Xiamen Airlines opens a nonstop route between Paris and China’s Fuzhou

Xiamen Airlines is officially launching its new direct flight between Paris and Fuzhou today (December 11, 2018). The opening of this new nonstop route will provide unique experiences for passengers.

Three times a week – 13 hours and 25 minutes one way

The Paris – Fuzhou route operates three times a week (MF825 & MF826) every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, 13 hours and 25 minutes one way. It departs from Paris at 13:30 (GMT+8) and arrives at Fuzhou around 07:30 the next morning; the returning flight departs at 00:30 from Fuzhou Changle International Airport (FOC) and reaches Paris at 06:55.

Xiamen Airlines also extends its network to 9 European metro cities including London, Athens, Prague, Madrid and Barcelona through interline cooperation with Air France, Czech Airlines and etc.

Experience Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Classic Chinese and Western Cuisine

The route is operated by Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Passengers can enjoy more leg room and personal space, extra large windows and dynamic LED lights to help adjust jet lag. The 180-degree recline seats in business class and first class allows a better sleep during long distance travel. In-flight Wi-Fi, entertainment, duty-free shopping, and membership rewards are also provided to further enhance in-flight experience.

The in-flight meal is specially designed with cultural influences from both Paris and Fuzhou.

The western style option “Love of Paris” is designed by Angelo Faoro Marino, executive chef of Wyndham Destinations. The appetizer is sous-vide foie gras mousse. Main course is served with Australian grainfed lamb fillet cooked into the shape of “Chevalier”, Chateau Beychevelle claret and soupe à l’oignon, and dessert is triple dark chocolate cake with Chateau Soutard wine.

The Chinese style option “Charm of Rong-City (Fuzhou)” was inspired by its local cuisine, tea culture and scenic spots. The appetizer is tea-taste meat hors d’oeuvres with tea-taste ribs soup. Main course is served with chopped-chili sea bass and Da-Hong-Pao tea-taste short ribs. Dessert is jasmine puff. Each bite takes passengers through histories and stories of Fuzhou, passionate or gentle, bustling or tranquil.

Xiamen Airlines Accelerates Globalization

Xiamen Airlines is the first modern enterprise airlines in China. Founded in 1984, it has become the fifth largest airlines in China after 34 years of steady growth, and is the only airlines profitable for 31 consecutive years. It is also praised as ‘the Epitome of China’s Civic Aviation Industry’.

Since 2015, Xiamen Airlines has launched new intercontinental routes connecting Europe, North America and Oceania. From Xiamen and Fuzhou, passengers all around the world can seamlessly travel to more hot-spot destinations in Greater China area, Southeast and Northeast Asia.

Top Copyright Photo (all others by the airline): Xiamen Air Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner B-1567 (msn 63041) LAX (Michael B. Ing). Image: 944731.

Xiamen Air aircraft slide show:

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Volga-Dnepr to base an Antonov An-124-100 at Houston

Volga-Dnepr Airlines has decided to base one of its 12 Antonov An-124-100 freighters at Houston (George Bush Intercontinental Airport) (IAH).

The airport issued this statement:

Volga-Dnepr Group, one of the world’s largest cargo airline operators and a leader in the transportation of oversized and super-heavy cargoes, announced it will open an Operations Base at George Bush Intercontinental Airport to give customers in North and South America faster and more economic access to its unique range of delivery solutions.

With the inauguration of the Group’s Operations Base at the airport, it will dedicate one of its 12 Antonov An-124-100 freighter aircraft as well as crews, technical support teams and special loading equipment for unique cargoes to the Houston facility. The move will ensure the airline’s customers in the Americas, including its longstanding and major clients in the oil and gas, heavy machinery, energy and aerospace sectors, will benefit from immediate local expertise and services to meet their specialist logistics requirements.

The Group has enjoyed a successful and growing partnership with Bush Airport prior to this new commitment, providing delivery services for the most challenging and complex transportation needs of companies in the region.

