Air Canada inaugurates seasonal service from Vancouver to Auckland

Air Canada’s inaugural flight AC51, 787 Dreamliner service which departed December 12 from Vancouver has arrived in Auckland, marking the carrier’s launch of seasonal service between Canada and New Zealand. Flights operate four times weekly until the end of March 2020.

An Air Canada Boeing 787 Dreamliner. (CNW Group/Air Canada)

Air Canada’s state-of-the-art Boeing 787-8* Dreamliners feature 20 Signature Class lie-flat seats, 21 Premium Economy and 214 Economy Class seats with upgraded in-flight entertainment at every seat throughout the aircraft. All Air Canada flights provide for Aeroplan accumulation and redemption and, for eligible customers, access to priority services, Maple Leaf Lounges and other benefits.

Flight	Departs	Arrives	Days of Week
AC51	Vancouver (YVR) 23:45	Auckland (AKL) 11:05 + 2 days	Mon, Tue, Thur, Sat
AC52	Auckland (AKL) 14:30	Vancouver (YVR) 06:30	Mon, Wed, Thur, Sat

*Air Canada’s inaugural flight operated with a Boeing 787-9 exceptionally

Air Canada’s Vancouver–Auckland service is the latest of three new international routes the carrier just inaugurated, following Air Canada’s launch of the only flights from Montreal–Sao Paulo on Dec. 11 and from Toronto–Quito on Dec. 8.

Air Canada aircraft photo gallery:

flydubai touches down in Krabi

flydubai’s inaugural flight has touched down in Krabi in Thailand, becoming the first UAE-based airline to offer flights to the popular holiday destination. The daily flights are operated via a short stop in Yangon, Myanmar and are codeshared with Emirates.

On board the inaugural flight was a senior delegation led by Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations (UAE, GCC, Subcontinent and Africa) at flydubai. Upon arrival, the aircraft was greeted by Somkuan Khanngern, the Vice Governer of Krabi, Attaporn Nuang-udom, the Director of Krabi Airport, Uthit Limsakul Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Krabi Office and Pichaya Saisaengchan, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Dubai and Middle East Office.

flydubai has become the first carrier in the UAE to operate flights to Krabi and with the new daily service from the UAE, the GCC and those connecting from Europe and the USA on the Emirates network now have more options to explore Asia and the Far East. Passengers from Thailand have more opportunities to benefit from direct flights to Dubai and beyond.

Krabi is a popular holiday destination for beach goers and adventures alike. While limestone cliffs, dense mangrove forests and the famous Phi Phi Island will amaze nature enthusiasts, Krabi also offers activities like diving, hiking or exploring the Huay Toh Waterfall in Phanom Bencha National Park.

Photos by the airline.

Eurowings wins HLX Touristik as new partner for Eurowings Holidays

Eurowings has made this announcement:

With HLX Touristik GmbH, Eurowings has gained a new partner for its tour operator brand ‘Eurowings Holidays’, founded in 2017: With immediate effect, Eurowings cooperates with HLX, a travel provider specializing in the packaging of flight and hotel offers with guaranteed best prices. Eurowings customers can book high-quality low-cost package tours via the ‘Eurowings Holidays’ portal at holidays.eurowings.com. HLX is one of the leading providers in this segment and has been successfully operating holiday portals for Lufthansa and Swiss for several years.

Eurowings Digital Managing Director Oliver Schmitt comments: “As Germany’s largest holiday airline, we are significantly expanding the range of ‘Eurowings Holidays’ together with HLX. With Eurowings you can not only fly cheaply, but also book complete trips with many additional services, such as rental cars, insurance and local activities – with just a few clicks, simply and conveniently from one source.

Above Copyright Photo: Eurowings (Europe) Airbus A320-214 WL OE-IQD (msn 7056) (Eurowings Holidays) AYT (Ton Jochems). Image: 943735.

