Tag Archives: A320232

Spirit Airlines is coming to Houston on September 20

Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) continues to add new routes from Dallas/Fort Worth, the mega hub of bankrupt American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth). Spirit will start twice-daily nonstop service between Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on September 20, 2012.

The ultra low-fare airline issued the following statement today:

“Spirit Airlines is celebrating Independence Day by liberating Houston travelers from high fares. The carrier today announced that it is introducing its popular ultra low fares to customers traveling between Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth. Twice daily nonstop service between Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport begins September 20, 2012, with connections available to six destinations throughout the Americas, including, Baltimore/Washington, Las Vegas, Phoenix/Mesa, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Toluca/Mexico City, and Portland, Oregon.”

Spirit Airlines:

Route Map:

Click on the map to expand.

JetBlue to fly to Cartagena, Colombia

JetBlue Airways (New York) plans to add another Caribbean gem to its network: Cartagena, the vibrant city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Starting on November 2, 2012, subject to receipt of government approval, travelers will be able to fly to and from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport three times per week – the only nonstop service between New York and Cartagena.

Cartagena will be JetBlue’s second destination in Colombia and its third route to the country. Earlier this summer, JetBlue added a daily Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood to Bogota service to complement its existing daily Orlando to Bogota route. The airline has offered service to Colombia since 2009.

JetBlue’s schedule between New York and Cartagena:

New York (JFK) to Cartagena (CTG):	Cartagena (CTG) to New York (JFK):
Depart – Arrive	Depart – Arrive
8:25 a.m. – 1:10 p.m.	2:05 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
– Flights operate on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays effective November 2, 2012 – – All times local –

JetBlue’s flights between New York and Cartagena will be operated with its Airbus A320 aircraft.

JetBlue:

Thai Smile takes delivery of its first Airbus A320, will now launch operations on July 7

Thai Smile Air (subsidiary of Thai Airways International) (Bangkok) will now launch operations on July 7 (delayed from July 1) following the delivery of its first aircraft. The first route will be from Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) to Macau. Eventually four A320s will be utilized to fly from BKK to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Kolkata, Jakarta, and Phnom Penh in the first year.

Thai Smile will be a “light-premium sub-brand” according to the parent.

In its first year of operations, using Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport as its main hub, Thai will replace the mainline service to Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Chiang Rai, and Surat Thani.

According to Thai, “the main target market for these initial in-country flights will be the young small and medium business traveler as well as local traveler, government agents, who wants a relaxed, stylish atmosphere on board without the premium price.”

Thai Smile’s light premium service will offer a complimentary meal and drink service, free passenger seat selections, faster check-in procedures, 15-20 kg baggage allowances, and the ability to accrue frequent flyer mileage on both Thai and the Star Alliance network.

Thai does not believe the new Thai Smile brand will be a conflict with low-cost subsidiary Nok Air since Nok Air only flies domestically out of Don Muang airport, while Thai Smile passengers will be able to connect to international flights out of Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thai Smile will also fly to Khon Kaen and Chiang Rai, two destinations not covered by Nok Air.

The name Thai Smile was chosen from 2,229 entries submitted in a contest to name the airline.

Copyright Photo: Gerd Beilfuss. The pictured Airbus A320-232 with the temporary registration of D-AVVM, was handed over yesterday (June 30) as HS-TXA (msn 5198). It seen at the Hamburg (Finkenwerder) plant.

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JetBlue names San Juan a “focus city”

JetBlue Airways (New York) has named its growing San Juan operation a “focus city”. During a ribbon-cutting ceremony held yesterday (June 28) in celebration of JetBlue Airways’ new home at Terminal A in San Juan’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU), the airline’s President and CEO Dave Barger, together with Puerto Rico’s Governor Luis Fortuno, announced that San Juan has become the sixth focus city in JetBlue’s 71-city network.

San Juan joins Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New York and Orlando as the sixth focus city in JetBlue’s network. The designation of San Juan as a focus city in JetBlue’s growing route network underscores the airline’s ever-increasing commitment to the Puerto Rican community and its expansion into the new Terminal A at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, which will be able to accommodate further growth.

In Puerto Rico, JetBlue currently serves Aguadilla, Ponce and San Juan, with service to 13 nonstop destinations, nine within the continental US: Boston, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Hartford/Springfield, Jacksonville, New York, Newark, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach and; four within the Caribbean: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and St. Croix. The airline has announced it will begin the only direct nonstop to Washington Reagan National Airport, its 14th city out of San Juan, on August 23, 2012.

