HOW MUCH DO YOU WEIGH?" WAS THE first question from the gate agent to a passenger preparing to board a recent flight out of Boston Logan International. When the aircraft is a nine-seat Cessna 402 with an MTOW of 7,210 lb., size really does matter. On a gray winter morning, the small Cape Air plane waited for takeoff in line with the heavy iron before cranking down the runway and lifting seamlessly into a sky enveloped in a heavy mist. For the next 35 min.
Turkish Airlines announced an international expansion comprising an increase in frequencies from Istanbul Ataturk to New Delhi and Mumbai beginning Feb. 2, to Brussels on March 2 and to Venice, Helsinki, Dublin, Basel, Kuwait City and Addis Ababa in early March. THY Chairman Candan Karlitekin told ATWOnline recently in Istanbul that the airline also plans to expand its operation at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen in the near future.
Air Jamaica released a 2009 business plan designed to "quickly stem the substantial cash losses at the company." It includes a reduction of its fleet to nine aircraft and the cancellation of flights to Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Grand Cayman, Barbados and Grenada.
Emirates will operate the A380 to Incheon beginning in November. It will be EK's fifth A380 market after London Heathrow, New York JFK and soon-to-be-launched Sydney and Auckland. It also said it will commence its deferred Dubai-Durban service on Oct. 1 and will resume its third daily DXB-Johannesburg flight on Feb. 1. Durban flights had been scheduled to launch Dec. 1 but were delayed due to aircraft deployment issues.
ANA and Japan Airlines yesterday each released plans for their fiscal years beginning April 1 that feature network cutbacks and a greater focus on operational efficiency. ANA said it intends to "minimize the risk of falling revenue" and is focusing on opportunities "afforded by the expansion" of Tokyo Haneda and Narita in 2010. International capacity is expected to fall 8% in the upcoming fiscal year while domestic ASKs decline 4.3%. It will suspend flights from Nagoya to Tainjin and Guangzhou from March 29 and temporarily suspend and/or decrease frequency on five other Asian routes.
Lufthansa Italia took to the skies yesterday with a panoramic flight over the Alps that followed a ceremony christening of its first two A319s. The aircraft were named "Milano" and "Varese," breaking with LH's tradition of naming planes after German cities and marking a new phase in its aggressive expansion strategy, which now includes the first establishment of a carrier outside its home market.
Aegean Airlines announced that it will begin A320/A321 flights from Athens to Brussels, Berlin, Barcelona and Venice in March, increasing its summer network to 47 routes. It transported 6 million passengers in 2008, up 14% from the prior year, on a 5% rise in flights to 57,635. It plans to take delivery of six more Airbus aircraft in the next four months and operate a fleet of 31 aircraft during the summer schedule.
UAE General Civil Aviation Commission will increase the number of routes to/from the country to 35 from the current 27 by year end, the Arab Air Carriers Org. reported. It also promised to "enhance air traffic management and navigation services" in the UAE, including a AED300 million ($81.6 million) investment in the Zayed Center for ATM in Abu Dhabi.
Iran Air will operate a fourth-weekly Tehran-London Heathrow flight from March 29 to Oct. 24 and announced it will now operate the route with a 747. Wataniya Airways launched its first route, a Kuwait City-Dubai A320 service, on Jan. 24. Flights to Bahrain and Beirut are scheduled to begin by April. Emirates and Jet Airways announced a partnership under which they will link their loyalty programs and EK will codeshare on Jet's daily flights to Dubai from Mumbai and New Delhi.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission, which manages Minneapolis-St. Paul International, yesterday voted to approve an agreement with Delta Air Lines under which MSP will become the "Delta North" headquarters and the airline will retain many of the financial benefits that subsidiary Northwest Airlines enjoyed by basing its headquarters there.