The change to HLX is associated with a significant expansion of the range of low-cost package tours and additional services. Thus, the hotel offer which is availabe on the reservation portal holidays.eurowings.com grows on over 45.000 hotels. New are also the “Nobag” tariffs which are very popular particularly in combination with city trips.

Karl Heinz Kögel, Managing Director of HLX Touristik: “We look forward much to the partnership with Eurowings. Together we offer customers professionally organized, high-quality package tours with individual design options and a best-price guarantee. Many of these are exclusive to ‘Eurowings Holidays’.”

The ‘Eurowings Holidays’ portfolio includes short and city trips to vibrant metropolises as well as long-haul trips to the world’s most beautiful holiday destinations. In addition to an expanded hotel portfolio, customers will also benefit in future from top offers with best price guarantees and a fresh brand presence with an optimized user experience. They also have the option of booking individual trips with or without free baggage allowance.

Members of the Eurowings Boomerang Club receive one flight mile for every euro they spend. When booking a package tour with a Eurowings flight, Boomerang Club members additionally receive 250 (domestic German), 500 (continental) and 750 miles (intercontinental) per route, depending on the destination. At the start of the cooperation, there will be a special campaign: when booking between 6 and 16 January 2020, customers will receive an immediate discount of up to 220 euros on the travel price.

Eurowings aircraft photo gallery:

Aegean to expand in 2020 with new aircraft and a new base at Corfu

Aegean Airlines has made this announcement:

Aiming for 2020 to mark the starting point for greater growth and extroversion, Aegean invests in the further expansion of its network and the overall expansion of its business activity. With a significant capacity increase to 19.2 million seats, 1.5 million additional seats compared to 2019, AEGEAN will be operating in 155 destinations with 65 aircraft, including the first 6 Airbus of A320 / A321neo family expected to join the Aegean fleet by the first half of the year.

Aegean’s 2020 growth strategy rests on three pillars:

The expansion of its activity and presence in Thessaloniki, as well as the Corfu base, reaching 8 bases in total.
Continuous investment and focus on Athens, as the main hub of the company
The constant ongoing efforts for the extension of Greece’s tourism season

In this context, the company adds 11 new routes to its international network flight schedule from the bases of Athens, Thessaloniki and Corfu. Aegean is also adding 3 new destinations to its network directly to Birmingham, Paphos, Bilbao. Moreover, the company plans to increase capacity in another 47 international routes, adding 1.1 million seats to its annual activity and bringing the total capacity up to 11.4 million seats.

Specifically, Aegean has planned a plan of robust extroversion and potential growth for the city of Thessaloniki, with routes to Barcelona, Brussels, Rome, Milan, Zurich, Berlin, and an increase in international capacity by 25%. The company adds a total of 8 new destinations from Thessaloniki (6 international and 2 domestic), and invests in the upgrade of the overall passenger experience with a new 500m2 lounge.

At the same time, aiming to expand the coverage of the key tourism markets, Aegean is establishing a new base in Corfu, constituting its 8th base in Greece and Cyprus. In 2020, a scheduled route will be directly connecting Corfu to Paris, while 12 charter destinations will be added, offering additional 95,000 seats compared to the previous year, meeting thus, the island’s tourism demands.

Athens remains a landmark-destination for the overall performance of Greek Tourism in general, and Aegean in particular, but also serving as the company’s main hub for access to the country’s smaller islands. Τhe significant increase in capacity of the Athens network, planned for 2020, will once again stem from frequency increase in existing routes, expanding timetables for more routes, as well as the addition of four new destinations (Bilbao, Nuremberg, Paphos, Birmingham).

Aegean aircraft photo gallery:

QANTAS selects the Airbus A350-1000 as the preferred aircraft if Project Sunrise proceeds

QANTAS Airways has made this announcement:

Airbus A350 selected as preferred aircraft (no order placed)
Deadline for confirming delivery slots extended by one month
Regulatory support for ultra long haul routes, pending formal application
Discussions with pilots ongoing

Qantas is today announcing several important developments for Project Sunrise ahead of a final go/no go decision, which will now take place in March 2020.

