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ocus on AIRLINESFly for Less to Turkey <strong>and</strong> North Cyprus with Pegasus Airlines Hot Summer Salen Turkey’s leading low-cost carrier, Pegasus Airlines, has just announced their hot summer sale: fly to Istanbul from just£49.99 one-way* <strong>and</strong> onto 16 other destinations across Turkey or North Cyprus from £79.99 one-way* when you buyonline at www.flypgs.com between 29 July – 2 August <strong>and</strong> fly between 10 <strong>and</strong> 31 August 2009. Hurry, book now! Don’tmiss your chance for a great value last minute summer holiday where the sun always shines. Pegasus Airlines operatesa daily scheduled service between London Stansted – Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen <strong>and</strong> onto 16 other destinations acrossTurkey, as well as a weekly direct Bodrum flight, meaning all your favourite holiday destinations are within easyreach, from Cesme <strong>and</strong> Bodrum on the Aegean Coast, to Dalaman <strong>and</strong> Antalya on the Turkish Riviera.*Flights include taxes <strong>and</strong> charges <strong>and</strong> include 25k free check-in baggage allowance.Czech Airlines to Launch Scheduled Flights to Tashkent, Uzbekistann Czech Airlines willinitiate scheduled servicefrom Prague to Tashkent,the capital of Uzbekistan,thereby enhancing the connections between Europe <strong>and</strong>Central Asia. With this new Czech Airlines route, Tashkent,the largest city in the area, will be linked to Prague twicea week. On the basis of the signing of a Memor<strong>and</strong>um ofUnderst<strong>and</strong>ing with the Uzbek side, Czech Airlines willbegin operating its service to Tashkent on 19 August 2009,as regularly scheduled flights. Czech Airlines will fly thisroute with its most modern aircraft, the Airbus A319, withroom for 135 passengers, using code-share cooperationwith Uzbekistan Airways. Czech Airlines aircraft will fly inthe summer flight schedule on Wednesdays <strong>and</strong> Sundays,at 22:50. They will l<strong>and</strong> in Tashkent, after a nearly six-hourflight, the next morning, at 7:15 local time. The aircraft will return from Tashkent to Prague on Mondays <strong>and</strong> Thursdays at 10:05,l<strong>and</strong>ing at Ruzyně Airport at 13:30 Central European daylight savings time. The departure <strong>and</strong> arrival times have been selectedso as to suit not only the clientele travelling between Prague <strong>and</strong> Tashkent, but also to advantageously tie into Czech Airlines flightsto <strong>and</strong> from Europe. Czech Airlines expects that the new OK Prague – Tashkent route will be used not only by business passengers,but also by tourists from Uzbekistan. The local clientele, i.e., passengers not planning to transfer in Prague to connecting flights,but only travelling to the Czech Republic, should account for most of the passengers. With a transfer in Prague, the Tashkent routewill also suit passengers from Central Asia, in flying on to anywhere in Western Europe; <strong>and</strong> on the other h<strong>and</strong>, passengers fromWestern Europe travelling to Central Asia. “Czech Airlines is the only Central European carrier offering scheduled direct flightsto Tashkent,” said Vice President for Marketing <strong>and</strong> Product Development Petr Pištělák. As he adds: “Not only Central Asia, butalso the Russian Federation <strong>and</strong> trans-Caucasian republics are important <strong>and</strong> promising markets for Czech Airlines, on which weintend to focus more.” The first step was the strengthening of service to nearly all of the routes to the area in this year’s summerschedule, <strong>and</strong> another is the opening of new routes. Czech Airlines launched the Prague -Tashkent service on 3 July 2009, whichwas temporarily operated as charter flights. The Memor<strong>and</strong>um of Underst<strong>and</strong>ing with the Uzbek side was signed on 6 August2009. It defines not only the extent <strong>and</strong> terms of cooperation, but also enables the service to function as scheduled flights <strong>and</strong>allows for its further development <strong>and</strong> full marketing <strong>and</strong> sales support, by both Czech Airlines <strong>and</strong> Uzbekistan Airways.Air Transport Association Reports Decline in July Passenger Dem<strong>and</strong>n The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, reported thatpassenger revenue based on a sample group of carriers fell 21 percent in July 2009 versus the same month in 2008 – the ninthconsecutive month in which passenger revenue has fallen from the prior year. Four percent fewer passengers traveled on U.S.airlines in July while the average price to fly one mile fell 18 percent, a modest improvement over the 21 percent year-over-yearyield decline observed in June. Revenue declines extended beyond the mainl<strong>and</strong> United States to the trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific<strong>and</strong> Latin markets. “While the modest improvement in dem<strong>and</strong> from June to July would normally be cause for cautious optimism,the fact is that the number of air travelers continues to fall despite double-digit declines in fares. Clearly, with the difficult economicenvironment, dem<strong>and</strong> for air travel remains weak,” said ATA President <strong>and</strong> CEO James C. May. Also reflecting a weak globaleconomy is the continued decline in cargo traffic. U.S. airlines saw cargo revenue ton miles – as measured in revenue ton miles– decline 15 percent year over year (11 percent domestically <strong>and</strong> 18 percent internationally) in June 2009, the 11th consecutivemonth of declining volumes. July 2009 cargo data is not yet available. Annually, commercial aviation helps drive $1.1 trillion inU.S. economic activity <strong>and</strong> more than 10 million U.S. jobs. On a daily basis, U.S. airlines operate nearly 28,000 flights in 80countries, using more than 6,000 aircraft to carry an average of two million passengers <strong>and</strong> 50,000 tons of cargo. ATA airlinemembers <strong>and</strong> their affiliates transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger <strong>and</strong> cargo traffic40September/ October ’09