July 21

Alaska Airlines will open service between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Burbank Hollywood Airport (BUR) in Southern California. The route will be year-round and launch Dec. 14. The SFO-BUR service is planned to be flown 3X-weekly. “Alaska already connects [passengers] from Burbank to destinations across California and along the Pacific Northwest,” BUR Executive Director Frank Miller says in a statement. Seattle-based Alaska notes that it operates from 16 airports in California.

Terminal A at Catania-Fontanarossa Airport (CTA) in Sicily will remain closed until at least July 25 because of the Jan. 16 fire at the airport. Flights, which had been suspended following the fire, are now operating to and from the airport, though disruptions are expected as CTA’s capacity remains diminished.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of FAA Reauthorization legislation, but the chamber declined to allow more Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA) flights beyond the 1,250-mi. perimeter. The Senate still must pass its version of FAA Reauthorization legislation and then both chambers will need to pass a unified bill before President Joe Biden can sign it into law. The agency’s authorization expires on Sept. 30.

July 20

Taiwan’s China Airlines opened service between Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) and the Czech Republic's Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG). The route, exclusive to China Airlines, will be flown 2X-weekly with an Airbus A350-900 aircraft. PRG “has been striving for a long-haul route to East Asia for several years,” the Czech airport says in a statement. Prague becomes the sixth European destination served by China Airlines. European airports already served include Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Rome Fiumicino and Vienna.

Qatar Airways launched flights between Doha’s Hamad International Airport (DOH) and Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (TLS) in southern France. The DOH-TLS route will be operated 3X-weekly with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft configured with 260 seats, including 24 in business class. Toulouse, home to Airbus' headquarters, becomes the fourth French point in Qatar Airways' network, joining Lyon, Nice and Paris Charles de Gaulle. TLS Chairman Philippe Crébassa says Qatar Airways' hub in Doha will "facilitate connections with Asia, Africa and Oceania for our French and international customers. This opening also creates new opportunities for international airfreight transport from Toulouse.”

U.S. startup Avelo Airlines plans to commence service between Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA) and Florida's Orlando International Airport (MCO) from Oct. 5. CWA is located in Mosinee, Wisconsin, with Stevens Point and Wausau also considered part of its catchment area. The CWA-MCO route, which will be exclusive to Avelo, will be flown 2X-weekly with a Boeing 737 aircraft.

Norfolk International Airport in Virginia will receive $13.7 million in federal funding for runway rehabilitation work via the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program (AIP). The money is part of $44.6 million allocated via AIP for Virginia’s airports, according to a statement issued jointly by U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.). Also allocated is $7.4 million for runway reconstruction and runway lighting rehabilitation at Washington Reagan National Airport, located in Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington, and $5.5 million to shift/reconfigure an existing runway at Richmond International Airport, which serves Virginia’s capital.

July 19

Japan Airlines (JAL) will open service between Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) and Doha’s Hamad International Airport (DOH), in Qatar, for the 2024 Northern Hemisphere summer season, although the airline did not give a specific start date when announcing the new route. The service will be flown daily with a Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Fellow Oneworld carrier Qatar Airways currently serves the HND-DOH route daily with a Boeing 777-300ER, a flight on which JAL codeshares. Qatar Airways will place its code on JAL's new HND-DOH service, and JAL will continue to place its code on Qatar Airways’ flight on the route.

Korean Air will restore three routes to China from Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) and two to Japan from Busan’s Gimhae International Airport (PUS), South Korea. All five routes have been suspended for more than three years. Flights from ICN to Changsha, China, will be flown 5X-weekly from July 19. Two more ICN-China routes will relaunch Sept. 24 and Sept. 27, respectively: Wuhan and Weihai. Also on Sept. 27, Korean Air will resume flights from PUS to Japanese cities Fukuoka (2X-daily) and Nagoya (1X-daily). Both PUS-Japan routes will be flown with a Boeing 737-900ER configured to carry 173 passengers. 

London Stansted Airport (STN) reports it handled nearly 2.6 million passengers in June. This represents 98% of June 2019 levels and an 11% hike over June 2022. “These numbers will continue to increase, and we expect this will be our busiest summer ever,” STN Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Fowler says. The airport notes that in the three months to June 30, “97% of passengers passed through security in 15 minutes or less.”

July 18

Thai Airways has placed Airbus A320 aircraft it recently added to its fleet on four routes, including two to India. The A320s, configured for all-economy-class seating, have started flying on routes from Bangkok to Dhaka, Bangladesh; Mumbai and New Delhi; and Yangon, Myanmar. 

United Airlines and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider AAR Corp. have extended their contractual relationship through 2030 in a deal that calls for a new maintenance hangar to be built at Miami International Airport (MIA). AAR will add a new three-bay hangar at MIA, adjacent to its existing nine-bay facility at the airport. The new hangar must still be approved by Miami-Dade County, which is expected to foot the bill for the project, according to AAR. The MRO provider will also boost work for United at Rockford International Airport in Illinois. AAR says it “has committed to growing its dedicated airframe narrowbody capacity to provide United Airlines a minimum of 10 lines of maintenance support across AAR’s Miami, Florida and Rockford, Illinois, MRO facilities.”

Avianca commenced service between San Salvador, El Salvador, and Las Vegas, becoming the first airline to fly the route nonstop. Flights will be operated 3X-weekly with an Airbus A320 aircraft.

July 17

Delta Air Lines will launch service between Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) and Curaçao International Airport (CUR) from Dec. 16. The airline will serve the Caribbean island for the first time since 2010 with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The ATL-CUR route will be operated 1X-weekly.

Milan Bergamo Airport says the first phase of work on its terminal expansion project has started. “The initial development will include a check-in hall with the introduction of 22 new check-in desks and a baggage-handling system extension,” the airport says. The first phase is slated to be completed in July 2024. A second phase will then commence, which will include a 24,280-ft.² extension of the terminal’s security, duty-free and boarding-hall areas.

Catania-Fontanarossa Airport in Sicily is temporarily closed after a July 16 fire. The airport says it aims to reopen by July 19.