcelona - EasyJet, Iberia(!)
Seville - Iberia
SLOVAKIA
Bratislava (they have connecting bus service to VIENNA) - SkyEurope
There ares some other international destinations (i.e. Algeria, Israel, Dakar) which I haven't mentioned.
As you can see, Air France has gotten quite a few slots, despite its absolute dominance of the French air travel market - oh well. However, quite a few good routes, especially to Italy and the S/SW of France. From the article I read it would appear that the airlines must use the slots assigned to them for the routes mentioned, although that seems a little strange to me for destinations within the EU - airlines should be free to use them as they please.
In any event, if you're planning on flying those routes starting this summer, I would regularly check the web sites of the carriers mentioned above - fares on EasyJet, Virgin, Volare or Aeris are bound to be much lower than those on the flag carriers! Air Littoral however appears to have the same stupid fare structure as the majors.
Here are the URLs:
www.aeris.fr
www.airlittoral.com
www.easyjet.com
www.skyeurope.com
www.virginexpress.com
www.volare-airlines.com
Hope this helps,
Andre
The french regulator COHOR reassigned most of the old Air Lib slots on March 31. Here are the planned routes - expect service to start sometime in June on most of them.
FRANCE (DOMESTIC):
Bordeaux - Virgin Express
Limoges - Britair (Air France group!)
Lorient - Britair (Air France group!)
Marseille - EasyJet
Nice - Easyjet
N�mes - Air Littoral
Perpignan - Aeris and Air France(!)
Tarbes-Lourdes - Aeris
Toulon - Virgin Express
Toulouse - Aeris
ITALY:
Bari - Volare
Milano Linate(?) - EasyJet
Milano Malpensa - Volare
Rome - Virgin Express
Venice - Volare
SPAIN:
Barcelona - EasyJet, Iberia(!)
Seville - Iberia
SLOVAKIA
Bratislava (they have connecting bus service to VIENNA) - SkyEurope
There ares some other international destinations (i.e. Algeria, Israel, Dakar) which I haven't mentioned.
As you can see, Air France has gotten quite a few slots, despite its absolute dominance of the French air travel market - oh well. However, quite a few good routes, especially to Italy and the S/SW of France. From the article I read it would appear that the airlines must use the slots assigned to them for the routes mentioned, although that seems a little strange to me for destinations within the EU - airlines should be free to use them as they please.
In any event, if you're planning on flying those routes starting this summer, I would regularly check the web sites of the carriers mentioned above - fares on EasyJet, Virgin, Volare or Aeris are bound to be much lower than those on the flag carriers! Air Littoral however appears to have the same stupid fare structure as the majors.
Here are the URLs:
www.aeris.fr
www.airlittoral.com
www.easyjet.com
www.skyeurope.com
www.virginexpress.com
www.volare-airlines.com
Hope this helps,
Andre
Apr 20th, 2003, 02:57 AM
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OK, the services operated by Aeris are now available online and by phone. Service has already started. The routes are:
Paris-Perpigan
Paris-Tarbes/Lourdes
Paris-Toulouse
Fares start at EUR 29 + taxes for a one way flight. This fare cannot be changed or refunded and can only be booked on the Aeris web site (www.aeris.fr). The next highest fare category is EUR 49 and allows changes for a fee.
Unfortunately, the web site is only in french for now. Phone number from the US is: 011 33 865 56 56 56 - hope the call goes through & they speak english
EasyJet has also announced service to Nice and Toulouse(!) from July 1, with booking already available. This is in addition to their existing Orly service to Geneva and their service from CDG to Nice, London Luton, Liverpool and Newcastle. They mention possible other destinations in their press release but appear to be playing hardball with the regulator in an attempt to get additional slots before officialy starting up further routes...
Regarding service to Italy, while none of the Orly routes have been officially launched yet, I should mention that Volareweb (www.volareweb.com) flies from Paris Beauvais to Milano Malpensa and Venice airports, while Ryanair flies to Bergamo - not nearly as convenient as Orly but a passable alternative in the meantime.
Hope this helps,
Andre
Paris-Perpigan
Paris-Tarbes/Lourdes
Paris-Toulouse
Fares start at EUR 29 + taxes for a one way flight. This fare cannot be changed or refunded and can only be booked on the Aeris web site (www.aeris.fr). The next highest fare category is EUR 49 and allows changes for a fee.
