Singapore Airlines will cancel its Singapore-Amritsar service on Feb. 4. KLM Cityhopper will operate thrice-daily Amsterdam-Liverpool next summer aboard 80-seat F70s. EasyJet will launch daily London Gatwick-Copenhagen on Jan. 15. Jet Airways started four-times-weekly Bangalore-Brussels. Service will operate daily Dec. 15-Jan. 15. Pacific Blue launched four-times-weekly Brisbane-Port Moresby aboard 737-800s. Airlines PNG is codesharing on the route.
Air New Zealand today will roll out its new domestic airport product featuring a range of technical and design innovations designed to speed check-in and boarding. Unveiling will take place at Auckland's domestic terminal, where new kiosks will enable passengers to print their own bag tags and a conveyor belt bag drop zone will help shorten or eliminate queues. New gate scanners will allow for straight-to-gate check-in and boarding for those without bags.
Ryanair said it will base two new 737-800s at Trapani from May and has cancelled plans to operate a base at Forli, which "withdrew the agreement it had reached with Ryanair." Trapani service will comprise new routes to Oslo Torp, Turin, Treviso (all starting May 1), Brussels Charleroi and Paris Beauvais (from May 2), plus increased frequencies to Bergamo and Rome Ciampino.
Delta Air Lines will launch flights from Atlanta to Tegucigalpa (Dec. 18), Guayaquil, Manaus (both Dec. 19), Santiago, Dominican Republic (Dec. 20) and Recife (Dec. 21) and from New York JFK to Buenos Aires, Bogota (both Dec. 18) and Bonaire (Dec. 20). Nashville-Cancun begins Dec. 27. Alaska Airlines launched twice-daily Seattle-Minneapolis/St. Paul aboard 737-800s.
BAA was forced to pay £7.34 million ($11.5 million) in rebates to airlines after failing to meet UK CAA's required performance standards at London Heathrow (£4.08 million) and Gatwick (£3.26 million) in the April-September period, the aviation authority confirmed. CAA called on both airports to explain why targets were missed and to present plans and timetables for meeting those targets in the future.
TAV Airports Holding was awarded 20-year contracts to operate two new airports in the Republic of Macedonia: Alexander the Great International in Skopje and St. Paul the Apostle International in Ohrid. It also received the construction contract for Shtip's New Cargo Airport.
Aer Lingus will add nine new routes from Ireland to the UK and Europe in its 2009 summer schedule: Dublin to Catania, Sofia and Newcastle; Cork to Lanzarote, Lisbon and Rennes; Belfast International to Milan, Munich and Lanzarote. EI also will increase frequencies on 17 existing routes. JetBlue Airways will begin daily Orlando International-Bogota service on Jan. 29. Its first route to South America will be operated with an A320. It also will launch weekly Boston-St. Maarten on Feb. 14 aboard an A320 and increase frequencies from BOS to Aruba and Cancun beginning Feb. 12.
United Airlines launched daily Washington Dulles-Dubai Sunday aboard a four-class 777. Emirates SkyCargo began thrice-weekly Dubai-Los Angeles Sunday aboard a 777-200LR freighter.
UPS Friday started construction on its new intra-Asia air hub at Shenzhen International, a $180 million investment. The airport additionally will provide 150,000 sq. m. of ramp space dedicated to the delivery giant's operations. The 89,000-sq.-m. facility is slated to open in 2010 and initially employ 400.
