Japan Airlines to introduce the “JAL Sky Suite 787” on its 787-9s in July, announces its schedule and aircraft plans

JAL-Japan Airlines (Tokyo) has announced it will introduce the Boeing 787-9 with an all-new cabin interior, called JAL SKY SUITE 787 (SS9), on the Tokyo (Narita) – Jakarta route (JL725/JL726) from July 2015.

The SS9 will adopt a similar three-class configuration as the airline’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, called JAL SKY SUITE 787 (SS8) aircraft, which were first introduced in December 2014. SS9 will offer fully-flat JAL SKY SUITE seats in its Business Class and spacious JAL SKY PREMIUM seats in Premium Economy. In Economy Class, JAL SKY WIDER II seats will be installed. JAL will also maintain its existing 2-4-2 configuration in the SS9’s Economy Class, which achieves approx. 5cm wider for each seat width than the common configuration of JAL Economy Class seat on Boeing 787s. Additionally, the seat pitch was increased approximately 5 cm to provide more space and comfort during every journey.

The company also issued this statement on its upcoming schedules and fleet plans:

JAL Group (JAL) on January 21 announced its flight frequency and fleet plans on both international and domestic routes for fiscal year 2015 (ending March 31, 2016).

In regards to the airline’s international network, Japan Airlines FY2015 fleet plans include newly added Boeing 787-9s, which will be configured with the airline’s latest cabin interior (JAL SKY SUITE) from July 2015, in addition to the airline’s current JAL SKY SUITE 767/777/787 configured aircraft. The airline will concurrently expand the availability of aircraft featuring JAL SKY WIDER seats in Economy Class on more international routes in order to further deliver improved service to customers.

Furthermore, JAL will increase flight frequency from 3 to 4 round-trip flights weekly between Tokyo (Narita) and Moscow to meet an increase in business travel demand.

In regards to the airline’s domestic network, JAL will adjust its flight frequency plan on select Japan-domestic routes to meet seasonal demand primarily to and from Tokyo (Haneda), which will result in the reintroduction of continuous summer operations of six domestic routes to provide enhanced customer convenience. Additionally, the airline’s well-received JAL SKY NEXT service will mainly expand onto more domestic routes to and from Haneda.

# The following plans and schedules are subject to government approval.

1. Expanding JAL SKY SUITE Aircraft onto More International Routes

JAL will introduce the Boeing 787-9 with latest cabin interior (indicated as “SS9” in JAL Flight Schedule) onto its international network in FY 2015. The new aircraft will be configured with fully-flat JAL SKY SUITE seats in Business Class, spacious JAL SKY PREMIUM seats in Premium Economy and the well-received JAL SKY WIDER II seats in Economy Class. JAL SKY SUITE aircraft will be available as indicated on the following routes:

Route	Effective Period	Flight No.	Aircraft	Remarks
Narita – Paris	March 29, 2015 ~	JL415/416	787-8	JAL SKY SUITE 787 (SS8) (*3)
Narita – Helsinki	June 1, 2015 ~	JL413/414	787-8	JAL SKY SUITE 787 (SS8) (*3)
Narita – Jakarta	July 1, 2015 ~	JL725/726	787-9	JAL SKY SUITE 787 (SS9) (*4)
Narita – Delhi	March 29, 2015 ~	JL749/740	787-8	JAL SKY SUITE 787 (SS8) (*3)
Narita – Honolulu	March 29, 2015 ~	JL784/783	767-300ER	JALSKY SUITE 767 (SS6)
Narita – Honolulu	March 29, 2015 ~	JL786/785	767-300ER	JALSKY SUITE 767 (SS6)
Narita – Manila	March 29, 2015 ~	JL741/742	767-300ER	JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6)
Narita – Manila	June 1, 2015 ~ (*5)	JL745/746	767-300ER	JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6)

# The schedule for launching the new service is subject to change due to the delivery of aircraft. For latest information, please visit JAL website.
(*3) Premium Economy service will be provided in line with the introduction of SS8 on these routes.
(*4) First Class service will not be available in line with aircraft type changing from JAL SKY SUITE 777 (SS7) to SS9 on this route and SS8 will be operated on this route every Thursday only.
(*5) JL746 will start to be operated by SS6 from June 2, 2015.

