Alaska Airlines will launch daily Seattle-Houston Intercontinental flights on Sept. 23 aboard 737-800s. Aerolineas Argentinas launched thrice-weekly Buenos Aires-Bogota service aboard a 737-700. Route previously stopped in Lima. Four-times-weekly 737 service to Caracas becomes daily on Sept. 1. JetBlue Airways applied for route authority to serve Montego Bay from both Boston (weekly from Jan. 9) and Orlando International (daily beginning Feb. 8).
Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) in Jordan has enjoyed its busiest month ever according to new figures released by its operator Airport International Group (AIG),
Qantas yesterday took delivery of its fourth A380. It will use the aircraft to increase its thrice-weekly Sydney-Singapore-London Heathrow service to five-times-weekly and to operate a fourth weekly Sydney-Los Angeles flight from Sept. 7. QF's fifth and sixth A380s are due to arrive by year end, at which point flights to LHR and LAX will be daily and Melbourne-LAX will increase to thrice-weekly from twice.
Naverus said it delivered a National Aerospace Assessment to Swedish air navigation service provider LFV designed to develop a "roadmap" for Performance Based Navigation implementation. Naverus said PBN at Sweden's major airports could save an estimated 9 million kg. of fuel per year and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 30,000 tonnes.
Continental Airlines will launch flights to Washington Dulles from both Houston Intercontinental (thrice-daily) and Cleveland (twice-daily) on Nov. 1. ExpressJet will operate the Houston flight aboard an ERJ-145 and CommutAir will operate the Cleveland service with a Q200. CO said the new routes are designed to increase connections with future Star Alliance partner United Airlines. Etihad Airways' winter schedule beginning Oct. 25 will feature a 15% year-over-year increase in capacity and 950 weekly flights, including new service to Hyderabad starting in November.
In spite of the recent economic downturn, Abu Dhabi International Airport has realised double digit passenger growth for July of 10.3%, with over 900,000 passengers travelling through the airport last month. Figures show a total of 923,124 people came through the airport last month, registering a marked increase over the 837,129 passengers seen for the same period last year.
ExpressJet Holdings' flight crew "was not at fault" for the Aug. 7-8 incident in which passengers were stranded overnight on an ERJ-145, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Friday, instead pinning the blame on a Mesaba Airlines local representative at Rochester (Minn.) International who "improperly refused" to allow the passengers to deplane.
Southwest Airlines Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly said the LCC is "seriously considering" operating international flights as soon as 2011 and also remains interested in acquiring troubled assets from rival carriers following its failed bid to purchase Frontier Airlines.
Cathay Pacific will launch four-times-weekly Hong Kong-Dubai-Jeddah service Oct. 25 aboard an A330-300. It will increase Hong Kong-Riyadh service to daily (from five-times-weekly) Aug. 1 and reduce Hong Kong service to Brisbane (from 10-times-weekly to daily Sept. 1-Nov. 17), San Francisco (14-times-weekly to 11-times-weekly in September and October) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle (from 10-times-weekly to daily Sept. 1).
DHL said it will relocate its customs activities over the next 12 months from Cologne and Frankfurt to its Leipzig/Halle hub, creating 110 new jobs at LEJ, according to Leipziger Volkszeitung. It plans to increase its LEJ workforce from 2,300 to 3,500 in coming years.
