Tag Archives: 737-800

Southwest begins daily international service to six destinations from Houston Hobby

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) is celebrating the launch of international flights from the new international terminal at William P. Hobby Airport yesterday (October 15). The airline issued this statement:

Employees of Southwest Airlines (LUV) launched a new international chapter on October 15 in a 45-year history of serving Houston by joining with Houston Airport System and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to open a new five-gate concourse, Federal Inspection Station for Customs and Border Protection, new concessions for travelers, and begin daily international service for travelers using Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport. Southwest’s new nonstop daily service to a total eight international destinations by November charts a new horizon for Houstonians who value world-renowned Customer Service.

At a news conference that began just as Southwest Flight 305 to Cancun departed from one of five gates in the airport’s new west concourse, Southwest’s local Employees and Company Leadership joined many Houstonians who played a role in bringing international service back to William P. Hobby Airport.

In 2012, the Houston City Council overwhelmingly approved Southwest Airlines’ proposal to expand service across borders from William P. Hobby Airport by building the new international concourse and Federal Inspection Station, thus “freeing Hobby” from domestic-only capability and a historically monopolized market long-burdened by high international airfares. Southwest broke ground on the new facility on Sept. 30, 2013, and two years later has completed the $156 million project both on time and under budget. Southwest worked diligently throughout the construction to give opportunity to Small Business Enterprise and Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (SBE / MWBE), and has exceeded City of Houston SBE / MWBE requirements.

International-themed festivities at the airport throughout the day included a chance for travelers in the terminal to win prizes provided by Southwest Vacations. Ceremony surrounded departures to the new destinations, including Belize City, Belize, Southwest’s 96th and newest city served.

Through William P. Hobby Airport, Southwest Airlines began operating twice daily nonstop service to and from Cancun as well as once daily nonstop options between Houston and Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and San Jose del Cabo/Los Cabos, a total of four cities in Mexico. Nonstop service linking Costa Rica to Houston also began on October 15 with a daily flight to and from the nation’s capital, San Jose, with additional new service to Liberia in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province, Southwest’s 97th city served, scheduled to begin daily operation November 1, 2015, subject to foreign government approval. That same day, Southwest is scheduled to begin daily nonstop service between Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Houston Hobby.

In addition, seasonal service on Saturdays connects Houston nonstop with San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Oranjestad, Aruba, making a total of ten nonstop routes across Latin America and the Caribbean available to Southwest Customers using Hobby Airport.

Copyright Photo: Steve Bailey/Airlinersgallery.com. Boeing 737-8H4 N8643A (msn 42524) departs from Boeing Field in Seattle.

Southwest Airlines aircraft slide show (current livery):

Ryanair to establish its 75th base at Corfu, Greece

Ryanair (Dublin) has announced it will open a new base at Corfu (number 75), from April 2016, with one based aircraft, 11 new routes to Birmingham, Bratislava, Budapest, Cologne, Rome, Katowice, Poznan, Pisa, Rzeszow, Venice and Warsaw and more flights to Charleroi (near Brussels), East Midlands, London (Stansted) and Bergamo (near Milan).

The first additional route will be to Rome (Fiumicino) starting on March 29, 2016. The others will be added in late April, early May and June 3, 2016 to Pisa.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8AS EI-FIO (msn 61579) taxies at Brussels. The new aircraft was delivered on June 12, 2015.

Ryanair aircraft slide show:

SAS to launch eight new routes next summer

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) is planning to launch eight new routes next summer. The airline made this announcement:

SAS continues to open new direct routes, providing nearly 600,000 more seats from Scandinavian airports in its 2016 summer timetable. More departures are also being added on a number of popular routes.

As the summer timetable gradually comes into effect from the end of March, SAS customers will be able to look forward to new direct year-round routes from Copenhagen to Reykjavik, Vienna, and Krakow, and from Stockholm to Gdansk. Krakow and Vienna are particularly popular holiday destinations, while Reykjavik and Gdansk both attract business and leisure travelers.

