Delta Air Lines will launch twice-daily Boston-Newport News service on Nov. 15 aboard Comair 50-seat CRJs. Separately, Delta and China Airlines expanded their codeshare agreement to include DL flights from Los Angeles to Hartford, Raleigh/Durham and Columbus and CI flights to Taipei from six US cities and onward to five Southeast Asian destinations. Wizz Air will extend its twice-weekly service from Katowice to Girona-Costa Brava, originally scheduled to end next month, to Oct. 28.
Air traffic at UK airports recovered from last Thursday's security alert, with the number of cancellations already easing drastically by Friday. British Airways operated a "near normal" schedule, with 70% of its scheduled short-haul and domestic services to and from London Heathrow departing as well as all long-haul flights with the exception of six services to the US. Most of its London Gatwick services and nearly all of its regional flights under the BA Connect banner were completed, albeit with some delays.
Thai Airways will launch service at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport on Sept. 15 with thrice-daily flights to Phitsanulok, four-times-weekly service to Ubon Ratchathani and thrice-weekly flights to Chiang Mai. Other domestic services will continue to operate from Bangkok International Airport for the time being. Thai is transferring its operation center to Suvarnabhumi on Sept. 28, the day the airport becomes fully operational after a host of delays.
Middle East Airlines resumed a four-times-weekly service to London Heathrow as it attempts to rebuild its network temporarily from Damascus. The Arab Air Carriers Organization reported that MEA also is operating charter services, some of which are being used to transport foreign nationals out of the Middle East. It is flying to Paris, Frankfurt, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait and Cairo. It secured an agreement with Syrian authorities to use Damascus until Beirut reopens. MEA operates six A321s and three A330-200s.
AirTran Airways will increase service to Florida with daily flights from Detroit Metro to Tampa from Nov. 7, Fort Lauderdale from Nov. 15 and Fort Myers from Dec. 21 and daily services to TPA from Dayton from Nov. 15 and Milwaukee from Dec. 5. It also will launch seasonal daily 737-700 services from Boston to FLL and Fort Myers, both from Nov. 15, and to Orlando from Dec. 21. Northwest Airlines announced the following new and expanded seasonal services for the winter timetable: New weekly flights from Detroit Metro to St. Thomas from Jan. 6 and to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo from Jan.
Airlines and airports in the UK were preparing for another difficult day today in the wake of yesterday's airport security alerts and new security measures. A ban on virtually all carry-on luggage remained in place, and passengers were told to expect extended delays at checkpoints.
Air Canada Jazz won't be returning to Toronto City Centre Airport anytime soon following the Toronto Port Authority's refusal to approve a sublease that would have enabled the Regional to resume operations there. Jazz was evicted from Toronto City in March by its landlord, City Centre Aviation ( ATWOnline, March 2) and failed in its attempt to stop the eviction through an injunction. The move cleared the way for startup Porter Airlines to launch operations there this fall.
Ryanair will base three new aircraft at Dublin Airport and launch 12 new routes, bringing to 63 the number of UK and European destinations it serves from DUB from December. The expansion completes "Ryanair's displacement of Aer Lingus as the national carrier of Ireland," the LCC claimed, noting it carries five times more passengers across its network than Aer Lingus each year.
KLM said it no longer will operate flights to "loss-making" Amman and Damascus from Oct. 29. From that date, KLM passengers will have to travel via Paris Charles de Gaulle with Air France. Midwest Airlines will operate daily Kansas City-Fort Myers service aboard a 717 from Nov. 1 to April 30, 2007. The carrier also will increase to daily flights from Kansas City to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale from Oct. 14 to April 30. Jet Airways launched thrice-weekly Amritsar-London Heathrow service aboard A330-200s.
Airlines throughout the world are delaying and canceling hundreds of flights to the UK in response to the arrest there early today of 21 alleged terrorists accused of planning to destroy as many as 10 US commercial aircraft operating transatlantic UK-to-US service. "We are confident we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction," London Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said.
Munich International Airport operator FMG announced its application to the regional government of Upper Bavaria to launch a planning process for construction of a third runway. FMG said a third runway would increase its capacity to 120 operations per hr.
Great Wall Airlines will launch twice-weekly Shanghai Pudong-Chennai freighter service, with a third weekly flight starting in September. Dba is increasing Munich-Bremen frequency to thrice-daily from Sept. 2. The carrier is operating on 21 German routes and expects a total of around 5 million passengers for the current business year, up 16.3% over the prior year. Horizon Air launched twice-daily Los Angeles-Redmond/Bend service aboard Q400s. VLM Airlines will increase Amsterdam-London City flights from six-times-daily to nine on Sept. 4.
Alaska Airlines is adding frequencies to the following Mexican routes starting Oct. 29: Los Angeles to Loreto (thrice-weekly to four), Manzanillo (four-times-weekly to six) and Mazatlan (seven-times-weekly to eight) and San Francisco-Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo (twice-weekly to four). It is increasing capacity to Mexico by 22% this fall. Frontier Airlines will launch four-times-weekly Denver-Guadalajara service Dec. 22.
