VIRGIN AMERICA SHARES CAPACITY GROWTH ACROSS CALIFORNIA
Fresh from announcing the first firm order for the upgraded A320neo earlier this month as part of its order for 60 additional short-haul airliners, Virgin America has confirmed plans to expand its network at Dallas Fort Worth International. From April 6, the low-cost carrier will operate three daily services to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The airline currently has just a seven per cent share of the weekly seat capacity in the Dallas - Los Angeles market, a route dominated by American Airlines with 110 weekly frequencies. It is a similar story for Dallas – San Francisco where American offers 61 weekly flights, according to Flightbase (January 14-20).
HORIZON AIR ADOPTS THE ALASKAN ESKIMO
US regional operator Horizon Air is to retire its own corporate branding and will instead adopt the trademark Eskimo of its sister carrier Alaska Airlines. The change follows its shift to a capacity purchase agreement (CPA) model with Alaskan, whereby it continues to operate and maintain its aircraft fleet, while Alaskan is responsible for scheduling, marketing and pricing all flights. Over the following months Horizon’s fleet of Bombardier Dash 8-Q400s will be repainted with large ‘Alaska’ titles on the fuselage and a smaller Horizon logo.
COPA MAKES WAVES AT ITS PANAMA CITY HUB
Copa Airlines is to add two further banks of flights from its ‘Hub of the Americas’ base at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City. Currently, the airline offers two flight banks in the morning and two in the afternoon, but a group of early-morning departures — ideal for travelers who want to arrive at their destination early in the day — and a group of afternoon departures will allow it better utilise capacity and existing airport infrastructure, as well as offer passengers more and better scheduling options. The new waves will be introduced from June 15 when three destinations will be added to the Copa network - Toronto, Canada; Porto Alegre, Brazil and Nassau, Bahamas - frequencies increased on existing routes and schedules improved to a number of destinations. According to IATA BSP data for the 12 months ending November 2010, 29,000, 65,000 and 4,500 passengers travelled between Panama and Canada, Brazil and the Bahamas respectively. From the middle of the year, Copa will offer a total of 180 daily flights from Tocumen International Airport to 55 destinations in 27 countries in North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean strengthening Panama City as a business center and tourist destination and improving its connectivity with the rest of the world.
AMERICAN AIRLINES BOOSTS DOMESTIC SCHEDULES FROM NEW YORK
American Airlines will significantly increase its operations from New York JFK to six markets this summer. From April 5, it will boost its Cleveland and Pittsburgh services from daily to twice daily and its Las Vegas flight from two to three departures per day. With affect from June it will also double capacity to Dallas Fort Worth and San Diego from daily to twice daily, as well as increasing leisure flights to San Juan from 21 to 26 rotations per week. Most of these markets are currently dominated by low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways, although Delta Air Lines accounts for the majority of passengers to Cleveland and Dallas.
LOT SET TO CONSOLIDATE TRANSATLANTIC TRAFFIC
Polish national carrier and Star Alliance member LOT Polish Airlines is set to suspend its long-haul flights to the United States from Krakow and Rzeszow this summer and will instead focus its activities at the country's capital Warsaw. In the latest updates to the GDS displays, LOT has cancelled proposed flights from Krakow to Chicago and New York Newark and from Rzeszow to New York JFK and Newark, although this remains subject to possible change as the company finalises its Northern Summer schedules. According to the data, LOT will still operate its nine-times weekly Warsaw - Chicago O'Hare service and Warsaw - New York flights, although frequencies to Newark will drop from seven to four a week and to JFK from nine to just six per week, compared to summer 2010. LOT will also continue to serve Toronto from Warsaw. In the year ending November 2010, almost 585,000 O+D passengers travelled between Poland and the US, with LOT holding a 63% share of this traffic.
WESTJET PREDICTS BRIGHT OUTLOOK FOR ORANGE COUNTY CONNECTION
Canadian budget carrier WestJet Airlines is to launch services to John Wayne Orange County Airport in California this summer. The daily flights from Calgary and Vancouver will be launched from May 2 and June 13 respectively and will be operated by 136-seat Boeing 737-700s. According to Flightbase (January 14-20), no airlines currently serve these routes. Schedules at Orange County are dominated by domestic US services with just over 8.5 million passengers using the facility in 2010. According to IATA BSP data for the year ending November 2010, almost 3.4 million O+D passengers travelled between Canada and California, the majority flying to either Los Angeles or San Francisco.
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