Aegean Airlines to enhance passenger experience with high-speed inflight broadband powered by the European Aviation Network

Aegean Airlines will offer Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom’s award-winning onboard connectivity on its fleet, with the service going live on all A321neo aircraft.

Aegean has announced that its onboard experience will accelerate further with the introduction of high-speed inflight broadband, powered by the European Aviation Network (EAN). The award-winning connectivity solution, provided by Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom, will be installed on all existing and new Aegean Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft by 2025, with the first seven entering service this month.

As of this week Aegean passengers will have access to three different Wi-Fi packages, including a free 10-minute “try before you buy” service to browse the internet, send and receive emails, and access messaging and social media applications. This can be extended by selecting either the “text and surf” package or upgrading to the “streaming” option, which adds the capability to watch videos or listen to audio online. As Europe’s fastest inflight broadband solution, EAN offers incomparable speeds, uninterrupted coverage across Europe and significantly lower latency than any other aviation connectivity service on the market.

Under this agreement, Aegean has also partnered with Display Interactive to create a customized digital portal, allowing passengers to access Wi Fi packages and a rich entertainment platform using their personal devices. This enables the passengers to explore multiple entertainment options (music, series, documentaries, cartoons, games, daily news, etc.), receive real time travel information and sign up to Aegean’s Miles+Bonus frequent flyer program. Display Interactive, which is also a partner for Inmarsat’s OneFi passenger experience platform, has developed the portal for Aegean to enhance its passenger experience and enable its inflight connectivity offering.

Emirates to return to Casablanca, signs agreement with Turespaña to promote Spanish tourism

Emirates will make a full return of passenger services to and from Casablanca from February 8, 2022.

The return of Casablanca in Morocco marks a full restoration of Emirates’ pre-pandemic African network including 21 cities spread across the continent. Customers flying to and from Casablanca can safely travel on Emirates to Dubai, and enjoy an array of onward connections to Europe, the Middle East and GCC, the Americas and West Asia.

Emirates will operate to Casablanca with daily flights using its modern Boeing 777-300ER. EK 751 will depart Dubai at 0730hrs, arriving in Casablanca at 1315hrs. EK 752 will depart Casablanca at 1505hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0130hrs the next day.

In other news, Emirates has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Turespaña, Spanish Tourism Institute, to help boost trade and tourism to Spain.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group welcomed Her Excellency María Reyes Maroto Illera, Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, at the Emirates Group Headquarters.

The MoU was signed by Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior Vice President, International Affairs at Emirates and Miguel Ángel Sanz Castedo, Director General of Turespana. The ceremony was also attended by Juan Ignacio Diaz Bidart, Cabinet Chief to the Minister, Ministry of Industry; Iñigo de Palacio, Spanish Ambassador to the UAE; Andres Salinero, Trade and Economic Counsellor, Embassy of Spain; and Daniel Rosado Bayon, Director, Spain Tourism Office, Tourism Counsellor, Embassy of Spain.

Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Turespaña, Spanish Tourism Institute, to help boost trade and tourism to Spain. His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group welcomed Her Excellency María Reyes Maroto Illera, Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, at the Emirates Group Headquarters.

Sun Country’s N817SY makes an emergency landing at Las Vegas due to a gear malfunction

Sun Country Airlines’ flight SY 100 from Las Vegas to its Minneapolis/St. Paul hub on February 4 was forced to return to LAS after the flight crew encountered a problem with the right main gear.

The flight was operated with Boeing 737-800 N817SY.

On landing on runway 26R the right main gear failed and the aircraft was disabled. There were no injuries. The 50 passengers and six crew members were safe and were bussed to the terminal. The aircraft was later removed.

Video of the landing:

Social media:

Accident B737-800 N817SY; 4.2.2022 at L. Vegas; flight Sun Country SY-110 from L. Vegas/LAS (Nevada, US)🇺🇲 to Minneapolis/MSP (Minnesota, US)🇺🇲 with 50 PAX + 6 crew. During the landing back, the right main landing gear was destroyed, which did not retract after takeoff (Aeronews) pic.twitter.com/Xy2eHJwJ9p

— Tomáš Semrád (@Tomas40916602) February 4, 2022

CNN: Why airline route maps look the way they do

How airlines plan to fly a route – route planning.

From CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/airline-route-maps/index.html

Pan Am Route Map from 1966:

El Al to acquire Arkia

El Al Israel Airlines has announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to acquire rival Arkia Israel Airlines.