Air Canada Jazz launched daily CRJ service from Edmonton to Victoria, Calgary to Comox and Winnipeg to London, Ont., and twice-daily Edmonton-Kelowna flights. Mesa Airlines will begin 11-times-weekly Dallas/Fort Worth-Joplin service from Oct. 5. Flights will be operated by Air Midwest.
Cathay Pacific Airways will launch a fourth weekly Hong Kong-Dallas/Fort Worth-Atlanta 747-400F flight from Aug. 7. EasyJet will start double-daily Basel-Munich flights Oct. 30 and will compete against Lufthansa for the first time. It also will begin daily Bristol-Paris Charles de Gaulle service the same day and Geneva-Hamburg service by Dec 1. This week it launched thrice-weekly London Luton-Istanbul Sabhia Gokcen flights that will increase to daily on Sept. 4.
American Airlines will launch daily Chicago O'Hare-Shannon service from Oct. 28 aboard a 767-300, replacing its 757 flight from Boston. The new flight will be an extension to AA's existing ORD-Dublin service. JetBlue Airways will launch daily Washington Dulles-West Palm Beach flights Oct. 3 aboard an A320. China Southern Airlines will operate daily Guangzhou-Lhasa service via Shangri-La through the summer schedule with 757s and A319s. It also began a thrice-weekly Guangzhou-Manila service.
ANA and JP Express, a joint venture between ANA and Japan Post, launched operations yesterday with a Tokyo-Shanghai service via Osaka. AJV has one 767-300F but will build that fleet over the next year, launching flights to the US this fall. The initial weekly schedule calls for 14 flights on 11 routes to seven overseas destinations from three Japanese cities.
Flybe will increase its Southampton-Glasgow service to six-times-daily from four and deploy Embraer 195s on the route, boosting capacity 75%. It also will add a seventh daily Birmingham-Belfast service and raise capacity on that route by 25%. Flybe said BA Connect is discontinuing the route on Aug. 21. Continental Airlines will launch weekly Newark-Bonaire service aboard a 737-700 from Dec. 16. Sterling Airlines will add service from Copenhagen to Krakow (thrice-weekly from Sept. 19) and Geneva (twice-weekly from Dec. 30).
United Airlines will end its service between New York JFK and Tokyo Narita and instead will launch 777 service from Washington Dulles to Tokyo beginning Oct. 28 as it pulls down its international presence at JFK in favor of codeshares with Star Alliance partners.
United Airlines on Friday agreed to sell its route authority between New York and London to Delta Air Lines, stating in a memo to staff that the route, which was acquired from Pan Am many years ago, "has become unprofitable" and that the cost of operating it no longer can be justified. Simultaneously, United announced a series of route additions and adjustments aimed at building its Asia network, including the transfer of its JFK-Tokyo Narita service to its Washington Dulles hub (see item below).
US Airways will offer seasonal Phoenix-Telluride service twice-daily from Dec. 15 through March 31 aboard Mesa Airlines Dash 8s. It also will operate Saturday flights to Eagle/Vail from Charlotte (beginning in December) and Philadelphia (from February) aboard 757s. Dragonair will operate 76 additional services, including 20 charters, to meet rising summer demand. The extra flights will include 18 to Taipei, 17 to Kota Kinabalu, 12 to Sanya and nine to Tokyo Narita. Charters are to Sendai, Urumqi, Phuket and Pusan.
Varig said it reestablished domestic service Wednesday from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza and Manaus and is continuing international flights to Buenos Aires and Frankfurt. The airline said on its website that it already has "solved a series of problems in this period of transition" following last week's purchase at auction by former subsidiary VarigLog ( ATWOnline, July 21).
Delta Air Lines will launch eight-times-weekly Atlanta-Marathon, Fla., service Nov. 16 aboard an Atlantic Southeast Airlines 40-seat CRJ. TAM will begin daily Sao Paulo Guarulhos-London Heathrow service on Oct. 28 with an A330-200. It is TAM's second European destination after Paris Charles de Gaulle. The airline launched the following daily routes: GRU-Maceio, GRU-Manaus-Porto Velho, GRU-Brasilia-Goiania-Congonhas and Rio de Janeiro Galeo-Brasilia-Manaus-Boa Vista.
Jetstar International, Qantas's new low-cost international arm, unveiled its product offering and fares in Sydney yesterday. Services will start Nov. 23 to six destinations over nine routes with one-way fares from A$169 ($127) to A$249. The airline will operate from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Bangkok, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City, Osaka, Bali and Honolulu. The initial fleet will be 303-seat A330-200s with two classes of service including StarClass, a premium cabin. Jetstar will operate 787s from mid-2008 and will take the first 10 ordered by Qantas.
