Transavia France (TO, Paris Orly (ORY)) has agreed with US aircraft lessor GECAS to lease two additional new B737-800s from spring 2013. The Air France (AF, Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)) owned low-cost carrier currently already operates eight B737-800s from bases at Nantes Atlantique (NTE) and Paris Orly and will open a third base at Lyon St. Exupéry (LYS) from March 2013.

Transavia France (TO, Paris Orly (ORY)) has announced that it will base one of its B737-800s at Lyon St. Exupéry (LYS) from March 2013 making the airport its third base after Paris Orly and Nantes Atlantique (NTE). In addition to its existing route from Lyon to Monastir Habib Bourguiba International (MIR), it will take over the route to Tunis Carthage International (TUN) from parent Air France (AF, Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)) offering a three times weekly service from April 2. Transavia France will also serve Heraklion Nikos Kazantzakis (HER) and Marrakech Menara (RAK) twice weekly and Oujda Les Anglades (OUD) and Seville San Pablo (SVQ) weekly.

Hispania Airways (Granada (GRX)) plans to wet-lease an A320-200 from Lithuanian ACMI specialist Avion Express (X9, Vilnius International (VNO)) from December to launch new scheduled flights from Granada. Hispania plans to launch operations on December 6 offering four weekly flights to Madrid Barajas (MAD) as well as two weekly services each to Barcelona El Prat International (BCN), London Gatwick (LGW), Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International (FCO). Granada has lost most of its international routes with the exception of a seasonal summer service to Paris Orly (ORY) by Transavia France (TO, Paris Orly (ORY)). Hispania will however compete with Air Nostrum (YW, Valencia Manises (VLC)) on the Madrid route and with Vueling Airlines (VY, Barcelona El Prat International (BCN)) on the Barcelona route with both competitors operating four to five daily flights on these key domestic routes. Hispania Airways has already announced Las Palmas Gran Canaria International (LPA), Lisbon Portela de Sacavem (LIS), Marrakech Menara (RAK) and either Tenerife Norte (TFN) or Tenerife Sur (TFS) as additional planned destinations.

easyJet Switzerland (DS, Geneva Cointrin (GVA)) has received slots for two daily flights from Paris Orly (ORY) to Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel (HAM) as part of the latest round of slot allocations for the slot constrained airport where demand for new departure/arrival slots regularly exceeds new slots becoming available. At the same time, Norwegian (DY, Oslo Gardermoen (OSL)) has received more slots to increase its frequencies to Helsinki Vantaa (HEL), Transaero Airlines (UN, Moscow Domodedovo International (DME)) to launch a new daily service to Moscow Domodedovo International (DME), Transavia France (TO, Paris Orly (ORY)) for a daily Pisa Galileo Galilei International (PSA) flight and Vueling Airlines (VY, Barcelona El Prat International (BCN)) to increase its frequencies to Alicante (ALC), Bilbao Sondica (BIO) and Florence Peretola (FLR). This obviously does not necessarily mean the airlines will launch all of these services immediately.

Air France (AF, Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)) has announced a restructuring plan for its short-haul operations that it plans to make profitable again between now and 2016. It is considering merging its regional subsidiaries Brit Air (DB, Morlaix Ploujean (MXN)) and Régional (YS, Nantes Atlantique (NTE)) with regional carrier Airlinair (AN, Paris Orly (ORY)) in which Brit Air holds a minority stake. As part of the plan it will cut its own short-haul aircraft by 34 A320 family aircraft (it currently operates 146) and transfer flights to its regional operation and low-cost subsidiary Transavia France (TO, Paris Orly (ORY)) (which is expected to operate 20-22 B737-800s by 2016, up from 8 today).