KLM blocks passengers at European destinations from coming to Amsterdam on Saturday

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is going through a very tough period.

The airline issued this statement:

At the end of Saturday afternoon, 4 June, 2022 KLM was regrettably compelled to decide that passengers at European destinations would no longer be allowed to board flights to Amsterdam.

Although a substantial package of measures was taken before the weekend, KLM has faced unforeseen and urgent circumstances that are beyond its control.

Due to unfavorable weather conditions and runway maintenance at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, many aircraft couldn’t land or take off in Amsterdam.

This means a large number of KLM flights on Saturday were delayed or even cancelled. The number of passengers who were unable to depart from Amsterdam due to these external factors has increased sharply.

To ensure safe and workable operations at Schiphol for passengers and crew, KLM took the far-reaching decision that no further passengers would be brought to Amsterdam. This decision was taken to ensure that as many stranded passengers as possible can depart from Schiphol on Saturday and that KLM can operate as many flights as possible on Sunday.

“It’s incredibly unfortunate that on top of everything else today, we’re also dealing with reduced runway capacity at Schiphol as a result of unfavorable winds and runway maintenance. Despite intervening earlier to ensure workable operations this weekend, today has been another extremely difficult day for our passengers and crew. We are apologizing to our customers for the inconvenience and doing our utmost to ensure that we can return to workable operations as swiftly as possible.”

Rene de Groot – Chief Operating Officer

The decision to stop bringing passengers from European destinations to or via Amsterdam remained in force for the whole of Saturday. Looking at the current weather forecasts, KLM does not expect to continue stopping passengers flying from European destinations into Amsterdam on Sunday and expects to run the operation as planned.

KLM offers its sincere apologies to passengers who were unable to travel to Amsterdam from certain European destinations, as well as those who were unable to transfer via Amsterdam to other final destinations.

We understand that this decision has great impact on passengers, particularly during the Whit Monday weekend. KLM would like to stress that it is doing its utmost to offer passengers alternative flights as quickly as possible.

KLM aircraft photo gallery:

Hainan Airlines to restore the Shenzhen – Vancouver route

Hainan Airlines has announced it will resume the Shenzhen – Vancouver route on June 9.

The weekly flight will operate with Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Hainan Airlines aircraft phopto gallery:

ITA Airways opens the Rome – Buenos Aires route with Robert Baggio

ITA Airways started the Rome – Buenos Aires route on June 2, 2022.

The flight was operated with the new Airbus A350-900 named “Roberto Baggio” and the famous football player.

Photo above by Giovanna Speranza of Roberto Baggio.

Marco Finelli reporting from Italy.

ITA Airways aircraft photo gallery:

British Airways touches down in Portland, Oregon

British Airways made this announcement:

On June 3, Portland, Oregon became the newest destination on the British Airways route map as flight BA0267 touched down at Portland International Airport (PDX) at 5.05 pm local time.

Creating the only direct route between London (Heathrow) and Oregon, the inaugural flight received a warm local welcome as it taxied to the gate. The brand-new route will operate five times a week on Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with three cabins for customers to choose from: Club (business), World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) and World Traveller (economy). The return flight to London Heathrow departed at 6.55pm local time – just as the UK enjoys a 4-day-weekend to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Captain, Meredith Bell operated the inaugural BA0267. Having been a pilot for British Airways for 30 years, she has flown customers to numerous destinations. Portland has a personal connection as her daughter is currently studying at Reed College.

British Airways customers will also benefit from our relationship with Alaska Airlines, offering seamless onward connections beyond Portland. British Airways customers can book onto Alaska-operated flights to 15 destinations from PDX, enabling them to access the UK with only one stop. Furthermore, our loyalty program members can earn and redeem miles on these flights.

Flights from Portland to London Heathrow will run on Friday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The route will be operated by one of British Airways’ newest aircraft, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

* Terms apply

** Includes taxes, fees and carrier charges for lowest fares. Other travel dates available at varying prices.

Flight schedule

Flight number	Sector	Days of week	Dept time	Arrival time
BA267	LHR – PDX	Mon, Tues, Weds, Fri, Sun	15:15	17:05
BA266	PDX – LHR	Mon, Tues, Weds, Fri, Sun	18:55	12:20+1

The flight time from London to Portland is approximately 9 hours 50 minutes.
All long-haul British Airways flights include a food and beverage service, across all cabins. Customers can enjoy a starter, main and dessert, with a choice of hot, cold and alcoholic drinks.

British Airways aircraft photo gallery (Boeing):

Delta debuts dazzling Terminal C facility at New York’s LaGuardia Airport

Delta opens a state-of-the-art terminal on June 4 with ten new gates at LGA.

https://news.delta.com/delta-debuts-dazzling-terminal-c-facility-new-yorks-laguardia-airport

American Airlines and Qatar Airways expand strategic alliance

American Airlines and Qatar Airways are expanding their strategic alliance with a new codeshare agreement, enabling American’s customers to book travel on Qatar Airways flights via Doha to and from 16 new countries.

Pending any necessary government codeshare approvals, travelers will be able to book travel beyond Qatar to their final destinations in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This expanded codeshare comes as American launches new service on June 4 from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Doha’s Hamad International Airport (DOH), recently voted World’s Best Airport. The new service establishes American as the only U.S. carrier to serve the Gulf region, seamlessly connecting through Doha with Qatar Airways.

The strategic alliance includes Qatar Airways, the leading carrier in the Middle East in terms of frequencies and destinations and the six-time Skytrax ‘World’s Best Airline’ award winner, placing its code on thousands of American’s domestic flights — strengthening connectivity and creating new travel options for customers. American’s network enables connections to over 250 North American cities and Qatar Airways’ extensive network of more than 85 relevant destinations allows customers to access the Middle East, East Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia gateways. The airlines, both alliance members, are paving the way for more interconnected travel within the alliance and globally.

American Airlines aircraft photo gallery (Boeing):

Qatar Airways aircraft photo gallery:

Silver Airways pilots ratify pay and rention letter of agreement

The Silver Airways pilots, represented by the Airline Professionals Association – Teamsters Local 1224 (APA 1224), have announced that they have ratified a Pay and Retention Letter of Agreement that provides for significant pay increases and retention bonuses.

Ninety-six percent of the pilots who cast ballots voted in favor of the agreement, which went into effect on June 1.

“With our recent expansion into cargo operations and increased hiring across all segments of our industry, we recognized that significant improvements were necessary in order for Silver Airways to remain competitive in attracting and retaining pilots,” said Don Welch, APA 1224 Executive Council Chairman and Silver Airways Captain. “We worked alongside our management team at Silver Airways to implement a multi-pronged approach. Not only to attract new talent, but also to retain existing pilots through increased pay rates, a quarterly retention bonus and upgraded incentives.”

Under the newly signed agreement, first officers received a 20 percent pay raise and captain pay was increased by 28 percent, which is now at the top of the regional airline industry. In addition to bonuses already provided for under the contract, if certain conditions are met over the next five years, eligible pilots could receive added retention and upgrade bonuses of up to $80,000 or more.

While some of the bonuses will expire at the end of 2023, the increased pay rates have been incorporated into the current collective bargaining agreement, which becomes amendable in late 2025.

The Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224 represents the flight deck crewmembers of ABX Air, Cape Air, Horizon Air, Omni Air, and Silver Airways.

Silver Airways aircraft photo gallery:

Air Transat partners with 4Ukraine.ca to fly displaced Ukrainians to Canada

Air Transat made this announcement:

Air Transat proudly announces its partnership with 4Ukraine.ca to help relocate Ukrainians displaced by war coming to Canada. Air Transat will be providing available seats to Ukrainian nationals on their flights operated from Paris and Londonmainly to Montréal or Toronto. 4Ukraine.ca will be covering taxes and airport charges. In addition to operating a donation-based airfare program, 4Ukraine.ca includes a rigorous vetting process, host family background checks, and job prospecting for Ukrainians relocating to Canada.

Air Transat, who has already successfully helped several families fly to Canada, is eager to continue supporting humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. “It was important for us to support the relocation of Ukrainians with an organization that facilitates every step of the relocation process, with a focus on ensuring the safety of this vulnerable population that has already faced significant trauma,” said Transat President and Chief Executive Officer Annick Guérard.