The new additions next summer also serve in-demand holiday routes during the peak season. During the summer, SAS will fly from Stockholm to the Greek island of Mykonos, from Copenhagen to Faro in Portugal, from Aarhus to Palma de Mallorca, and from Stavanger to Paris.

SAS is during the summer high season providing over 100,000 more seats to and from vacation destinations compared with last year.

More frequencies from Oslo

As well as the new routes, SAS is also enhancing its offering to and from Oslo with an additional daily departure on five key business routes. From April 2016, there will be flights to Aberdeen and Düsseldorf twice a day, to Brussels and Billund three times a day, and to Bodø eight times a day.

In addition to the new direct routes from Scandinavia to popular European destinations, SAS recently launched new direct year-round routes to the US in 2016: from Stockholm to Los Angeles, from Oslo to Miami, and from Copenhagen to Miami and Boston.

With the new routes to the US, SAS is opening a total of 12 new routes from Scandinavian airports in 2016. The new routes and additional departures mean that during the summer season SAS will be providing 579,000 extra seats compared with last year.

New routes

Copenhagen-Vienna
Departures from Copenhagen on SK695, on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday. During the summer peak season, departures on Monday and Thursday. First departure: March 24, 2016.

Copenhagen-Krakow
Departures from Copenhagen on SK1735, on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. First departure: March 25, 2016.

Copenhagen-Reykjavik (Keflavik airport)
Daily departures from Copenhagen on SK595. First departure: March 27, 2016.

Copenhagen-Faro:
Departure from Copenhagen on SK2823 on Saturday. First departure: April 2, 2016.

Aarhus-Palma de Mallorca:
Departure from Aarhus on SK1513 on Monday. First departure: June 27, 2016.

Stockholm-Gdansk:
Departures from Stockholm on SK2759 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. During the summer peak season, departures on Friday and Sunday. First departure: March 25, 2016.

Stockholm-Mykonos:
Departure from Stockholm on SK2739 on Saturday. First departure: May 21, 2016.

Stavanger-Paris (CDG)
Departures from Stavanger on SK831 on Monday and Friday. During the summer peak season, departures on Monday and Friday. First departure: April 8, 2016.

SAS aircraft slide show:

Alaska Airlines starts Orange County – Los Cabos flights

Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma) today (October 8) begins nonstop Boeing 737 service from Orange County, California, to Los Cabos, Mexico. The flights are year-round and will operate four-times a week.

Alaska Airlines began flying to Los Cabos more than 25 years ago. Today, the carrier operates 50 weekly peak-season flights to Los Cabos—more than any other carrier from California.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 WL N568AS (msn 35183) in the special Employee powered livery arrives in Los Angeles.

Alaska Airlines aircraft slide show:

Malaysia Airlines to rebrand with a possible name change

Malaysia Airlines (Malaysia Airlines Berhad-MAB) (Kuala Lumpur) will undergo a rebrand process, including a possible name change, in the first quarter of 2016 according to a report by stuff.co.nz. A rebranding strategy will be announced in December.

Read the full report:

Copyright Photo: Ivan K. Nishimura/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8H6 9M-MLQ (msn 39327) passes through Honolulu on delivery in the 2010 livery.

Malaysia Airlines aircraft slide show:

Alaska Airlines adds another spoke route from the SEA hub to Raleigh/Durham

Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma) continues to expand its Seattle/Tacoma hub with the start of new service from the Emerald City to Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina starting yesterday (October 1). Raleigh/Durham is the sixth new destination the carrier has added this year, following last month’s start of service from Seattle/Tacoma to Nashville and New York City’s JFK International Airport.

Flights will be operated by fuel-efficient Next Generation Boeing 737 aircraft.

Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-890 WL N570AS (msn 35185) in the special “Follow us to Disneyland Resort – Disney Cars” livery arrives in Las Vegas.

Alaska Airlines aircraft slide show:

Video:

<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/141156602″>Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 N570AS (msn 35185) in the special "Follow us to Disneyland Resort – Disney Cars" livery</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/user19954503″>Bruce Drum</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

YTO Airlines to acquire Boeing-converted 737-800 freighters

YTO AIrlines (YTO Express) (Hangzhou) is a new Chinese airline proposing to add Boeing-converted 737-800 freighters. The new airline is planning to finalize an order for 15 Boeing 737-800BCFs.

The new airline commenced cargo operations on September 26, 2015 from Hangzhou to Chengdu with a Boeing 737-300F freighter (737-36Q (SF) B-2505, msn 28657) leased from Donghai Airlines.

Boeing has issued this statement:

Boeing is extremely pleased to enter into an agreement with YTO Airlines to provide the airline with 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCFs) pending a planned program launch.

“We are honored that YTO Airlines has chosen to partner with Boeing as it expands its operations and freighter fleet,” said Rick Anderson, vice president of sales, Commercial Aviation Services. “We are confident the 737-800BCF—with its more advanced avionics, better fuel efficiency and lower operating costs—will provide the airline with a competitive advantage in the marketplace.”

Image Above: Boeing.

The 737-800 will be the first Next-Generation 737 that Boeing offers for conversion. Through its 737 freighter conversion program, Boeing will support customers in the narrow-body freighter market, a segment of the freighter market growing quickly around the world.

YTO Airlines is a Hangzhou-based Chinese express cargo carrier backed by Shanghai YTO Express Investment (Group) Co., Ltd. The carrier currently operates a fleet of Boeing 737-300F airplanes, providing domestic and international air cargo services.

Air Lease Corporation to lease two Boeing 737-800s to Siam Air

Siam Air (Siam Air Transport) (Bangkok-Don Mueang Airport) is becoming a new Boeing 737-800 operator.

Air Lease Corporation (ALC) (Los Angeles) announced lease agreements with Siam Air Transport (Thailand) for two used Boeing 737-800 aircraft. These aircraft will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Siam Air was founded in 2013 and commenced low-fare operations in October 2014.

Copyright Photo: Robbie Shaw/AirlinersGallery.com. Siam Air currently operates two Boeing 737-300s to three destinations in Hong Kong and China. The 737-300s will now be replaced with the newer 737s. Boeing 737-3J6 HS-BRU (msn 25893) arrives in Hong Kong.

Alaska Airlines launches the Seattle/Tacoma – Nashville route

Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma) announced today it begins nonstop service between Nashville and Seattle/Tacoma, increasing the number of nonstop destinations from its Seattle/Tacoma (SEA) hub to 84 destinations – twice as many as Alaska’s nearest competitor.

Summary of new service:

Start date City pair Departs Arrives Frequency

Sept. 23 Seattle-Nashville 9:30 a.m. 4:05 p.m. Daily
Sept. 23 Nashville-Seattle 5:05 p.m. 8:20 p.m. Daily

Alaska is operating the new flights with fuel-efficient, next generation Boeing 737 aircraft.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 WL N570AS (msn 35185) in the special “Follow us to Disneyland Resort – Disney Cars” livery now with APB Split Scimitar Winglets arrives in Los Angeles.

Alaska Airlines aircraft slide show:

Alaska Airlines starts Seattle/Tacoma – New York service tonight

Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma) inaugurates new service from Seattle/Tacoma to New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport tonight.

Alaska has served the New York metropolitan area since 2002 and currently offers twice-daily flights to Newark Liberty International Airport from Seattle/Tacoma.

Summary of new service:

Start date City pair Departs Arrives Frequency

Sept. 16 Seattle/Tacoma – New York City (JFK) 9:35 p.m. 6 a.m. Daily
Sept. 17 New York City (JFK) – Seattle/Tacoma 7:15 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Daily

Flight times based on local times zones.

Alaska is operating the new flights with fuel-efficient, next generation Boeing 737 aircraft.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-890 N513AS (msn 35192) departs from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) hub.

Alaska Airlines aircraft slide show: