Virgin Atlantic will commence its earlier announced London Heathrow-Dubai service March 27 using an A340 fitted with the Upper Class Suite. The flights initially will operate four days a week, increasing to five on May 1 and daily on June 1.
Lufthansa will launch six weekly flights to Donestsk from Munich on Sept. 9 and follow that up with six-times-weekly service to Dnipropetrovsk from Frankfurt on Oct. 30. Also, as of Aug. 29 Lufthansa will offer six flights a week to Kiev from Munich and Frankfurt, including a connecting service from Dusseldorf.
Bmi regional will expand operations at Aberdeen. From Sept. 5, it will increase frequencies to Manchester to four direct flights each weekday and add a third daily Norwich service on weekday afternoons. Recently, the regional operator of the bmi group added a 14th Embraer jet to its fleet.
Continental Airlines today is to begin new daily nonstop service between Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Cali using 737-700s in a two-class configuration. Northwest Airlines will launch new nonstop service between Flint, Mich., and Las Vegas on Aug. 20 using A319s. United Airlines will offer three additional weekly flights between Los Angeles and Sydney between Dec. 15 and April 27. The carrier currently operates daily flights on the route.
Royal Jordanian Airways and Thai International have signed a codeshare agreement for Thai services to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Beijing and for Royal Jordanian services to Amman.
Continental Airlines reacted swiftly to JetBlue's plans to launch operations from Newark Liberty International Airport to five destinations in Florida and San Juan this fall ( ATWOnline, July 14).
Ryanair plans to launch eight new European routes from the UK during its next winter schedule, bringing its total network to 246 routes. The LCC also announced that it will begin a major tourism drive to encourage visitors to come to the UK by releasing 3 million seats at a price of just £1 ($1.76) or €1 ($1.21) plus taxes. The seats have gone on sale through its website for travel during August, September and October and the sale will be backed by a £5 million pan-European advertising campaign over the next three months that will feature the major cities of the UK.
Emirates, in what may be its fastest buildup of a new route, said yesterday it will add a second daily service between Dubai and New York JFK on Nov. 7. The carrier inaugurated the route in June 2004 using an A340-500 configured for 258 seats with 12 in first, 42 in business and 204 in economy. Senior VP-Commercial Operations-the Americas Nigel Page characterized load factors on the 14-hr. flight as "extremely high since December." The route has been profitable for "a long time now," he told ATWOnline. The new flight also will be operated with an A340-500.
JetBlue Airways is bringing its low-fare flights to Newark this fall. Beginning in October, the airline will launch daily service from Newark to Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Ft. Myers. On Nov. 17 it will begin daily flights between Newark and San Juan. America West Airlines plans to begin new service between Phoenix and four Hawaiian islands as well as from Las Vegas to Kahului. From Dec. 16, the carrier will begin one daily flight between Phoenix and both Honolulu and Kahului.
Qantas said it will add Queenstown to its year-round route network with Saturday service from Sydney beginning Oct. 1. The airline currently operates flights to Queenstown from Sydney and Brisbane during the ski season.
Finnair will launch services from Helsinki to Krakow by spring. The airline said it will use its new Embraer 170s, the first of which will arrive in September, on the route.
America West Airlines will launch daily flights between Las Vegas and Palm Springs Oct. 1. America West Express, operated by Mesa Airlines, will provide the service using 37-seat Dash 8s.
Qantas will begin a series of seasonal services between Australia and Korea this winter. From Dec. 28 to Feb. 5, the carrier will operate 18 new weekly return services between Brisbane and Seoul using two-class 767-300s. It also will continue its codeshare arrangement on Asiana Airlines' daily services from Sydney to Seoul.
Lufthansa Cargo AG and Japan Airlines will inaugurate a new cargo codeshare flight between Frankfurt and Chubu International Airport near Nagoya. The twice-weekly flights will be operated by LH using an MD-11F and will begin at the end of September.
Unisys Corp. was awarded a Master Systems Integrator contract from Beijing Capital International Airport to develop and integrate the core operational systems for BCIA's new international terminal, which is being built in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. Preston Aviation Solutions Pty. Ltd., a wholly owned Boeing subsidiary, was commissioned by Malaysia Airports to replace the existing gate-allocation system at Kuala Lumpur International Airport with its airport resource management system Airport Solutions.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport released the results of a survey conducted over the July 4 holiday travel period showing that 85% of DFW passengers would like to see Southwest Airlines operate at the airport. A total of 2,714 passengers were polled, according to the airport. DFW has been wooing Southwest since its second-largest tenant, Delta Air Lines, eliminated its unprofitable hub there late last year.
Germany's air navigation services provider DFS plans to lower its charges to airlines in 2006 by up 10% after reducing them 20%-30% in 2005. The German government plans to sell 74.9% of DFS to private investors in 2006. DFS also may eliminate up to 600 of its 5,400 staff by 2010 to lower costs as it prepares for competition. According to Reuters, DFS plans to establish a separate company for regional airport traffic control that will enable it to bid for control tower contracts outside Germany when the market opens at the end of next year.
Narita International Airport Corp. announced that it reached agreement with IATA on a reduction in fuel supply facility charges that it expects will save airlines around ¥1 billion ($9 million) per year. The new charge rate, which takes effect Oct. 1, will be ¥3,490 per thousand liters, down 4.6% compared to the current level. When the fuel supply facilities first became operational, the charge was ¥6,500 per thousand liters.
Ryanair will launch new routes from its Shannon base to Bristol and Nantes, bringing the number of destinations it serves from the airport to 16. The daily flight to Bristol will start Oct. 30 and the new route to Nantes will operate three times a week from Nov. 1. In addition, the carrier will increase frequency from one to four flights per week on its Frankfurt route from Oct. 31.
Irish Aviation Authority and UK National Air Traffic Services said they welcomed what they described as a "ground-breaking" report by independent consultant The Solar Alliance that could lead to the establishment of a Functional Airspace Block in Irish-UK airspace.
American Airlines yesterday said it will make seasonal adjustments to its service to Haiti. From July 6 it will cancel one of two daily nonstop flights between Port-au-Prince and New York JFK. In addition, effective July 15 it will cancel one of its four Port-au-Prince-Miami flights and will end a second on Aug. 23.
KLM will begin operating direct thrice-weekly scheduled services between Amsterdam and Entebbe on Nov. 1 in addition to its current 11 weekly flights on the route that operate via Nairobi in codeshare with Kenya Airways.