AIRCRAFT SELECTION

After detailed evaluation of the Boeing 777X and Airbus A350, Qantas has selected the A350-1000 as the preferred aircraft if Sunrise proceeds. This aircraft uses the Rolls Royce Trent XWB engine, which has a strong reliability record after being in service with airlines for more than two years. Airbus will add an additional fuel tank and slightly increase the maximum takeoff weight to deliver the performance required for Sunrise routes.

No orders have been placed but Qantas will work closely with Airbus to prepare contract terms for up to 12 aircraft ahead of a final decision by the Qantas Board.

Airbus has agreed to extend the deadline to confirm delivery slots from February 2020 to March 2020. This provides additional time to negotiate an industrial agreement without impacting the planned start date of Project Sunrise flights in the first half of calendar 2023.

REGULATORY APPROVAL

The last of three Project Sunrise research flights (New York to Sydney) will be conducted on December 17, 2019. Once complete, Qantas will have almost 60 hours of ‘Sunrise flying’ experience and thousands of data points on crew and passenger wellbeing.

The data for crew will be used as part of final discussions with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to approve an extension to current operating limits required for these ultra long haul services. Based on detailed information already provided by Qantas on its fatigue risk management system, CASA has provisionally advised that it sees no regulatory obstacles to the Sunrise flights.

PILOT NEGOTIATIONS

Industrial negotiations with representatives for Qantas pilots, AIPA, are continuing. The discussions are aimed at closing the last remaining gap in the Project Sunrise business case. Qantas has put forward a number of suggestions to AIPA on how the gap might be closed while still offering three per cent annual pay increases and promotional opportunities to its long haul pilots. Discussions centre on productivity and efficiency gains, including the ability to use the same pilots across its A350 Sunrise aircraft and the airline’s existing fleet of Airbus A330s.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Design of the customer experience for flights up to 21 hours continues, including new cabins across First Class, Business, Premium Economy and Economy. Research flights have underscored the importance of dedicated space for stretching and movement for Economy passengers in particular, as well as the potential benefits from re-designing the service on board to actively shift people to their destination timezone.

CEO COMMENTS

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the national carrier’s support for Project Sunrise was stronger than ever, particularly after the success of recent ‘dry run’ research flights.

“Between the research flights and what we’ve learned from two years of flying Perth to London, we have a lot of confidence in the market for direct services like New York and London to the east coast of Australia.

“The A350 is a fantastic aircraft and the deal on the table with Airbus gives us the best possible combination of commercial terms, fuel efficiency, operating cost and customer experience.

“The aircraft and engine combination is next generation technology but it’s thoroughly proven after more than two years in service. This is the right choice for the Sunrise missions and it also has the right economics to do other long haul routes if we want it to.

“From the outset, we’ve been clear that Project Sunrise depends on a business case that works. We’ll only commit to this investment if we know it will generate the right return for our shareholders given the inherent commercial risks.

“We’ve done a lot of work on the economics and we know the last gap we have to close is some efficiency gains associated with our pilots. We’re offering promotions and an increase in pay but we’re asking for some flexibility in return, which will help lower our operating costs.

“Airbus has given us an extra month to lock in an aircraft order without impacting our planned start date, which means we can spend more time on hopefully reaching a deal with our pilots.

“Can I thank both Airbus and Boeing for the tremendous effort they have put into Project Sunrise. It was a tough choice between two very capable aircraft, made even harder by innovation from both manufacturers to improve on what they had already spent years designing.”

Swoop continues North American expansion with release of 2020 summer schedule

Swoop, Canada’s ultra-low-fare airline and subsidiary of WestJet Airlines Ltd., released its 2020 summer schedule, announcing increased service and three new destinations.

Starting in April 2020, Swoop’s newest routes will take travellers to two new domestic destinations including Victoria, Kamloops, and one U.S. destination, San Diego.

