From 1970s costumes to an appearance from Oscar Munoz, Routesonline rounds up the best tweets and images as United Airlines bid farewell to its last Boeing 747.
Boeing’s iconic 747 jumbo jet has been a staple of United’s fleet for 47 years, but the US airline has bid farewell to the Queen of the Skies for good.
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.
The approval from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) allows AirAsia X to operate services to any destination within the US market and it will now formalise its development plans to serve the market to coincide with the future delivery of new widebodied equipment. The airline is known to have been considering flights to several US states including Hawaii as part of its route expansion plans.
The new Dash 8 Q400s will introduce 14 additional seats versus the ATR 72 it will replace and Island Air's website says the aircraft will be fitted in a two-class arrangement with 64 Standard and 14 Premium seats. It will launch commercial operations with the type in January 2017.
Air New Zealand is continuing to use its expanding Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner fleet to grow its presence in long-haul markets. The airline confirmed this week that it will introduce the type on its new route between Auckland and Buenos Aires, Argentina as it also debuted the type on a scheduled exclusive basis in the North America market on its Auckland - Honolulu route.
The new initiative will be led by senior executives from both carriers, who will meet regularly to coordinate new initiative rollouts, promote closer cultural integration between Air China and United, and prepare both companies for future joint opportunities, according to a joint statement.
This SuperJumbo commitment is understood to be linked to ANA Holdings’ successful sponsorship of a rescue bid for fellow Japanese carrier Skymark Airlines. The latter had an outstanding commitment for the A380 and Airbus was among its largest creditors with a sizeable voice in deciding a rescue package for the airline.
The airline first introduced non-stop flights into Japan in November 2010 when it launched its daily link between Honolulu International Airport and Tokyo Haneda and it also currently provides links into Osaka in July 2011 and Sapporo in October 2012. The new daily Tokyo Narita service will commence from July 22, 2016 and will be flown using a 294 seat Airbus A330-200 with 18 Business Class, 40 Extra Comfort and 236 Economy seats.
Virgin America will launch daily flights between San Francisco and Honolulu, Oahu from November 2, 2015, and between San Francisco and Kahului, Maui from December 3, 2015. It is currently working with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) and Airbus to ensure its new Airbus A320 aircraft are certified for Extended-Range Operations (ETOPS) to fly longer range missions over water flights.
According to its update flight schedules for winter 2015/2016, WestJet will initially use the widebodied jets on a twice weekly service between Calgary and Honolulu and four times weekly link between Calgary and Kahului from December 11, 2015. The following day, a three times weekly link between Edmonton and Kahului will also be inaugurated.
The Tokyo Narita – Kuala Lumpur flight will return to the ANA network from September 1, 2015 and will be flown on a daily basis by a Boeing 787-8. It will compete directly with AirAsia X, Japan Airlines and Malaysia Airlines on the route, with indirect competition also coming from AirAsia X through its Tokyo Haneda – Kuala Lumpur link.
Air Canada says it will continue to evaluate future market opportunities as new aircraft are introduced into its mainline fleet and existing aircraft are released for operation by Air Canada rouge as market demand warrants. Since the launch in July 2013 of Air Canada rouge, Air Canada has deployed its leisure carrier to a growing number of Caribbean, European and select sun destinations in the United States.
This new Brisbane link will be operated up to three times a week during the peak season with two weekly services in the off peak and will bring competition to the existing Hawaiian Airlines non-stop service on the route.
