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.
From October 23, 2015, the Irish carrier will commence 16 weekly flights between Liverpool and Dublin on a 174 seat Airbus A320, offering ideal connections onto Aer Lingus flights to North America via Dublin.
Virgin America will launch daily flights between San Francisco and Honolulu, Oahu from November 2, 2015, and between San Francisco and Kahului, Maui from December 3, 2015. It is currently working with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) and Airbus to ensure its new Airbus A320 aircraft are certified for Extended-Range Operations (ETOPS) to fly longer range missions over water flights.
The airline had originally planned to introduce the daily rotation from May 16, 2015 but is now seeking to delay the start of the new service until July 15, 2015.
Mobile phones and tablets are fast becoming the perfect way in which airlines and airports can keep continuously connected with their passengers, from the moment of booking to boarding the aircraft.
Delta launched its hourly non-stop Delta Shuttle product from Los Angeles to San Francisco in September 2013, adding a California perspective to its long relied-upon New York-based Shuttle. Alongside eight daily 717 flights it will offer seven flights through Delta Connection partner Compass Airlines using 76-seat Embraer E175s.
US major, United Airlines is to operate additional flights to Shanghai and Chengdu from the airline’s hub in San Francisco, during the peak summer travel season. The announcement comes in the same week as a report by OAG, which considers a China-US open skies agreement.
The expansion will be made possible by the introduction of an additional Airbus A330-200 into the Aer Lingus fleet from May 2015 on a five year lease. This additional capacity will enable the carrier to resume summer links from Dublin to Washington Dulles from May 1, 2015 on a four times weekly basis and to boost its current Dublin – Orlando route from three to four times weekly and Dublin – San Francisco link from five times weekly to a daily schedule.
The 469-seat A380 will substitute a smaller Boeing 747-400 on the five London – San Francisco services boosting weekly capacity by just under 20 per cent. All nine other weekly rotations will continue to be served using the smaller Jumbos which are configured in either 299- or 337-seat arrangements.
UK carrier Virgin Atlantic Airways is to suspend flights to Cape Town, Mumbai, Tokyo and Vancouver as it instead looks to strengthen its transatlantic partnership with shareholder Delta Air Lines. The latest network changes are part of an ongoing network review and business recovery plan to return the carrier to long-term profitability.
United will inaugurate the new route on October 26, 2014, subject to final government approval. Haneda Airport will be the tenth trans-Pacific destination that United serves nonstop from San Francisco, and the third new Asia-Pacific airport for the carrier this year.
Under its revised Dallas schedule, Virgin America will move its existing links to Dallas/Fort Worth International from Los Angeles and San Francisco to the downtown airport from October 13, 2014 and will add multiple daily links with Chicago, New York, Washington DC.
As SAS Scandinavian Airlines celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first scheduled flight to Chicago, host city of this year’s World Routes forum in September 2014, the carrier has revealed it is to boost its flights to the Windy City, while also adding frequencies to other markets in the US.
Canadian leisure carrier Air Canada rouge is to expand its operations into Western Canada to serve a number of predominantly leisure markets from Vancouver and Calgary to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Anchorage.