Swoop Logo | FlySwoop.com (CNW Group/Swoop)

With summer being a busy travel season for Canadians, Swoop is also increasing its weekly frequency service between many markets including Hamilton to Winnipeg, Edmonton to Abbotsford, and Abbotsford to Winnipeg.

Highlights of Swoop’s 2020 summer schedule includes service between:

Edmonton-Kamloops up to four times weekly
Winnipeg-London up to four times weekly
Winnipeg-Victoria up to five times weekly
Edmonton-San Diego up to three times weekly
Edmonton-Abbotsford from 16 times weekly, to 24 times weekly
Hamilton-Winnipeg, from six times weekly, to 10 times weekly
Abbotsford to Winnipeg, from four times weekly, to daily

Since its June 2018 launch, Swoop’s summer network has grown to serve 14 domestic, 10 transborder and four international markets, rapidly expanding the airline’s network across North America. Fulfilling a need in the Canadian marketplace, Swoop continues to make a positive impact on the aviation industry, becoming Canada’s leading domestic, transborder and international ultra-low-cost carrier, with the new schedule set to increase Swoop’s frequency to 328 ultra-low fare weekly flights.

Photo by the airline.

In other news, Swoop Gateway Airport (AZA) from Winnipeg Richardson International Airport (YWG) on Sunday, December 15 at 5:05 p.m. CST.

WestJet adds Boston to the Calgary hub

WestJet guests will get the chance to pack more business and leisure into their travel itineraries with new seasonal daily nonstop service between the airline’s home in Calgary and Boston, Mass., starting on May 14, 2020.

Boston, Massachusetts, USA city skyline on the river. (CNW Group/WESTJET, an Alberta Partnership)

In May 2020, WestJet will offer 19 U.S. destinations into and out of YYC including Atlanta, Portland, Austin, Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, Palm Springs and more.

Route	Frequency	Departing	Arriving	Effective
Calgary-Boston	Daily	9:45 a.m.	4:15 p.m.	May 14, 2020
Boston-Calgary	Daily	5 p.m.	8:15 p.m.	May 14, 2020

American extends the grounding of the Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 fleet

American Airlines has once again provided updated guidance on when the company expects to get the Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 fleet back in the air:

American Airlines remains in continuous contact with the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation and Boeing. Based on the latest guidance, American anticipates that the resumption of scheduled commercial service on American’s fleet of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will occur April 7, 2020. Once the aircraft is certified, American will run flights for American team members and invited guests only prior to April 7.

Frequently asked questions

Question: When will American run a schedule change and inform customers who were booked on a MAX from March 5 through April 6?
Answer: American had previously canceled service on the MAX through March 4. On Dec. 22, American will run a formal schedule change, and customers who were previously booked on a MAX through April 6 will see their reservation updated on aa.com.

Question: Will there be additional changes to the schedule once the MAX returns to commercial service?
Answer: American expects to gradually phase in the MAX for commercial service and will increase flying on the aircraft throughout the month of April. Since American will gradually phase the MAX into our operation over the course of a month, additional refinements to our schedule may occur. Affected customers will be contacted directly.

Question: My flight wasn’t scheduled to be on a MAX. Will it be canceled?
Answer: A flight that was not scheduled as a MAX flight might be canceled to enable our team to cover a MAX route with a different aircraft, in order to affect the smallest number of customers. In total, approximately 140 flights will be canceled per day through April 6.

Question: How will customers know if they are impacted?
Answer: American’s Reservations team will contact affected customers directly by email or telephone beginning Dec. 22. Customers who booked through a travel agent will be contacted by their agency directly.

Question: What is American’s rebooking policy for when the MAX returns?
Answer: Details regarding policies and procedures for customers who do not wish to fly on the MAX once the aircraft enters scheduled service April 7 will be released in the coming weeks.