Unfortunately, the web site is only in french for now. Phone number from the US is: 011 33 865 56 56 56 - hope the call goes through & they speak english
EasyJet has also announced service to Nice and Toulouse(!) from July 1, with booking already available. This is in addition to their existing Orly service to Geneva and their service from CDG to Nice, London Luton, Liverpool and Newcastle. They mention possible other destinations in their press release but appear to be playing hardball with the regulator in an attempt to get additional slots before officialy starting up further routes...
Regarding service to Italy, while none of the Orly routes have been officially launched yet, I should mention that Volareweb (www.volareweb.com) flies from Paris Beauvais to Milano Malpensa and Venice airports, while Ryanair flies to Bergamo - not nearly as convenient as Orly but a passable alternative in the meantime.
Hope this helps,
Andre
Apr 28th, 2003, 03:40 AM
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In addition to the above, Easyjet announced that it would be starting service to the following destinations from Paris Orly on July 15:
Barcelona (1x daily)
Marseille (3x daily)
Milano LINATE (1x daily)
So good news for people looking to combine Paris & Barcelona or Northern Italy!
Booking appears to be possible effective immediately.
Hope this helps,
Andre
Barcelona (1x daily)
Marseille (3x daily)
Milano LINATE (1x daily)
So good news for people looking to combine Paris & Barcelona or Northern Italy!
Booking appears to be possible effective immediately.
Hope this helps,
Andre
May 25th, 2003, 04:44 AM
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A further update - SkyEurope will be starting 3x weekly service to Bratislava (near Vienna) on August 22. One way fares start at EUR 25!!!
Aeris will also start service to NICE on July 5, so expect prices on that route to go down even further.
OTOH, Virgin Express announced that they would NOT be making use of the slots they were offered at Orly - so for now, no additional service to Rome, Bordeaux or Toulon.
Still no news from Volare.
Hope this helps,
Andre
Aeris will also start service to NICE on July 5, so expect prices on that route to go down even further.
OTOH, Virgin Express announced that they would NOT be making use of the slots they were offered at Orly - so for now, no additional service to Rome, Bordeaux or Toulon.
Still no news from Volare.
Hope this helps,
Andre
Jun 10th, 2003, 01:14 PM
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More good news - Aeris Express will be starting service to TOULON/HYERES on August 1st, using the slots Virgin Express turned down.
Aeris' web site is still only in french, but the cheapest EUR 29 fares also appear to be available by phone now.
On the domestic routes, only service to Bordeaux remains in limbo, while service to Italy is still very much lacking - Volare has yet to announce the launch of service to Venice and Milano Malpensa and nobody appears to have shown any interest for Virgin Express' slots to Rome.
Hope this helps,
Andre
Aeris' web site is still only in french, but the cheapest EUR 29 fares also appear to be available by phone now.
On the domestic routes, only service to Bordeaux remains in limbo, while service to Italy is still very much lacking - Volare has yet to announce the launch of service to Venice and Milano Malpensa and nobody appears to have shown any interest for Virgin Express' slots to Rome.
Hope this helps,
Andre
Jul 6th, 2003, 03:27 AM
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OK,
as mentioned in another post on this forum, Volare is transfering the Paris-Italy routes flown by its no-frills VOLAREWEB subsidiary from Beauvais to Orly as of August 1 - great news! These are the routes:
Paris - Bari
Paris - Milano Malpensa
Paris - VENICE
Book at:
www.volareweb.com
EasyJet's Orly - Milano Linate service is preferable if you are headed for Milan itself or want to take the train South, but Malpensa is great for those going to the Lake District.
So, now only the Orly-Rome route originally awarded to Virgin Express remains unserved - let's hope for the best!
Hope this helps,
Andre
as mentioned in another post on this forum, Volare is transfering the Paris-Italy routes flown by its no-frills VOLAREWEB subsidiary from Beauvais to Orly as of August 1 - great news! These are the routes:
Paris - Bari
Paris - Milano Malpensa
Paris - VENICE
Book at:
www.volareweb.com
EasyJet's Orly - Milano Linate service is preferable if you are headed for Milan itself or want to take the train South, but Malpensa is great for those going to the Lake District.
So, now only the Orly-Rome route originally awarded to Virgin Express remains unserved - let's hope for the best!
Hope this helps,
Andre
