AirlinesAlaska Airlines to debut premium seatingAlaska Airlines announced it will add a Premium Class cabin with additional legroom and other amenities. The carrier also plans to install overhead bins with 48% more space and slimline leather seats on its fleet of 737s.
LinkAustrian Airlines launches Vienna-Havana servicesLufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines plans to launch weekly Boeing 767-300ER Vienna-Havana (Cuba) service, from Oct. 25, 2016, as part of a long-haul leisure market strategy. The Austrian flag carrier recently expanded services into North America with the launch of Boeing 777 5X-weekly Vienna-Miami services on Oct. 16. It also added weekly services from Vienna to Colombo (Sri Lanka) and to Mauritius from Oct. 29.
LinkAmerican Airlines exec discusses integration progressRobert Isom, the chief operating officer of American Airlines, said the carrier has made significant progress in its integration with US Airways. "We're very pleased where we're at, especially this early in the merger," he said. "There's a lot more to come." The two carriers merged in 2013.
LinkBrussels Airlines details fleet changesBelgian carrier Brussels Airlines will phase out its fleet of Avro RJ100 regional jets by the end of 2017, replacing them with a mix of Airbus types, the airline said Dec. 4. The airline has 12 Avros on strength. They will start to leave the fleet next April, with four having departed by the end of the 2016 summer season. The remainder will gradually go over the following year. All are leased.
LinkFinnair aims to recruit 400 pilots, crew in 2016Finnair is seeking to recruit 100 new pilots and 300 new cabin attendants in 2016 as part of plans to grow long-haul traffic following the delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 in October. This year, it hired 70 pilots and 130 cabin crew. The Finland flag carrier plans to take delivery of five more A350s by the end of the 2016 second quarter, seven by the end of 2016, 11 by the end of 2017, and 19 by the end of 2023.
LinkHawaiian plans to add East Coast routes in 2017Hawaiian Airlines CEO Mark Dunkerley said the carrier plans to add domestic routes in 2017 once the carrier accepts delivery of A321neo jets. "New York's been a success for us," he said. "We have the ambition to start more services to the US East Coast."
LinkIndonesian crash report shows AF447's lessons not learnedThis month marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of writer Rudyard Kipling, whose works included The Secret of the Machines – a discourse on modern technology which warned of fatal consequences if the operator made “a slip in handling us.” Kipling did not pen his lines, of course, with the jet airliner in mind. But the relevance of his choice of phrase has not diminished.
LinkNorwegian launches US-Caribbean services Low-cost carrier Norwegian has begun flights between the US and Caribbean as it seeks to expand its US interests despite the continued delays in granting it permission to operate transatlantic services with its Ireland-based long-haul subsidiary. An application for Norwegian Air International to operate across the Atlantic has been stalled in the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for nearly two years following strong opposition from US carriers and trade unions.
LinkUnited adds five more San Francisco-Denver flightsUnited Airlines has taken an aggressive stance toward Virgin America’s entry into the San Francisco-Denver market, adding five additional flights on weekdays beginning in March 2016. When Virgin America begins its 3X-daily flights on March 15, United will be flying as much as 14 times between the two cities on weekdays.
LinkUTair reports $1.1 billion net loss in 2014 Russia’s UTair Airline reported a 2014 net loss of RUB61.66 billion ($1.09 billion), deepening its annual net loss by RUB57.15 billion. Consolidated financial statements of the carrier and its subsidiaries for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014, made in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), were approved and signed by management on Oct. 30, 2015.
LinkWestJet to wet-lease two Boeing 767s after ETOPS delayWestJet Airlines will wet-lease two Boeing 767s from Omni Air International for one month beginning on Dec. 11 due to a delay in receiving its own ETOPS certification, an airline spokesman said. The Calgary-based low-cost carrier is in the process of taking four used Boeing 767-300ERs, all of which once flew for Qantas, as part of a deal with Boeing Capital. When WestJet said earlier this year that it would fly between Alberta and Hawaii beginning in December, it expected those aircraft would be certified for overwater flights by the time the schedule started.
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