Question: My flight was canceled and I don’t want to rebook. Can I get a refund?
Answer: Yes. If a flight is canceled and a customer chooses to not be rebooked, they may request a full refund by visiting aa.com/refunds.

Delta and Wheels Up partner to make private aviation more accessible to individual and corporate

Delta Air Lines has made this announcement:

Delta Private Jets to combine with Wheels Up, establishing one of the world’s largest owned and managed fleets of private aircraft.
Partnership between Delta and Wheels Up will provide more consumers with unique access to Wheels Up’s private aviation platform and programs alongside Delta’s global network, creating unparalleled travel experiences in private and commercial aviation.
Wheels Up’s membership programs, innovative digital platform and world-class lifestyle experiences will be paired with Delta Private Jets’ renowned reliability, safety, service and scale.
Delta Air Lines will hold an equity position in Wheels Up.

Delta Air Lines and Wheels Up are partnering to create one of the world’s largest owned and managed fleets of private aircraft. The partnership will make private aviation accessible to more consumers and provide unparalleled travel options.

The companies have reached a definitive agreement for Delta Private Jets, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta, to combine with Wheels Up. The transaction will pair Wheels Up’s membership programs, innovative digital platform and world-class lifestyle experiences with Delta Private Jets’ renowned reliability, safety, service and scale. When the transaction closes, Wheels Up will have a fleet of more than 190 private aircraft and over 8,000 members and customers. Delta will also hold an equity position in Wheels Up.

The transaction will provide an array of new products and valuable features for existing and prospective customers of Wheels Up, Delta Private Jets and Delta to make private aviation travel more accessible to all. Details will be announced when the transaction closes.

Wheels Up Founder and CEO Kenny Dichter will continue in his role leading the Wheels Up senior management team as it builds its partnership with Delta. Additionally, Wheels Up is committed to providing ongoing career opportunities for Delta Private Jets employees, who provide world-class private travel, safety and service.

The transaction is expected to close early next year, and in the interim, Delta Private Jets and Wheels Up will continue to serve and communicate with their existing employees, customers, members, partners and vendors in the same manner in which they do today.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and required governmental and regulatory approvals. Financial terms of the transaction will not be disclosed, and there is no expected impact to Delta’s 2019 financial guidance.

About Wheels Up

Wheels Up is a leading private aviation company that delivers a total aviation solution. It offers three membership options—Connect, Core, and Business—that significantly reduce the cost to fly privately, while offering unparalleled safety, service, flexibility, and quality to over 6,000 Wheels Up Members across North America. Wheels Up provides its members guaranteed access to a fleet of over 115 private aircraft, consisting of the King Air 350i, Hawker 400XP, Citation Excel/XLS, and Citation X—up to 365 days a year, with as little as 24 hours’ notice, and at fixed hourly rates for time flown only.

In addition to its Wheels Up fleet of aircraft options, Wheels Up offers its members access to its Charter Marketplace, an innovative digital platform that allows them to search a ready-when-available inventory of over 1,200 private aircraft from Wheels Up safety-vetted and verified operators with real-time pricing, which can be instantly booked.

Alitalia signs code share agreement with Azul Brazilian Airlines

Alitalia has signed a codeshare agreement with Azul Brazilian Airlines, the largest airline in Brazil by number of cities served.

As part of this agreement, customers can conveniently connect to Azul’s unrivaled domestic network when flying Alitalia into and out of São Paulo (Guarulhos) and Rio de Janeiro (Galeão).

The benefits and convenience of a codeshare ticket include those of thru check-in and thru-baggage.

Under the agreement, the codeshared network will include 19 domestic Brazilian destinations served by Azul in connection with Alitalia services to/from São Paulo (Guarulhos) and Rio de Janeiro (Galeão): Belém, Porto Seguro, Brasilia, Cuiabá, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Goiânia, Foz do Iguaçu, Ilhéus, Navegantes, Porto Alegre, Ribeirão Preto, Recife, Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont, Salvador, Vitória and Campinas-Viracopos.