US Airways yesterday announced plans to launch daily Philadelphia-Tel Aviv service in July 2009 contingent on approval from the US Dept. of Transportation and the Israeli government. It will use A330-200s scheduled to be delivered in the first half of next year. Tel Aviv would be US's only Middle East destination. Sama will launch twice-weekly Dammam-Beirut and thrice-weekly Riyadh-Asiut on Sept. 1.
EasyJet will close its second-largest German base, Dortmund, an airline spokesperson told the dpa news agency. More information on the fate of the 116 employees at DTM will be available next month, the spokesperson said. Berlin Schoenefeld is easyJet's largest German base.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport, developer and operator of the new Rajiv Gandhi International, said it received clearance from the Ministry of Aviation to levy a INR375 ($8.66) user development fee on outbound domestic passengers beginning Friday.
Northwest Airlines said yesterday that it has gained relevant government approvals to add the Delta Air Lines code to all of its transpacific flights, another step toward the planned merger of the two carriers. NWA also will add the DL code to its flights between Tokyo Narita and three Asian destinations. Expanded codesharing will take effect Aug. 30.
American Airlines will launch flights from Miami to Belo Horizonte (thrice-weekly) and Recife via Salvador de Bahia (daily) on Nov. 2 aboard 767-300s. Etihad Airways will operate flights from Abu Dhabi to Moscow Domodedovo (five-times-weekly from Dec. 1 aboard A319s) and Almaty (four-times-weekly from Dec. 2 aboard A320s). Separately, Etihad Crystal Cargo launched an unaccompanied baggage service that will transport passengers' heavy or excess luggage ahead of their flights for less than the check-in fee.
Washington Dulles's new underground rail system, which will connect the main terminal with the midfield concourses ( ATW, August 2007), will be operational by late 2009, officials said yesterday. "This has been a long, complicated project," Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority President and CEO James Bennett said. The $1.4 billion AeroTrain system was designed, engineered and constructed by Sumitomo Corp. of America in conjunction with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Tunneling, which began in 2002, is now complete.
Kingfisher Airlines will launch international service on Sept. 3 with a Bangalore-London Heathrow A330-200 flight, according to widespread press reports from India. Kingfisher acquired the operating certificate of Deccan Aviation, which this month will reach the mandatory five years of service required to fly internationally from India ( ATWOnline, March 31).
Delta Air Lines will operate daily Atlanta-Mumbai beginning Nov. 1 aboard a 777-200LR. JetBlue Airways will launch daily San Juan-Santo Domingo, its first intra-Caribbean route, on Dec. 18 aboard an E-190. Twice-daily San Francisco-Long Beach will commence Oct. 18 on an E-190, becoming thrice-daily on Nov. 2. Daily Cancun-Tampa begins Dec. 18 and weekly Washington Dulles will start two days later. JetBlue said the Tampa flight is the city's only nonstop service to Mexico. The LCC also will operate daily Boston-Santo Domingo in December and January.
GMR Hyderabad International and Delhi International Airport Ltd. signed an MOU with Deccan Cargo & Express Logistics for the development of express cargo hubs. Deccan initially plans to utilize a 300-sq.-m. cargo terminal operated by Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo and more than 2,000 sq. m. at DEL. Operations are slated to begin Jan. 1.
Indian government announced official approval for significant modernization and expansion projects at Kolkata and Chennai airports that will bring the facilities to "international standard" and cost a combined $900 million.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Friday that a variety of usage and rental fees normally charged at Stewart International Airport, about 55 mi. north of New York City, will be waived for the next six months "in a measure designed to preserve and expand air services" at the facility. AirTran Airways recently announced it was leaving the airport ( ATWOnline, June 17), while other carriers like JetBlue Airways and Delta Air Lines have or will cut services.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said yesterday that the LCC has "no interest" in bidding for London Stansted if BAA is forced to divest the airport, contradicting comments he made last week ( ATWOnline, Aug. 11). Speaking to media in Dublin, O'Leary claimed his remarks had been misinterpreted but that Ryanair would be happy to cooperate with any potential buyers. "We've offered to build a second terminal in Stansted in the past and double the traffic. But the BAA told us to go away," he said.
