El Al will purchase four new 737-800s, one of which will be delivered next year with the remainder arriving in 2009, according to a statement from the carrier cited by Reuters. El Al yesterday confirmed to ATWOnline that it will acquire the four aircraft, but it was unclear whether it is a new order or a confirmation of previously placed options or purchase rights. Separately, El Al and American Airlines applied to US and Israeli authorities to begin codesharing. El Al and AA passengers will have access to Israel from 28 North American destinations, up from the current five.
US Government Accountability Office issued a report on runway safety that cast doubt on FAA's recent claims of progress in reducing incursions, concluding that "the rate of runway incursions has not decreased over the last five years" and citing lapses by the agency in implementing runway safety initiatives. FAA recently touted "significant short-term actions" taken to improve runway safety ( ATWOnline, Oct.
Delta Air Lines launched daily Atlanta-Lagos service Monday aboard a 214-seat 767-300ER. It plans to start New York JFK-Lagos flights on June 9, part of an African expansion planned for next year that eventually will lead to its serving seven destinations in six countries. Bmi regional will launch six-times-weekly Nottingham East Midlands-Cologne/Bonn flights on Feb. 11. Wizz Air will start thrice-weekly Warsaw-Doncaster Sheffield service on April 1.
Speaking last week on the occasion of the launch of Swiss International Air Lines' new daily service to Delhi, CEO Christoph Franz said his carrier's acquisition by Lufthansa not only will continue to benefit Swiss but should serve as a model as the industry continues down the road to consolidation.
European Commission and Nepal announced a horizontal air services agreement allowing any EU airline to operate between Nepal and any EU nation where a bilateral agreement with Nepal exists and traffic rights are secured.
Emirates commenced nonstop service between Houston and Dubai yesterday, offering thrice-weekly flights using a 777-200LR. Service increases to daily in February. US Airways will launch thrice-daily Charlotte-Daytona Beach service Feb. 1 aboard E-175s operated by Republic Airlines. Germanwings will begin twice-weekly flights from Cologne to Keflavik and Osijek next summer. Sama will launch thrice-weekly flights to Amman from Dammam and Riyadh on Dec. 6. It is the Saudi carrier's third international destination.
S7 Airlines introduced the A319 on its thrice-daily Moscow Domodedovo-Krasnodar service. It claimed it is the first airline to serve the southwestern destination with Western-built aircraft. S7 currently operates 12 A319s.
EgyptAir signed a long-term contract with GECAS for the lease of six 777-300ERs. The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery in February 2010 and will be used on nonstop routes from Cairo to New York JFK and Tokyo Narita. A stop in Bangkok will be eliminated on the latter route but the city will continue to be connected to Cairo with a separate flight. "The 777-300s will supplement our current fleet of five 777-200s," Chairman and CEO Sherif Saad Eldin Galal told ATWOnline.
Frontier Airlines Friday launched four-times-weekly Denver-San Jose, Costa Rica, service aboard an A319. A fifth weekly flight will be added Jan. 5. San Jose is Frontier's 10th foreign destination--it already served seven in Mexico and two in Canada.
SIX YEARS AFTER A SEISMIC SHIFT IN ALL ITS PARADIGMS, aviation security is still shifting gears, still testing technology that holds the promise to accelerate, automate andmost importantlyintegrate the process. It is doing so in the face of shifting challenges, as evidenced by the 8/10/06 terror plot in the UK that led to current draconian restrictions on the transport of liquids in the cabin.
RAK Airways, the Ras Al Khaimah-based startup, operated its inaugural flight yesterday to Beirut (a thrice-weekly service) and also launched service to Colombo (thrice-weekly), Sofia (weekly) and Dhaka (thrice-weekly) with 757s. The carrier said it will unveil routes to India, Nepal, Qatar and Tanzania in the next three months "as part of an ambitious growth strategy." COO Khalid Almeer said RAK will acquire 6-8 narrowbody aircraft within two years and serve 20 destinations in the Gulf, South Asia, the Middle East and East Africa.
AirBaltic will launch thrice-weekly Vilnius-Paris Charles de Gaulle service on March 31 using 737-500s. Singapore Airlines will increase its Singapore-Milan Malpensa-Barcelona service to daily from four-times-weekly beginning Jan. 14. Flights are aboard 777-300ERs.
Etihad Airways will launch four-times-weekly Abu Dhabi-Beijing flights on March 30 aboard a two-class, 262-seat A330-200. It is EY's first Chinese service and its eighth to the Asia/Pacific, where it already serves Brisbane, Sydney, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok. Flights to Beijing will depart Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Aircraft also will have 11 tonnes of cargo capacity.
