Air New Zealand plans to launch its first service to South America with a flight to Buenos Aires, coupled with a new codeshare agreement with Aerolineas Argentinas. The three weekly flights begin in December 2015, using a Boeing 777-200ER. The extra 777 capacity will presumably be freed up when Air New Zealand takes more Boeing 787-9 deliveries in the second half of 2015.
The on-time arrival performance for U.S. domestic scheduled flights in October was 80%, declining from September by 1.1 point and from October 2013 by 4.1 points, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). The report says 1.1% of scheduled U.S. domestic flights were canceled in October. The month’s cancellations percentage improved slightly from September, but was otherwise 0.5 points higher than in October 2013.
LONDON—Airspace over London has re-opened, after a computer problem at the U.K.’s main air traffic control (ATC) center caused it to close for more than an hour. The glitch at the Swanwick control center—which is operated by U.K.
SAN FRANCISCO—Less than a month after launching service from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways is seeing load factors in the “low 80s [percentage],” primarily driven by traffic between the Bay Area and India, CEO James Hogan said in an interview here.
Southwest Airlines is applying for route authorities to four new cities in Mexico from the new international terminal it is building at Houston’s Hobby Airport (HOU). The carrier also has signaled its intent to fly from HOU to Belize and San Jose, Costa Rica. These route authorities are likely to be granted by the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT). If approved, service on these routes, as well as the Mexico routes, is expected to begin October 2015.