Located in the east cargo area at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the new Operations Base will improve accessibility to the airport and the Group’s services. It will provide unique and specialized on-site engineering solutions to enable the safe and secure transportation of heavy and outsize cargoes, using its team’s expertise in delivering complex load planning and delivery solutions. The Base will be staffed by Volga-Dnepr specialists, including load planning engineers and loadmasters, operations, navigation and ground handling specialists. The base is an expansion of the Group’s sales office, which was established in Houston in 2001, and will create 30 to 40 new jobs in the local area.

Volga-Dnepr Group has grown its presence in Texas and across the North and South American markets due to the unique transportation capabilities of its outsize and super-heavy cargo operator, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, and its special fleet of Antonov An-124-100 and modernized IL-76TD-90VD ramp loading freighters. More recently, its relationship with the airport has been extended by the Boeing 747 freighter services operated to and from Houston several times a week by the Group’s strategic partner, CargoLogicAir.

Konstantin Vekshin, Executive President, Charter Cargo Operations of Volga-Dnepr Group, commented: “For Volga-Dnepr Group, the choice of Houston as our Operations Base to serve customers in North and South America is a natural development of our existing relationship with the airport and another key milestone in the development of our company in the Americas market. This commitment brings us even closer to our customers geographically and enhances our ability to provide special ‘out of the box’ solutions which make our customers’ lives easier. We feel this move will accomplish these goals and enable us to offer more economical and faster services, managed by a team of local experts.

“Our business growth in North and South America stems from our holistic approach, focused on safety, security, on-time delivery with cost-effective solutions. This is not just rhetoric, we have been demonstrating these capabilities for over 28 years by developing innovative solutions to move our customers’ most complex cargoes. The infrastructure now located in Houston will also enhance Volga-Dnepr’s important role in supporting humanitarian missions across the region by facilitating fast response operations to the worst-affected areas in the aftermath of natural disasters. By working in partnership with government and non-governmental organizations, we know from long experience that accelerating the response to disasters in vital to restoring stability and saving lives, and we are now better equipped to do this than ever before.”

Top Copyright Photo (all others by the airline and airport): Volga-Dnepr Airlines Antonov An-124-100 RA-82044 (msn 9773054155109)PAE (Nick Dean). Image: 944728.

Volga-Dnepr aircraft slide show:

RwandAir wants to fly to New York via Accra

https://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Africa/Airlines-Rwanda/RwandAir/i-K5DvV6V/A

RwandAir is seeking authority to fly to New York (JFK) via Accra. The airline is seeking 5th Freedom Traffic Rights to use Accra as a stoping point from Kigali. If approved, the airline would use its Airbus A330s.

The airline on December 1, 2002 began operations as the new national carrier under the name Rwandair Express for Rwanda with a concession to carry out airport ground handling (ancillary activity) at Kigali International Airport.

In March 2009, the airline registered a new trademark “RwandAir” which is the current operating name.

Operating from Kigali as the hub at the heart of Africa, RwandAir is one of the fastest growing airlines and operates one of the youngest and state of the art fleet on the African continent which comprises of four Boeing 737-800s, two Boeing 737-700s, two Bombardier CRJ900s, two Bombardier Q400s all in dual class configuration and two new triple class Airbus A330s.

The airline reaches out to twenty-six cities in Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

Top Copyright Photo (all others by the airline): RwandAir Airbus A330-343 9XR-WP (msn 1759) BRU (Ton Jochems). Image: 941031.

RwandAir aircraft slide show:

atmosfair airline Index 2018

UNFCCC Climate Change Conference 2018 in Katowice: Atmosfair presents the climate ranking of the world ́s largest airlines:

The atmosfair airline Index compares and ranks the carbon efficiency of the 200 largest airlines of the world. The formula contain for every flight the aircraft type, engines, winglets, seating and freight capacity as well as load factors for both passengers and co-loaded freight. Using detailed sources from authorities and official statistics, specialised data service providers and computer models used by aircraft engineers, the CO₂ emissions of an airline can be calculated at an error margin of less than two percent.

The objective of atmosfair is, to make climate efficiency a factor of competition among the airlines. It can only benefit climate protection, if the CO₂-performance of the various airlines are brought to light and into the public.

