JetBlue Airways launched new service from Newark to Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando yesterday, offering five daily roundtrips in each market in a direct challenge to Continental Airlines, which maintains its most important hub at the New York-area airport. The low-fare carrier will continue its growth at Newark on Oct. 19 when it begins double-daily nonstop service to Ft. Myers, Tampa and West Palm Beach with single daily roundtrips. JetBlue adds San Juan Nov. 17 with daily service.
Qantas is offering year round service into Queenstown, New Zealand, from Sydney with the introduction of a permanent weekly return service using 737-800s from Oct. 1. Thai Airways will launch thrice-weekly service between Bangkok and Moscow Domodedovo Nov. 1 using MD-11s. American Eagle is adding nonstop service on Dec. 15 between Gulfport-Biloxi and Dallas/Ft. Worth. The two daily roundtrip flights will be operated with 50-seat ERJ-145s.
Flexing its muscle following its acquisition of Maersk, Sterling announced it intends to open a base in Helsinki next spring and offer services to 11 European destinations from the Finnish capital. The carrier initially is allocating two 737-700s to the base. Flights will start on March 27 to Barcelona, Bologna, Budapest, Chania, Edinburgh, Faro, Malaga, Nice, Paris Beauvais, Prague and Rome Ciampino. Ticket sales began yesterday with prices from €79 one way.
Bmi said it plans to increase its four-times-weekly service from Heathrow to Mumbai to daily and introduce thrice-weekly Heathrow-Jeddah service in 2006 following the "successful launch" of its three-times-weekly Heathrow-Riyadh service Sept. 1. Separately, bmi will suspend at the end of this month its service from Manchester to Washington Dulles, which it operates on a six-times-per-week basis with a leased 757.
China Southern Airlines added three weekly roundtrips between its hub at the new Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou and Ho Chi Minh City, bringing the total to 10 weekly using A320s.
American Airlines said Friday that "the skyrocketing price of jet fuel" had "forced" it to suspend 15 daily roundtrips at its Dallas/Ft. Worth and Chicago O'Hare hubs and end service between Chicago and Nagoya at the end of October. The temporary cuts take effect beginning Oct. 5 and last at least through Oct. 29, when AA will make the decision whether to resume service.
The old Scottish prayer that begs protection from dangers including "things that go bump in the night" may be a favorite of pilots trying to find their way around dark, fogbound airports. A system that can answer that prayer, and provide in-cockpit merging and spacing capabilities during approach from cruise to the ground as well, seems heaven-sent, and that is what a new technology called SafeRoute from Aviation Communication and Surveillance Systems promises. ACSS is a joint venture of Thales and L-3 Communications.
Dublin Airport Authority, a frequent target of verbal vitriol from Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, criticized a decision by the Commission for Aviation Regulation setting the airport's maximum passenger charge at an average of €6.14 ($7.39) beginning in January.
Thai Airways International A340-600 yesterday became the first aircraft to land at Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport, Airbus said. Passengers onboard for the inaugural test flight included Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, members of the Thai cabinet and the Managing Committee for Development of Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Continental Airlines will launch daily nonstop service between Newark and Copenhagen May 23, subject to government approval, using a 757 for the 7 hr. 55 min. flight (eastbound). Washington Dulles-based MAXjet Airways is accepting reservations for service between New York JFK and London Stansted that begins Nov. 1 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 20). It will operate 767s configured for 102 seats. Independence Air will launch daily nonstop service Dec. 16 from its Washington Dulles hub to San Juan using A319s. San Juan is the carrier's first Caribbean destination.
UK CAA published its formal proposals for regulatory price controls for the Eurocontrol and Oceanic businesses of National Air Traffic Services for the five years beginning Jan. 1 and April 1 respectively.
Munich Airport cargo area added a new freight handling hall. The facility at the southeast end of the freight area was opened officially following nine months of construction. The expansion is in response to the booming airfreight business at Munich, which has posted strong annual growth rates of up to 30% in recent years. With a total volume of 300,000 tonnes in 2004, the annual tonnage has more than tripled since the airport opened in May 1992. The new 4,400-sq.-m. Express Services Center will be used exclusively by FedEx, DHL and UPS.
Air Berlin will start a new thrice-weekly Paderborn--Bournemouth service from Dec 17. Adria Airways opened a thrice-weekly cargo service between Ljubljana and Sarajevo Sept. 23. It plans to expand its cargo operations, especially to destinations in southeast Europe.
