Why the plane in Spain continues to reign With 971 weekly departures, the route between Barcelona and Madrid is the busiest in the world OAG BACK Aviation Solutions The world's busiest air route, with 971 weekly departures, continues to be that between Barcelona and Madrid. According to the latest statistics compiled by OAG BACK Aviation Solutions, it heads a list that includes Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro (894 flights per week), Jeju-Seoul (858) and Melbourne-Sydney (851). In the US, Honolulu-Kahului has the largest number of weekly departure (639), followed by the major trunk routes between Las Vegas and Los Angeles (553), and San Diego-Los Angeles (514) flights. New York La Guardia appears twice in the list with its Boston and Washington Ronald Reagan links. In Europe, Amsterdam-Heathrow, with 350 weekly departures, is the busiest international route (ranked eighth overall), while elsewhere Norway has two routes in the Top 10 (Bergen-Oslo and Trondheim Vaernes-Oslo). Paris Orly also features twice for its routes to Toulouse and to Nice. The Middle East has the most international routes in its list of the 10 busiest, with Bahrain-Dubai recording the highest number at 184 flights per week, but ranked fourth overall in the region behind Jeddah-Riyadh (324); Mashad-Tehran Mehrabad (199) and Dammam-Riyadh (184). Elsewhere, South Africa dominates the African continent with six of the top 10 busiest routes, reflecting the highly competitive market there. Leading the way is Cape Town-Johannesburg (831 weekly flights), followed by Durban-Johannesburg with 588. OAG BACK Aviation Solutions, a division of flight information and data solutions company Official Airline Guide (OAG), tracks frequency (volume of flights) on its renowned schedules database.
Reducing traveller stress
Being constantly on-call is changing business travel for the better, according to new research by the UK-based Institute of Travel Management (ITM).
Thanks to e-mail, blackberries, PDA's and laptops, two-thirds of British companies regard connectivity as a vital requirement when their employees are travelling on business. Perhaps surprisingly, this always-on-call culture is seen as reducing, rather than increasing, the stress placed on employees, says ITM executive director Paul Tilstone. "Instead of being constantly in demand, travellers no longer have to face a mountain of work when they return to the office. Working on the move makes business more competitive, although the increased expectation on the employee could have the opposite effect in the future.” Tilstone maintains corporate thinking is far from joined up on how to get the best from the employee. "There are some striking contradictions between what companies say and what they do. Despite the importance placed on staying in touch, less than one third of organisations actually give their people any advice on connectivity when travelling. "Airport lounge access is another case in point. Companies are missing out on how lounges can benefit employee productivity. The cost of lounge access is modest, and travellers can work in peace; however, less than seven per cent of British companies purchase lounge access for their travellers when it is not included through class of travel or executive club status," says Tilstone. "Although 75 per cent of companies are now promoting transport choices to their staff based on efficient use of time, many travellers are encouraged to fly direct to save time, but at a higher cost. If travellers know that they have access to a place where they can work, regardless of who they fly with, or in what class, they are less likely to be driven by collecting benefits from frequent flyer schemes. This will increase compliance, which will drive down costs," Tilstone concludes. Emirates steps up Oz flights
Dubai-based Emirates is planning to step up its services to Australia from 49 flights a week to 79 over the next two years. Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney will all benefit from additional flights and increased capacity. The Airbus A380 super-jumbo is due to be introduced on the Sydney and Melbourne routes from 2009. A second daily service to Brisbane will be launched in October, 2008, using the state-of-the-art Airbus A340-500, and a third daily service between Dubai and Melbourne will start in February 2009. Sydney will go to a triple daily frequency in late 2009. All will be non-stop.
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