JAL Group commenced User Preferred Route trials for flights between Japan and Hawaii, enabling the airline to save fuel and cut CO2 emissions. JAL currently uses two flight paths on the route but now will capitalize on work begun last November by US FAA and Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on UPR usage. It will conduct trials on scheduled flights serving Tokyo Narita-Honolulu, NRT-Kona, Osaka-HNL and Nagoya-HNL. The group operates approximately 4,700 combined one-way flights per year on the routes.
Continental Airlines will launch daily Newark-Shanghai on March 25 aboard a 777-200. It opened the flights for sale yesterday. Aer Lingus will abandon its Dublin-Copenhagen on Nov. 1.
EasyJet said it intends to file a complaint with Dutch competition authority NMa against airport operator Schiphol Amsterdam for charging passengers departing from the Netherlands higher fees than transfer passengers. "Schiphol is discriminating by charging passengers that depart from the Netherlands twice as much as transfer passengers," the LCC said. It alleges that AMS is violating Dutch and European law as the charges are discriminatory, unrelated to costs and not transparent. It will file a complaint with the European Commission if NMa refuses to investigate.
Porter Airlines, which launched Q400 service in October 2006 from Toronto City Centre Airport, is eyeing additional destinations in the US, the first of which likely will be announced in the fall. "Boston and Chicago [Midway] are on the top of the list but Washington [National] and Philadelphia are close behind," Porter President and CEO Robert Deluce told ATWOnline. "All of them are on our radar screen for the short term." The US destinations need to be within 500 nm. of Toronto and have enough O&D traffic to support the service, he added.
Singapore Airlines launched thrice-weekly all-business class flights to Los Angeles with its 100-seat A340-500. Daily service will commence Sept. 21. It launched a similar service to Newark in June ( ATWOnline, March 5).
Cathay Pacific Airways announced more changes to its network strategy designed to reduce fuel expenses and focus on demand. It will cut 10 flights to North America, add eight weekly services to Australia and increase capacity on 14 flights to Europe. Last month it added four weekly flights to Dubai and Bahrain and cut frequencies to Toronto and Vancouver ( ATWOnline, July 14). CEO Tony Tyler said, "We have to maximize our earnings during this difficult period which is why we are moving our capacity.
Austrian Airlines Group CCO Andreas Bierwirth told ATWOnline last week in Damascus that the carrier, which continues to pursue privatization, plans on increasing its focus on the Middle East. He said AAG is looking to be a "leading player" in the region.
EasyJet will commence thrice-weekly Gatwick-Salzburg service from Dec. 13. Turkish Airlines will launch Istanbul Ataturk-Birmingham flights from Dec. 15.
Airlines on both sides of the Taiwan Strait want to launch weekday services as weekend charter flights linking the Chinese mainland and Taiwan reach the one-month mark. "Judging from the one-month results, the weekend charter flights are indeed widely welcomed by people on both sides of the strait," EVA Air Vice GM Nieh Kuo-wei told Chinese state news agency Xinhua. Cross-strait charter flights kicked off on July 4 under an agreement signed by the China-based Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation.
Copa Airlines yesterday unveiled an expansion plan that includes addition to its network later this year of Belo Horizonte in Brazil, Oranjestad in Aruba, Valencia in Venezuela and Santa Cruz in Bolivia. All will be served from Panama City and will bring its network to 45 destinations by year end. Etihad Airways launched daily flights from Abu Dhabi to Chennai and Kozhikode. It also has secured flying rights to two more cities in India, Kolkata and Jaipur. American Airlines will launch daily Miami-Antigua from Nov. 20 aboard 737-800s.
