JetBlue unveils a Boston Celtics Airbus A320 logo jet, its first for the NBA

JetBlue Airways has painted its Airbus A320-232 N595JB (msn 2286) in a green NBA Boston Celtics special team livery.

JetBlue officially on May 7, 2018 revealed a brand new livery dedicated to the Boston Celtics. The custom-designed aircraft is JetBlue’s first co-branded livery dedicated to a team in the NBA. In 2016, JetBlue became the Official Airline of the Boston Celtics. Today, the airline reaffirmed its commitment, one that will elevate its partnership to new heights and not only take the Celtics brand around the Boston region, but also across the JetBlue network.

Although flying in service over the weekend, the Airbus A320 livery was revealed at an event this morning at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), where JetBlue and Celtics executives were joined by Lucky the Leprechaun – the Boston Celtics Mascot – and the Celtics Flight Crew. Also in attendance were 24 students from Winthrop Middle School’s STEM Club. The group celebrated the completion of their JetBlue Rookie Flight Crew program, a joint initiative designed to teach students the science of aeronautics while learning how to build a fully functioning model airplane. Following the event, the students enjoyed a tour of the JetBlue terminal and got a behind the scenes look at the airline’s ground operations and the inside of an aircraft.

Above Copyright Photo (all others by JetBlue): Misrael Ocasio Hernandez.

The new Celtics livery, named ‘Lucky Blue,’ features the iconic Celtics green as the prominent color of the aircraft with Lucky the Leprechaun logo featured on the tail fin as well as aligned next to the JetBlue logo on each side of the plane. The design is representative of both brands’ diverse and loyal fan bases and the shared brand values that resonate with the passionate Boston community.

JetBlue previously announced the official airline partnership back on January 27, 2016:

JetBlue, the largest airline in Boston, is proud to announce a multi-year partnership becoming the Official Airline of the Boston Celtics. The 5 year partnership launches with a fan sweepstakes, Top 5 Plays of the Week feature on Celtics.com and a number of shared community initiatives that will impact local youth and the environment.

As the Official Airline of the 17 time world champion Boston Celtics, JetBlue’s partnership will include joint marketing promotions and advertising. Elements will include online advertising, e-mail marketing and Cetlics.com video features, as well as contests, and giveaways for Celtics fans.

The Celtics partnership solidifies JetBlue’s commitment to the area, and marks the fourth sponsorship of major league sports teams in Boston.

Photos: JetBlue.

TACV rebrands as Cabo Verde Airlines with a new logo

TACV, the Cape Verdean airline, presented in the city of Praia its new brand image under the designation Cabo Verde Airlines.

With a design signed by the Icelandic agency Íslenska, and with the contribution of some Cape Verdeans, the new image of Cabo Verde Airlines is inspired by the colors of nature, houses, flag and other elements that reflect the islands. This new image reflects the company’s new values and mission, as well as the morabeza, a typical Cape Verdean characteristic.

The brand seeks to be unique, authentic and sophisticated while at the same time showing the Cape Verdean culture that is at the origin of Cabo Verde Airlines. The company wants to be inseparable from the country, being an extension of its traditions and its people, in a family fusion and attractive for those who choose to travel with them. The new image will be applied to wing-to-wing aircraft where passengers can feel more Cape Verdean culture.

The presentation of the new brand image of Cabo Verde Airlines follows the beginning of operations in the HUB on the island of Sal and the reinforcement of activities in the Brazilian market with reinforcement of the routes Recife, Fortaleza and, soon, opening of Salvador da Baia, with connections to Milan, Paris and Lisbon.

Route Map:

Air Connection Express, Transportes Aereos S.A to operate the six new Q400 turboprops

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft has announced it has signed a firm purchase agreement for six new Q400 aircraft with African Aero Trading on behalf of the consortium forming Air Connection Express, Transportes Aereos S.A, based in Luanda, Republic of Angola.

Based on the list price of the Q400 aircraft, the firm order is valued at approximately US$ 198 million.

The airline will operate the Q400 domestically to connect smaller communities and increase frequencies as a regional feeder airline to TAAG Angola Airlines – flag carrier of the Republic of Angola.

The members of the consortium include TAAG Angola Airlines, ENANA, Airjet, Air26, Bestfly, Diexim, Mavewa, SJL and Air Guicango. The consortium is in the process of establishing a management team and the operational structure for Air Connection Express.

AeroMexico to add Mexico City – Barcelona service

AeroMexico on November 1, 2018 is planning to commence a new route linking its Mexico City hub with Barcelona, Spain. According to Airline Route, the new route will operate three days a week with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners.