El Al’s board also approved the acquisition.

Arkia was founded in 1949 as Israel Inland Airlines.

Top Copyright Photo: Arkia Airlines Embraer ERJ 190-200LR (ERJ 195) 4X-EMA (msn 19000172) MUC (Gunter Mayer). Image: 956684.

Arkia aircraft slide show:

Arkia aircraft photo gallery:

Air France to reopen its Paris Orly – New York JFK, Paris CDG – Dallas/Fort Worth and CDG – Denver routes

Air France has made this announcement:

Resumption of flights between Paris-Orly and New York-JFK, and between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Dallas/Fort Worth
Resumption of seasonal service to Denver (Colorado) initially launched in summer 2021
14 destinations served in summer 2022 with close to 200 weekly flights, 20% more than during summer 2019

Since the reopening of US borders in November 2021, Air France has been gradually increasing its service to the United States, the airline’s leading long-haul destination in terms of seat capacity.

Air France currently serves 11 US destinations (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago (O’Hare), Detroit, Houston (Bush Intercontinental), Los Angeles, Miami, New York-JFK, Seattle/Tacoma, San Francisco and Washington (Dulles)), with capacity between France and the United States corresponding to 90% of 2019 levels.

For the summer 2022 season (April – October), Air France plans to continue to increase capacity on US routes. As of 27 March 2022, the company will resume flights between Paris-Orly and New York JFK, with 1 daily flight. New York will thus be served by two Paris airports; Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Air France’s international hub, and Paris-Orly, with a total of up to 7 daily flights.

On the same day, the airline will resume flights from Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Dallas/Fort Worth (Texas), with up to 5 weekly flights.

Finally on May 4, 2022, Air France will start operating a seasonal service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Denver (Colorado) for the second year running, with 3 weekly flights operated.

Air France will therefore serve 14 destinations in the United States on departure from Paris this summer – Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York JFK, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma and Washington D.C, with close to 200 weekly flights, 20% more than during summer 2019.

Frequencies, operating days, flight schedules and fares can be consulted on airfrance.com.

This flight schedule is subject to change according to travel restrictions.

“Ready To Fly” service now available on all flights to and from the US

In July 2021, Air France launched “Ready To Fly”, a free and optional service allowing customers to request and receive confirmation that they have all the health documents required for their trip before going to the airport. This service provides customers greater peace of mind and a smoother boarding process, by avoiding multiple checks on the day of departure.

Popular with customers, Ready To Fly is being progressively deployed throughout the Air France network. It is currently available on more than 140 routes on departure from 80 airports, representing more than 600 daily flights including all flights to and from the United States.

Top Copyright Photo: Air France Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner F-HRBF (msn 42488) JFK (Fred Freketic). Image: 956683.

Air France aircraft slide show:

Air France aircraft photo gallery:

Ukraine International Airlines announces its summer schedule

Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) announces the reloading of a number of routes and the launch of fundamentally new destinations as part of the 2022 summer season. The expansion of the UIA network with a hub at Boryspil International Airport, in particular, provides for the long-awaited resumption of the program of long-haul flights to New York and Toronto with a qualitative increase in frequencies to Delhi on Boeing 777-200ER aircraft.

The launch of long-hall flights and the further development of the route network is nothing more than a result of UIA’s prudent management policy to optimize activities during a pandemic and bring the company to pre-crisis levels. The airline is already starting to sell tickets on the routes of the updated summer schedule.

Therefore, starting in June, UIA is set to expand the original network of routes:

KYIV (KBP) – NICE (NCE) – KYIV (KBP)	KYIV (KBP) – STOCKHOLM (ARN) – KYIV (KBP)
KYIV (KBP) – NEW YORK (JFK) – KYIV (KBP)	KYIV (KBP) – ZURICH (ZRH) – KYIV (KBP)
KYIV (KBP) – BRUSSELS (BRU) – KYIV (KBP)	ODESA (ODS) – VILNIUS (VNO) – ODESA (ODS)
KYIV (KBP) – TORONTO (YYZ) – KYIV (KBP)	LVIV (LWO) – TEL AVIV (TLV) – LVIV (LWO)
KYIV (KBP) – HELSINKI (HEL) – KYIV (KBP)	KYIV (KBP) – WARSAW (WAW) – KYIV (KBP)
KYIV (KBP) – VENICE (VCE) – KYIV (KBP)	KYIV (KBP) – BUDAPEST (BUD) – KYIV (KBP)
KYIV KBP) – COPENHAGEN (CPH) – KYIV (KBP)	KYIV (KBP) – VIENNA (VIE) – KYIV (KBP)
KYIV (KBP) – DUSSELDORF (DUS) – KYIV (KBP)

In addition to restoring the original network of routes, from June 2022 UIA intends to start flights on completely new routes from Kyiv (KBP) to Alicante (ALC) and Oslo (OSL).

