Ryanair yesterday unveiled its first Moroccan routes, part of a May agreement with the Moroccan government to fly up to 20 routes and nearly 1 million passengers per year to the North African country ( ATWOnline, May 26). On Oct. 31 it will launch flights from London Luton to Fez (thrice-weekly) and Marrakech (four-times-weekly). LCC rivals Air Berlin and easyJet already serve Morocco.
Thai Airways will launch thrice-weekly 777-200ER service between Bangkok and Johannesburg Oct. 31. Separately, Thai and Shanghai Airlines signed an MOU for increased commercial cooperation. The carriers currently codeshare on routes between China and Thailand. Alaska Airlines will operate four-times-weekly flights from Seattle to Cancun and from Portland, Ore., to Los Cabos and thrice-weekly PDX-Puerto Vallarta service aboard 737s from the end of October through the end of April.
Lufthansa will start a daily Munich-Sao Paolo service on Sept. 13 using A340-300s. Separately, LH opened the Lufthansa Aviation Center at Frankfurt International Airport. The facility will house offices for 1,800 employees and features 36 meeting rooms and seven conference rooms.
AirAsia will launch service today at its new Kuching hub, its second base in eastern Malaysia after Kota Kinabalu. It will start with daily flights to Kota and Miri and twice-daily service to Bintulu and Sibu, all aboard 737-300s.
Cebu Pacific Air will become the second tenant of Singapore Changi's Budget Terminal. Singapore aviation officials granted Cebu approval to operate flights to Changi beginning in late August. Tiger Airways was the first customer to operate at the Budget Terminal, which opened four months ago ( ATWOnline, March 28). In other news, Changi Airports International announced a joint venture with Moscow Sheremetyevo to manage and operate a new 520,000-sq.-ft.
Kingfisher Airlines started daily Ahmedabad-Mumbai, Hyderabad-Chennai, Hyderabad-Vishakhapatnam, Chennai-Vishakhapatnam and Chennai-Kochi flights aboard ATR 72s. It now operates 86 daily flights to 17 destinations. Delta Air Lines will launch daily New York JFK-Punta Cana flights aboard an MD-88, daily Atlanta-Santiago de Los Caballeros service with 737-800s and four-times-weekly ATL-Port of Spain service, also with dash 800s, on Dec. 9. It will begin daily Boston-Dayton and daily Jacksonville-Pensacola service on Sept. 11 operated by Comair.
Middle East Airlines resumed Damascus service Friday in an effort to evacuate people stranded in Syria as a result of the hostilities in Lebanon, which have closed Beirut Rafik Hariri Airport. MEA initially moved its nine Airbus aircraft to Jordan and Cyprus after BEY was bombed on July 13. It said it will fly to Frankfurt, Riyadh, Paris, Jeddah, Kuwait City and Dubai after securing permission from the Syrian government to use Damascus International. It added that it "hope[s] to resume flights from Beirut once the fighting ends."
Singapore Airlines last week launched a thrice-weekly Singapore-Milan Malpensa-Barcelona flight aboard a 777-200ER. JetBlue Airways began four-times-daily flights between New York JFK and Raleigh-Durham aboard Embraer 190s. Midwest Airlines will launch daily Milwaukee-Fort Myers service from Oct. 14 through April 30 and nonstop MKE-Fort Lauderdale flights on Oct. 1 (service currently operates through Kansas City). From Nov. 16 through April 30 it will add second daily flights to Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa.
SAS Ground Services renewed its agreement with Novair for ground handling services at 15 Scandinavian airports for an additional three years. It also was chosen by bmi for ground handling at Chicago O'Hare.
Austrian Airlines Group is looking for further cost-cutting measures and is considering reducing or ending service to Australia. According to a source close to airline management, Austrian pays €400,000 ($500,600) in operational costs for each one of its nine weekly 777-200ER rotations to Australia, where it serves Sydney six-times-weekly and Melbourne thrice-weekly. The route is being pressured by high fuel prices and fierce competition from Middle Eastern carriers operating between Europe and Australia.
American Airlines said it filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation to operate daily Dallas/Fort Worth-Beijing service from March 25 aboard a 245-seat 777. Separately, American Eagle will launch flights from Chicago O'Hare to Columbia (daily), Jackson (daily) and Greensboro (twice-daily) on Sept. 6 aboard ERJ-145s. On the same day it will begin twice-daily Columbus-Raleigh/Durham flights and daily New York LaGuardia-Jacksonville service aboard ERJ-135s. Thrice-daily DFW-Alexandria service will begin Dec. 14 aboard Saab 340s.
