Flights between Japan and Hawaii represent a highly competitive market - around 1.5 million Japanese travel to Hawaii annually, with airlines enjoying consistently high load factors. ANA’s use of the Superjumbo on this route shows it is seeking to increase significantly its share of this lucrative market. It has even unveiled a colouful special livery for its first aircraft featuring the Hawaiian green sea turtle – a symbol of good luck and prosperity in Hawaii.
Etihad Airways is celebrating 10 years of flying to the southern Indian state of Kerala with the introduction of additional flights to the popular destination.
Qatar Airways has launched a stopover package in partnership with Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) to promote and market Qatar as a destination of choice for international travellers, offering transit passengers the opportunity to discover Doha with free luxury hotel stays and complimentary transit visas.
The European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, has urged the European Commission (EC)—the executive arm of the 28-nation European Union (EU)—to impose visa requirements on US citizens visiting the EU.
In another indication that there is a renewed push against the expansion of the major Gulf carriers in the US, American Airlines chairman and CEO Doug Parker said he was “highly confident” that the new Trump administration would address the issue.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has tentatively awarded Mexico City International Airport slot-pairs to Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, New York-based JetBlue, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, as well as Mexican low-cost carriers (LCCs) Volaris, VivaAerobus and Interjet.
The CEOs of JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines and Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings continue to push back against American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines on the issue of alleged Gulf airline subsidies.
After a year of work, a Swedish government-appointed commission recommended in late November 2016 that airlines operating in Sweden should pay a tax of between 80 and 430 Swedish crowns ($9- $47) per passenger per flight to compensate for climate pollution. Under the proposal, the lower end would relate to domestic and European flights while a levy of between SEK280 (for city pair markets under 6,000km) and SEK430 (for city pair markets beyond 6,000km) would be added to medium- and long-haul international services.
As first revealed by our Airlineroute news stream in the middle of last month, Qatar Airways is deploying the first LATAM aircraft on one of its two daily flights between Doha and Munich. It debuted on the QR059/060 rotation from March 2, 2017 and another of the LATAM airframes will be used on the second QR057/058 service from April 1, 2017. The additional two LATAM A350-900s will be used on Qatar Airways’ Doha – Madrid route.
Omani low-cost carrier (LCC) SalamAir has operated its first international route, just a month after it began operating domestic services in the sultanate.
FAA administrator Michael Huerta said it is now the “right time to be asking critical questions” about the structure of US air traffic control (ATC), citing a stable and safe existing ATC system and a strong US airline industry.
United Airlines and Air Wisconsin have signed a five-year capacity purchase agreement (CPA), enabling the regional carrier to fly as a United Express carrier.
Subject to regulatory approvals, the new service will operate for a three month period between December 1, 2017 and February 28, 2018 and will complement Cathay Pacific’s current seasonal double daily flights to Auckland as well as strategic partner Air New Zealand’s daily service between Hong Kong and Auckland.
A striking new pier at Oslo Airport is scheduled to open in April, but the feature is only part of a thoroughgoing renovation that will lift capacity to 32 million.
A day after US President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to invest money in US airport infrastructure in an address to Congress, US airport directors told lawmakers that financing infrastructure projects remains difficult and pushed for reforms by the federal government.
Ahead of Routes Asia 2017 we spoke to Chin Leong Teo of Changi Airports International to hear his thoughts on the major challenges and opportunities facing aviation in the region.
While all operators to date have adopted the standard nine-abreast arrangement initially detailed by the carrier in its catalogue, Air Caraïbes has selected a dense ten-abreast configuration with a seat width of just below 17 inches, enabling it squeeze more returns out of the aircraft. This additional seat in each Economy row will mean the carrier’s A350-900 will seat just short of 400 passengers - 389 passengers in a three-class configuration (18 in Business, 45 in Premium Economy and 326 in Economy).
US President Donald Trump has called on Congress to invest $1 trillion in US infrastructure, including US airports, which he has previously described as the “bottom of the rung” internationally.
