Air France began serving Havana in 1998, and has since become the leading airline between Cuba and Europe, supporting tourism development on the island.
Air France has announced the resumption of its service to Freetown in Sierra Leone, following a period of cancellation after the airline took a recommendation from the French government over concern about the outbreak of Ebola in the country.
The airline will offer a three times weekly link between Mahe and Paris Charles De Gaulle from July 1, 2015, using an Airbus A330-200, replacing the current twice weekly offering via the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Vietnam Airlines will become the first Asian airline to fly the A350 XWB and the second operator in the world. Vietnam Airlines will acquire 14 A350 XWBs, including ten on order from Airbus and four under lease agreements. The carrier will operate its A350 XWB fleet on premium long haul routes, beginning with services between Hanoi and Paris.
The latest development builds on Flybe's growing network of bases, including Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Manchester and Southampton, showing the airline's commitment to improving connectivity across and from the UK.
Turkish airline, SunExpress has recently announced its plans for a total of 21 new routes for the summer 2015 season, with departures mainly from Antalya, Dalaman, Izmir and Konya.
These new flights will strengthen links to key markets in France and Germany for business and leisure passengers in the South West of England, further enhance the airline’s growing base at Bristol Airport and at the same time providing passengers with a convenient local alternative to the London airports.
The route will operate from Paris – Dublin – Halifax, beginning July 9, 2015 and running through until September 11, 2015, boosting Canadian tourism to France and Ireland, and offering a new direct destination in North America for passengers from Dublin Airport.
Vietnam Airlines has opened reservations for its first Airbus A350XWB services this week. The airline will be the second operator of the new generation widebody airliner after Qatar Airways and plans to deploy the aircraft on its route between Hanoi and Paris CDG from the end of the third quarter 2015.
At Routesonline we've decided to take a look back at the news breaking the same week in previous years and revisit it one or two years later to see what’s happened since we released the news.
Currently Blue Islands operate alternate day direct flights from Jersey to Amsterdam and Paris and twice weekly services to Zurich, which customers, especially the high yield business travellers that help support regional air links, find inconvenient.
UK low-fare regional carrier Flybe is to reopen its base at Aberdeen, begin base operations from Bournemouth and launch a new limited programme of domestic flights from London Stansted in summer 2015 as it continues to work to enhance connectivity within and from the UK.
Analysis of Heathrow’s winter schedule using data for the first week of February in 2014 and 2015 also found that of the four largest European countries by hub airport size (France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK), only Heathrow has been unable to increase the number of airlines operating from it this winter. By contrast, Paris has seen ten new airlines, Amsterdam seven, and Frankfurt five, with Paris now hosting over a hundred airlines compared to Heathrow’s 81.
The new Air France connection to Vancouver will launch on March 29, 2015 and will initially operate on a three times weekly basis through to May 4, 2015 when it will be increased to a five times weekly schedule for the peak summer period, before returning to a three times weekly offering from September 14, 2015 through to the end of the season on October 24, 2015.
The new route marks only the sixth international route to be operated to the Brazilian capital and only the second from Europe – TAP Portugal has been serving the city from its Lisbon hub on an up to daily basis since July 2007. It also represents the first intercontinental network success since private consortium Inframérica took over the management of the airport in December 2012.
After the announcement earlier this year, Qatar Airways have finally welcomed the first of its ten Airbus A380 Aircraft on order, at a ceremony in Hamburg earlier today.
Air France has announced it will deploy an Airbus A380 on its Paris Charles de Gaulle – Miami International route this winter. The flag carrier confirms the Super Jumbo will replace a Boeing 777 on its daily flight on the route from December 1, 2014 through to the end of the winter schedule on March 28, 2015.
The total traffic for the four days is an increase of 36 per cent over the same period at the end of Eid Al Fitr in 2013, when 133,007 passengers took an Etihad Airways flight.
Delta introduced Salt Lake City’s first regular transatlantic connection to Europe in June 2008 when it inaugurated flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and has seen traffic on the route grow over the subsequent years through a mix of point-to-point demand and transfer passengers connecting across Europe and further afield via the Air France network.
According to reports in China, China Eastern Airlines is considering launching a three times weekly link to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport using an Airbus A330-300, significantly enhancing connectivity to Yunnan province in the far southwest of China.
The company, which made a formal licence application to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) in April 2014, will follow in the footsteps of L’Avion and Open Skies in offering a product tailored to the premium market from the Parisian capital using Boeing 757-200 equipment.
