Monthly Archives: July 2020

AP: American Airlines threatens to cancel some Boeing 737 MAX orders

From the Associated Press:

“American Airlines is warning Boeing that it could cancel some overdue orders for the grounded 737 MAX unless the plane maker helps line up new financing for the jets, which has become more expensive as the coronavirus pandemic has crippled airlines, according to people familiar with the discussions.

American had 24 MAX jets before they were grounded in March 2019. It has orders for 76 more but wants Boeing to help arrange financing for 17 planes for which previous financing has or will soon expire, according to three people who spoke Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks between the companies.”

Ethiopian to resume flights to Cameroon

Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest airline is resuming service to Duala and Yaoundé as of July 13, 2020.

The service will initially be three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Addis Ababa to Duala via Yaoundé and then back to Addis Ababa.

Further to the resumption of regular service to Dubai and Djibouti, the addition of Duala and Yaoundé will bring the total number of destinations to be served by Ethiopian with enhanced safety measures to 42. As countries continue to open-up their airports for passenger arrival, Ethiopian will announce list of these destinations in due course.

Ethiopian Airlines aircraft photo gallery:

Ethiopian Airlines aircraft slide show:

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CBC: Netherlands to sue Russia over downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17

Netherlands to sue Russia over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

From Wikipedia:

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on July 17, 2014 while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. Contact with the aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER, was lost when it was about 50 km (31 miles) from the Ukraine–Russia border, and wreckage of the aircraft fell near Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, 40 km (25 miles) from the border. It was Malaysia Airlines’ second aircraft loss during 2014, after the disappearance of Flight 370 on March 8. The shoot-down occurred in the War in Donbass, during the Battle in Shakhtarsk Raion, in an area controlled by pro-Russian rebels. The Ukrainian Air Force had suffered losses from increasingly sophisticated air defense weaponry.

The responsibility for investigation was delegated to the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) and the Dutch-led joint investigation team (JIT), who concluded that the airliner was downed by a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory in Ukraine. According to the JIT, the Buk that was used originated from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Federation and had been transported from Russia on the day of the crash, fired from a field in a rebel-controlled area and returned to Russia afterwards. On the basis of the JIT’s conclusions, the governments of the Netherlands and Australia held Russia responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation and were pursuing legal routes as of May 2018. The Russian government denied involvement in the shooting down of the plane, and holds the Ukrainian government at fault for allowing civilian flights in a war zone. Immediately after contact with the aircraft was lost, the rebel militia in Donetsk claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian An-26 military transporter. When it became apparent that the wreckage that fell near Hrabove was from a civilian airliner, the separatists withdrew this claim and denied shooting down any aircraft.

The findings by the DSB and JIT are consistent with the earlier claims by American and German intelligence sources and claims by the Ukrainian government.

Above Copyright Photo: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-2H6 ER 9M-MRD (msn 28411) LAX (James Helbock). Image: 923794.

Malaysia Airlines aircraft slide show:

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Air France to serve close to 170 destinations in September and October 2020

Air France has made this announcement:

Air France is further reinforcing its flight schedule for summer 2020. Subject to the lifting of travel restrictions, the gradual increase in the number of frequencies and destinations will continue, reaching 50% of the flight schedule initially planned at the end of September and 60% at the end of October.

Air France plans to serve close to 170 destinations at the end of summer 2020, i.e. 85% of its usual network.

On departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, domestic network activity will reach almost full capacity. The number of medium and long haul routes will continue to increase as will the number of frequencies to the vast majority of destinations.

From Paris-Orly, Air France will operate additional destinations as of the end of August 2020.

Domestic inter-regional routes will also increase.

The flight schedule will be operated by 163 of the 212 aircraft in the Air France fleet.

The flight schedule, the days of operation and the resumption date of the various routes can be consulted by clicking here.

International borders are opening up slowly. This flight schedule is likely to change and remains subject to obtaining the required government authorization. Air France will take into account the current health & hygiene measures in the countries or destinations served to guarantee its passengers the highest level of health safety.

Updating the flight schedule will result in the cancellation of bookings for flights that are not operated. Commercial measures, which can be consulted online at airfrance.com and at all sales points, will enable the customers concerned to postpone their trip free of charge or to cancel it, by requesting a bonus voucher or a ticket refund.

Flight schedule for September and October 2020 to and from Paris-Charles de Gaulle

Metropolitan France	Biarritz, Bordeaux, Brest, Clermont Ferrand, Lorient, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Mulhouse, Nantes, Nice, Pau, Rennes, Toulouse
French overseas departments & territories, Caribbean & Indian Ocean	Antananarivo, Havana, Mauritius, Papeete, Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, Saint Martin
Europe	Aberdeen, Alicante, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Bari, Belgrade, Bergen, Berlin, Bilbao, Billund, Birmingham, Bologna, Bremen, Bucharest, Budapest, Cagliari, Catania, Copenhagen, Cork, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Erevan, Faro, Florence, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Hanover, Heraklion, Ibiza, Istanbul, Kiev, Krakow, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Naples, Newcastle, Nuremberg, Olbia, Oslo, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Prague, Rome, Saint Petersburg, Seville, Sofia, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv, Turin, Valencia, Venice, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb, Zurich
Middle East	Beirut, Dubai, Cairo
Africa	Abidjan, Abuja, Accra, Algiers, Bamako, Bangui, Brazzaville, Casablanca, Conakry, Cotonou, Dakar, Djibouti, Douala, Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos, Libreville, Lomé, Luanda, Malabo, Marrakech, Nairobi, Niamey, N’Djamena, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou, Oran, Pointe-Noire, Rabat, Tunis, Yaoundé
North America	Atlanta, Boston, Cancun, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, Mexico, Miami, Montreal, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington
South America	Bogota, Buenos Aires, Fortaleza, Lima, Panama City, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, San Jose, Sao Paulo
Asia	Bangalore, Bangkok, Bombay (Mumbai), Delhi, Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Ho Chi Min City

Flight schedule for September and October 2020 to and from Paris-Orly

Metropolitan France and Corsica	Ajaccio, Bastia, Biarritz, Brest, Calvi, Figari, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice, Pau, Perpignan, Toulon, Toulouse
North America	New York
French overseas departments & territories, Caribbean & Indian Ocean	Cayenne, Fort-de-France, Pointe-à-Pitre, Saint-Denis de la Réunion

The flight schedule operated under a Public Service Delegation contract between Paris and Aurillac, Brive, Castres and Lourdes and between Strasbourg and Amsterdam will be updated at a later date.

Before travelling, Air France recommends its customers contact the relevant authorities to check the entry and travel requirements for their destination and transit countries, which may have changed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Air France reminds customers that surgical masks must be worn on all its flights. Body temperature checks are carried out on departure of certain Air France flights to international destinations. Daily aircraft cleaning operations have been stepped up and a specific procedure for the regular disinfection of cabins with an approved virucidal spray has been introduced. For more details about the health & hygiene measures implemented by Air France, both on the ground and on board, click here.

Air France aircraft photo gallery:

Air France slide show:

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Breeze Airways files to acquire the AOC of Compass Airways to launch operations in mid 2021

Breeze Airways (Salt Lake City), the new scheduled airline start-up of David Neeleman, has filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to acquire the air operator certificate (AOC) of disbanded Compass Airlines.

In the filing, Breeze announced it will begin charter operations in October 2020 before commencing scheduled passenger services in May 2021. The new airline plans to serve 15 underserved destinations on the East Coast, South, Texas and the Midwest.

To start operations, Breeze will lease 15 Embraer 190 aircraft from Nordic Aviation Capital.

The first new Airbus A220-300 aircraft will be delayed until August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The A220s will be used to launch transcontinental routes.

All images by the airline.

Air Mauritius puts five aircraft up for sale to raise capital

Air Mauritius entered voluntary administration on April 22, 2020 as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and grounding of the fleet, except for repatriation flights.

The airline has announced its international commercial passenger flights will remain suspended until August 31, 2020.

Auditors have suggested a possible liquidation of assets.

In order to raise immediate capital, the flag carrier has put five used aircraft (from a fleet of 13) up for immediate sale:

Two Airbus A319-100s (3B-NBF msn 1592 and 3B-NBH msn 1936)

One Airbus A330-200 (3B-NBL msn 1057)

Two Airbus A340-300s (3B-NBD msn 194 and 3B-NBE msn 268)

Most of the above aircraft were planned to be retired in the coming years anyway.

