Air Europa launched daily New York JFK-Madrid service aboard an A330-200. AirAsia X will increase Kuala Lumpur-Taipei service to daily from five-times-weekly on Oct. 19. XL Airways France will operate seasonal twice-weekly New York JFK-Paris Charles de Gaulle service through Sept. 14 aboard an A330. Dragonair will operate its Hong Kong-Kathmandu service via Dhaka Oct. 1 (increasing to five-times-weekly from thrice-weekly) aboard an A330.
Qatar Airways announced a 40% combined increase in capacity to Paris Charles de Gaulle, Madrid, Athens and Stockholm Arlanda. Doha-CDG service will increase to twice-daily from 11-times-weekly beginning Oct. 25, DOH-MAD will rise to daily from four-times-weekly on Dec. 2, daily DOH-ATH will be twice-daily from March 2010 and DOH-ARN will receive an extra weekly frequency on Oct. 25.
OpenSkies said it will suspend its daily Amsterdam-New York JFK service on Aug. 16, citing a significant drop in demand due to the current economic environment. The British Airways subsidiary launched the route late last year and said it developed a 16% market share since then, but "it was not enough to sustain a profitable service at this time," CEO Dale Moss conceded.
AirTran Airways will launch thrice-weekly Harrisburg-Fort Lauderdale service Nov. 5 aboard a 717. Wizz Air will commence twice-weekly service from Bucharest to Catania and Forli Sept. 21 and Oct. 28 respectively. It will launch twice-weekly service from Katowice to Munich West and Venice Treviso Sept. 22 and 29 respectively (increasing to thrice-weekly from the winter schedule). Icelandair last week launched four-times-weekly Seattle-Reykjavik service and will begin twice-weekly Reykjavik-Brussels flights in June 2010.
ARINC was awarded a contract to install its vMUSE passenger check-in platform at Manila International's two main terminals. ARINC recently won the contract to supply the new passenger systems at Manila including 84 check-in counters and 15 boarding gates in Terminal 1 and 40 check-in counters and 6 boarding gates in T2.
ASIG renewed agreements with American Airlines to provide aircraft refueling services at seven US airports including Seattle-Tacoma, John Wayne, New Orleans and Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood.
Hainan Airlines opened a branch office in Shenzhen and said the move is part of an effort to expand its presence in the Pearl River region. "We plan to interconnect Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai with Hong Kong," HNA VP-Marketing Chen Ming said. The company already has set up a branch office in Guangzhou and a sales center in Zhuha and holds 45% stakes in Hong Kong Express Airways and Hong Kong Airlines.