Starting from 01.06.2022, the airline is actively preparing for the restart of regular flights to Toronto, and from 02.06.2022 – to New York, according to the following schedule:

Kyiv (KBP) – Toronto (YYZ) – Kyiv (KBP) – on Wednesdays and Saturdays;
Kyiv (KBP) – New York (JFK) – Kyiv (KBP) – on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays;

In addition, the airline provides access to more than 30 cities in the United States and Canada through the airports of New York and Toronto with partners, including from / to Montreal (YMQ), Ottawa (YOW), Winnipeg (YWG), Vancouver (YVR), Boston (BOS), Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO) and other cities.

Flights to New York and Toronto will be operated on Boeing 777-200ER long-haul aircraft in a three-class cabin layout with cabins: business, economy premium and economy.

UIA will also increase the number of scheduled flights between Kyiv and Delhi from June this year. Starting from June 1, 2022, flights will be operated five times a week on Boeing 777-200ER long-haul aircraft:

Kyiv (KBP) – Delhi (DEL) – daily, except Mondays and Saturdays;
Delhi – Kyiv (KBP) – daily, except Tuesdays and Sundays.

640,000 passengers flew with Norwegian in January

Norwegian Air Shuttle released this statement:

Traffic figures for January show that almost 640,000 passengers flew with Norwegian during the month. This represents a significant increase compared to the same month last year.

Traditionally January is a quieter period for passenger demand, however, figures were also affected by the rapid spread of the omicron virus and associated government-imposed measures and restrictions.

Norwegian had 637,376 passengers in January, compared with 74,224 in January 2021. The load factor was 70 percent. The capacity (ASK) was 1,298 million seat kilometres, while actual passenger traffic (RPK) was 905 million seat kilometres. In January, Norwegian had an average of 45 aircraft in operation, and 99.2 per cent of scheduled flights were operated. Punctuality was 85.9 percent.

British Airways introduces new enhancements for customers including plant-based menus in its lounges

British Airways has made this announcement:

British Airways is making improvements to its customer experience and reinforcing its commitment to put sustainability at the heart of its customer journey
The airline is introducing new plant-based menus across its lounges, removing single-use plastic bottles, installing water stations and offering colleagues training in sustainability
A premium pre-Covid meal service will be re-introduced in Club Europe with new menus and more variety from next month
Customers will also benefit from further investment in technology, including in a new bag tracing system
New check in zones exclusively for World Traveller Plus customers

As part of its commitment to create a more premium experience for its customers, British Airways is set to offer a range of improvements, both on the ground and in the air.

The airline has worked with its expert catering providers to introduce new plant-based menus, including a burger. The new menus will initially roll out across the airline’s Heathrow lounges, before appearing on its US lounge menus. British Airways is committed to improving choice, to offer something for everyone whilst championing local producers and businesses.

As part of its commitment to sustainability, across the airline’s Heathrow lounges customers will notice new water stations. Work also continues to remove single-use plastic across the airline, and all plastic water bottles in Heathrow lounges are being replaced with glass, which will be rolled out across the airline’s UK lounges over the next month. Customers in lounges can also continue to order food using their mobile device directly to their table, an initiative introduced by British Airways during the Covid pandemic which it has decided to keep.

From next month the airline is set to move to the next phase of its dining experience; a service more akin to one that customers would have experienced pre-pandemic. Customers travelling in the airline’s Club Europe cabin can expect a more premium service with new delicious menus with more options as it welcomes back its customers. The airline is also working on the next phase of its long-haul catering proposition, with exciting changes afoot.

Elsewhere, British Airways will continue to explore how technology can enhance the customer journey. The airline will be introducing a new baggage tracing system, allowing customers to track their bag via their phone throughout their journey. From automated lounge entry to new digital signage across the airport, British Airways is focused on making the customer journey even more seamless and stress-free.

Customers can also expect a few changes at check in with dedicated desks for World Traveller Plus customers and a reimagined Skyflyers programme for children travelling with the airline.