Car drivers have long been able to inform themselves about the CO₂ emissions of a car before purchasing it; however, air passengers are left in the dark when it comes to choosing the most climate-friendly airline. The Airline Index sheds light upon this matter. In the index, every airline receives between 0 and 100 efficiency points, differentiated by flight length (short, medium and long).

This tool enables passengers to compare airlines offering flights to particular destinations and choose the airline that produces the least CO₂ emissions.

For corporate clients, atmosfair offers specific analyses of individual routes. It allows for climate-conscious enterprises to identify the CO₂ efficiency of different airlines on the routes that their employees fly regularly.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Ethiopian Airlines launches new services to Manchester

Ethiopian Airlines inaugurated flights to Manchester, its second destination in the UK next to London, at a colorful ceremony graced by the presence of H.E. Mrs Susanna Moorehead, Ambassador of the UK to Ethiopia, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Tewolde Gebre Mariam, dignitaries and invited guests (above).

The four weekly flight to Manchester will be operated by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

All images by the airline.

Tbilisi, a new Air France destination

Air France has made this announcement:

For the 2019 summer season (March 31 to October 26, 2019), Air France will offer its customers Tbilisi (Georgia) on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle. This route will be operated with two weekly flights (Wednesday and Sunday) from April 1, 2019.

Flight schedules (in local time):

AF1760: leaves Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 13:30, arrives in Tbilisi at 20:25;
AF1761: leaves Tbilisi at 9:00, arrives at Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 12:10.
Flight operated on Wednesdays and Sundays by Airbus A320 on departure from Paris.

In addition, with its partner Georgian Airways, Air France customers will benefit from a total 5 weekly flights between Paris and Tbilisi (2 weekly flights operated by Air France and 3 weekly flights operated by Georgian Airways).

Top Copyright Photo (all others by the airline): Air France Airbus A320-214 F-GKXI (msn 1949) (Paris-Candidate City 2024 Olympic Games) ARN (Stefan Sjogren). Image: 941983.

Air France aircraft slide show:

Delta adds more key markets for Boston customers: Chicago, Cleveland, Newark and Washington, D.C.

Delta Air Lines is expanding its Boston Logan International Airport service with new multiple daily nonstop flights to four top markets from Boston: Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Newark-Liberty International (EWR) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) beginning Sept. 9, 2019, as well as Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) on April 1, 2019.

Delta’s investment in Boston Logan deepens

Delta and partners will offer up to 152 daily departures from Logan with these additions, an increase of nearly 30 daily departures compared to 2018.

Additionally, in partnership with Massport, Delta plans to assume operations at all gates at Logan’s Terminal A by the third quarter of 2019.

Delta also plans by 2020 the expansion of its Delta Sky Club near gate A18, including new showers, expanded seating and a reimagined food and beverage area.

Delta’s unmatched global network takes Boston to the world

Together with its SkyTeam and joint venture airline partners, Delta will serve 58 destinations effective fall 2019. Delta and its partners offer the most international seats from Boston including new and expanded services beginning this spring:

New Delta-operated service to Lisbon and Edinburgh
New nonstop Seoul-Incheon service operated by partner Korean Air
An additional Amsterdam flight by partner KLM
A daytime London-Heathrow flight operated by partner Virgin Atlantic
Delta-operated London-Heathrow service on upgraded and larger Airbus A330 aircraft
Dublin service on larger 767 Delta-operated aircraft

Delta also operates daily international service to Amsterdam, Bermuda, London-Heathrow and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. In addition to new service, Delta is expanding with new daily frequencies from Boston to Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Nashville, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.

Summary of 2019 Daily Market Expansion

Starting April 2019, Delta and partners are adding three international and four domestic destinations for Boston customers, with frequency increases in another seven markets.