AeroMexico aircraft slide show:

Avianca to fly from Bogota to Chicago

Avianca (Colombia) on November 17, 2018 will launch the Bogota – Chicago (O’ Hare) route. According to Airline Route, the new route will operate four days a week with Airbus A319s.

Avianca aircraft slide show:

Cargojet announces strong first quarter results

Cargojet Inc. announced today financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2018.

For the First Quarter Ended March 31, 2018:

Total Revenues were $99.2 million, an increase of $12.1 million or 13.9% versus the previous year
Gross Margin was $23.1 million, an increase of $2.2 million or 10.5% versus the previous year
Adjusted EBITDA was $27.5 million, an increase of $5.2 million or 23.3% versus the previous year
Adjusted EBITDAR was $29.8 million, an increase of $3.4 million or 12.9% versus the previous year

“Cargojet is very pleased with the continued revenue growth and margin improvements achieved during the quarter” said Ajay Virmani, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We continue to carefully manage our operating costs and focus on greater utilization of our fleet.” he added.

Cargojet is Canada’s leading provider of time sensitive overnight air cargo services and carries approximately 1,300,000 pounds of cargo each business night. Cargojet operates its network across North America each business night, utilizing a fleet of 19 all-cargo aircraft. The Corporation operates over 12,000 flight legs yearly and has a team of over 900 dedicated professionals.

Cargojet aircraft slide show:

The first winner on Kulula

From Kulula on social media:

Aeroflot introduces a special livery on VP-BEE to celebrate its 95th anniversary

Aeroflot presented an aircraft decked out in the company’s 95^th anniversary celebration livery at Sheremetyevo Airport on May 4.

In the summer of 2017 Aeroflot announced a competition to design an aircraft livery. Members of the public were given the opportunity to create their own livery design and upload it to the contest website.

The next step was online voting, which narrowed the field to 10 finalists. Then the winner was chosen from amongst the finalists by an expert jury that included members of Aeroflot’s Management Board.

Ekaterina Lesik took first place in the competition with a white and blue design in stylized traditional Russian patterns.

An Airbus 321 was painted according to the design of the competition winner. The aircraft bears the name of the celebrated theater director Yuri Lyubimov.

The pictured Airbus A321-211 VP-BEE (msn 6726) performed its first flight in its festive livery on the Moscow-Yerevan route on May 4, 2018.

Photo: Aeroflot.

American to introduce routes to the Caribbean and Hawaii

American Airlines customers will have new options to escape the cold with more seasonal and year-round flights to the Caribbean and Hawaii starting this winter. An overview of these new flights is as follows:

From ORD: Daily winter seasonal service to HNL and four new routes to the Caribbean: AUA, GCM, NAS, PLS
From MIA: Seven additional daily frequencies to the Caribbean and one new route to the Caribbean: BGI, CUR, FPO, POP, POS, SDQ, UVF and new route SVD
From CLT: Two new routes to the Caribbean: ELH, MHH
From DFW: One new route to the Caribbean: AUA

Additionally, American will move one of its Miami International Airport (MIA)–London Heathrow Airport (LHR) flights and instead operate a Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)–LHR frequency. Through its Atlantic Joint Business, British Airways will add a third frequency between MIA and LHR.

Finally, American will seek a dormancy waiver from the U.S. Department of Transportation to discontinue its service between Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK). The airline also announced it plans to remove the nonstop ORD–PEK service from its schedule in October.

Caribbean and Hawaii

American is the first U.S. carrier to serve St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVD) with the introduction of year-round Saturday service from MIA. American’s sun-seeking customers will also have more opportunities to reach their favorite Caribbean destinations, including new flights to Aruba (AUA) from ORD and DFW; to Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands (GCM); Nassau, The Bahamas (NAS); and Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (PLS) from ORD. Customers will also gain new access to Eleuthera (ELH) and Marsh Harbour (MHH) in The Bahamas from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). In addition, American will add an extra frequency from MIA to seven Caribbean destinations it currently serves today.

Beginning this winter, American will also introduce new winter seasonal nonstop service to Honolulu (HNL) from ORD on a Boeing 787-8.

