Emirates will launch four-times-weekly nonstop Dubai-Nagoya service on June 1 aboard three-class 777-200s. Frequency will be daily from July 1 and the route will be operated with A340-500s starting Sept. 1. Northwest Airlines will pull service from Reno/Tahoe International Airport and John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., from Jan. 3 as part of systemwide capacity reductions related to seasonal scheduling and its reorganization.
Continental Airlines launches daily nonstop service between Houston and Buenos Aires today. Flights originate and terminate at CO's Newark hub. It is using a 767-200ER on the route. MAXJet Airways will expand its all-business-class 767-200ER service to Washington Dulles in late February. The startup, which also will add a Saturday frequency to its original six-times-weekly New York JFK-London Stansted service, will operate its Dulles-Stansted route five-times-weekly using a second 102-seat 767 that it will acquire this month.
A short time after Southwest Airlines launched its first flights to St. Louis and Kansas City from Dallas Love Field yesterday, American Airlines announced its own schedule from the airport, where it owns the rights to three gates. Daily flights to St. Louis, Kansas City, San Antonio and Austin will begin March 2. Regional affiliate American Eagle will operate the flights within Texas. The airlines will require two gates for the current schedule and said they are working with airport officials to arrange for ticket counters and other facilities.
BAA took a 75% majority controlling stake in Budapest Ferihegy Airport after outbidding Hochtief and Fraport of Germany. The deal includes a 75-year asset management contract. The Hungarian government will retain 25%.
AeroMexico will launch thrice-weekly service between Mexico City and Phoenix Dec. 15. It currently connects the cities via Guadalajara and Hermosillo. Allegiant Air will begin service from Las Vegas to Santa Maria, Calif., on March 26 and from Las Vegas to Lincoln, Neb., on Feb. 1 aboard MD-80s. Qatar Airways will increase its four-times-weekly service to Manchester to five from Feb. 11 and to daily from March 26. It operates A330-200s on the route.
BAA announced plans for a £2.7 billion ($4.69 billion) development project that would add a new runway at London Stansted and expand the terminal. The proposal also calls for construction of parallel taxiways and cross-taxiways to connect with the existing runway, a new passenger terminal building and a new control tower. The second phase would include parking facilities, roads and piers. Subject to approval, the new runway could be ready by 2013, giving Stansted the ability to handle up to 76 million passengers by 2030.
Bmi canceled its Edinburgh-Munich service planned for the spring because Munich Airport was unable to provide a morning slot, which the carrier said was critical to the route's viability, The Scotsman reported.
Bmi will commence a thrice-weekly London Heathrow-Jeddah service April 23. "We have been extremely encouraged by the start that we have had on the Heathrow to Riyadh route," chief executive Nigel Turner said. The carrier will increase to daily its service from Heathrow to Mumbai April 22 and also begin a daily service March 26 to Doha from LHR that will be operated under a wet-lease agreement with Qatar Airways subject to government approval. At the same time, bmi's existing codeshare agreement with QR will be expanded to allow bmi to sell QR flights from LHR to Doha.
JetBlue Airways officials joined New York and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey dignitaries yesterday to mark the start of construction on the new 635,000-sq.-ft., 26-gate Terminal 5 at New York JFK. A rehabilitation of the well-known TWA terminal will be part of the $875 million project, scheduled for completion in three years ( ATWOnline, Nov. 30).
India will build a second international airport in Bombay capable of handling 40 million passengers per year, a Civil Aviation Ministry official said, according to the Associated Press. Separately, Indian Airlines will change its name to Indian and paint its aircraft with a new livery featuring a flaming sun logo, according to media reports.
Hawaiian Airlines will add daily Maui-San Diego service from June 9 aboard 767-300ERs. Ryanair will commence service from Liverpool to Porto and Seville from Feb. 22 and from Glasgow to Barcelona and Marseille from Feb. 23 and Feb. 24 respectively. A Dublin-Kaunas service will begin April 6.
Flughafen Wien, which operates Vienna Airport, has purchased through its VIE Malta subsidiary more than 5% of Malta Airport from the Maltese government. No information was released about the size of the stake. Flughafen Wien already owns 57% of a four-member consortium that controls 40% of Malta Airport. European Commission cleared the acquisition of sole control of Copenhagen Airports A/S of Denmark by Macquarie Bank Group subsidiary Macquarie Airports Copenhagen. Copenhagen Airports owns and operates airports in Kastrup and Roskilde.
