Denver-based ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines is making Miami International Airport one of its hubs in 2020, as well as returning to Central America with flights to Guatemala City and San Salvador and adding two new destinations in the Dominican Republic.
Low-cost long-haul carrier Norwegian is to boost frequencies to some of its US destinations from London next summer, but will reduce service to Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Miami and Orlando.
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.
A US airline which became a key military contractor during the Vietnam War but ceased trading three years ago is set to be revived as a long-haul low-cost carrier.
Ireland’s flag carrier has announced yet another American link. From September 2017, Miami will be served from the carrier’s Dublin hub three times a week.
This new non-stop charter service will depart every week between March 24, 2016 and August 25, 2016 operating every Thursday. It will be operated by its partner carrier Swift Air using a 150-seat Boeing 737-400.
The carrier will start operating the A350 XWB commercially in January 2016 between Sao Paulo and Manaus, Brazil, as part of continued training and crew familiarisation. This will be followed by operations from Sao Paulo to Miami in March and then to Madrid in April.
The US adventure will start from December 2, 2015 with the start of the Medellin – Miami route and followed from December 16, 2015 by the Bogota – Miami link. Both markets will be served on a four times weekly basis using Airbus A320 equipment.
Finnair resumed non-stop scheduled services between its Helsinki hub and the US city of Miami in December 2014, introducing a three times weekly operation using an Airbus A340 from December 16, 2014 until March 21, 2015 and will resume the route later this year.
The airline plans to launch operations on May 30, 2015 with a special Boeing 737-800 passenger charter between its Miami International Airport base and Baltimore Washington International. This will be an ‘Honor Flight’ transporting World War II and Korean War era veterans from South Florida to Washington and back.
Austrian Airlines has announced its plans to expand its North American offering to include five-weekly flights to Miami, as well as additional flights to destinations in Europe.
Mobile phones and tablets are fast becoming the perfect way in which airlines and airports can keep continuously connected with their passengers, from the moment of booking to boarding the aircraft.
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.
Frontier currently offers links from Atlanta to Chicago O'Hare, Cleveland, Denver, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Orlando, Trenton and Washington Dulles and will supplement these with a new daily flight to Miami and six times weekly services to both Austin and Indianapolis from March this year.
The SkyTeam alliance member initially planned to debut the aircraft on a weekly service to New York from April 12, 2015 and a three times weekly route to Montevideo from April 13, 2015. However, this week it has emerged that the aircraft will instead be used on the airline’s Madrid – Miami route from April 12, 2015, originally due to be served by an Airbus A330-200.
The introduction of the A380 on the London – Miami route, which is operated under the auspices of the carrier’s Atlantic Joint Business with American Airlines, US Airways, Iberia and Finnair, will see BA’s available capacity on the route rise by around 39.2 per cent.
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.
The carrier will launch service to four new markets during the first quarter of 2015 with daily direct flights from Miami International Airport to Austin-Bergstrom, Kansas City, Salt Lake City and San Antonio. These flights will commence on March 5, 2015 and will be flown by a Boeing 737-800.
