The second flight will complement the carrier’s existing A380 service on the route with a mid-afternoon departure from the UAE and a late night departure from the US. The carrier says it will serve the growing customer demand for travel between Dubai and western United States, as well as for those passengers connecting to Emirates’ vast global network of onward destinations.
Ahead of this year's Routes Americas forum, Routesonline is providing a snapshot on the leading airlines and airports and most used aircraft types across the region. Here we look closely at the airlines serving South America and highlight the region's top performers.
This SuperJumbo commitment is understood to be linked to ANA Holdings’ successful sponsorship of a rescue bid for fellow Japanese carrier Skymark Airlines. The latter had an outstanding commitment for the A380 and Airbus was among its largest creditors with a sizeable voice in deciding a rescue package for the airline.
Fiji Airways, Fiji’s National Airline, has announced plans to commence seasonal twice-weekly direct services from Nadi to San Francisco starting June 2016. The flights, operating in June, July, August, December 2016 and January 2017, will depart from Nadi International Airport to San Francisco International Airport on Thursdays and Sundays.
Under a water cannon salute provided by Atlanta Fire and Rescue vehicles, and in front of hundreds of guests, dignitaries and fellow passengers, Delta Air Lines Flight 1256 made history at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on the morning of December 27, 2015. The flight from Gulfport, Mississippi carried the airport’s 100 millionth passenger in 2015, marking the first time ever an airport served more than 100 million passengers in a single year.
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 signing of this important agreement by US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and his Mexican counterpart Gerardo Ruiz Esparza took place at Mexico’s embassy in Washington last week. Although the exact details of the agreement have not been revealed, it is likely to end all restrictions on the number of carriers allowed to operate on routes between the two countries ending the current restriction to just two carriers from each country.
Star Alliance partners Brussels Airlines and United Airlines have moved quickly to partly fill the void left following Jet Airways’ decision to close its scissor hub at Brussels Airport from spring next year. The main gateway to the Belgian capital city is a key European gateway for the airline grouping and accounts for around 52 per cent of the departure capacity.
The introduction of flights to Amsterdam is a logical growth for Aeromexico. Alongside the strong trading relationship between Mexico and the Netherlands, the route will feed into the SkyTeam hub of KLM providing additional connections within Europe and complement its existing offer with fellow alliance partner Air France via Paris.
A historic deal has been reached this week after three days of talks in Washington that opens the way for US airlines to negotiate with Cuba's government to operate up to 20 routes a day to Havana and ten too each of Cuba's other nine major airports, according to State Department officials. These will be in addition to the current limited charter programmes that have been serving the countries while hefty sanctions have been in place.
The transaction and the transfer of operations are to take place by the end of the first quarter of 2016 and will bring the number of airports operated by VINCI Airports to 33, including eleven in France, ten in Portugal, three in Cambodia and one in Chile (since October this year). Its airport network currently encompasses flights from over 100 different airlines, handling around 47 million passengers annually, with a turnover of € 717 million.
The revised Amsterdam operation and agreement with KLM will enable Jet Airways to increase its coverage of the European market, albeit on a codeshare basis. Alongside its existing Brussels services the carrier currently only serves two other European points: London Heathrow (daily from Delhi and twice daily from Mumbai) and Paris Charles De Gaulle (daily from Mumbai).
South African low-cost carrier Mango will help launch a new Connecting Partner Model from global airline grouping Star Alliance as it seeks to further expand its network reach. The South African Airways (SAA) subsidiary will be the first ‘low-cost’ or ‘hybrid’ carrier to introduce its network into that of the wider grouping.
Seattle is now on the route maps of ten air carriers from outside the Americas, including major brands like All Nippon Airways, Condor, Emirates, Hainan Airlines, Icelandair, Lufthansa and Korean Air which have added to long-standing routes from Asiana Airlines, British Airways and EVA Air. A lasting legacy for managing director, Mark Reis as he steps down from the helm during February 2016.
This will be the only regular flight between the UK and Oakland International Airport, which is growing in popularity as an alternative gateway into the San Francisco Bay Area and certainly an ideal destination for low-cost, long-haul operators.
IATA projects that passenger numbers are expected to reach seven billion by 2034 with a 3.8 per cent average annual growth in demand (2014 baseline year). That is more than double the 3.3 billion who flew in 2014 and exactly twice as many as the 3.5 billion expected in 2015.
The airline first introduced non-stop flights into Japan in November 2010 when it launched its daily link between Honolulu International Airport and Tokyo Haneda and it also currently provides links into Osaka in July 2011 and Sapporo in October 2012. The new daily Tokyo Narita service will commence from July 22, 2016 and will be flown using a 294 seat Airbus A330-200 with 18 Business Class, 40 Extra Comfort and 236 Economy seats.
The Japanese flag carrier previously served Dallas up until late 2001 when it ended its previous operation from Tokyo. This was flown using a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 trijet, but the current link is being flown by a more efficient twin-engined Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which is understood to have played a key role in the resurrection of this link.
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.
The landing was a joint partnership between ANI’s parent, Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE), Loftleidir Icelandic, and NAS Corporation Limited (NAS) and is part of a wider investigation into the potential for utilising conventional passenger airliners in addition to passenger/cargo combination aircraft to support Antarctic operations.
This expansion will see Cebu Pacific Air offering its trademark low fares to the sizeable Filipino community in Guam, which currently comprises about 26 per cent of the island's population, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency World Fact Book.
Air Canada continues to strategically grow its international network at Vancouver. This new seasonal route follows the recent announcement of several enhancements at the airline's Vancouver International Airport hub for 2016, including new Transborder services to Chicago, San Jose and San Diego, double daily flights to London Heathrow, and the only flights linking Canada to Brisbane, Australia.
The next big event in the route development calendar is Routes Americas in February. With attention turning to the host island, Puerto Rico, it’s an opportune moment to explore how the local market is performing.
Denver International Airport has had a strong year post hosting Routes Americas and recently announced the return of an important European hub link to Munich with Lufthansa. Earlier this month it announced record traffic with the busiest September in Denver aviation history.
In one of the most significant brand expansion in the history of luxury travel and hospitality, Crystal Cruises will not only introduce new ships to its fleet effectively establishing three brand new classes of cruising, but also induct two commercial airliners to launch Crystal Luxury Air in 2017.
