In 1984 when Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) became the world’s first privately-owned international airport, nobody would have predicted that today it would among the busiest facilities across the Caribbean and a major economic driver for the Dominican Republic. Over the past 30 years it has been regularly recognised among the fastest growing airport in Latin America in terms of passenger traffic, and is now gearing up to welcome Airbus A380 operations by the end of this year.
Ecuador certainly has a lot to offer and has a growing inbound appeal as the new Quito International Airport, the largest gateway into the country, makes the destination more accessible to international arrivals without the operational restrictions that had affected its downtown predecessor.
Watch highlights from this year's Routes Americas, which made its debut in North America in the US city of Denver, hosted by Denver International Airport and Visit Denver.
The four-times-weekly flights will operate between Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) and the airlines main base in Panama City, and will offer convenient connections to more than 55 destinations in Central and South America.
From November 16, 2015, the airline will operate year-round flights between Frankfurt and Panama City five times weekly, subject to government approval.
CSA Czech Airlines is introducing five additional European destinations for its 2015 summer schedule, in addition to another five which were announced last autumn.
Central and West Africa’s largest airline will commence scheduled flight operations from Lagos, Nigeria to the Ivorian city via Cotonou, Benin Republic.
Ryanair initially announced it would fly from Copenhagen – Milan Bergamo and Warsaw Modlin daily, as well as from Copenhagen – London Luton twice daily; increasing to three times daily from October 25, 2015, but has since announced a further four routes for later this year, including Madrid, Rome, Brussels and Stockholm.
Known as 'The City of Eternal Spring' due to its pleasant climate and flowers blooming all year long, Kunming is the capital and largest city in Yunnan Province, located in Southwest China.
Routes Middle East & Africa will see route development professionals from across the Middle East and Africa gather to discuss air service development to, from, and within the region.
According to SAS, currently the fifth largest holder of slots at London Heathow, the transaction will generate positive earnings of $60 million. Following the closure of this deal, SAS will now hold 20 daily slots at London Heathrow which it uses to offer non-stop flights to Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Oslo, Stockholm and Stavanger.
The airline plans to introduce a twice weekly service on the route from June 11, 2015 with Airbus A320 rotations every Thursday and Sunday. Grenada will be JetBlue's 90th destination and its 32nd destination in the Caribbean and Latin America.
After the success of its first six direct return flights in January 2015 between Sydney and Vancouver, Qantas has made the decision to resume service for the busy summer and winter holidays. The direct service proved to be popular with both Australian and Canadian passengers and this upcoming schedule will offer greater flexibility with a switch from two to three flights per week.
The likely move into regional Brazilian operations comes as the Government looks to roll-out a new incentive scheme which will partly-subsidise flights in this market. The regional aviation development program Programa de Desenvolvimento da Aviação Regional (PDAR) was launched last month.
The Swedish government has announced its decision to look into the possibility of introducing US preclearance at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, meaning that Sweden could become the second country in Europe, after Ireland to offer the service.
Apple Computer may soon get better flights to sell more iPhones in a China after Hainan Airlines filed an application for an exemption and ammended foreign air carrier permit with the US Department of Transportation to serve San Jose, California, which elicited wide smiles from San Jose International Airport's Olgierd Hinz at Routes Americas in Denver.
Building on the success of this year’s event, which provisional figures suggest welcomed over 650 delegates, 45 per cent growth year-on-year, Routes Americas 2016 will take place between February 7-9, 2016 in San Juan. The event, which is the route development forum for the entire Americas region, will be hosted by Puerto Rico Tourism Company with the support of their partners Aerostar Airport Holdings LLC and MeetPuertoRico.
An ongoing call by US mainline carriers for the country's government to re-look at its Open Skies deals with certain Gulf nations has stirred up strong reactions in the industry, even as some parties choose to stay out of the controversial issue altogether.
The service will be operated three-times weekly, increasing to a daily service by the end of the year, using a B757-200 aircraft with 74 lie-flat seats in a 2x2 configuration.
Beginning September 1, 2015 and subject to government approval, the service will operate four-times weekly to Dusseldorf - the international business and financial centre in Germany.