Hainan Airlines' landmark Beijing - Las Vegas service has its roots in the US city hosting the World Routes air service development forum back in October 2013 and has been helped subsequently by regular meetings at Routes regional and world events. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) estimates the flights will account for $33.5 million in annual economic impact.
The eight ‘new’ markets comprise Canberra, the airline’s fifth destination in Australia; Dublin, Ireland; Las Vegas, the airline’s eleventh destination in the United States; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Medan’s Kualanamu International Airport, the airline’s third destination in Indonesia; and Tabuk and Yanbu, its ninth and tenth destinations in Saudi Arabia.
With Routes Americas just around the corner, we've rounded up some of the things not to miss during your time in the entertainment capital of the world.
Las Vegas is the host destination for Routes Americas 2017 – the meeting forum for airports, airlines and tourism authorities that want to develop new air services across the Americas.
The arrival of Qatar Airways would be a major development for Las Vegas, and the suggested January 2017 launch could have the route established ahead of next year’s Routes Americas forum which takes place the The Aria Resort and Casino Convention Facility in Sin City between February 14 and 16, 2017.
JetBlue confirms it will take delivery of ten additional Airbus A321s in 2017 and nine of these will be configured in its MINT arrangement to be introduced on routes to Las Vegas, San Diego and Seattle from New York; to San Diego and Seattle from Boston and to Los Angeles and San Francisco from Fort Lauderdale.
The low-cost carrier will offer a weekly service from November 1, 2016 adding to the existing links it offers to the popular US conference and leisure destination from Copenhagen and Stockholm which were launched last November. The flight will be operated using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner configured with 291-seats.
Today (Friday, February 19) the Routes Americas route development forum was officially handed over from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Las Vegas, USA – the host destination for 2017.
Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board (NPIPB) were announced as the overall winner of the Routes Americas edition of the Routes 2016 Marketing Awards which were formally announced last night during the Networking Evening event which took place in El Cuartel de Ballaja in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The new passenger operation will launch in December 2015 and will grow to a five destination network by the middle of January 2016. All the flights will be operated using a 184-seat Boeing 757-200 and National has partnered with Tourico Holidays to package flights with hotels, rental cars, cruises, activities, vacation homes and more alongside its seat-only offering.
The carrier has traditionally focused almost exclusively on connecting small and medium-sized cities to its focus airports located mostly in leisure destinations across the United States. However, this latest expansion continues a recent trend of introducing flights into larger markets.
Thomas Cook Airlines will further expand its UK long-haul programme in summer 2016 building on the airline’s growing long-haul summer programme this year, which sees its first flights to New York and Miami from May 2015. Next year’s programme will see further growth at Manchester and more frequencies from Glasgow, London (both Gatwick and Stansted airports), Belfast and Cardiff.
The additional flights to Las Vegas between July 28, 2015 and September 1, 2015 will be operating on a 308-seat Airbus A340-600. The additional flights to Las Vegas between September 8, 2015 and October 13, 2015 and all of the additional Orlando flights will be on a 455-seat Boeing 747-400.
The new Spirit service will bring some much needed additional capacity to Las Vegas to the wider Pennsylvanian market. The popular entertainment destination is currently only served on a twice daily basis from Pittsburgh International Airport by Southwest Airlines after US Airways closed its own flights in May 2010.
Hosting World Routes was a positive experience for Las Vegas, location for the 2013 event with new air services already coming to fruition and more on the cards.
The airline plans new flights to Cartagena, Colombia and Las Vegas, Nevada and Jacksonville, Florida from October 29, 2014, the same day the airline will also launch its previously announced non-stop service to Pittsburgh.
Already serving both Washington Reagan National and Baltimore Washington International airports, the carrier will launch 68 weekly flights to 14 destinations from Dulles International Airport from August this year.
UK leisure carrier Thomas Cook Airlines is to launch new long-haul links to the United States from London Stansted, Manchester and Glasgow as part of its expanded summer 2015 programme. The long-haul growth will be supported by a major investment in upgrading its Airbus A330 fleet to offer a much higher level of comfort to Transatlantic passengers.
US ultra low-fare carrier, Spirit Airlines, has announced it will expand its domestic to offering into Kansas City with the launch of five new routes this summer with daily flights to Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston and Las Vegas from August 2014.