Delta Air Lines and KLM announced a codesharing deal that will see KLM place its code on DL flights to 15 US destinations from Atlanta while the US carrier puts its code on KLM flights from Amsterdam to 10 European cities. The two intend to expand the agreement.
Frontier Airlines will launch weekly seasonal San Diego-Cancun service from Dec. 16. Air Transat will operate thrice-weekly London Gatwick-Toronto flights from December through March 2007, when it will resume daily service on the route. American Airlines will switch from a 767 to a 777 on its second daily Miami-Buenos Aires flight starting Sept. 6. It already operates one 777 on the route daily. It also will switch from a 767 to a 777 on its daily New York JFK-Buenos Aires flight from Oct. 29 to April 2, when it will revert back to a 767.
The European Commission yesterday released its "Proposed Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on Common Rules for Air Services in the European Union," which among other things will require airlines to include all extra charges and taxes in advertised airfares, including those published on carrier websites, beginning in December 2007.
Love Terminal Partners, a group that owns the vacant Legend Airlines terminal at Dallas Love Field, filed suit in a US court Monday to block the deal forged by Dallas, Fort Worth, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines to gradually repeal the Wright Amendment ( ATWOnline, June 16). The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that LTP alleged the agreement violated antitrust law and compromised the value of the terminal, which the group has been attempting to sell to Pinnacle Airlines for $100 million.
EU and US FAA yesterday announced the execution of an MOU at Farnborough that "secures enhanced cooperation in building a more efficient and seamless air traffic system between Europe and the US," FAA said. "As FAA moves forward with its aggressive air traffic modernization efforts, it's vital that we coordinate with our global partners," Administrator Marion Blakey said.
NAV Canada will withdraw its three-year-old 2% service charge on Sept. 1. The fee was instituted in order to rebuild the Rate Stabilization Account to C$50 million ($44.3 million) from a C$116 million deficit. The account had C$73 million as of May 31. NAV Canada said the decision was due in part to a Supreme Court of Canada decision that allowed it to recover C$8 million in unpaid customer service charges.
Etihad Airways will launch daily Abu Dhabi-New York JFK service from Oct. 26 aboard A340-500s. It is its second North American destination after Toronto. Copa Airlines launched five-times-weekly Panama City-Manaus service last weekend aboard Embraer 190s. Cargoitalia launched twice-weekly Milan Malpensa-Houston Bush flights aboard DC10-30Fs.
US Senate passed an amendment introduced by Sen. Dick Durban (D-Ill.) that orders the Dept. of Homeland Security to develop new procedures to quickly eliminate the names of individuals incorrectly placed in the database of suspected terrorists, either because they were placed there in error or because their names are similar to those that belong in the database. Current clearance procedures require passengers to present a letter to airline employees each time they fly.
Germanwings said it will expand its Cologne Bonn hub and base another six aircraft there by 2009. The carrier, which took delivery of the first of 18 new A319s Friday, plans to increase passenger numbers at CGN in the next three years by more than 1 million per year to 4.6 million. It will use the new capacity to boost frequencies and add new destinations; it is evaluating cites in France, Israel and North Africa.
North American Airlines began weekly service between Baltimore/Washington International and Banjul with continuing service to Accra. It also added a second weekly flight between New York JFK and Accra.
US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) introduced legislation last week to implement the June deal to phase out the Wright Amendment. The arrangement reached by the cities of Dallas and Ft. Worth, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines requires congressional approval ( ATWOnline, June 16. "My bill will repeal the Wright Amendment over eight years and achieve a balance between Love Field and the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport with a significant benefit to consumers," Hutchison said.
Lufthansa wants to increase the number of long-haul destinations it serves from Munich from 18 to 40 by the end of the decade, an LH spokesperson told ATWOnline.
Beirut International Airport was closed to air traffic indefinitely following yesterday's bombing by Israeli fighter jets in response to a Hezbollah raid from Lebanon into northern Israel. Two runways reportedly sustained heavy damage. Airlines throughout the region cancelled flights to Lebanon's capital and Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines reportedly diverted planes to Cyprus. The bombing did not damage any aircraft or the airport's terminal.
