Lufthansa is continuing to expand its services to India. From 3 May 2008, it will be the only airline to connect the south German hub of Munich with Mumbai (Bombay). In future, the thrice-weekly flights from Munich, which will be operated with an Airbus A340-300, will supplement Lufthansa’s daily service from Frankfurt. In addition, the current service from Frankfurt to Kolkata (Calcutta) in Northeast India will also be boosted from three to five flights a week, starting on 3 June by adding a flight on Tuesdays and Saturdays . “India is increasingly gaining in importance as a strategic growth market. That is why Lufthansa has steadily expanded its flight services to the country in recent years. In future, our customers will have a choice of 50 flights a week to six destinations in India. This will underpin our position as the European market leader,” said Karl Ulrich Garnadt, Executive Vice President Services and Human Resources, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines. [Read more…]
British Airways Planning “OpenSkies” Airline
British Airways is planning to launch its new US-EU subsidiary airline “OpenSkies” with daily flights from New York to Brussels and Paris.
The airline will launch in June 2008 with one Boeing 757 aircraft that will operate from New York to either Brussels or Paris Charles de Gaulle airports. A second aircraft will be added to the fleet later this year to fly to the other EU destination. The plan is to operate six 757s by the end of 2009, all of which will be sourced from the current British Airways fleet. [Read more…]
US Airways to Serve Beijing in 2009
US Airways will enter the Asian market with nonstop daily service to Beijing, China from Philadelphia starting in 2009. The new route was recently awarded to the airline by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Philadelphia, with a metropolitan area population of nearly six million, currently has no nonstop flights to China.
The flight will originate in Charlotte, North Carolina, then continue to Beijing from Philadelphia. The Airbus A340 aircraft will offer two-class seating with 42 in Envoy Class and 227 in Economy Class, for a total capacity of 269. [Read more…]
AirAsia Adds Flights to Shenzhen from Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu
AirAsia is expanding its service to Shenzhen, China with the addition of two flights from Malaysia on October 2nd. The low-cost carrier will add a second flight from Kuala Lumpur and start a direct flight from Kota Kinabalu in East Malaysia. Both flights will operate from the Low Cost Carrier Terminal in each or the Malaysian airports. Air Asia Thailand also serves Shenzhen with a daily flight from Bangkok. [Read more…]
VRG Adds Sao Paulo-Paris-Rome Service
The Brazilian budget airline VRG has added a second European route, a daily flight from Guarulhos International Airport to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, which then continues on to Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport. The Sao Paulo-Paris-Rome route uses a new Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. The airline’s first European route offers a twice-daily service to Frankfurt, Germany. Other international destinations are Bogota, Colombia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Caracas, Venezuela. [Read more…]
TAM to Add New Daily Sao Paulo-Frankfurt Flight
On November 30, TAM will inaugurate a new daily service between Sao Paulo, Brazil and Frankfurt, Germany. The return Frankfurt-Sao Paulo flight will begin on December 1. The route will use the new Airbus A340-500, configured with 267 total seats in Business and Economy class. The plane is scheduled for delivery to TAM in October. [Read more…]
Virgin America Adds MedAire Medical Services
Virgin America has signed a three-year contract with MedAire Inc. for MedAire’s 24/7 MedLink Global Response Service and on-board medical kits for its Airbus 320-family planes. Each of the low-cost airline’s aircraft will carry specialized medical kits designed for on-board needs. [Read more…]
United to Begin Daily Los Angeles-Frankfurt Service
United Airlines will inaugurate its eighth daily flight between the US and Frankfurt December 15th when it begins passenger and cargo service to Frankfurt from Los Angeles using Boeing-777 equipment. The carrier currently has seven flights to Frankfurt from its other international hubs, with three daily flights from Washington DC, two daily flights from San Francisco, and two daily flights to Chicago. The first Frankfurt to Los Angeles flight will be December 16th. [Read more…]
Singapore Airlines Charity Auction Successful
The Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 First Flight Charity Auction has raised nearly Sin$2 million (US$1.35 million) for the event’s four charities with all but 24 seats sold. The remaining 24 seats were reserved for last chance bids. Both legs of the roundtrip flight have seats in Business and Economy classes, and the Sydney-Singapore leg has seats in Suites Class.The first commercial flight of the Airbus 380 worldwide will depart Singapore for Sydney, Australia on October 25th, with a return flight on October 26th. The charities will receive the donations in conjunction with these flights.. Both Médecins Sans Frontières , and the Community Chest of Singapore will receive one third of the funds, with the remaining third being split between Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, and The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. [Read more…]
OnAir Adds Kingfisher and Shenzhen Airlines to In-Flight Communications Customers
India’s Kingfisher Airlines and China’s Shenzhen Airlines have both agreed to install OnAir’s in-flight communications systems for phone and data. Two other Asian carriers, AirAsia and AirAsia X, also plan to offer OnAir services, bringing the number of Asian customers to four.
Demonstration systems will be installed on three Shenzhen Airlines planes by August of next year, at the time of the Beijing Olympics. By the middle of 2009, the OnAir will be available on all the carrier‘s aircraft. The airline will be the first in China with facilities for passengers to use their own communication devices while in the air. [Read more…]