Other Aircraft Type Changes Route

Narita – Frankfurt Haneda – Bangkok

Haneda – Ho Chi Minh City Narita – Ho Chi Minh City Narita – Sydney Haneda – Beijing

Haneda – Seoul (Gimpo)

Haneda – Taipei (Songshan)

Kansai – Shanghai (Pudong)

Kansai – Taipei (Taoyuan)

Effective Period	Flight No.	Aircraft	Remarks
March 29 ~ October 24, 2015	JL407/408	787-8 to 777-300ER	(*5)
March 29(*6) ~ June 30, 2015	JL033/032	777-200ER to 787-8	(*7)
July 1, 2015 ~	JL033/032	787-8 to 777-200ER	(*7)
March 29, 2015 ~	JL079/070	767-300ER to 787-8
March 29, 2015 ~	JL759/750	767-300ER to 787-8
March 29, 2015 (*8) ~	JL771/772	777-300ER to 777-200ER	(*9)
March 30, 2015 ~	JL021/022	767-300ER to 787-8
March 30, 2015 ~	JL091/092	767-300ER to 787-8
March 30, 2015 ~	JL093/094	767-300ER to 787-8
March 29, 2015 ~	JL097/098	777-200ER to 767-300ER
March 29, 2015 ~	JL891/894	767-300ER to 737-800
March 29, 2015 ~	JL813/816	767-300ER to 787-8

(*5) First Class Service will be available in line with introduction of SS7 on this route.
(*6) JL033 will start to be operated by 787-8 from March 30, 2015.
(*7) Premium Economy service will not be available on this route during March 29 and June 30, 2015. (*8) JL772 will start to be operated by 777-200ER from March 30, 2015.
(*9) First Class service will not be available in line with aircraft change on this route

(*10) JAL maintains codeshare flights (operated by Korean Air) between Kansai and Seoul’s Gimpo, and between Kansai and Seoul’s Incheon.

Flight No.	Route	Dep. Time	Arr. Time	Aircraft	Details	Effective Period
JL441	Narita – Moscow	10:45	15:00	787-8	Increase from 3 to 4 weekly flights (Additional flight on Monday)	March 29 ~ October 24, 2015 (Mo, We, Fr, Su)
JL442	Moscow – Narita	17:15	08:35+1	787-8		March 29 ~ October 24, 2015 (Mo, We, Fr, Su)

Flight No.	Route	Details	Effective Period	Remarks
JL971	Osaka (Kansai) – Seoul (Gimpo)	Suspension of JL971/974 daily round-trip operation	March 29, 2015 ~	(*10)
JL974	Seoul (Gimpo) – Osaka (Kansai)	Suspension of JL971/974 daily round-trip operation	March 29, 2015 ~	(*10)

Domestic Network
1. Continuation of Seasonal Operations

Route	Details	Effective Period
Itami – Matsumoto	1 daily flight	August 1 ~ August 31, 2015
Itami – Memanbetsu	1 daily flight	July 18 ~ July 20, 2015 and July 25 ~ August 31, 2015
Sapporo (New Chitose) – Izumo	4 weekly flights	August 1 ~ August 31, 2015 (Mo, We, Fr, Su)
Sapporo (New Chitose) – Tokushima	3 weekly flights	August 1 ~ August 31, 2015 (Tu, Th, Sa)
Nagoya (Chubu) – Kushiro	3 weekly flights	August 1 ~ August 31, 2015 (Tu, Th, Sa)
Nagoya (Chubu) – Obihiro	4 weekly flights	August 1 ~ August 31, 2015 (Mo, We, Fr, Su)

3. Flight Frequency Changes

Route	Details	Effective Period
Haneda – Sapporo (New Chitose)	16 daily to 17 daily flights	March 29 ~ October 24, 2015
Haneda – Okinawa (Naha)	12 daily to 14 daily flights	March 29 ~ October 24, 2015
Itami – Sapporo (New Chitose)	3 daily to 4 daily flights	March 29, 2015 ~

Route	Details	Effective Period
Haneda – Itami	16 daily to 15 daily flights	March 29, 2015 ~
Haneda – Izumo	6 daily to 5 daily flights	March 29, 2015 ~
Kansai – Sapporo (New Chitose)	4 daily to 3 daily flights	March 29, 2015 ~

Copyright Photo: Fred Freketic/AirlinersGallery.com. While JAL awaits the delivery of its first stretched Boeing 787-9, the company continues to expand 787-8 operations. Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner JA835J (msn 34850) taxies onto the runway at New York (JFK).

Video: Sam Chui. Flying on JAL First Class from Tokyo to London on Boeing 777-300 ER JAL Suite:

JAL aircraft slide show:

Hermes Aviation (FlyHermes.com) stops flying, strands passengers

Hermes Aviation (FlyHermes.com) (Luqa, Malta) suddenly cancelled its flights on January 6 according to the Malta Independent. The sole aircraft (above) has been on the ground at Turin, Italy since January 12. According to the report, the airline is under investigation by the Italian civil aviation authority – ENAC (L’Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile). The airline had been offering flights from Malta to Comiso and Palermo in Sicily and Turin in northern Italy.

The airline does not mention the stoppage on its website and has not issued any statement.

Read the report from the Times of Malta: CLICK HERE

Read the report by the Malta Independent: CLICK HERE

The airline started operations on June 6, 2014.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. FlyHermes.com (Hermes Aviation) Boeing 737-4K5 9H-HER (msn 24901) taxies at Palma de Mallorca.

FlyHermes aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-2/Airlines-Europe-2/Hermes-Aviation-FlyHermescom

Lufthansa to offer two more routes from Munich to the Canary Islands

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) will offer new weekly service from its Munich hub to Fuerteventura starting on Saturday October 25, before the start of the autumn holidays in Bavaria, while flights to Tenerife will be offered from Sunday October 31.

Both destinations will be served by an Airbus A321 with 200 seats in a two-class configuration.

Lufthansa is also resuming flights to Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria, next winter.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A321-131 D-AIRY (msn 901) with “Die Maus” (The Mouse) markings at Zurich.

Lufthansa aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-2/Airlines-Europe-2/Lufthansa

Vueling adds three new African destinations from Barcelona

Vueling Airlines (Barcelona) will add Rabat (Morocco), Yerba (Tunisia) and Accra (Ghana) from Barcelona starting on June 20.

The airline will also launch a summer service to Istanbul. From June through October the airline will fly three times a week from Barcelona.

After launching flights to Marrakech in 2009, the airline gradually added new African services and now has 16 routes reaching 11 destinations on the continent: Marrakech, Rabat, Casablanca, Nador, and Fez in Morocco; Tunis and Yerba in Tunisia; Algiers and Oran in Algeria; Dakar in Senegal; Banjul in Gambia; and Accra in Ghana. At 3,960 km, the Barcelona-Ghana route will be the longest operated by the airline.

Vueling aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-3/Airlines-Europe3-QZ/Vueling-Airlines

Air France to cut another 800 positions through a “voluntary departure plan”

Air France (Paris) will cut another 800 positions due to a “weaker revenue trend”. The airline issued this statement:

In 2015, Air France will benefit from the impact of the measures taken within the framework of Transform 2015 and from the fall in the fuel price. However, as announced in December 2014, the Group will also have to contend with the weaker unit revenue trend that has developed since the summer of 2014, which requires the implementation of additional measures.

Within this framework, the Air France management presented a number of actions to the Corporate Works Council: downwards revision in fleet and capacity growth, new initiatives to drive revenues, the reinforcement of ‘purchasing’ initiatives, maintained wage moderation and productivity efforts and further adaptation of headcount to requirements.

In particular, during a meeting of the Corporate Works Council to be held during the first fortnight in February, the Air France management will provide details on proposed new Voluntary Departure Plans. These Voluntary Departure Plans will relate to ground staff and cabin crew and aim at the departure of approximately 800 people. These measures relate to both the full execution of Transform 2015 and an immediate adaptation to the Group’s competitive environment.

In parallel, the Group is pursuing its efforts within the framework of the new Perform 2020 strategic plan. A progress report on this topic will be given during the Full Year 2014 results presentation on February 19. All the items shared during this meeting of the Air France Corporate Works Council refer exclusively to Air France and its subsidiary, and not Air France-KLM, whose targets remain unchanged.

Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 F-GKXJ (msn 1900) climbs away from Heathrow Airport near London.

Air France aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-1/Airlines-Europe-1/air-france

Gem Air of Idaho applies for an EAS contract in Nebraska

Gem Air (Salmon, Idaho) has applied to the Department of Transportation (DOT) to operate Essential Air Service (EAS) in Nebraska between Chadron and Alliance according to ch-aviation.

Gem Air is an Idaho owned and operated air service that currently offers year-round scheduled flights between Salmon and Boise, Idaho.

During the summer season, the airline offers an expanded schedule with multiple daily flights between Salmon, Boise, McCall, and Stanely, Idaho.

Copyright Photo: Gem Air. Gem Air operates the nine-seat Idaho-built Quest Aircraft Company Kodiak 100 including the pictured N838SA (msn 100-002).

Centurion Cargo to return to Amsterdam

Centurion Cargo (Miami) will restore the Miami-Amsterdam route on February 19 with Boeing 747-400F freighters per Cargo Facts. The carrier dropped its only European route last year. The company is restoring services and redeploying its previously parked aircraft.

Centurion Cargo aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-UnitedStates-1/Airlines-UnitedStates-1/Centurion-Cargo

Horizon Air converts two Bombardier Q400 options into firm orders

Horizon Air Industries, Inc. (Horizon Air) (Alaska Horizon) (Seattle/Tacoma) has converted two of seven previously acquired Bombardier DHC-8-402 (marketed as the Q400 NextGen) aircraft options to firm orders. The airline retains its options on another five Q400 NextGen aircraft. Horizon Air and its sister carrier, Alaska Airlines are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group.

Horizon Air’s Q400 aircraft are equipped with Head-up Guidance Systems (HGS) for all-weather operations, Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS) with approach guidance (LPV) for ILS-like landing minima at remote runways and RNP AR 0.1 to fly curved approaches to airports in difficult terrain.

Established in 1981, Horizon Air was acquired in 1986 by Alaska Air Group, Inc., the parent company of Alaska Airlines. At its start, the airline operated two aircraft and served three destinations in Washington state. Today, Horizon flies its 76-seat Q400 aircraft on behalf of Alaska Airlines and serves 43 cities in the western United States, Canada and Mexico. Horizon Air, which is also a codeshare partner of American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, operates both the longest (Seattle to Fresno, 748 miles/1,204 km) and shortest (Pullman to Lewiston, 26 miles/42 km) turboprop routes currently being served by regional carriers in the U.S.

In 2014, Bombardier and Horizon Air signed a five-year heavy maintenance agreement whereby Bombardier will perform heavy maintenance tasks for the airline’s fleet of Q400 aircraft at Bombardier’s service center in Tuscon, Arizona.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) N448QX (msn 4409) arrives in Anchorage, Alaska.

Alaska Horizon aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-UnitedStates-1/Airlines-UnitedStates-1/Alaska-Horizon-Horizon-Air

Aruba Airlines wants to expand to the United States

Aruba Airlines (Aruba) wants to expand its route network to Florida and other U.S. markets. The island carrier has filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation to operate charter and scheduled flights to the USA according to Flightglobal.

The carrier commenced scheduled passenger operations with two Airbus A320s on May 13, 2013 on the Aruba – Maracaibo route. The Aruba – Panama City route was added on June 28, 2013. Valencia has also been added.

Copyright Photo: Michel Saint-Felix/AirlinersGallery.com (all others by Aruba Airlines). This colorful livery was introduced in October 2012 on the pictured Airbus A320-232 P4-AAA (msn 582) (above).

Virgin America extends its partnership with the San Francisco Giants, adds a new logo to Airbus A320 N849VA

Virgin America (San Francisco) and the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball yesterday (January 21) announced a multi-year partnership extension, which maintains the Bay Area-based airline’s position as the “Official Airline of the San Francisco Giants” through the end of 2018. This announcement came during an “orange carpet” send-off for the 2014 World Championship Trophy as it heads to New York City for the East Coast leg of a three-month World Championship Trophy Tour presented by Bank of America.

The trophy will fly in style (above), riding in Virgin America’s exclusive eight-seat First Class cabin from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) onboard the Virgin America Airbus A320 aircraft “Fly Bye Baby,” (below) named in honor of the hometown team. Onboard the flight, Giants President and CEO Larry Baer will invite fellow Virgin America guests to grab photos with the trophy and will host a live Twitter chat at 35,000 feet using the airline’s inflight WiFi. Guests and fans alike are encouraged to follow along and submit questions using the hashtags #sfgtrophy and #flytogether.

Copyright Photo: Mark Durbin/AirlinersGallery.com (all others by Virgin America). Airbus A320-214 N849VA (msn 4991) has received this updated “World Champions 2014” logo for 2015.

The extended partnership includes unique co-branding elements at AT&T Park, including the “Virgin America Loft,” a premium customized suite located in right field above McCovey Cove, and the “Virgin America Club Level” that features the airline’s signature cabin mood-lighting. In 2012, the airline first unveiled its Giants themed “Fly Bye Baby” aircraft that was updated in 2014 with a crowdsourced #FlyTogether design populated with the photos of hundreds of Giants fan who submitted photos on Instagram and Twitter. Today at SFO, Virgin America unveiled the aircraft’s newest design – the 2014 World Championship mark – in celebration of the San Francisco Giant’s latest World Series Victory.

Once in the Big Apple, the trophy will be available to Giants fans that have followed the team for generations – a history that dates back to when the team was based in New York before moving to San Francisco in 1958. A public viewing of the trophy will be held on Saturday, January 24 from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Finnerty’s Bar in Manhattan.

In addition to a Main Cabin that offers custom-designed leather seating with a deeper, more comfortable pitch, the airline’s First Class cabin offers plush white leather seating with 55 inches of pitch, 165 degrees of recline and lumbar massagers. The carrier’s Main Cabin Select service offers 38-inches of pitch, free food and cocktails, an all-access pass to media content, dedicated overhead bins and priority check-in/boarding. The Red® in-flight entertainment platform offers guests their own seatback touch-screen TV, with more than 20 films, live TV, Google Maps, videogames, a 3,000 song library and an on-demand menu, which allows flyers to order a cocktail or snack from their seatback any time during a flight. Virgin America’s airport lounge – The Loft – is located at LAX and its Elevate frequent flyer program offers no black-outs or restrictions on rewards seats with three levels of status including Elevate Gold and Elevate Silver.

Virgin America aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-UnitedStates-3/Airlines-United-States3-QZ/Virgin-America