JetBlue Airways Tuesday launched daily E-190 service from Boston to Charlotte and Bermuda, the latter operating through Oct. 31. Today it will begin operating BOS-San Francisco flights. WestJet will increase service from Vancouver to Honolulu (to 11-times-weekly from seven) and Maui (to 10-times-weekly from seven) from Dec. 15. Kuwait Airways will fly to Casablanca June 26-Oct. 27 and Malaga July 1-Sept. 2. Frequency was not announced.
On the day that Delta Air Lines emerged from 19 months of bankruptcy protection, executives expressed confidence that the reorganized company will develop and thrive as a global carrier. CEO Gerald Grinstein told ATWOnline in Atlanta Monday that while he believes "there is no magic mark" or percentage of DL's business that will come from long-haul operations, "a 50/50 share would be no surprise." Starting with ATL-Prague flights today, the airline plans to launch service to 13 new international destinations in the next two months alone.
Asiana Airlines will launch Busan-Weihei flights on June 1, bringing the number of Chinese cities it serves to 20. It also reached agreement with the Chinese government to operate a Seoul Gimpo-Shanghai Hongqiao service starting as early as next year, which Asiana said will save an hour of travel time between the two cities. Spirit Airlines will operate Fort Lauderdale-San Pedro Sula flights thrice-weekly beginning July 20, becoming daily from Nov. 15. The Honduran city will be Spirit's third Central American destination after San Jose and Guatemala City.
SkyEurope Airlines is planning to expand aggressively from its new Vienna base, possibly to 15 aircraft, in order to challenge Austrian Airlines' "Focus East" strategy, CCO Karim Makhlouf told ATWOnline. Speaking last week at the French Connect seminar in Nantes La Baule, Makhlouf said, "In times of consolidation it is normal to go where you expect a gap in the near future," adding that he considers Austrian to be "the weakest hub carrier in Europe. They have a cost problem. That is why we will attack them."
After years of contentious negotiations, representatives from the US and EU enjoyed a bit of ceremony yesterday--and looked ahead--as the open skies agreement reached in March was signed at a Washington event attended by Europe's VP-Transport Jacques Barrot, EU Council President Wolfgang Tiefensee, US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Southwest Airlines will launch daily Phoenix-Manchester, N.H., service on Aug. 26 and add an eighth daily PHX-Salt Lake City flight. On Oct. 4 it will start a second daily Las Vegas-Raleigh/Durham flight and a fourth daily LAS-Seattle flight.
Delta Air Lines will operate six-times-weekly New York JFK-Montego Bay flights from June 9 aboard 737-800s. Delta Connection carrier Freedom Airlines will launch daily Orlando International-Fort Walton Beach flights on May 3 and twice-daily Tampa-Key West service on May 5. Dragonair launched thrice-weekly Hong Kong-Busan service, its first flight to South Korea, aboard A320s. First Choice Airways launched weekly Bristol-Orlando Sanford flights aboard a 767-300.
Copa Airlines will launch 737NG service from Panama City to Washington Dulles (daily) and Punta Cana (twice-weekly) on July 15. Iberia will start twice-weekly Madrid-St. Petersburg flights on June 2 aboard two-class A319s. It also will increase its daily service to Moscow Domodedovo to 12-times-weekly.
BAA parent Ferrovial yesterday said it will spend £9.3 billion ($18.59 billion) over the next 11 years on upgrades at London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, where it expects combined traffic to increase 2.8% per year through the period. BAA CEO Stephen Nelson promised the improvements will be delivered "on time and on budget" and require nothing from taxpayers. Planned facilities include a second runway and terminal at STN and replacement of LHR's Terminal 2, renovation of T3 and T4 and a second satellite at T5.
Etihad Airways will bring forward the launch date for its four-times-weekly Abu Dhabi-Dublin service by one month to July 2. Flights are aboard A330-200s. Iberia added a second daily Madrid-Dublin frequency aboard an A320. Vueling Airlines launched daily Madrid-Venice service.
Low-cost startup Skybus Airlines yesterday unveiled its initial destinations, touted $10 fares and began accepting reservations on its website. The Columbus-based carrier will begin flying May 22, launching daily A319 service from Columbus to Burbank, Portsmouth, Kansas City and Richmond. One week later it will start operating daily to Greensboro, Fort Lauderdale and Bellingham. Flights to Oakland and a second daily Burbank service will begin June 12.