ATA Airlines will suspend service between Chicago Midway and Orlando, San Francisco and Ft. Myers in April. LOT Polish Airlines launched 12-times-weekly service from Warsaw to Bydgoszcz and 19-times-weekly flights to Zielona Gora. LOT uses Jetstream 32s wet-leased from Jet Air. Air Canada Jazz will launch daily service between Los Angeles and Edmonton May 1 aboard CRJ705s. Germanwings will increase its Stuttgart-Prague frequencies to four per week from next summer. It also will offer more flights from Cologne to Heraklion and Palma.
US domestic system capacity could decline by as much as 5% in 2006, setting the stage for improved domestic pricing, which in turn would result in better liquidity and balance sheet health, according to Fitch Ratings.
United Airlines would boost service at its Denver hub in exchange for the airport's forgiving $184 million in debt that the bankrupt carrier owes on DEN's failed baggage system, the Associated Press reported. The service increase would come as UA faces off against Southwest Airlines, which is returning to the Denver market next year after a 20-year absence.
Iberia will bow to pressure from LCCs and begin to eliminate routes that do not pass through Madrid, MD Angel Mullor told Iberiavion. "These will be routes which only low-cost companies are going to be able to operate," he said, according to Reuters. "They have already thrown us out of six routes from Barcelona, and now in serious danger are our routes, for example, from Galicia to England where easyJet or Ryanair have started and we can't compete with them." He said domestic traffic also will evaporate "to a great extent."
Malaysia Airports wants to lift passenger spending at its showcase Kuala Lumpur International by 50%. Speaking at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation's 2006 Outlook Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Airports Holdings MD Seri Bashir Ahmad unveiled a plan to improve retail offerings by finding new uses for underutilized assets, such as the possible construction of a theme park on vacant land adjacent to the airport, to boost nonaeronautical revenues.
Qantas will increase its Sydney-New York service from three to five flights per week beginning Feb. 27. Ryanair will launch new routes from its Shannon base to Manchester, Wroclaw, Rome and Murcia Feb. 22 while dropping service from Shannon to Hamburg and Stockholm. It will launch semi-weekly service between Dublin and Lodz April 4. The Polish routes are the LCC's first from Ireland.
Plans to expand and update Los Angeles International Airport have been scrapped as part of a settlement with local civic groups and neighbors who have fought for years to stop the development.
SkyEurope announced that it will add 27 weekly flights to nine new destinations from its base at Krakow with the start of the summer season in March. New cities are Brussels, Stockholm, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bologna, Naples, Turin, Athens and Barcelona. It currently serves seven destinations from Krakow: London Stansted, Paris Orly, Rome, Milan Bergamo, Amsterdam, Manchester and Dublin.
United Airlines is strengthening its presence at its Washington Dulles hub, announcing service additions and expansions to 10 domestic and two international markets. Perhaps in response to recent incursions by JetBlue and AirTran ( ATWOnline, Nov. 21), UA's biggest commitment will be to its Boston service, which it will increase by five daily flights for a total of 14 beginning in February. At the same time it will boost daily service to Phoenix, New Orleans, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Myrtle Beach and St. Louis.
Soon after President George W. Bush put pen to paper on the transportation appropriations bill that exempts Missouri from the Wright Amendment, Southwest Airlines released details yesterday of its new service between Dallas Love Field and St. Louis and Kansas City. Four daily direct flights to each Missouri city will commence from Love Field Dec. 13. One-way fares will be $79 with a two-week advance purchase and $129 walkup.
FAA may be closer to weeding out a thorny safety issue persistent enough to have made the National Transportation Safety Board's "Most Wanted" list for 15 straight years: Coming up with a real-time cue to warn pilots of an impending on-airport collision.
AE&T Editor Sandra Arnoult spoke with JoAnne Paternoster, a former official with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey who was in charge of the Port Authority's Airport Customer Improvement Program. She spearheaded development of branded regional customer service programs and a performance management program to improve perception and image at JFK and LaGuardia airports while increasing net revenues. Paternoster is now an executive consultant for Maritz Research.
