DHL relocated its office and warehouse facilities in Charlotte to a 52,000-sq.-ft. site near Charlotte International Airport that is twice the size of its previous location. The facility will include 38,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space and is aimed at expediting air and ocean shipping by taking advantage of proximity to the airport and its customs facilities.
Cebu Pacific will launch four-times-weekly Manila-Kuala Lumpur service on Dec. 1 aboard A319s. Gol launched daily Sao Paulo Guarulhos-Chapeco service via Florianopolis.
The EU and the Russian Federation finally agreed to phase out costly Siberian overflight fees by 2013. "This is a big success. The agreement will significantly improve the competitive situation of our European airlines and ease their operations between Europe and the growing markets in Asia," European Commissioner for Transport Jacques Barrot said.
Delta Air Lines will launch a Boston-Chicago Midway service on Jan. 11, operating thrice-daily on weekdays and twice-daily on weekends aboard Comair 50-seat CRJs.
Lufthansa will launch daily Munich-Denver service on March 31 aboard an A340-300 and add a second daily Frankfurt-Detroit flight on March 25 aboard an A330-300. It also will offer thrice-weekly Munich-Seoul-Busan service beginning March 27 aboard an A340-300. It already flies daily to Seoul.
SkyEurope Airlines is nearing a decision to open a base in Vienna, which is just 60 km. from its Bratislava hub. It currently serves Innsbruck and Salzburg in Austria. A source close to the project told ATWOnline that the carrier plans to base up to three 737s at VIE and launch services to both Western and Eastern Europe. SkyEurope also plans to operate a twice-daily VIE-INN service, which will be the first domestic LCC route in Austria.
Jetstar Airways announced that it has received permission from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to operate long-haul services from Australia ( ATWOnline, July 27). The carrier said the addendum to its AOC was the "final hurdle" it needed to negotiate before launching thrice-weekly Melbourne-Bangkok service on Thursday. It subsequently will start flights from Sydney to Phuket (thrice-weekly from Nov. 24), Ho Chi Minh City (thrice-weekly from Nov. 30) and Bali (twice-weekly from Dec. 8).
Bmibaby will launch service from its Birmingham base to Glasgow International (twice-daily), Faro (thrice-weekly) and Murcia (four-times-weekly) from March 25. The LCC intends to add more new destinations from BHX later next year, according to MD Crawford Rix. Etihad Airways will operate a six-times-weekly Abu Dhabi-Kuala Lumpur service from Jan. 15 using A340-300s. Allegiant Air will launch four-times-weekly Knoxville-Las Vegas service and twice-weekly Orlando Sanford-Fort Wayne flights on Feb. 15 aboard 150-seat MD-80s.
Southwest Airlines yesterday unveiled 33 new nonstop flights across 26 city-pairs. From March 11 it will launch thrice-daily Baltimore/Washington-Pittsburgh, twice-daily Dallas Love Field-Birmingham, twice-daily San Diego-Reno/Tahoe and twice-daily Cleveland-Orlando service along with additional daily frequencies across 18 city-pairs. It also will add frequencies from Chicago Midway on March 17 and April 15. Separately, SWA's board authorized a new share repurchase program to acquire up to $400 million of the company's common stock, or approximately 25.1 million shares.
EVA Air will launch thrice-weekly Taipei-Mumbai service on Dec. 10 aboard 747-400s. EasyJet will fly Munich-Edinburgh daily starting April 4. Virgin Atlantic Airways yesterday launched weekly Manchester-St. Lucia service aboard a 747-400. SAS Sweden will start service from Stockholm Arlanda to Munich (five-times-daily from Feb. 12), Palma de Mallorca (weekly from March 31), Malaga (thrice-weekly from April 28), Glasgow (twice-weekly from April 16) and Reykjavik on April 27.
Delta Air Lines was scheduled to operate its first New York JFK-London Gatwick flight at 7:05 p.m. last night. DL purchased the route right from United Airlines over the summer ( ATWOnline, July 31) and now serves 21 transatlantic destinations from JFK. It will add a second daily flight on April 1. DL also announced it will launch weekly Atlanta-Tobago Crown Point service on Feb. 17 aboard a 737-800. In addition, it will expand its codeshare relationship with KLM from Dec.
Air New Zealand and Qantas withdrew their joint application to codeshare on routes across the Tasman Sea following the negative draft determination issued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ( ATWOnline, Nov. 6).
Swiss International Air Lines will continue its long-haul expansion with the addition of three A340-300s in the next two years. It took two ex-Sabena A330-200s last month, one of which entered service yesterday with the other set to begin flying in mid-December ( ATWOnline, Oct. 19). By summer 2008 it will operate 23 long-haul aircraft. Its fleet expansion, which includes two A321s and one A320, will create 550 new jobs.
Cathay Pacific Airways will expand its all-cargo Hong Kong-Shanghai flights to 17 weekly from 12 currently on Dec. 2 and to 18 weekly on Jan. 5 aboard 747Fs. Pacific Director and GM-Cargo Ron Mathison said the added flights "will enable us to get further leverage on the Eastern China market as demand remains high." Cargolux plans to add a fourth weekly frequency to its Luxembourg-Johannesburg freighter service from Nov. 28 using a 747-400F.
Aeromexico will launch four-times-weekly Mexico City-Austin flights from Dec. 15, providing the only scheduled air link between the capital cities of Mexico and Texas. United Airlines said it will switch from a 777 to a 747 on its daily Chicago-Shanghai service from March 25, boosting capacity on the route by 658 seats weekly. It also will add a second daily flight on its San Francisco-Frankfurt route from April 24 aboard a 777.
Transavia.com will stop its four-times-weekly Amsterdam-Genoa service from Dec. 3 owing to disapointing traffic. Niki will increase MTOW of one of its A320s to 77 tons from 75 tons so it can operate nonstop service from Vienna to Dubai. "That will give us 45 extra minutes of range," founder Niki Lauda told this website. Niki plans to operate at least eight charter flights to Dubai beginning Dec. 21. Partner Air Berlin will feed the service from several German destinations.
Austrian Airlines will launch twice-weekly Vienna-Erbil flights on Dec. 11, nine months after it postponed the service ( ATWOnline, Feb. 27). It said the city in the Kurdistan region now is secure. It will be the first European carrier to operate to Iraq and will use A319s. Meanwhile, it has ceased its Vienna-Pecs service.
AirAsia challenged the Singapore government to open its skies and "allow everyone to fly." CEO Tony Fernandes, delivering a keynote address at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation's Outlook 2007 summit in Singapore, said the LCC's fares around ASEAN countries are "90% less than the typical fare from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur." He told delegates that AirAsia has tried for five years to gain access to Singapore but the government has declined.
TAP Portugal CEO Fernando Pinto said membership in the Star Alliance, which the carrier joined in spring 2005, has expanded its reach greatly through the networks of its partner airlines, boosting its appeal in the marketplace. He also told ATWOnline last week in Lisbon that TAP "has grown very fast in the last five years, around 50% in terms of passenger kilometers."
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, reported third-quarter net income of $7.1 million, significantly narrowed from a $29.9 million profit in the year-ago quarter.
Air New Zealand unveiled a reconfigured Pacific network "following a review of route profitability." It will suspend its thrice-weekly Los Angeles-Papeete-Rarotonga service beginning April 2 and reinstate a weekly LAX-Rarotonga flight. It will codeshare with Air Tahiti Nui on its four-times-weekly LAX-Papeete service and cooperate with ATN on a four-times-weekly Papeete-Auckland service. The ANZ-ATN codeshare is subject to government approval. United Airlines will launch service to Huntsville from Denver (daily from Feb.
Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz are boosting capacity in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador by 16% through more frequencies and fleet reallocation, the carriers announced yesterday. The increase will equal more than 10,000 additional seats per week and will cover 21 additional weekly flights to/from and within Newfoundland and Labrador, 27 in New Brunswick and 73 in Nova Scotia. Centralwings will launch twice-weekly flights from Lodz to Rome Ciampino and Paris Beauvais from Feb. 19 aboard 737-300s/-400s.
