UK and Russian governments signed a new aviation agreement that will lead to "a significant expansion" in air services between the two countries, the UK government announced. The bilateral grants bmi the right to operate alongside British Airways on the principal London-Moscow route and doubles the number of services permitted to 70 per week--35 from each country. The number of flights permitted on the Manchester-Moscow route will increase to 14 per week.
With Independence Air out of the picture and JetBlue Airways' armor revealing a few chinks, Southwest Airlines has decided to increase its presence in the Washington area by requesting two gates at Washington Dulles for unidentified service scheduled to begin this fall.
Tiger Airways of Singapore offered to take over routes from archrival Jetstar Asia. Responding to press reports that Orangestar Investment Holdings, parent of Jetstar Asia and Valuair, is seeking fresh funding of S$36 million ($22.3 million) after having exhausted the S$60 million that was pumped in at the time of the merger last July, Tiger CEO Tony Davis said in a statement, "We are well placed to take over some of Jetstar-Valuair's regional routes if they want to give them up.
Delta Air Lines launched five-times-daily New York LaGuardia-Chicago O'Hare service yesterday aboard Embraer 170s operated by Shuttle America. Delta also initiated daily service from Atlanta to Dusseldorf yesterday aboard a 767-300ER and to Tel Aviv on March 27 aboard a 777. Delta Connection Atlantic Southeast Airlines will operate twice-daily Atlanta-Wilmington, Del., service from June 29 aboard 40-seat CRJs and Delta said the route will make it the only carrier to operate to all 50 states. Gulf Air will launch a thrice-weekly Muscat-Paris CDG service on July 1.
China Southern Airlines will increase its Los Angeles-Guangzhou service to daily on June 22. JetBlue Airways launched four-times-daily New York JFK-Richmond service Friday aboard Embraer 190s. Shandong Airlines launched a summer schedule March 26 that includes new international services from Qingdao to Pusan (thrice-weekly) and Taegu (twice-weekly) aboard 737-700s.
LOT Polish Airlines supervisory board named Polish Civil Aviation Office President Krzysztof Kapis the carrier's new president and CEO. He worked at LOT from 1975 to 2001, holding a variety of positions including commercial director and product and marketing director. Separately, LOT leased a seventh 767, a dash 300ER, for the summer season to increase service to North America. It will offer 16 weekly flights to New York (Newark and JFK) and 11 to Chicago O'Hare. From Krakow, LOT operates three flights per week to New York and six to O'Hare.
Grupo Ferrovial of Spain, along with Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and an investment company managed by GIC Special Investments, announced that Macquarie Bank will join Citigroup Global Markets as an adviser in the consortium's effort to acquire UK airports operator BAA. Ferrovial's initial all-cash buyout offer was rejected two weeks ago ( ATWOnline, March 20).
Cathay Pacific Airways will launch a twice-weekly Hong Kong-Mumbai-Chennai-Hong Kong freighter service aboard a 747-200F. It features Cathay's first direct cargo flight from India to Hong Kong. The airline said it plans to add more freighter flights to India later this year. Swiss International Air Lines has taken over Styrian Spirit flights on the Zurich-Graz and Zurich-Krakow routes through April, using Embraer 145s. Styrian operated the flights under a codeshare agreement with Swiss until ceasing operations last week ( ATWOnline, March 27).
US FAA officials arrived in Caracas last weekend to inspect Venezuela's aviation safety standards and discuss the proposed reduction of US services to the South American country. According to press reports, Infrastructure Minister Ramon Carrizalez, told reporters that "the government has shown willingness to temporarily suspend the measure, depending on the atmosphere during the talks. We are here to discuss this and the aviation authorities are going to verify we are in compliance."
Delta Air Lines announced yesterday that it will make a significant investment in improving passenger service at its Atlanta hub, adding 50% more lobby space, 24 self-service kiosks with international check-in capability, 14 lower-level check-in positions, redesigned gate seating and a new Crown Room Club on Concourse C. It has added 24 international routes from Atlanta since September and launched or expanded service in more than 30 domestic markets. Most changes will be completed next month.
Emirates will add a second daily Dubai-Zurich flight from Oct. 29. This week it launched six-times-weekly service to Kolkata and thrice-weekly flights to Addis Ababa, becoming daily from Dec. 1, all aboard A330-200s. It will operate eight-times-weekly service to Bangalore from Oct. 29. AirBaltic introduced a summer schedule, valid through Oct. 28, featuring nine new destinations available from its Riga and Vilnius bases. From Riga it launched six-times-weekly flights to Warsaw and thrice-weekly service to Bergen on March 26.