SAS Sweden said its summer expansion from Stockholm Arlanda, from which it has launched 11 new routes, had a successful start. European Route Manager Niklas Hardange told this website that the airline expects 2007 passenger numbers to climb 8.3% thanks to the new services. SAS Sweden operates four 737-800s, 16 737-600s, 15 MD-80s and seven Dash 8s, along with one Avro RJ leased from Transwede for its London City operation. It is looking to add two more aircraft and is exploring up to four new leisure destinations.
Emirates will increase Dubai-Beijing frequencies to 12-times-weekly from daily on May 1 and to twice-daily from July 1. Flights are aboard A340-300s. Germanwings will start twice-weekly Cologne-Sarmellek/FlyBalaton service on June 18. Kingfisher Airlines launched Kochi-Agatti service.
Qantas informed the Australian Stock Exchange in a Friday filing that shareholder acceptances to Airline Partners Australia's offer declined to 27.48% from 28.86% as institutional investors sold off shares held in an Institutional Acceptance Facility. The 28.86% figure represented a midweek decrease from 30.06%. Separately, Qantas said it will operate three additional Sydney-Perth-Johannesburg services in both December and January.
Spanair launched thrice-weekly Madrid-Pamplona flights. It will start weekly flights from Pamplona to Tenerife Sur (May 4) and Palma de Mallorca (June 6). TAM said it contracted Passaredo Transportes Aereos to operate regional services to Barreiras and Vitoria de Conquista from Brasilia, Salvador and Ribeirao Preto. Air China launched twice-weekly Beijing-Sapporo flights this week.
Ryanair announced changes to its schedule from Stockholm Skavsta comprising new services to Marseille (four-times-weekly from May 7), Treviso (thrice-weekly from May 23) and Alghero (four-times-weekly from May 24) and a cessation of flights to Brussels Charleroi (from May 22), Gdansk (from May 22) and Kaunas (from May 23). Continental Airlines will offer weekly Continental Express Cleveland-Quebec service aboard an ERJ-145 June 9-Oct. 28.
Delta Air Lines will launch daily New York JFK-Tel Aviv service on March 10, 2008, aboard a 767-300ER. It began flying to Tel Aviv from Atlanta last year with 777-200ERs and said it will be the only US airline serving Israel from two US cities.
SunExpress, the joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, is increasing its presence in Izmir, where it will employ 160 and base four aircraft during the summer schedule. It will operate 56 weekly flights to 11 Turkish cities and 40 to 11 international destinations. The Antalya-based carrier expects this year to breach the 3-million-passenger mark for the first time in its 17 years of operation, up from 2.6 million in 2006. It flies 10 737-800s and four 757-200s and will add two more -800s in 2008.
DHL is ramping up operations at Leipzig/Halle, to which it started flying in 2005, and intends to turn it into a European hub with an investment of €300 million. It currently operates 14 daily frequencies at LEJ, most recently to Hamburg and Ljubljana, and handles approximately 160 tons of freight per day. Next year it plans to land 50 aircraft at the airport each night. It said the expansion will create around 3,500 jobs by 2012.
Air China unveiled details of the new cargo airline it plans to operate in partnership with Cathay Pacific Airways ( ATWOnline, Jan. 11), to be based on the existing China Cargo Airlines that flies out of Beijing.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Croatia Airlines entered into a codeshare partnership on SAS routes from Oslo Gardermoen, Stockholm Arlanda and Copenhagen to Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Amsterdam and Zurich and connecting flights on Croatia's services to Zagreb and Split. Croatia is a Star Alliance regional member. Lufthansa will launch twice-daily Munich-Linz flights in June aboard Augsburg Airways Dash 8s. It already added a third daily flight to its MUC-Grax service. LH's summer schedule features 259 weekly flights between Germany and Austria.
JetBlue Airways will launch A320 service from Boston to San Diego (daily from June 28) and Aruba (Saturdays from June 30). It also named General Counsel Jim Hnat as executive VP-corporate affairs and corporate secretary.
Los Angeles World Airports blasted United Airlines for its plan to levy a $10 surcharge on passengers flying from LAX ( ATWOnline, April 12), saying the increase "wildly exceeds" UA's share of a "justified increase in its maintenance and operation costs." LAWA said UA enplaned 4.9 million passengers at LAX last year. Assuming the same level of traffic in 2007, it would collect nearly five times the $10 million rent increase it blamed for the new policy.
Asiana Airlines launched thrice-weekly Busan-Ho Chi Minh City service. Austrian Airlines will operate four-times-weekly Vienna-Talinn flights from June 4.
