News From The Americas

Richard Maslen March 03, 2011

PLUNA INTRODUCES MORE BRAZILIAN FLIGHTS

Uruguayan carrier PLUNA is adding flights to Belo Horizonte and Brasilia, its seventh and eighth destinations in Brazil. The airline began a four-times weekly Montevideo – Belo Horizonte service on February 23 and will add a five-times weekly Montevideo – Brasilia schedule from March 28. These flights are being operated by Bombardier CRJ900s and will bring PLUNA's total number of weekly flights into Brazil to 79. It currently offers links to Campinas International (six weekly); Curtiba Afonso Pena International (seven weekly); Florianopolis Hercilio Luz (six weekly); Iguassu Falls Cataratas (three weekly); Porto Alegre Salgado Filho (seven weekly); Rio de Janeiro Galeão–antonio Carlos Jobim International (14 weekly) and Sao Paulo Aeroporto Internacional Guarulhos (27 weekly). It is currently the third largest operator between Uruguay and Brazil with a 24 per cent share of the 331,000 passenger O&D market and faces competition from TAM Airlines on the Sao Paulo route and Gol Transportes Aereos to Port Alegre.

AIRTRAN EXPANDS AT BRANSON

US carrier AirTran Airways is to expand its activities at Branson, Missouri in late May with the launch of four-times weekly flights to Chicago Midway and Houston Hobby and a weekly service to Baltimore. The airline already serves the city from Atlanta and has a weekly link from Orlando, with Frontier Airlines’ three-times weekly Embraer 190 service to Denver, the only other scheduled service, however, Sun Country Airlines does offer a charter programme. Also, from April 4, Branson Air Express will start four-times weekly flights to Austin and Dallas and could re-introduce seasonal flights to Gulfport/Biloxi, Nashville, Indianapolis, and Shreveport. AirTran carried more than 65,000 O&D passengers on its routes to and from Branson in the year ending December 2010, its busiest being to Atlanta, where it handled approximately 24,000 travellers.

BRAZIL’S TRIP LINHAS AÉREAS ADDS MORE E-JETS FOR REGIONAL GROWTH

Brazilian domestic carrier TRIP Linhas Aéreas has placed an order for four more Embraer 190s as it expands its fleet to take advantage of growing demand in the local market. The airline has now committed to acquire a total of 24 E-Jets directly from the manufacturer or via leasing organisations, comprising a mix of E175 and E190 variants. It is due to receive nine 110-seat E190s this year and will use them to “boost the connections between our regional hubs, as well as the expansion of routes between cities with a medium traffic density,” according to José Mário Caprioli, President, TRIP. The airline is the second largest domestic operator in Brazil when ranked by weekly frequencies, but as it uses smaller regional aircraft types than its rivals, it is only ranked fifth by weekly seat capacity. Its main focus cities are Belo Horizonte, Cuiaba and Curtiba.

SUNWING AIRLINES TO OFFER HOLIDAY FLIGHTS BETWEEN CANADA AND EUROPE

Canadian leisure carrier Sunwing Airlines is to acquire up to three Boeing 767s to launch summer services to Europe from Montreal and Toronto between June 16 and September 12. The flights will be in competition with Air Transat and its tour operator Transat AT, which already has a comprehensive network into Europe from Canada. Sunwing’s main focus will be the UK and French markets where it will offer a four-times weekly Toronto – London Gatwick link and twice weekly services to Paris CDG from Montreal and Toronto. These will be complement by a twice weekly Toronto – Amsterdam route and weekly rotations from Toronto to Dublin, Lisbon, Porto and Rome. The airline is tight-lipped over the source of these widebodied aircraft but industry sources have suggested that at least part of the capacity will come from the airlines of European tour operator TUI Travel, including Arkefly, Thomson Airways and TUIfly. Sunwing Airlines has also outlined its domestic flight schedules for the season with three-times weekly links from Toronto to St Johns in Newfoundland and Vancouver, as well as twice weekly flights from Toronto to Gander and between Toronto and Stephenville. These will be operated between mid-June and early-September.

PORTER AIRLINES EXPANDS DOMESTIC SCHEDULES WITH WINDSOR AND SAULT STE MARIE CONNECTIONS

Canadian regional carrier Porter Airlines is to introduce two new routes this summer. A three-times daily Toronto City – Windsor service will be launched from April 27 and up to two daily Toronto City – Sault Ste Marie rotations will be added from May 4. Both routes are currently served by Air Canada from Toronto’s Lester B Pearson International Airport with more than 155 weekly frequencies using a mix of Bombardier Dash 8-100 and -300 equipment.

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