As part of its strategy, United has entered into two separate transactions with Delta Air Lines for its US rival to acquire United’s JFK slots and for it to purchase slots from Delta in Newark. Each transaction is subject to regulatory approval which is far from guaranteed as United had previously been forced to give up 36 slots at Newark as part of its merger with Continental Airlines by US regulators.
New routes between Los Angeles and Sydney, operated by American Airlines, and between San Francisco and Sydney, operated by Qantas will be added from December, further strengthening the partnership between the two airlines.
The airline will offer eight weekly flights into Costa Rica with four flights per week to each destination from Los Angeles International Airport. The link to San José will operate on Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from October 31, 2015, while the Liberia service will fly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from November 1, 2015.
The further five year agreement which actually took effect from November 1, 2014, will see the airline grow the number of seats on offer across Manchester Airports group's portfolio of London Stansted, Manchester and East Midlands by 15 per cent - including a 21 per cent increase at Manchester - compared to figures in 2013.
The announced growth from Qatar Airways is sure to further anger the bosses of the three US majors – American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines – which are understood to remain disappointed at the level and speed of the US governments reaction to its claim of unfair state subsidies at the Gulf airlines.
Ethiopian Airlines is moving its European hub to Dublin Airport from next month which will see the airline transit 10 transatlantic flights per week through the airport to destinations in the US and Canada.
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.
In an investor update providing guidance for the first quarter and full year ending December 31, 2015 preliminary estimates show that Spirit expects to grow capacity by 25.8 per cent in the first quarter, 31.5 per cent in the second quarter, 33.5 per cent in the third quarter and 30.5 per cent in the fourth quarter for a year-end increase of 30.4 per cent.
In its application to US Department of Transportation for authority to conduct scheduled foreign air transportation to the US, China Eastern said it planned to introduce flights from Chengdu, via Nanjing to Los Angeles from June 30, 2015 using an Airbus A330-300.
Over a twelve-month period, preliminary data shows a growth rate of 5.1 percent year over year, with both international and domestic traffic posting strong growth rates of 5.8 percent and 4.5 percent respectively.
Delta launched its hourly non-stop Delta Shuttle product from Los Angeles to San Francisco in September 2013, adding a California perspective to its long relied-upon New York-based Shuttle. Alongside eight daily 717 flights it will offer seven flights through Delta Connection partner Compass Airlines using 76-seat Embraer E175s.
Our analysis shows that in the last 12 months (December 2013 – November 2014) an estimated 590,000 bi-directional O&D passengers flew between Nicaragua and the United States with Los Angeles (approximately 53,000 annual passengers) the largest inbound and outbound market currently not connected directly to the United States.
The launch is pending regulatory approval, and the airline will operate the route with its 291-seat Boeing 777-200LR wide-body jets, configured with 37 full flat-bed BusinessElite seats, 36 Economy Comfort seats and 218 standard Economy seats.
The filings, citing underutilisation of a scarce resource, have been prompted by the US DOT's decision last month to review the public interest served by Delta Air Lines' Seattle - Tokyo route after the US major reduced its frequency from daily to a basic seasonal schedule.
The two new seasonal flights between New York and Birmingham and Edinburgh will be launched from May 7, 2015 and will be operated using a 182-seat Boeing 757-200 configured with 22 Business Class and 160 Economy seats. Both flights will operate under a codeshare arrangement with British Airways through their joint transatlantic business.
US major, United Airlines, has used the performance and range of the 787 to enable it to introduce non-stop flights between Los Angeles and Melbourne, the world's longest direct 787 flight. The city pair used to be served with a one-stop strategy via Sydney using a 777-200ER.
The new link will provide the first regular link between East Africa and Dublin and will mark the return of flights between the Irish capital and Los Angeles, a market last served by Aer Lingus in November 2008. This will strengthen Ireland’s connectivity to the west coast of the United States, with California a major market for Irish tourism.
The popularity of the airline’s service between Auckland and Los Angeles will see the airline step up frequency next year from twice daily to three times a day on three days of the week, while also extending the duration of its peak season capacity increase to Vancouver.
As with the smaller 787-8, the US major will be the first North American operator of the larger 787-9 and is expected to receive its first aircraft next month.
The expanded Brisbane schedule will boost capacity on the route by 2,166 seats a week and will support the growing demand for connectivity to North America from Queensland. North America is actually Queensland’s third largest tourism market and the increase in services support the 4.2 per cent increase in passenger numbers experienced in 2013.
LAN Airlines welcomed its first 787 in August 2012 and has a total of 22 787-8s on order and a further four larger 787-9s. It currently operates a fleet of six examples all configured in a two-class arrangement with 217 seats in Economy and 30 in Premium Business.
On the domestic front the carrier will introduce twice daily flights to San Antonio from October 2, 2014 and a daily link to Tampa from November 6, 2014, while a daily international service to Edmonton and twice daily offering to Vancouver, both in Canada, will also start on October 2, 2014.
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.