Air China yesterday launched twice-weekly Beijing-Dubai-Athens service aboard a 767. Wizz Air will base an additional A320 in Sofia beginning July 12 and launch flights to Varna (four-times-weekly), Milan Orio al Serio (four-times-weekly), Valencia (thrice-weekly), Barcelona (twice-weekly) and Izmir (weekly) while increasing frequencies to London Luton, Rome Fiumicino and Dortmund. AirTran Airways will launch daily Newport News-Tampa service on Feb. 14. Pakistan International Airways will launch twice-weekly Karachi-Sialkot flights on Nov. 30.
Flybe released select financial data for the fiscal year ended March 31, including a pre-tax profit figure of £4.7 million ($9.7 million) that represents a reversal from the £12.2 million loss suffered in the previous year.
British Airways announced several changes to its short-haul schedule from London effective March 30. It will launch a daily Heathrow-Malaga service and commence flights from Gatwick to Alicante (daily), Faro (13-times-weekly), Gibraltar (daily), Malaga (twice-daily), Palma (daily), Tunis (five-times-weekly) and Ibiza (daily from June), replacing franchise partner GB Airways when its agreement concludes in March ( ATWOnline, Oct. 26).
China expanded its airspace capacity from Nov. 22 by implementing Reduced Vertical Separation Minima in order to be better prepared for next summer's Olympics. Under the new rule, CAAC halved the height of each flight layer between 8,900 m. and 12,500 m., increasing the number of layers from 7 to 13 and nearly doubling the number of aircraft that can fly through the same area simultaneously. The regulator noted that Sanya, Hong Kong and Taipei are excluded as these cities already have implemented RVSM. Chinese carriers welcomed the new policy.
EasyJet will launch daily flights from London Luton to Jersey (March 31) and Liverpool (April 21). Qatar Airways and United Airlines implemented their codeshare agreement following approval from the US Dept. of Transportation. QR's code now is placed on select UA domestic services from Washington Dulles and on flights from several European gateways to the US. UA's code is on QR flights between Doha and IAD and Newark as well as a number of other QR routes. Last June QR started scheduled flights from Doha to EWR via Geneva.
UK CAA yesterday issued proposed maximum charges for London Heathrow and Gatwick for 2008-13 that are higher than those recommended by the Competition Commission last month, and also called for airports operator BAA to pay penalties when it fails to meet passenger service performance targets. The agency will allow for comments from interested parties and likely will issue its final decision in February or March. The new charge regime is slated to take effect April 1. Neither airlines nor BAA were happy with the proposals.
Emirates announced a significant increase in Australian capacity, lifting weekly frequencies from 49 to 70 by early 2009. Brisbane services will rise to double-daily from October 2008 while Melbourne and Sydney go to thrice-daily the following year. Both Melbourne and Sydney will be served by 489-seat A380s, with Sydney service to start in the 2009 first quarter. EK also serves Perth with a twice-daily 777 service.
Transaero said it will extend its network from Moscow Domodedovo with scheduled flights to Sydney via Hong Kong as well to Mauritius and Johannesburg. The Russian carrier said it release more details soon. AirBaltic will launch thrice-weekly Riga-Yerevan and twice-weekly Riga-Almaty service next summer.
Wizz Air will launch thrice-weekly Bucharest Baneasa-Brussels Charleroi service on Feb. 28 aboard an A320. American Airlines and Jet Airways reached agreement to start codeshare cooperation on Jan. 16 pending regulatory approval. Under the proposal, AA would place its code on Jet flights to certain cities in India beyond its Delhi hub. In turn, Jet would place its code on certain AA domestic flights out of New York JFK. In addition, AA and Jet will codeshare and cooperate on traffic between the US and India, connecting in Brussels.
SAS Group named Lars Sandahl Sorensen CEO of Scandinavian Airlines International succeeding Lars Lindgren, who will become executive chairman of Spanair (see story above). Sorensen joined SAI in 2003 as GM-Australia and New Zealand and became CCO in September 2006. Lindgren became CEO in 2004. Separately, SAS announced the launch of four-times-weekly Copenhagen-New Delhi service in November 2008 and thrice-weekly CPH-San Francisco flights some time next autumn. SAS will add a new 245-seat A340 to handle the capacity increase.
Swiss International Air Lines will switch from New York JFK's Terminal 1 to T4 effective Dec. 20. It will build a new first and business class lounge in the terminal.
Lufthansa is examining the opportunities created by the transatlantic open skies agreement scheduled to take effect at the end of March, yet remains unsure about the economic viability of launching flights from outside its home market to the US.