New Routes

Route	Aircraft	On Sale	Flights Begin	Frequency	Season
ORD–HNL	Boeing 787-8	May 7	Dec. 19	Daily	Winter
CLT–ELH	Bombardier CRJ-700	May 14	Dec. 22	Saturdays	Year-round
CLT–MHH	Embraer E175	May 14	Dec. 22	Saturdays	Year-round
DFW–AUA	Boeing 737-800	May 14	Dec. 22	Saturdays	Year-round
MIA–SVD	Airbus A319	May 14*	Dec. 22	Saturdays	Year-round
ORD–AUA	Boeing 737-800	May 14	Dec. 22	Saturdays	Winter
ORD–GCM	Boeing 737-800	May 14	Dec. 22	Saturdays	Winter
ORD–NAS	Boeing 737-800	May 14	Dec. 22	Saturdays	Winter
ORD–PLS	Boeing 737-800	May 14	Dec. 22	Saturdays	Winter

*Subject to change

New Frequencies

Route	Aircraft	On Sale	Flights Begin	Pattern	Season
MIA–BGI	Boeing 737-800	May 14	Dec. 19	Daily	Winter
MIA–CUR	Boeing 737-800	May 14	Dec. 19	Daily	Winter
MIA–FPO	Embraer E175	May 14	Dec. 19	Daily	Winter
MIA–POP	Boeing 737-800	May 14	Dec. 19	Daily	Winter
MIA–POS	Boeing 737 MAX 8	May 14	Dec. 19	Daily	Winter
MIA–SDQ	Airbus A321	May 14	Dec. 19	Daily	Winter
MIA–UVF	Boeing 757	May 14	Dec. 19	Daily	Winter

London

American and joint business partner British Airways together will provide more capacity to their LHR hub from American’s hubs at DFW and MIA. Beginning Oct. 28, American will move one of its two MIA–LHR flights to DFW–LHR using a Boeing 777-300ER, and British Airways will add its third MIA–LHR frequency using a Boeing 747-400.

“Customers across Europe will benefit from larger-capacity aircraft between LHR and MIA, and the DFW–LHR frequency will continue to provide great connecting opportunities through American’s centrally located hub,” said Vasu Raja, Vice President of Network & Schedule Planning. “By better leveraging the networks of our joint business partners we are laying the foundation for American to grow its long-haul international network more profitably in the years ahead.”

Simon Brooks, British Airways’ Senior Vice President of Sales for North America, said, “We are thrilled to have this partnership with American Airlines for over seven years now. We continually work with our joint business partners to ensure customers have the best travel experience, and this schedule change delivers on our promise to provide more options.”

Customers will continue to choose to fly on either American or British Airways through codeshare on all DFW–LHR and MIA–LHR flights as part of the joint business.

New Frequencies

Route	Carrier	Aircraft	On Sale	Flights Begin
MIA–LHR	BA	Boeing 747-400	May 14	Oct. 28
DFW–LHR	AA	Boeing 777-300	May 14	Oct. 28

Asia

American will seek a dormancy waiver from the U.S. Department of Transportation for its service between ORD and PEK, and plans to remove the nonstop ORD–PEK service from its schedule in October. The last westbound flight will be Oct. 20 and the last eastbound flight will be Oct. 22. Customers already holding reservations after these dates will be reaccommodated on other flights, and can continue to reach PEK through American’s hubs at DFW and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). American intends to seek access to operate services at Beijing’s new international airport when it opens next year.

“American is operating more seats from Chicago this summer than in the past 10 years, and we are excited to continue to grow in this important hub,” said Raja. “However the current fare environment severely limits our ability to successfully compete between Chicago and Beijing. We remain committed to China and anticipate that moving to the new Beijing airport in the future will improve the viability of the route through the additional connectivity in conjunction with our codeshare relationship with China Southern in the long run.”

American Airlines aircraft slide show:

Alaska Airlines unveils its “Disney Pixar Incredibles 2” logo jet

Alaska Airlines has made this announcement:

Ahead of the highly-anticipated release of Disney Pixar’s Incredibles 2 on June 15, Alaska Airlines unveiled a special-edition plane on May 5, 2018, featuring moviegoers’ favorite family of “Supers.”

The Incredibles 2-themed plane, Alaska’s first Disney•Pixar film livery, was unveiled to a crowd of more than 2,000 cheering students during Aviation Day at the airlines’ Seattle hangar.

The pictured Boeing 737-890 N519AS went into service today.

Watch the Incredibles 2-themed plane come to life:

Decked out in their Incredible super suits, the Parr family—Bob, Helen, Violet, Dash and baby Jack-Jack—spans the fuselage. Guests boarding the Incredibles 2 plane will see a logo when they board. An image of the raccoon from the film, Jack-Jack’s nemesis, will delight guests seated over the wings.

The unique design is a collaboration between Disney•Pixar and Alaska Airlines. The Incredibles 2-themed 737-800, tail number N519AS, begins flying throughout Alaska’s route network Sunday. With a cruising speed of 530 mph and sporting larger-than-life images of the “Supers,” the plane will visit fans throughout the country via transcontinental routes and flights to Hawaii.

Alaska’s Disneyland Resort-themed planes include the “Spirit of Disneyland II,” launched in 2009; and the “Adventure of Disneyland Resort” Cars Land at Disney California Adventure plane, which made its debut in 2013.

Photo: Alaska Airlines.