Finnair Group's airport ground handling service company, Northport Oy, is forming a subsidiary to provide services at Oslo Gardermoen from Oct. 1. The new company's first contract will be with Norwegian Air Shuttle.
Dragonair is increasing frequencies to 13 cities including 10 in China with its summer schedule beginning today and running through Oct. 28. The new timetable adds a new destination, Shenyang. Services to Shanghai Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guilin, Hangzhou, Kunming, Nanjing, Sanya, Xian, Tokyo, Kaohsiung and Phnom Penh will increase. Dragonair will operate 16 flights per day between its Hong Kong base and Shanghai, while 30 additional flights per week will go to the nine other Chinese cities.
Iberia said it is very satisfied with the situation at the new Terminal 4 at Madrid Barajas less than two months after it moved its operation into the €6 billion ($7.22 billion) facility. "In most operational parameters we are performing better now than before the move," said Iberia's Luis Garcia Ruiz, who coordinated the relocation. "We're scoring better in punctuality, overall customer satisfaction and baggage punctuality."
BAA intends to close London Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2009 as part of the reorganization of its airport infrastructure that will follow the March 2008 opening of Terminal 5. T2 opened in 1955 and is LHR's first and oldest terminal. The airport operator expects passenger throughput in T2 to fall to fewer than 1.5 million a year, compared to 9 million at present, once the relocation of airlines and co-location of various alliances is finalized.
Singapore Changi opened its new Budget Terminal Sunday. Tiger Airways, which operates a fleet of four A320s, is the first and only airline currently operating out of the $27.5 million facility, construction of which was completed in January. Tiger operated 16 flights (eight departures and eight arrivals) Sunday. "We are happy to have so many flights on the first day of operations at the new Budget Terminal.
Air New Zealand launched a three-times-weekly A320 service to Adelaide. The "born again" New Zealand airline, in a swipe at Qantas, is claiming Adelaide residents will have one of the fastest connection times to Los Angeles and San Francisco. On the SFO service from Auckland, ANZ is using its new 777s, while the LAX service is operated by 747s that have been upgraded with the airline's new interior featuring lie-flat seat-beds and premium economy products.
Emirates will go to double-daily service between Dubai and Paris Charles de Gaulle from March 26, up from 12 flights per week currently. The additional frequencies will be operated by an A330-200 configured for 237 in three classes. Jet Airways will introduce a second daily flight on the London Heathrow-Mumbai route from July 10. Jet also operates a daily Delhi-London service using A340-300s leased from South African Airways.
Aeroflot and Air Baltic announced a codeshare deal covering Moscow-Riga services. Aeroflot operates five weekly flights and Air Baltic flies six-times-weekly. Separately, Aeroflot named Sergei Belov director of its new St. Petersburg branch.
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport began construction of a new cargo terminal on a 15,600-sq.-m. lot near Ramp 4. The Bucher Group is the principal investor, having contributed €6 million to the facility that will include 16 loading gates and refrigerated compartments. It will be able to handle 80,000-100,000 tons of cargo per year and is scheduled to begin operations this fall.
Norwegian Air Service will commence thrice-weekly flights from Oslo to Tallinn and Vilnius from May 2. Middle East Airlines will increase its Beirut-London Heathrow frequency from five-times-weekly to daily from June 2. Finnair will boost Asian service earlier than planned to five flights a week to Hong Kong and six to Osaka between July and October. Separately, Finnair and Pulkovo signed a codeshare agreement for joint flights between Helsinki and St. Petersburg from March 26
Delta Air Lines, which is expanding its transatlantic services this summer with 11 new routes and more than 50 daily flights to 29 cities in 17 countries in Europe and India, is looking for still more destinations, especially in Eastern Europe. "It is important for us to have more balance between the domestic and the international business. The demand for new routes to Europe is there," CEO Jerry Grinstein told journalists Monday.
US Airways will launch daily Philadelphia-Portland, Ore., service June 1 aboard a two-class A320. Midwest Airlines is expanding its Kansas City and Milwaukee services from June 1. Frequencies will be added from Kansas City to Boston (to twice-daily), Los Angeles (to thrice each weekday during summer), Milwaukee (to seven flights per weekday), New York La Guardia (to four times each weekday) and San Diego (to twice-daily during summer). Flights are aboard 717s. From Milwaukee, Midwest will offer seasonal nonstop daily service to San Francisco through Sept.
