Emirates will launch daily Dubai-Madrid flights on Aug. 1 aboard a three-class A330-200. AirTran Airways launched service to Nassau from Atlanta (daily), Baltimore (four-times-weekly) and Orlando International (five-times-weekly) as well as four-times-weekly MCO-Key West service, aboard 737s. Frontier Airlines will operate seasonal four-times-weekly Denver-Fairbanks service May 14-Sept. 12 aboard an A319.
Viking Hellas, Viking Group's new Athens-based airline, will launch its scheduled service program in February with flights to Manchester, Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Baghdad. MAN flights will be thrice-weekly from Feb. 3, increasing to four-times-weekly in March. Service to the Iraqi cities will be weekly and will begin in the first week of February. VQ received its Greek AOC in October and also will operate charter flights on behalf of European tour operators. It currently has one MD-83 and will add two A320s in the spring.
German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation spokesperson said results of the investigation into Sunday's Air Berlin 737-800 runway overrun in Dortmund will be available in March at the earliest, Bloomberg News reported. Dortmund Airport said the pilot aborted takeoff and the plane rolled into a nearby field. None of the 165 passengers was injured. The airport was closed for some 13 hr. An AB spokesperson cited "technical irregularities" as a contributor to the incident and said the aircraft will undergo 3-4 days of checks before being returned to the fleet.
Dubai Duty Free has announced its financial performance figures for 2009. In a year that posed many challenges for the global airport retail sector, the company has bucked the trend by announcing record annual sales of Dhs4.1 billion (US$1.140 billion) representing a 3.76% increase over the previous year.
Emirates will operate the A380 to Saudi Arabia when it launches a four-times-weekly Dubai-Jeddah service on Feb. 1. The aircraft will seat 14 in first class, 76 in business and 427 in economy. Jeddah will be EK's eighth A380 destination. It began flying the aircraft to Paris Charles de Gaulle on Dec. 29. It currently operates the Jeddah route daily. EK also announced the launch of a daily flight to Prague on July 1 aboard a two-class A330-200.
