Our top five stories on Routes Weekly: Brexit uncertainty; Qantas to accelerate 747 retirement; US-Brazil growth; Ghana's ambitions; and Bulletin board.
Airlines need to be the ‘master of their own destiny’ to ensure they can continue to operate in a post-Brexit environment, according to Jochen Schnadt, the chief commercial officer for British regional airline bmi. His comments come as Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air has secured a UK air operator certificate to help safeguard flights once Britain leaves the EU.
Australia’s flag carrier Qantas is looking to grow its international network with an order for six additional Dreamliners as it accelerates the retirement of its last six Boeing 747s.
United Airlines has raised its stake in Brazilian low-cost carrier Azul, citing connecting traffic as a reason behind the move. The deal comes as an impending US-Brazil open skies agreement looks set to increase services, routes and competition between the two countries.
The start-up is to delay its first flight to Hong Kong, scheduled to take off on 30 April, because it has not yet received permission to fly through Russian airspace.
JetBlue is to return to California’s Ontario International Airport after a ten-year absence as part of a regional flight shuffle that also sees it up flight frequencies out of Burbank and Palm Springs and scale back operations from Long Beach.
The US supersonic aircraft developer aiming to reduce New York to London flight times to little over three hours has secured an investment from Chinese tour operator Ctrip.
Ryanair has finalised an order for 25 additional high-capacity Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft during the same week as the airline revealed plans to launch its first flights from Bosnia and Herzegovina and open a base at Düsseldorf Airport.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, the third busiest in China, has opened its second terminal building as it targets 100 million passengers by 2025.