American Airlines will move its international flight operations into the recently opened International Terminal D at Dallas/Fort Worth on Oct. 29. AA flights will operate from 19 of the new terminal's 28 gates while American Eagle has an agreement to use additional gates when they are not in use by non-US flag carriers. AA will operate 78 flights on its first day of service from the terminal, eventually rising to 114 daily flights.
Singapore Airlines and Asiana, both members of the Star Alliance, have begun codesharing between Singapore and Seoul. SIA is putting the SQ code on 10 weekly A330 services operated by Asiana, while the latter is putting the OZ code on 44 weekly 747 and 777 services operated by SIA. Subject to regulatory approval, the carriers expect to extend their cooperation to include transpacific flights beyond Seoul, domestic destinations in South Korea, intra-travel in north Asia and flights beyond Singapore.
Independence Air will end regional jet service in five markets from its hub at Washington Dulles effective Oct. 31: Cleveland, Louisville, Indianapolis, New York JFK and Stewart International Airport outside New York. Frequency adjustments will be made in a number of other markets so as "to decrease the total number of CRJ departures systemwide." At the same time, the financially struggling airline said it will launch double-daily service to New York LaGuardia beginning Oct. 31 using A319s. Flights from Dulles depart at 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. while LGA departures occur at 12:35 p.m.
TAM will launch nonstop service from Sao Paulo to New York JFK four times per week from Nov. 11 using an A330-200. It will operate from Terminal 4 at JFK. JetBlue filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation to offer daily nonstop service between New York and Cancun with A320s beginning Dec. 17, or within 90 days of authority being received.
Continental Airlines operated a limited schedule of departures at its Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport hub Sunday and full service was expected to resume yesterday. Continental Express and Continental Connection did not operate Sunday but were to begin flying Monday. Other airlines also returned to Houston Monday.
AirAsia Indonesian affiliate AWAIR made its international debut Friday when Flight QZ7602 touched down at Kuala Lumpur en route from Jakarta. The 737-300 carried 148 passengers.
Lufthansa will start a double-daily Munich-Brno service using a Cirrus Air Dornier 328 from Nov. 7. Aerosvit Airlines will start a twice-weekly service from Kiev to Birmingham using a 737 from Nov 1.
Moscow Domodedovo obtained certification from Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency to handle the A300 and ATR 42, opening the door for services by UTair, which plans to begin operating the ATR 42 from the airport this fall. Domodedovo said it successfully completed a four-month test of the GK-1 access control system and will begin installation of the voice-analysis system developed by Israel's Newsysco, which will be used in passenger security screening at all customs and border control locations.
Citing "the strength of the combined networks of Air France and KLM" and its strategy of targeting "fast-growing markets in Latin America and Asia, as well as to oil and gas destinations," Air France said it is raising system capacity (ASKs) 6.4% in the 2005-06 winter schedule compared to the 2004-05 schedule, with intercontinental capacity up 8.6%.
Vueling will open a base in Madrid on Nov. 15. The Spanish LCC will fly initially to Paris, Brussels, Rome and Barcelona from the Spanish capital. Vueling started operating out of Barcelona in July 2004 with two A320s. It now operates six 180-seat A320s and expects to have nine by year end. It will base two aircraft in Madrid. Hapag Lloyd Express announced plans to concentrate more of its activities at its three main bases of Cologne, Hannover and Stuttgart, where it is expecting the most growth.
American Airlines resumed limited service at New Orleans Wednesday, operating three daily roundtrips to Dallas/Fort Worth. It will add service from New Orleans to Chicago and Miami "as demand increases," with a relaunch tentatively set for Nov. 1. Continental Airlines will begin daily nonstop service between Newark and Barcelona May 18 subject to government approval, using a 172-seat 757.
Southwest Airlines announced a number of service additions. Beginning Oct. 2 it will add a daily nonstop departure in each of the following markets: Burbank-Las Vegas (new total of 13); Burbank-Phoenix (total of nine); Baltimore/Washington-St. Louis (total of four); BWI-Tampa Bay (total of seven); Las Vegas-Oakland (total of 14); Las Vegas-Portland (total of three), and Philadelphia-Raleigh/Durham (total of five). Also, it is introducing a new city-pair, Chicago Midway-San Antonio, with a single daily nonstop. Etihad Airways will add Johannesburg to its network on Dec 3.
