From July 2, 2014, Air Seychelles will operate two return services per week between Seychelles and Paris Charles de Gaulle via Abu Dhabi with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, configured with 18 flat-bed Business Class seats and 236 Economy seats. The new Paris service will complement the existing double-daily services to Paris from its shareholder Etihad Airways.
Etihad Cargo expects the service to carry large quantities of electronics and textiles to Entebbe, with primarily perishable goods destined for the Gulf region and Europe loaded for the return flight.
The three new routes will boost the Jet2.com offering by over 35,000 seats at Leeds Bradford to around 1.3 million for summer 2015 and will grow its network to 48 destinations.
Thanet District Council in the UK county of Kent will consider raising a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to reopen the loss-making Manston Airport, which closed May 15.
Although Norwegian had been serving Gatwick from various points across its network since October 2007 it only opened a base at London’s second largest airport in May 2013. It has already expanded its network to operate 375 weekly flights and 33 routes to and from the facility.
This latest announcement shows how the partnership between Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines, which launched on January 1, 2014, is increasing the network of each carrier. Virgin Atlantic will now have access to Delta's Atlanta hub, the busiest airport in the world, for the first time, providing greater access for the carrier to offer connections through to points throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Delta Air Lines will add its first nonstop Los Angeles (LAX)-London Heathrow (LHR) service, while Virgin Atlantic will add a new link with Delta’s Atlanta (ATL) home hub, following a swap between the joint venture (JV) partners.
Amerijet International will begin new Boeing 767 cargo service from Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio and Reno-Tahoe International in Nevada July 7.
Dobrolet will operate a fleet of Next-Generation Boeing 737-800s in a single-class, all-Economy 189-seat arrangement, initially growing to eight aircraft at the end of its first year of service and growing at a rate of eight aircraft per year thereafter to 40 aircraft by 2018.
AirTran Airways, initially formed as ValuJet in 1993, will operate its last scheduled flight on December 28, 2014 with AirTran Flight 001 (marketed as Southwest ‘WN5001’) operating between Atlanta and Tampa Bay that evening, the same flight number and routing of ValuJet's inaugural flight on October 26, 1993.
The European Commission said there is increased consultation and transparency in the setting of airport charges in Europe, but insists more needs to be done to ensure a level playing field across the region.
In response to the European Commission’s (EC) report on the application of the airport charges directive, four European airline associations said they are “deeply disappointed” the EC does not propose enough concrete steps to address the failings identified in the report.
Timisoara-based startup Fly Romania has begun operating domestic and international flights with services from Timisoara to Bucharest (6X-weekly) and Verona (3X-weekly).
Flybe has confirmed it will launch new daily links from Birmingham to Hamburg and Oslo from October 26, 2014 through to March 27, 2015, while its new summer 2014 flights to Bordeaux, Cologne, Florence, Oporto, Reykjavik and Toulouse will be extended through the winter season.
The initial tentative schedule shows the aircraft will operate twice daily on the Toronto - Halifax route from May 23, 2014 through to May 25, 2014 and then on various dates through to the end of June 2014. Alongside this domestic link, Air Canada also plans to use the aircraft on its flights from Toronto to Zurich (from May 25, 2014 to July 14, 2014) and London (from July 2, 2014 to July 13, 2014).
