Routes to China and India are top targets for Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Yil Surehan tells Routesonline, as well as the ongoing domestic expansion of United.
A week after International Airlines Group bought a minority stake in long-haul low-cost carrier Norwegian, with a view to launching a full takeover of the Scandinavian carrier, Routesonline takes a look at the growth of transatlantic services from Europe to the US and Canada, and how lower fares have impacted this market.
This week: Primera Air adds Washington Dulles from London Stansted, while Hainan Airlines will become the first Chinese airline to operate non-stop flights between China and Mexico.
A new four times weekly Delhi – Copenhagen route will commence from May 2017, according to Air India, and will be flown using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. A Delhi – Washington flight will operate on a three times weekly basis and will be flown using a Boeing 777 from July 2017. These will be the only non-stop operation on the two routes
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.
Emirates launched operations between its Dubai International Airport hub and Washington’s Dulles International Airport in September 2012 initially utilising a 777-200LR, but switching to the larger 777-300ER from February 2013. Analysis of MIDT data shows just 16.1 per cent of demand during this six month period was local traffic, with transfer traffic via Dubai accounting for a massive 81.9 per cent of passengers (including 1.2 per cent in bridge traffic also connecting via Washington).
North African carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM) is to further expand its long-haul network from next year with the launch of flights between its Mohammed V International Airport hub in Casablanca and Washington Dulles Airport in the United States and Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport in Brazil.
United currently has 22 787s in its fleet and will receive three more before the end of this year. These include a mix of 787-8 and larger 787-9 variants which allow the carrier to fit the right-sized aircraft to its existing and new markets. The aircraft is being used at San Francisco International Airport to support the growth of United hub operation from where it provides nearly 280 daily flights to more than 90 destinations in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia/Pacific.
June has seen a number of start-up carriers taking shape across the world, including New Zealand-based Originair and India’s Premier Airways. We've rounded up the latest in start-up carrier news for June.
The landmark new Use and Lease Agreement will for the first time allow revenue sharing between Reagan National and Dulles International and allows as much as $300 million in revenue to be shifted from Reagan National to help offset operating costs for Dulles International over the next ten years.
The expansion will be made possible by the introduction of an additional Airbus A330-200 into the Aer Lingus fleet from May 2015 on a five year lease. This additional capacity will enable the carrier to resume summer links from Dublin to Washington Dulles from May 1, 2015 on a four times weekly basis and to boost its current Dublin – Orlando route from three to four times weekly and Dublin – San Francisco link from five times weekly to a daily schedule.
Initially, British Airways will operate A380 service five times a week at Washington. The service will increase to daily by the end of October. It will supplement the daily 747 flights and the three weekly 777 flights out of the airport.
The first European operator of the new Boeing 787-9, Virgin Atlantic will deploy its aircraft on routes from London Heathrow to Boston from October 28, 2014; Washington from December 17, 2014 and New York from February 28, 2015.
This month Air China has added its latest US destination to its network after inaugurating flights between Beijing and Washington, its seventh destination in North America. The airline already offers flights from the Chinese capital to Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in the US and Vancouver in Canada.
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.
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.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline’s first Airbus A380 will operate commercially to London Heathrow from December 2014, while its first Boeing 787-9s will debut on routes to Düsseldorf from December this year and then to Washington DC and Mumbai from January 2015.
Under its revised Dallas schedule, Virgin America will move its existing links to Dallas/Fort Worth International from Los Angeles and San Francisco to the downtown airport from October 13, 2014 and will add multiple daily links with Chicago, New York, Washington DC.
United will initially introduce the aircraft on its route between Chicago O’Hare and Ronald Reagan Washington National from May 17, 2014 before launching the aircraft on its Chicago O’Hare – Boston Logan International link two days later on May 19, 2014.
