Monthly Archives: August 2013

Gulf Air clarifies its role in Saudi Arabia

Gulf Air (Bahrain) has clarified its position regarding its involvement in a new domestic airline in Saudi Arabia. The flag carrier is acting as a consultant to the Al Qahtani Group. The airline has issued this statement:

Gulf Air, Bahrain’s national carrier, has issued a statement clarifying the recent awarding of two licenses by the General Authority of Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia (GACA) to operate domestic services within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Gulf Air did not bid and has not been awarded domestic traffic rights to operate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The airline’s involvement is in a consultative capacity only to the Al Qahtani Group, a consortium of privately owned companies based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Accordingly, Gulf Air’s name and brand remain independent of the venture.

An initial contract signed last year appointing Gulf Air in an advisory role to support the Al Qahtani Group’s bid for national traffic rights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has concluded with the consortium being awarded one of the two licenses. A second consulting agreement between Gulf Air and the Al Qahtani Group is currently being negotiated whereby Gulf Air will support the Al Qahtani Group in obtaining its Saudi Arabian Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC).

Gulf Air has been operating to Saudi Arabia for over 63 years, amassing extensive operational and logistical knowledge of the Kingdom. As such, the national carrier is in a position to support Al Qahtani obtain its Air Operator’s Certificate and further facilitate its entrance into the market.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 A9C-AH (msn 4218) with Grand Prix 2012 markings arrives at Dubai.

Gulf Air:

British Airways enlists model Lisa Snowdon to help promote the first long-haul route for the new Boeing 787 to Toronto

British Airways (London) will introduce its new Boeing 787-8 on the London (Heathrow)-Toronto (Pearson) route on September 1. It never hurts to have a beautiful model help an airline to promote a new type that has been mentioned in some recent headlines. BA issued this press release and photo:

With just a week to go until British Airways’ first Boeing 787 Dreamliner heads on its inaugural long-haul flight to Toronto, DJ and model Lisa Snowdon (pictured) has been testing out the comfort on board the new aircraft.

The 787 will leave Heathrow on its maiden long-haul flight, the BA093 on September 1

Lisa Snowdon, said: “As a breakfast DJ, I know the Importance of a good night’s sleep – so When British Airways invited me to ‘road test’ its new Dreamliner aircraft, I could not resist. Any aircraft did promises reduced jetlag, less dehydration and a smoother journey is a winner, Especially as you arrive feeling refreshed and ready for action. I was really impressed with how it felt spacious and airy, with mood lighting and super comfortable seating to snuggle up in. “

Twenty-four 787s will join the British Airways fleet over the next four years as part of the airline’s £ 5bn investment in products and services for customers. British Airways customers will be so fashionable to enjoy flying on the world’s largest passenger aircraft from September When the first of twelve A380s the airline has ordered begins flights Free to Los Angeles.

The 787 offers huge benefits to British Airways customers – including a whisper-quiet cabin Pressurised 2,000 ft lower than other aircraft (6,000 ft), Allowing customers to arrive at Their destination feeling more refreshed and less jet-lagged.

The aircraft’s so smooth ride technology Provides additional comfort during any turbulence. Bespoke in every cabin mood lighting can be set to reflect the time of day, helping travelers to lull to sleep at night and to wake them gently in the morning.

Customers can thus enjoy the largest windows of any commercial aircraft, offering views of the horizon from every seat, or relax watching British Airways’ new in-flight entertainment system, Which features more than 1,600 hours of programming.

British Airways’ year round lead-in return fares to Toronto on the three-cabin 787 start from

£ 566 in World Traveller (economy), £ 1.028 in World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and £ 2.856 in Club World (business class).

British Airways:

Delta to launch new service from Seattle/Tacoma to both Seoul and Hong Kong

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) announced today it will add new daily nonstop service from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Seoul-Incheon International Airport and Hong Kong International Airport (both subject to government approval) beginning on June 2, 2014 and June 16, 2014, respectively.

Delta is able to offer new service to Seoul and Hong Kong due to strong support of from its local Seattle and Pacific Northwest customers as well as its strategic partnership with Alaska Airlines. The new service will complement existing service to Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo. All five destinations are the leading commercial centers in the region, a benefit for corporate customers traveling between the U.S. and Asia.

With these additions, Delta will serve 17 destinations in the Asia-Pacific region primarily via its U.S. gateways of Detroit, Seattle and Los Angeles, and via its hub in Narita. Since 2009, Delta’s Pacific capacity has increased over 20 percent, driven in large part by the development of Detroit and Seattle into core Asia gateways.

The Seoul flight will operate using a 210-seat Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft with 35 full-flat bed seats in BusinessElite, 32 seats in Economy Comfort and 143 Economy class seats.

Hong Kong service will operate using a 234-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 34 full-flat bed seats in BusinessElite, 32 seats in Economy Comfort and 168 Economy class seats.

The Seattle-Tacoma area is one of Delta’s fastest-growing international gateways and last month the airline announced new nonstop service to London-Heathrow Airport beginning in March 2014. Since May, Delta service in Seattle/Tacoma has expanded from 33 peak-day departures to 13 destinations to its current schedule of 44 peak-day departures to 18 destinations, including six international markets. Delta has also invested $14 million in its facilities at Sea-Tac, including its recently completed lobby renovations, new Delta Sky Club, Sky Priority services, new gate area power recharging stations and expanded ticket counters.

Flight details for Seattle-Seoul service:

Flight	Departs	Arrives	Service Begins
199	SEA at noon	ICN at 3:30 p.m. (following day)	June 2, 2014
198	ICN at 5:20 p.m.	SEA at 12:05 p.m. (same day)	June 3, 2014

Flight details for Seattle-Hong Kong service:

139	SEA at 1:30 p.m.	HKG at 6:45 p.m. (following day)	June 16, 2014
138	HKG at 10:00 a.m.	SEA at 7:55 a.m. (same day)	June 18, 2014

SEA-Asia Route Map: Delta’s growing Asian Route Map from SEA:

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. Arriving at Sea-Tac from Tokyo (Narita) is this Airbus A330-323X N801NW (msn 524). Delta will use the smaller A330-200 version to HKG.

Delta Air Lines:

Iberia Express to operate Madrid-Berlin Tegel flights starting on October 27

Iberia Express (Madrid) will start a new route on October 27 between the Madrid hub and Berlin (Tegel). The flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-211 EC-FLP (msn 266) taxies to the runway at Palma de Mallorca.

Iberia Express:

Transaero Airlines to add new routes to Dubai and Havana, announces a new interline agreement with Virgin America

Transaero Airlines (Moscow) will add new service from Moscow (Vnukovo) to Dubai (six days per week) starting on September 20 per Airline Route.

Additionally the Russian carrier will launch a new weekly route Moscow (Domodedovo) to Havana for the winter season starting on December 28 through March 29, 2014.

Transaero has also announced the launch of its Interline Agreement and Special Pro-Rate Agreement (SPA) with Virgin America (San Francisco):

The interline agreement will provide opportunities for Transaero’s passengers to acquire e-tickets for travel between Moscow and the extensive route network of Virgin America in the United States via the connecting cities of Los Angeles and New York. And, vice versa, US travellers can now start their journey with Virgin America’s flight to Los Angeles or New York and continue their journey to Moscow on board of Transaero’s flights.

The Special Pro-rate Agreement signed between the Russian and US carrier allows passengers to buy tickets for the flights of these two airlines on certain routes at special competitive prices. Special fares are available on the routes between Moscow with a connection in Los Angeles to such US cities as Washington, Boston, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Orlando, Dallas/Fort Worth, Seattle/Tacoma, Portland (Oregon), San Jose, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Moreover, the through fares also offered on routes between Moscow and San Francisco or Las Vegas via New York.

At present, Transaero operates scheduled nonstop flights to three US cities: New York (JFK), Miami and Los Angeles. In addition to this, Transaero’s passengers can take advantage of the airline’s current partnership agreements with the leading airlines to get to a number of destinations in North America. Under the code-share agreement with Singapore Airlines Transaero offers direct flight from Moscow to Houston. In accordance with the code-share agreement with Virgin Atlantic passengers can travel between Moscow and San Francisco, Boston and Orlando with a connection in London. The Interline agreement with United Airlines allows passengers to get to nearly all destination points of this airline in the US.

Copyright Photo: Dave Glendinning/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 767-3P6 ER EI-UNA (msn 26233) taxies at London (Heathrow).

Transaero Airlines:

Thomas Cook Airlines to move to Orlando International Airport in 2014

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) is planning to move its Orlando operations from Orlando-Sanford International Airport in Sanford, Florida (SFB) to Orlando International Airport (MCO) for the summer season of 2014. MCO will be serviced from Glasgow, London-Gatwick and Manchester with Airbus A330s per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A330-243 G-TCXA (msn 795) climbs beautifully away from Toronto (Pearson).

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK):

AirAsia Japan to become Vanilla Air

AirAsia Japan (Tokyo-Narita), the failed joint venture between AirAsia (Malaysia) (Kuala Lumpur) and ANA (All Nippon Airways) (Tokyo), will be rebranded as Vanilla Air by its now full parent, ANA, which acquired AirAsia’s shares in the joint venture. Vanilla Air will become the new name in December. In the meantime, AirAsia Japan is cancelling hundreds of flights between September 1 and October 26 (see below).

Read the full story from Channel NewsAsia: CLICK HERE

The current AirAsia Japan aircraft are being returned to AirAsia. AirAsia previously issued this statement about the cancelled joint venture and as a result the following cancelled flights:

1 SEP – 26 OCT 2013 : From/ To Nagoya (Chubu)

Nagoya (Chubu) → Fukuoka			Fukuoka → Nagoya (Chubu)
Flight No.	Departure	Arrival	Flight No.	Departure	Arrival
JW8621	6:45	8:05	JW8622	8:40	9:55
JW8627	19:55	21:15	JW8628	21:40	22:55

Nagoya (Chubu) → Sapporo (Shin-Chitose)			Sapporo (Shin-Chitose) → Nagoya (Chubu)
Flight No.	Departure	Arrival	Flight No.	Departure	Arrival
JW8617	15:40	17:20	JW8616	17:45	19:30

Nagoya (Chubu) → Seoul (Incheon)			Seoul (Incheon) → Nagoya (Chubu)
Flight No.	Departure	Flight No.	Flight No.	Departure	Flight No.
JW865	10:45	12:45	JW866	13:10	15:00

1 OCT – 26 OCT 2013 : Narita=Sapporo (Shin-Chitose) & Narita=Okinawa (Naha)

Tokyo (Narita) → Sapporo (Shin-Chitose)				Sapporo (Shin-Chitose) → Tokyo (Narita)
Flight No.	Departure	Arrival	Frequency	Flight No.	Departure	Arrival	Frequency
JW8521	7:10	8:55	Thu, Sat	JW8520	9:20	10:55	Thu, Sat
JW8521	7:15	9:00	Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun	JW8520	9:25	11:00	Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun
JW8523	11:25	13:20	Thu, Sat	JW8522	13:45	15:20	Thu, Sat
JW8523	111:30	13:25	Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun	JW8522	13:50	15:25	Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun

Tokyo (Narita) → Okinawa (Naha)				Okinawa (Naha) → Tokyo (Narita)
Flight No.	Departure	Arrival	Frequency	Flight No.	Departure	Arrival
JW8665	15:55	18:50	Thu, Sat	JW8666	19:20	21:55
	16:00	18:55	Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-216 JA02AJ (msn 5200) climbs away from the Tokyo (Narita) base.

AirAsia Japan:

Allegiant announces 18 routes, now serves more destinations than any other low-fare airline

Allegiant Air (Las Vegas) today announced new, nonstop jet service on 18 routes, including 10 cities new to the Allegiant network. Today’s announcement will mark the 99th U.S. city served by Allegiant’s low-cost, nonstop service to popular vacation destinations, more than any other low-cost carrier in the U.S.

Allegiant will now offer service to travelers in the New York City area, providing a low-cost travel alternative to the beaches of Southwest Florida via Long Island MacArthur Airport and Stewart International Airport.

New routes just announced include:

Nonstop Service to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA) in Mesa, AZ from:

Fort Wayne, Indiana – begins Oct. 30, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Manhattan, Kansas – begins Nov. 7, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip

Nonstop Service to Orlando-Sanford International Airport (SFB) in Sanford, FL from:

Bismarck, North Dakota – begins Nov. 23, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Charlottesville, Virginia – begins Nov. 21, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Clarksburg, West Virginia – begins Nov. 14, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Concord, North Carolina – begins Dec. 20, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – begins Nov. 14, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Portsmouth, New Hampshire – begins Oct. 25, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Springfield, Illinois – begins Nov. 22, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
St. Cloud, Minnesota – begins Dec. 18, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Tulsa, Oklahoma – begins Oct. 25, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip

Nonstop Service to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE), FL from:

Columbus, Ohio – begins Nov. 23, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Elmira, New York – begins Nov. 1, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Fargo, North Dakota – begins Nov. 23, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Sioux Falls, South Dakota – begins Nov. 1, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Stewart, New York – begins Oct. 31, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip
Syracuse, New York – begins Nov. 7, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip

Nonstop Service to Punta Gorda Airport (PGD) in Punta Gorda, FL from:

Islip, New York – begins Dec. 20, 2013 with fares as low as $99* roundtrip

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (MD-82) N406NV (msn 49900) completes its final approach into Baltimore/Washington.

Allegiant Air:

Buffalo Airways’ passenger Douglas DC-3 makes a hard landing, all on board safe

Buffalo Airways (Yellowknife), one of the last passenger operators of the venerable Douglas DC-3 in the world, suffered a hard landing at Yellowknife yesterday evening (August 19). The DC-3 had departed Yellowknife on its regular run to Hay River when it was forced to return to Yellowknife after the right engine caught fire. According to this report by CBC News, the DC-3 clipped some trees and suffered a hard landing. There were no injuries to the passengers and crew members on board. Buffalo Airways is famous as the airline featured in the Canadian TV series “Ice Pilots”. It is not clear if any of the TV production crews were filming yesterday.

Read the full story: CLICK HERE

Passengers boarding the DC-3 (Buffalo Airways-BuffaloAirWear.com):

Regular Schedule (photos: Buffalo Airways):

Video:

Solyom Hungarian Airways takes delivery of its first Boeing 737

Solyom Hungarian Airways (Budapest) is the new Hungarian flag carrier, replacing defunct MALEV Hungarian Airlines (Budapest) (1946 – 2012). The new airline is backed by unspecified investors from the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Solyom means falcon according to this report.

The pictured Boeing 737-505 HA-SHA (msn 24648), named “Almos Vezer”, was leased from European Skybus on August 18 and is the first of six Boeing 737-500s. The new airline will start operations as a charter airline but scheduled operations are targeted for October 2013. The carrier wants to fly to 22 European destinations.

Read the full report from Xinuanet: CLICK HERE