This partnership complements the fundraising campaign launched by Transat in March amongst its employees and customers to assist SOS Children’s Villages, a long-time charitable partner that has rapidly scaled up its response in Ukraine to meet the critical needs of vulnerable children and families affected by the conflict. “By adding our partnership with 4Ukraine.ca to our support to SOS Children’s Villages, we are able to lend help to Ukrainians internally displaced in Ukraine, as well as those who have fled the country and wish to relocate to Canada.” Added Guérard.

To date, 4Ukraine.ca has raised over $65,000 in donations and secured a partnership with FlightHub for $100,000 worth of flights. To support families and make this offer available to more qualifying Ukrainians, Canadians can donate directly on the 4Ukraine.ca website. Employers looking to hire Ukrainians and individuals wishing to host Ukrainians can find information at 4Ukraine.ca.

Air Transat aircraft photo gallery:

WestJet’s new service between Toronto and Edinburgh takes off

WestJet on June 3 celebrated the launch of service to Edinburgh with the departure of WS16 from Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) at 9:25 p.m. local time last night. With the addition of the airline’s latest connection to Europe, WestJet will now fly non-stop to five European destinations from Toronto this summer including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, London-Gatwick and Barcelona, Spain.

From left: Benoit Cliche, Cabin Crew Member, Marco Lot, Cabin Crew Member, Jared Mikoch-Gerke, WestJet, Director, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs, Janik Reigate, Greater Toronto Airport Authority, Director, Strategic Customer Relationships, Gary Cox, Government of Scotland, Head of Aviation, Kathrin Vasheghani Farahani, Cabin Crew Member, Wiktor Malec, Cabin Crew Member. Photo Credit: Erik McRitchie (@erikmcr on Instagram) (CNW Group/WESTJET, an Alberta Partnership)

WestJet’s newest transatlantic flight will operate during peak season, three-times weekly. WestJet currently offers service to two Scottish destinations with service from Toronto to Edinburgh and Glasgow and flights between Halifax and Glasgow.

Route

Peak Frequency

Start date

Departure

(local time)

Arrival

(local time)

Toronto –
Edinburgh

3x weekly

June 2,
2022

9:25 p.m.

9:05 a.m.+1

Edinburgh –
Toronto

3x weekly

June 3,
2022

10:25 a.m.

12:42 p.m.

WestJet aircraft photo gallery:

ANA to introduce “Special ANA Future Promise” aircraft to highlight commitment to ESG

ANA has made this announcement:

・As a symbol to highlight the company’s commitment to its ongoing ESG initiatives, two 787 aircraft will be unveiled with the ANA Future Promise livery in the fall this year.
・The specially designed aircraft will feature special services and in-flight goods focused on sustainability and handling measures to reduce CO2 emissions.
・ANA will gather the feedback from the customers on the various measures and analyze them in order to expand the efforts to other flights in order to achieve the ANA Group’s mid-to-longterm ESG goals.

All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest and 5-Star airline for nine consecutive years, today announced a new initiative featuring two 787 aircraft with a special ANA Future Promise (AFP) livery and special services focused on promoting sustainability and reducing CO2 emissions. This new dedicated initiative comes a year after the launch of the ANA Future Promise, which encompasses activities across environmental, social responsibility and governance areas.

“Sustainability is a central operating principal to our company and the ANA Future Promise demonstrates commitment to our social responsibility and environmental sustainability goals, and we are excited to get our customers involved and raise awareness in these initiatives with the dedicated AFP 787s,” said Shinichi Inoue, President and Chief Executive Officer of ANA. “We previously announced our ambitious ESG goals and this is another milestone to build on the importance that ESG has to our airline and global customers.”

The ANA Future Promise aircraft will be introduced later in the fall this year and will be a showcase of ANA’s efforts to incorporate sustainability into our services and products.

Details on the ANA Future Promise aircraft
Two Boeing 787s will be specially painted with a design symbolizing “water and greenery” to convey the concept of sustainability, and will be operated on domestic and international routes (one aircraft each).

The ANA Group has set a medium-to-longterm environmental goal of achieving zero CO2 emissions from aircraft operations by 2050. We will continue to work with our customers and all stakeholders to promote ESG and achieve this goal.

ANA aircraft photo gallery: