Tag Archives: A320232

Turkish Airlines signs a contract for 82 firm A320 Family aircraft

Turkish Airlines (Istanbul) has signed a contract for up to 117 A320 Family aircraft (25 A321ceo, 4 A320neo, 53 A321neo and options for 35 additional A321neo aircraft). This order is the largest ever placed by a Turkish carrier. The engine selection will be made at a later date.

Turkish Airlines already operates 75 A320 Family aircraft. The new order will help Turkish Airlines expand their short to medium-haul routes from their Istanbul hub, while the aircraft’s commonality with their existing Airbus fleet will generate additional cost-savings.

On the financial side, the airline’s net profit expanded to $625 million for 2012.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth. Airbus A320-232 TC-JAI (msn 3259) arrives at EuroAirport which serves Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg.

Turkish Airlines:

JetBlue announces a new code-share agreement with Qatar Airways

JetBlue Airways (New York) and Qatar Airways (Doha) today announced a one-way codeshare agreement to connect the carriers’ networks via New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport, subject to receipt of government approval.

The two airlines have been interline partners since 2011, enabling customers to enjoy the convenience of a single combined ticket for Qatar and JetBlue-operated flights, plus other benefits including one-stop check-in and baggage transfer.

Tickets featuring a Qatar Airways flight number will soon be available for sale for JetBlue-operated connections in 26 markets between New York/JFK and Washington Dulles, including the following U.S. destinations:

Buffalo, New York (BUF)
Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT)
Denver, Colorado (DEN)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida (FLL)
Fort Myers, Florida (RSW)
Jacksonville, Florida (JAX)
Long Beach, California (LGB)
New Orleans, Louisiana (MSY)
Palm Beach, Florida, (PBI)
Phoenix, Arizona (PHX)
Portland, Oregon (PDX)
Salt Lake City, Utah (SLC)
Syracuse, New York (SYR)

“We are pleased to deepen our successful relationship with Qatar Airways through this new codeshare at JFK and Dulles, providing customers more access to both networks,” said Dave Barger, JetBlue’s president and CEO. “Qatar has been a great partner for JetBlue, serving our customers well with their outstanding product and service.”

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “We are delighted to further expand our partnership with JetBlue, an airline that focuses on quality and service, a key hallmark of Qatar Airways. Through this enhanced agreement, we will extend our reach to more customers and more markets, providing greater convenience for travellers to and from our global network.”

JetBlue customers can avail themselves of Qatar Airways’ connecting service to destinations across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific regions, including 12 cities in India and a number of destinations including Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Kuwait, Riyadh, Islamabad, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

JetBlue is a top domestic airline at JFK, with more than 150 daily departures to dozens of major U.S. cities including Boston, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Francisco, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, from its home at the modern Terminal 5.

At Washington Dulles, the airline offers service to Boston, New York, and Long Beach and Oakland, California. Customers traveling with JetBlue enjoy premium amenities including unlimited free snacks and drinks, personal seatback televisions, spacious leather seating, the most legroom in coach of any U.S. airline (based on average fleet-wide seat pitch), and personalized service from JetBlue’s award-recognized in-flight crewmembers.

Top Copyright Photo: Ken Petersen. JetBlue Airways Airbus A320-232 N655JB (msn 3072) sports the “Our 100th A320” special livery at the New York (JFK) hub.

JetBlue Airways:

Qatar Airways:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough. Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777-3DZ ER A7-BAB (msn 36103) arrives at Washington (Dulles).

AirAsia Philippines acquires 40% of the stock of Zest Air in a stock trade

AirAsia Philippines (Angeles City, Pampanga-Clark International Airport) has agreed to acquire all of the shares Zest’s affiliate Asiawide Airways from Alfredo Yao, vice chairman of Export and Industry Bank Inc. and the Zest-O Corporation. This acquisition will give AirAsia 40 percent of the shares of Zest Air (Zest Airways) (Manila). In return, Yao will get a 15 percent share in closely held AirAsia (Kuala Lumpur) according to this report by Bloomberg.Each airline, both former competitors, will now operate separately but will be aligned with each other.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Terry Wade. AirAsia’s (AirAsia.com) (Philippines) Airbus A320-216 RP-C8191 (msn 4989) is seen at London (Gatwick) prior to the delivery.

AirAsia:

Zest Air:

Middle Copyright Photo Below: AirAsia. AirAsia and Zest Air officials celebrate the new association.

Bottom Copyright Photo: Manuel Negrerie. Zest Air’s (Zest Airways) Airbus A320-232 RP-C8994 (msn 743) climbs away from Taipei (TPE).

Cyprus Airways loses $72.5 million in 2012, faces an EU investigation into state loans

Cyprus Airways (Larnaca) reported a net loss of $72.5 million as the flag carrier continues to lose money. The airline is also facing an European Union investigation into whether Cyprus improperly loaned $135.2 million to the national carrier. In addition, no other state funds can be loaned to the carrier without prior approval of the European Union.

Read the full story from Famagusta Gazette of Cyprus: CLICK HERE

Cyprus Airways:

Vueling Airlines’ board rejects the takeover offer by IAG

Vueling Airlines‘ (Barcelona) board has rejected the latest offer by the International Airlines Group (IAG) (London) to acquire the remaining shares in the low-fare airline. The board believes the IAG $148 million bid undervalues the company and is recommending that all stockholders reject the latest bid.

Read the full report from Bloomberg: CLICK HERE

Vueling Airlines:

Spirit Airlines adds new service from Houston to both Denver and Detroit

Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) is continuing to add service at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). Starting June 13, 2013, Spirit will operate daily nonstop service between Houston and Denver and between Houston and Detroit.

The new nonstop flight between Denver and Houston continues on to Orlando with same plane service. In addition, the new daily nonstop flight between Houston and Denver complements Spirit’s existing one-stop service.

The new daily nonstop service between Detroit and Houston continues on to Dallas/Fort Worth with same plane service.

Spirit currently offers daily nonstop service from Houston to Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Las Vegas and Orlando, as well as a variety of connections throughout the Americas. In addition, daily nonstop service between Houston and Los Angeles begins on April 25, 2013.

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough. Airbus A320-232 N601NK (msn 4206) completes its approach into Washington (Reagan National).

Spirit Airlines:

JetBlue to fly San Juan-Chicago O’Hare flights

JetBlue Airways (New York) today announced its intent to launch new daily nonstop service from San Juan to Chicago (O’Hare) – JetBlue’s 17^thnonstop destination from the Puerto Rican capital. Flights are scheduled to begin on November 20, 2013.

JetBlue is the largest carrier in Puerto Rico.

JetBlue’s schedule between San Juan, Puerto Rico and Chicago:

San Juan (SJU) to Chicago (ORD):	Chicago (ORD) to San Juan (SJU):
Depart – Arrive	Depart – Arrive
3:45 p.m. – 6:55 p.m.	9:30 a.m. – 4:10 p.m.
– Flights operate daily effective November 20, 2013 – – All times local –

From its San Juan focus city, JetBlue currently flies to 14 nonstop destinations, ten within the continental US: Boston, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Hartford, Jacksonville, New York (JFK), Newark, Orlando, Tampa, Washington D.C. (Reagan National) and West Palm Beach, and four within the Caribbean: Santo Domingo, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and St. Croix.

Copyright Photo: Ken Petersen. Airbus A320-232 N658JB (msn 3150) with the Dots tail and the Official Airline of Springfield logo by the nose prepares to depart from the runway at New York JFK International Airport.

JetBlue:

Nonstop (white) routes from San Juan:

Please click on the map for the full-size view.

JetBlue Airways and Airbus reach agreement to retrofit the Airbus A320 fleet with Sharklets

JetBlue Airways (New York) announced today that it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Airbus to acquire 110 ship-sets of retrofit Sharklets for the airline’s in-service A320 aircraft. Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2014. Just last week, JetBlue Airways unveiled the first of its A320 aircraft to be outfitted with Sharklets. Sharklets are newly designed wing tip devices that are expected to improve the aerodynamics of Airbus aircraft and significantly cut fuel burn and emissions by up to four percent.

Sharklets are an option for the A320 Family aircraft and offer JetBlue the option of an additional 100 nautical miles range or increased payload capability of up to 1,000 pounds. Sharklets are standard on all members of the A320neo Family. JetBlue is not only the first carrier to fly with Sharklets in North America but, with the conclusion of this agreement and the retrofitting, will have the largest A320 fleet in the world with Sharklets. JetBlue’s future Airbus deliveries also will come outfitted with Sharklets.

JetBlue Airways:

Bottom Copyright Photo: JetBlue was an early volunteer with Airbus for testing two early winglet concepts.

JetBlue and Aer Lingus expand their code share relationship

JetBlue Airways (New York) and Aer Lingus (Dublin) have announced a codeshare agreement that expands upon the partnership that has linked the two carriers’ networks at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Boston’s Logan International Airport since 2008.

Flights operated by JetBlue and featuring the Aer Lingus “EI” flight number will soon be available for sale on the Aer Lingus website, travel agents and online travel agencies, connecting the Irish carrier’s transatlantic flights with 29 JetBlue destinations in North America including Baltimore/Washington, Buffalo, Dallas/Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Orlando, Philadelphia, Rochester, Syracuse, Tampa, and West Palm Beach, subject to receipt of government approval.

Through the JetBlue-Aer Lingus partnership, customers can enjoy the convenience of booking a single ticket that includes flights operated by both carriers, with benefits including one-stop check-in and baggage transfer to dozens of destinations throughout the United States.

The start of the new codeshare arrangement coincides with the move of Aer Lingus’ New York flight operations from Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport into JetBlue’s acclaimed Terminal 5. Aer Lingus customers connecting to one of JetBlue’s many destinations across the U.S. will benefit from same terminal connections, one-stop ticketing and baggage check-in for travel on both airlines, from the U.S. to Europe.

With the move to Terminal 5, scheduled for April 3, 2013, the minimum connection time from European arrivals to US departures will be reduced to just about 60 minutes. Customers travelling to Ireland will enjoy connections as fast as 40 minutes.

Copyright Photo: Dave Campbell. Airbus A320-232 N569JB (msn 2075) in the 10th Anniversary scheme taxies to the runway at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood.

JetBlue Airways:

Aer Lingus:

Thomas Cook to merge Condor, Thomas Cook Belgium and Thomas Cook UK into one airline on March 1

Thomas Cook Group (London) has announced it will merge Condor Flugdienst (Frankfurt), Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) and Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium) (Brussels) into one airline within the group on March 1.

The merger is part of Thomas Cook’s turnaround plan. It is unclear if the historic Condor name will be retired.

Read the full report from Reuters: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Condor already wear sthe Thomas Cook brand but still clings to its historic Condor name. Boeing 767-330 ER D-ABUH (msn 26986) taxies to the runway at Munich with the additional Peanuts characters.

Condor Flugdienst:

Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium):

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK):

Middle Copyright Photo: Karl Cornil. Thomas Cook Airlines’ (Belgium) Airbus A320-232 OO-TCN (msn 425) with the image of Kim Clijsters arrives at the Belgium base.

Bottom Copyright Photo: Keith Burton. Boeing 757-28A G-FCLH (msn 26274) of Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) completes its final approach into London (Gatwick).