Air Mauritius aircraft photo gallery:

Air Mauritius aircraft slide show:

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Alitalia to operate 24% more flights in August, will resume Milan-New York service

Alitalia has made this announcement:

Alitalia will increase number of flights in August, when the Airline will operate a total of over 1,600 flights per week, 24% more than in July and more than double compared to those operated in June.

Alitalia aircraft will fly on 75 routes (24 more than July) and 52 airports (16 more than in the previous month), of which 20 in Italy and 32 abroad. Seats offered in August will return to exceed one million per month, with a growth by 29% compared to July. Despite the significant growth of operations compared to the previous two months, Alitalia will increase its activity in August at around 45% of what was planned before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Alitalia flight schedule will see in August, on the long-haul sector, the beginning of the Rome-Tokyo Haneda route (from August 17), the resume of the Milan Malpensa-New York service (from August 15) and the increase of flights between Rome and New York.

On the medium-haul international network, Alitalia will increase the number of destinations served in Spain, France and North Africa and will resume services to and from the Middle East, as well as increasing the number of flights to airports already served abroad; in addition, the Airline will launch many seasonal services to the Balearic Islands and to the Greek Islands (both from Rome and Milan). For the domestic sector, Alitalia will increase air services between Northern and Southern Italy.

Furthermore, beginning on July 24, Alitalia will resume operations to and from Milan Linate airport where the Airline will operate, in a first stage, only the PSO routes to and from Sardinia. Starting from August 1, the airline will operate to and from Milan Linate Airport the other domestic and international routes operated until July 31 to and from Milan Malpensa, in compliance with the limit at the number of hourly movements on the city airport of Milan, that was decided by Authorities in order to reduce the number of departing passengers and ensure social distancing inside the airport.

In detail, in August Alitalia will connect its hub in Rome Fiumicino airport to 51 domestic and international destinations with approximately 1,050 weekly flights. In addition to the services already operated, from the beginning of August the Airline will start flights from Rome Fiumicino to Malaga, Algiers, Cairo (6 flights per week for each airport) Marseille and Tel Aviv (10 flights per week for both airports), as well as new seasonal summer flights to Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca, Corfu, Kefalonia, Heraklion (Crete), Rhodes, Mykonos (4 flights per week with each of these airports) and Zakynthos (2 weekly flights). From August 17, Alitalia will inaugurate new service from Rome to Tokyo Haneda (6 flights per week).

Alitalia will also increase from August 1 the number of air services from Rome Fiumicino airport to New York (from 8 to 14 flights per week), Athens (from 2 to 4 daily flights), Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Geneva, Munich, Tunis (from 10 to 14 flights per week for each airport), Malta, Nice and Tirana (from 6 to 14 flights per week for each airport). Frequencies of flights will also be increased on domestic routes from Rome to Brindisi (from 2 to 4 daily flights) and Pantelleria (from 4 to 6 flights per week). With the reopening of Milan Linate airport, in August Alitalia will resume services from Rome to both Milan Linate (with 10 flights per day) and Malpensa (4 flights per day) airports.

Alitalia will serve a total of 24 destinations from Milan Linate and Malpensa airports with approximately 710 weekly flights.

From Milan Linate Airport, beginning on July 24, Alitalia will operate flights to Cagliari (16 per day), Olbia (10 per day), Alghero (6 per day).

Beginning from August1, Alitalia will operate to and from Milan Linate airport the domestic and international medium-haul flights operated until 31 July to and from Milan Malpensa airport, such as the routes to Bari, Brindisi, Catania, Lamezia Terme, Lampedusa, Naples, Palermo, Pantelleria, Reggio Calabria, Rome Fiumicino and, abroad, Amsterdam, Brussels, London and Paris. Alitalia will also increase frequencies of many domestic services from Milan Linate to Catania (from 8 to 12 daily flights), Lamezia Terme and Brindisi (from 4 to 6 daily services for both airports), Naples (from 2 to 4 flights per day) and Lampedusa (from 2 to 4 weekly flights, summer seasonal service).

Furthermore, from the beginning of August, the Airline will activate new summer seasonal services from Milan Linate to Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca, Corfu, Heraklion (Crete) and Rhodes (4 flights per week with each of these airports).

At Milan Malpensa airport, from August 1, Alitalia will continue to operate air services with Rome Fiumicino (4 flights per day) and, from August 15 the airline will resume direct flights to New York (6 flights per week).

Alitalia aircraft photo gallery:

Alitalia aircraft slide show:

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Central Mountain Air resumes flying to routes in Alberta and British Columbia

Central Mountain Air made this announcement:

Following the safe and successful July 7 relaunch of scheduled service to five British Columbian cities, Central Mountain Air (CMA) today announced the resumption of flights between three additional Alberta and British Columbia destinations: Fort Nelson (YYE), High Level (YOJ), and Edmonton (YEG). The new route schedule commences on September 14, 2020.

Central Mountain Air is resuming flights to destinations in British Columbia and Alberta. (CNW Group/Central Mountain Air Ltd.)

Modifications to Current Schedule

In response to customer demand, flights currently running between Fort St. John, Kamloops, Kelowna, Prince George, and Terrace on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays will be changed to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays effective August 9, 2020.

Partnering with Communities on Safety

As CMA resumes and grows its schedule, customer safety remains our primary concern. “We have worked closely with each of the communities we serve to ensure their health indicators and demand support scheduled service,” said Cummings. “We know how much these communities rely on our connectivity and are proud to partner with them on this schedule.”

Air Canada partners with Cleveland Clinic Canada

Air Canada has announced that Cleveland Clinic, a global healthcare leader, will provide medical advisory services as the airline further develops biosafety measures across its operations. Air Canada will have access to the local expertise of Cleveland Clinic Canada as well as clinical expertise from Cleveland Clinic’s worldwide enterprise system.

“As airline travel adapts to a new normal, we are taking another leadership role via our partnership with renowned Cleveland Clinic which enables Air Canada to leverage the strategic insight, advice, resources and recommendations of the world’s leading medical community to further develop protocols, guidelines and standards validated with science-based evidence in our ongoing COVID-19 response. We are committed in our ongoing strategy of continually developing multiple layers of measures for our customers and employees alike,” said Samuel Elfassy, Vice President, Safety at Air Canada.

Air Canada has been at the forefront of the airline industry in responding to COVID-19, including being among the first carriers globally to require face coverings onboard and the first airline in the Americas to take customers’ temperatures prior to boarding. In May it introduced a comprehensive program, Air Canada CleanCare+, to apply industry leading biosafety measures at each stage of the journey.

The Clinic’s Medical Director Program was initiated in Canada for domestic and global companies and is supported by management and clinical experts across the enterprise to provide strategic guidance on health and safety matters for customer safety. As the Medical Advisor to Air Canada, Cleveland Clinic will provide access to leading expertise including guidance on:

Infectious exposure and toxicology
Pandemic and infrastructure response planning and prevention
Medical contingency plans and process development
Crisis and organizational risk management

“As the public begins to adjust to a world that’s been altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, health and safety is of the utmost importance,” said Michael Kessel, Cleveland Clinic Canada, CEO and President. “It is an honour to use our 99 years of clinical expertise to support Canadian organizations in a way that helps protect our communities.”

Air Canada’s partnership with Cleveland Clinic Canada is the latest of several medical collaborations it has undertaken in advancing biosafety across its business.

Air Canada aircraft photo gallery:

Air Canada aircraft slide show:

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RavnAir Alaska and PenAir are sold to FLOAT Shuttle of Los Angeles

Ravn Air Group has made this updated announcement:

Approval for the sale of all 12 lots of Ravn Air Group assets was granted today at the final Bankruptcy Court hearing – including, in a last minute turn of events, Ravn Air Group’s two Anchorage- based Part 121 passenger air carriers (“RavnAir Alaska” and “PenAir”) which were sold as a “going concern” along with many of the assets of these two companies. The successful bidder of RavnAir Alaska and PenAir was FLOAT Shuttle, a Los Angeles–based air commuter service.

FLy Over All Traffic (FLOAT). FLOAT is an air shuttle service to beat traffic in the Greater Los Angeles area. The current service is operated by Southern Airways Express.