Korean Air restoring flights to Hawaii, Air Nostrum’s latest tender win, and Singapore Airlines restarting service to Houston are among the latest route announcements and services resuming.
With international service not expected to resume until July 2021 at the earliest, Australia’s flag carrier is hoping to stimulate domestic demand where border restrictions allow.
Following the confirmation that Tigerair Australia will cease operations, Routes looks at the Virgin Australia low-cost subsidiary’s place in the market prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australia’s flag carrier originally intended to operate almost 50 international routes over the coming months, but the actual total is likely to be a fraction of that.
Virgin Australia is reducing domestic capacity by 90% and temporarily grounding 125 aircraft. Low-cost subsidiary Tigerair Australia has also suspended flights.
The eight ‘new’ markets comprise Canberra, the airline’s fifth destination in Australia; Dublin, Ireland; Las Vegas, the airline’s eleventh destination in the United States; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Medan’s Kualanamu International Airport, the airline’s third destination in Indonesia; and Tabuk and Yanbu, its ninth and tenth destinations in Saudi Arabia.
Dubbed the ‘Capital Express’ route, Singapore Airlines will introduce a four times weekly schedule on Singapore – Canberra – Wellington, subject to final regulatory approval and will be operated with a 266-seat retrofitted Boeing 777-200 fitted with 38 Business Class and 228 Economy seats.