The airline, founded in 2010, has launched a route from Los Angeles International Airport to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This direct service will tap into a growing market that has been unserved since 2014.
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.
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.
The flight will be operated as part of American's joint business with Qantas, which remains subject to regulatory approvals. Through their enhanced relationship, American and Qantas intend to provide increased connectivity to markets beyond their key gateways.
The daily service will commence from February 11, 2016 and will be flown using a 226-seat Boeing 787-8. American will compete directly with the existing flights of All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Delta in this market but will benefit from operating the route as part of its transpacific joint business with Japan Airlines (JAL).
The airline became a pioneer of ultra-low-cost travel between Europe and North America when it debuted its flights into the US market earlier this year and will replicate this in Canada with its new flights to Montreal and Toronto from May 2016. This latest growth is described by the carrier’s chief executive officer, Skúli Mogensen as a “game changer for WOW air” as it seeks to cement itself as the “industry leader” in the ultra-low-cost long haul category.
Irish flag carrier, Aer Lingus, a recent addition to the IAG portfolio, is to launch flights between Dublin and Los Angeles, Newark, and Hartford during the summer 2016 schedule, while British Airways will relaunch its New York operation from London Gatwick after a seven-year hiatus.
If the speculation is true, Aer Lingus will be the only airline offering a direct flight between Europe and Hartford Bradley International Airport, branded as the ‘Gateway to New England’. In fact the airline will be the sole carrier to serve the facility from outside North America with existing links limited to just domestic services in the US and flights into Canada.
What are the world's longest scheduled air routes by distance and block time? As Emirates Airline reveals plans to launch a Dubai - Panama City route in February 2016, Routesonline investigates.
Australian airline, Qantas Airways has said it will resume flights between Sydney and San Francisco after Australian authorities gave approval for an expanded codeshare arrangement with American Airlines.
US major, American Airlines is to grow its network into Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America later this year, further strengthening its position in these key regions. Alongside the new routes, American will also reinstate its link between New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and Simon Bolívar International Airport in Caracas, Venezuela, a service that was ended as the Venezuelan government withheld funds from airline ticket sales.
As of November 2015, Delta will increase service between New York-JFK and Los Angeles International Airport from nine to ten daily peak-day flights. Four flights will be operated with Boeing 767 widebody aircraft and six flights will use Boeing 757 aircraft. Delta will also be upgrading three of its eight daily flights between New York-JFK and San Francisco to Boeing 767 widebody aircraft.
The carrier said in formal correspondence with the DOT that it feels it is “not commercially feasible” to continue operate the slots allocated to Delta for Seattle-Haneda service on a consistent daily basis year-round because of variable year-round demand and a lack of partner operator in the Japanese market at the airport, close to downtown Tokyo.
JetBlue grew its departure capacity from Boston’s Logan International Airport by 355.9 per cent between 2005 and 2014, an average annual rise of 39.5 per cent. The airline overtook Delta Air Lines as the airport’s largest operator by departure seats in 2010 and now has over a quarter share of capacity, up from just 5.8 per cent in 2005. It is forecasted to grow capacity 4.3 per cent this year and this latest expansion will see further rises in 2016.
As part of its strategy, United has entered into two separate transactions with Delta Air Lines for its US rival to acquire United’s JFK slots and for it to purchase slots from Delta in Newark. Each transaction is subject to regulatory approval which is far from guaranteed as United had previously been forced to give up 36 slots at Newark as part of its merger with Continental Airlines by US regulators.
New routes between Los Angeles and Sydney, operated by American Airlines, and between San Francisco and Sydney, operated by Qantas will be added from December, further strengthening the partnership between the two airlines.
The airline will offer eight weekly flights into Costa Rica with four flights per week to each destination from Los Angeles International Airport. The link to San José will operate on Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from October 31, 2015, while the Liberia service will fly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from November 1, 2015.
The further five year agreement which actually took effect from November 1, 2014, will see the airline grow the number of seats on offer across Manchester Airports group's portfolio of London Stansted, Manchester and East Midlands by 15 per cent - including a 21 per cent increase at Manchester - compared to figures in 2013.
The announced growth from Qatar Airways is sure to further anger the bosses of the three US majors – American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines – which are understood to remain disappointed at the level and speed of the US governments reaction to its claim of unfair state subsidies at the Gulf airlines.
Ethiopian Airlines is moving its European hub to Dublin Airport from next month which will see the airline transit 10 transatlantic flights per week through the airport to destinations in the US and Canada.
The carrier has traditionally focused almost exclusively on connecting small and medium-sized cities to its focus airports located mostly in leisure destinations across the United States. However, this latest expansion continues a recent trend of introducing flights into larger markets.
In an investor update providing guidance for the first quarter and full year ending December 31, 2015 preliminary estimates show that Spirit expects to grow capacity by 25.8 per cent in the first quarter, 31.5 per cent in the second quarter, 33.5 per cent in the third quarter and 30.5 per cent in the fourth quarter for a year-end increase of 30.4 per cent.
In its application to US Department of Transportation for authority to conduct scheduled foreign air transportation to the US, China Eastern said it planned to introduce flights from Chengdu, via Nanjing to Los Angeles from June 30, 2015 using an Airbus A330-300.