Destination	Date	Market Increase
Amsterdam, Netherlands	March 31	KLM launches new service
London-Heathrow	April 1	Additional daylight trip by Virgin Atlantic
Cleveland	April 1	Delta launches new 3x daily service*
Pittsburgh	April 2	Delta increases from 4x to 5x trips
Seoul-Incheon, South Korea	April 12	Korean launches 5x weekly service
Jacksonville, Fla.	April 14	Delta increases from 2x to 3x trips
Nashville, Tenn.	April 15	Delta increases from 3x to 4x trips
Edinburgh, Scotland	May 23	Delta launches seasonal daily service
Lisbon, Portugal	May 23	Delta launches seasonal daily service
Indianapolis	June 8	Delta increases from 3x to 4x trips
Philadelphia	June 8	Delta increases from 4x to 6x trips
Chicago O’Hare	Sept. 9**	Delta launches new 5x daily service
Newark, N.J.	Sept. 9	Delta launches new 4x daily service
Washington, D.C. (Reagan National)	Sept. 9**	Delta launches new 6x daily service

*Service will be available for sale on Dec. 22, 2018

**First full day of operations; first flight on Sept. 8

All airline routes from BOS:

La Compagnie to operate seasonal Nice – Newark service

La Compagnie (Paris-Orly) has announced it will operate a new seasonal route between Nice (Nice Côte d’Azur International Airport) and Newark next summer.

The new route will operate five days a week between May 5 and October 31, 2019, initially with Boeing 757-200s.

Top Copyright Photo (all others by the airline): La Compagnie Boeing 757-204 WL F-HCIE (msn 27208) LTN (Rob Skinkis). Image: 934060.

La Compagnie aircraft slide show:

Is Fastjet facing reorganization?

Fastjet (Johannesburg) warned on Friday, December 7, it is facing a financial crisis and could be facing administration (bankruptcy) and a reorganization if its cash flow does not improve. The airline warned it is down to just enough capital to fly for another seven days according to the Standard.

Fastjet began flight operations in Tanzania in November 2012, flying passengers from Dar es Salaam to just two domestic destinations – Kilimanjaro and Mwanza.

Since then, Fastjet’s route network now includes Tanzanian domestic routes from its Dar es Salaam base to Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, and Mwanza with international routes to Tanzania from Lusaka in Zambia and Harare in Zimbabwe.

Fastjet began branded domestic flights in Mozambique (operated by Solenta Aviation Mozambique) between Maputo and Beira, Nampula and Tete on November 3, 2017 and celebrated its second year of operations in Zimbabwe in 2017.

The carrier operates between Harare and Bulawayo, Harare and Victoria Falls, from both Harare and Victoria Falls to Johannesburg in South Africa. The airline has flown over 3.5 million passengers with an impressive aggregate on-time performance, establishing itself as a punctual, reliable, and affordable value airline.

Originally operating Airbus A319 aircraft, the airline now operates two Embraer 190 and three Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft.

Route Map:

British Airways celebrates a milestone at the First Wing at Heathrow Terminal 5

(Picture by Nick Morrish/British Airways)

British Airways is celebrating welcoming more than a million customers to its First Wing at its home at Heathrow Terminal 5, 18 months since it opened.

Reminiscent of a luxury hotel lobby, The First Wing features dedicated security lanes granting customers direct access to British Airways’ prestigious First Lounge. The airline’s premium customer service hosts greet customers as calming background music and a relaxing room scent create a tranquil environment to welcome them into the airport. The area is decorated with statement sculptures and seasonal flower displays to create a first-class check-in experience unique to British Airways.

Nigel Garraway, British Airways’ Senior Premium Service Manager at Heathrow, said: “We continue to hear how much our customers value not just The First Wing itself, but also the service they receive from our wonderful hosts. We have continued to enhance The First Wing experience to make our customers’ journeys seamless and stress-free.

“With just a few weeks until Christmas our customers are currently enjoying the beautiful festive trees and garlands that set the scene for a busy holiday period – by the start of 2019 we expect to have welcomed a few hundred thousand more customers through our bespoke wing.”

British Airways is spending £6.5 billion for customers over the next five years, including the installation of industry-leading, streaming WiFi, 72 new aircraft and the refreshing of 128 long-haul aircraft with new interiors. The airline is also investing in Club World, including offering an outstanding restaurant-style dining experience and luxurious White Company bedding – plus, from 2019, a new seat with direct aisle access.

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