JetBlue:

IndiGo performs the first RNP approach into Kochi, India’s first

IndiGo Airlines (Delhi) on June 24 conducted the first ever Required Navigation Performance (RNP) approach in regular airline operations, while landing at Kochi on their scheduled flight, 6E 345 from Bengaluru. IndiGo has collaborated with Quovadis, a subsidiary of Airbus, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to enable an even more secure and safe landing procedure at the Kochi International Airport. IndiGo becomes the first carrier in India authorized to implement this effective, fuel-saving practice. The Kochi International Airport is India’s seventh busiest airport, and equipped with one ILS (Instrument Landing System) on runway 27 and a VOR (both ground based installations) that are used for guidance for landing procedures on both ends of the runway.

IndiGo has been working with Airbus and the government to develop and implement the RNP procedure, which brings great benefits to both the authorities and IndiGo:

Accurate flight path on contained and secure trajectories
A shorter flight path, saving 75 KM for IndiGo on each approach, which is approximately 400 kgs of fuel saving per landing, and a corresponding amount of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
Freedom from dependence on conventional ground based navigation installations by using on board systems and Global Positioning System (satellite based positioning)
Easier traffic management in non-radar environments

The entire process that has been successfully validated on Airbus simulators and in the aircraft, has now been flown successfully in regular commercial operations by IndiGo on its Airbus A320 on June 23, 2012.

IndiGo:

Current Route Map:

Please click on the map to expand.

JetBlue Airways becomes first FAA-Certified carrier to fly Special (Non-Public) RNP AR Approaches with Airbus A320s at New York’s JFK Airport

JetBlue Airways (New York) today (June 20) became the first Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-certified carrier in the United States to utilize the new satellite-based Special (Non-Public) Required Navigation Performance Authorization Required (RNP AR) approaches to Runways 13L and 13R at its home base at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport with its fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft. These unique Special Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) procedures are designed to utilize a constant vertical descent in conjunction with a precise curved flight path to the runways, resulting in the following efficiencies:

Stabilized approach path;
Shorter flight times for customers;
Reduced noise levels and greenhouse-gas emissions and,
Increased fuel savings by as much as 120 pounds, or 18 gallons, per flight.

The RNP AR approach procedure will allow JetBlue to utilize a decision altitude while in a slight turn to the runway, the first airline in the United States to harness this special capability. This allows for lower landing weather minimums, increasing runway utilization at JFK. These procedures will be a key component in making JFK operate independent of the other NY-area airports and reduce delays at JFK, LaGuardia (LGA), Newark Liberty International (EWR) and Teterboro (TEB) airports in certain poor weather conditions.

JetBlue began designing and testing the JFK special instrument procedures in 2004 in partnership with the FAA and MITRE Corporation. The airline’s entire cadre of more than 2,300 pilots have been trained and certified at JetBlue’s flight simulator training facility in Orlando to fly RNP AR procedures across the United States.

In addition to these milestones, in 2008 JetBlue became the first and remains the only Airbus A320 operator in the country to receive FAA authorization for RNP AR approaches, followed by RNP AR certification for its entire fleet of Embraer ERJ 190 aircraft in 2010. JetBlue maintains all of its fleet types certified for RNP AR. The airline plans to extend the unique capability at JFK to its Embraer ERJ 190 fleet in the near future.

To further advance its active role in upgrading the nation’s air traffic control system, in 2011 JetBlue also announced a partnership with the FAA to provide data and conduct real-time operational evaluations for the organization’s Next-Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) airspace modernization program. Through FAA-funding, the airline will equip up to 35 of its A320 planes with Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) Out avionics that will provide air traffic controllers with precise positioning of the aircraft using GPS satellite signals, enabling the aircraft to fly more direct routes off the East Coast. This capability, when combined with the new FAA En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) System, will begin field trials next summer. JetBlue is currently awaiting final aircraft certification.

JetBlue Airways:

Qatar Airways to add Belgrade in September via Ankara

Qatar Airways (Doha) is planning to add Belgrade as an extension of the Doha-Ankara route in September following a new bilateral agreement between Qatar and Serbia.

Read the full report from Balkans.com: CLICK HERE

In other news, as planned, the flag carrier added Baghdad and the Doha-Bahrain route with Airbus A320s on June 9. The new route is served on four days a week.

Qatar Airways:

Turkish Airlines adds Yanbu, its fifth destination in Saudi Arabia

Turkish Airlines (Istanbul) launched its first flight to Yanbu on June 11 as its fifth destination in Saudi Arabia, joining Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina, and Dammam.

Flights will be operated three days a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Yanbu flights will be operated with its fleet of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft.

Turkish:

Istanbul- Yanbu	Departure/Arrival
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday	04:35- 07:30 (TK 114)
Yanbu- Istanbul	Departure/Arrival
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday	08:30- 11:40 (TK 115)

AviaNova shuts down all operations

AviaNova (Moscow-Sheremetyevo) is the latest Russian airline casualty. The low-fare carrier announced it was shutting down today (October 9, 2011). The company was operating six Airbus A320s.

The airline received its AOC in August 2009 and commenced operations on August 27, 2009.

Video: Too bad, we will miss this colorful airline which made a “splash” in its short history: