Tag Archives: A321-200

Monarch to add five winter routes from London Gatwick and Manchester

Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) will add five winter routes starting in December from London (Gatwick) and Manchester. From LGW, the carrier will add seasonal service to Innsbruck (December 5), Geneva (December 12) and Salzburg (December 19). From MAN, the airline will add Geneva (December 19) and Lyon (December 20) with Airbus A320s and A321s per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Terry Wade/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A321-231 G-OZBT (msn 3546) completes its final approach to the runway at London (Gatwick).

Monarch Airlines aircraft slide show:

JetBlue to introduce Mint service at Boston, will also add Boston-Nashville

JetBlue Airways (New York), already the largest airline in Boston, has announced plans to enhance service at Logan International Airport.

As part of the expansion, JetBlue will introduce Mint service to San Francisco and Los Angeles. JetBlue will also add Nashville as its 60th nonstop destination from Boston and will increase service frequency on more than a dozen existing routes to U.S. and Caribbean destinations.

Mint service will take off between Boston and San Francisco beginning in March 2016 with up to three daily roundtrips. Mint service to Los Angeles is set to begin in fall 2016 with up to three daily roundtrips.

Additionally, JetBlue will offer Mint seasonal service to the Caribbean beginning in March 2016 with a weekly Saturday roundtrip between Boston and Barbados, one of the airline’s most luxurious leisure destinations.

All customers traveling on the additional flights will benefit from JetBlue’s new Airbus A321 aircraft (above).

JetBlue also announced its intent to serve Nashville International Airport (BNA) from Boston with two daily roundtrips.

JetBlue also plans to launch daily nonstop service from Nashville to its Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood focus city. Service will begin in spring 2016.

All flights to Nashville will be operated on JetBlue’s Airbus A320 aircraft.

In addition, JetBlue will soon offer even more flights from Boston to 12 cities in its route network.

In January 2016, JetBlue will offer an average of 118 daily departures in its winter schedule with even more frequencies in the peak travel season – up to 140 daily departures in summer 2016. This is up from 54 average daily departures in 2008 when the airline began to significantly grow its presence in Boston.

The increase comes from a series of added flights on existing routes. Many of the flight frequency additions will be to JetBlue’s Florida and Caribbean focus cities and to other popular destinations in these regions. Additional flights are being added to the following destinations in the U.S. JetBlue network:

Additional daily flights between Boston and:

Orlando, Ft, Lauderdale, Tampa, San Juan, Raleigh/Durham, New York (JFK) and Cleveland

Additional weekend flights between Boston and:

Barbados (d), Aruba, Cancun, Turks and Caicos, Punta Cana, St. Maarten and Liberia, Costa Rica.

JetBlue has helped connect more international carriers in Boston through agreements with 15 carriers. El Al to Tel Aviv and Hainan Airlines to Shanghai are two of the newest routes. Emirates also plans to introduce a second daily flight to Dubai this fall.

Over the last three years JetBlue has attracted five new international partners to Boston including El Al, Emirates, Hainan Airlines, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines.

JetBlue’s impressive list of airline partnerships grew from its very first agreement with Massachusetts-based Cape Air in 2007. Cape Air is one of the largest independent regional carriers in the U.S. and enhances the JetBlue network with easy connections from San Juan and Boston to destinations in Cape Cod and the Caribbean.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A321-231 N934JB (msn 6130) in the Prism livery departs from Los Angeles International Airport.

JetBlue Airways aircraft slide show:

Gulf Air increases the number of flights to Frankfurt, Larnaca and Paris

Gulf Air (Bahrain) will increase the number of flights to and from Frankfurt, Larnaca and Paris (CDG) during the upcoming peak summer travel period until September 2015, due to growing passenger numbers.

This follows the airline’s recent announcement of its enhanced Istanbul summer schedule which now offers seven weekly flights during the summer period.

Gulf Air will operate eight weekly flights from Bahrain to both Frankfurt and Paris (Charles de Gaulle Airport) and six weekly flights to Larnaca.

Gulf Air’s European summer schedule further supplements the airline’s existing four weekly Athens service and double daily London Heathrow service.

Gulf Air aircraft slide show:

In the wake of United’s JFK announcement, JetBlue adds more Mint flights from JFK to Los Angeles and San Francisco

JetBlue Airways (New York) today announced that it will add additional flights of its acclaimed Mint experience from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

Beginning October 25, JetBlue will offer up to six daily Mint flights between New York and San Francisco. JetBlue will also add additional service between New York and Los Angeles beginning October 25, with up to 10 daily flights by February when the airline takes delivery of its newest A321 Mint aircraft.

JetBlue launched Mint service in June 2014.

According to the carrier, “JetBlue’s top-notch inflight service is matched by the Mint aircraft itself, which includes private suites, the widest seat and longest fully-flat bed in the U.S. domestic market (a), tapas-style dining, custom amenity kits, a 15-inch flat screen with 100+ channels of DIRECTV® programming and more than 100 channels of SiriusXM® satellite radio, and free broadband connectivity with their acclaimed Fly-Fi service. Additional frequencies will be available for purchase starting June 21, 2015.”

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A321-231 N945JT (msn 6390) arrives at Los Angeles International Airport.

JetBlue Airways aircraft slide show:

VietJetAir orders six more Airbus A321s

VietJetAir (VietJetAir.com) (Ho Chi Minh City) has placed a firm order with Airbus for the purchase of six additional A321s. The order was signed today (June 17) at the Paris Air Show by VietJetAir President and CEO, Madam Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, and Airbus President and CEO, Fabrice Brégier.

VietJetAir took delivery of its first A321 in March of this year.

VietJetAir first took to the skies at the end of 2011 and now operates a fleet of 25 A320 Family aircraft on a network covering Vietnam and a growing number of destinations across Asia. Following today’s announcement, the carrier has ordered a total of 69 aircraft from Airbus, including this order, and also holds purchase rights for another 30 aircraft.

Copyright Photo: Gerd Beilfuss/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A321-211 D-AZAK (msn 5295) became VN-A651 when it was handed over on March 20, 2015.

VietJetAir aircraft slide show:

Monarch Airlines reduces its six-month loss

Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) reported a loss of £69.9 million ($106.7 million) for the six months ending on April 30. This is an improvement of a loss of £110.6 million ($168.8 million) for the same half year period in 2014.

The airline issued this financial statement:

Monarch, the European leisure airline group, has reported a half year loss of £69.9 million, down from £110.6 million for the same period last year. Winter losses, for the November to April period, were down by a bigger than forecast £40 million.

Monarch has completed the final phase of the restructuring program begun last year and has created a revitalized, entirely scheduled network of destinations for discerning leisure customers. The Monarch turnaround is firmly on track.

Monarch has undertaken a range of measures to remove £200 million in annual costs from the business, including restructuring of its network and fleet, improved revenue management and modernised working practices. £30 million of the reduction in winter losses is due to the success of this self-help turn around program, with the remaining £10 million due to additional savings in fuel costs.

Overall, this has resulted in a strong first half performance. The group is now focused on building on the heritage of the Monarch brand and creating a truly customer centric organisation.

Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Swaffield said; “We remain positive that the changes we have made to the structure of the group, the network and our cost base have set us in good stead to achieve the turnaround. It is thanks to the hard work of all 2,800 colleagues employed directly by the company, both on the ground and in the air, that we are focused on service and safety whilst maintaining a low cost base. These elements will help Monarch to build a sustainably profitable business.”

Chief Financial Officer, Barry Nightingale said; “Our winter performance was better than forecasted with substantially reduced losses.

“We have seen stable booking trends throughout the last 6 months and have seen good summer sales in key months which will help us to deliver against a challenging plan.

“Improved revenue management has played a key part in the turnaround results but, additionally we have put a lot of work into segmenting our customer groups and have been able to take a customer centric approach to reshape our network around increased frequencies to our most popular destinations. We have also added new scheduled routes taken from our portfolio of destinations previously served as charter routes to provide a better service and increased flexibility to customers.”

Earlier this year, Monarch launched a group wide employee bonus scheme to reward the commitment and hard work of all employees. Key performance indicators are aligned to company performance and the punctuality of the airline.

Andrew Swaffield said; “It’s clear that people who work for Monarch genuinely care about the company and our customers. That is directly reflected in the great service and natural warmth which comes as standard.

“The bonus scheme is designed to ensure that we focus on the right things such as company performance and airline punctuality (OTP). This year we have already improved, and our average OTP figure for the first six months is 83.2%, compared to 80% for the same period last year.”

Having recently celebrated 47 years of flying under the Monarch name, work has now begun to transition the airline to its new fleet of Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft (below) which will start coming into service in April 2018.

The airline confirmed this order in autumn 2014 to replace its current Airbus fleet by 2020. Each of the thirty new Boeing 737 MAX8 aircraft will deliver further savings on future fuel costs and contribute to the airline’s sustainable low cost base.

Alongside the scheduled airline operations, Monarch’s in-house engineering division has enjoyed growth in third party business and has opened a new maintenance base in Copenhagen. Monarch Aircraft Engineering was recently shortlisted for Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul company of the Year at this years’ industry Awards. The priority for this valuable group asset is to improve its efficiency and make a bigger contribution in the years to come.

Monarch’s tour operating business has seen strong year-on-year growth in on-line bookings, offsetting some category weakness in high street sales. Key markets in the Canaries and mainland Spain have grown in line with the airline’s scheduled operations to key city destinations. Packages to Egypt are seeing some recovery after an unsteady past two years. Greece continues to perform well, despite economic uncertainty and aggressive competition.

Video: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Monarch will replace its current Airbus fleet with new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft by 2020. Airbus A321-231 G-OZBE (msn 1707) arrives in Las Palmas.

Monarch Airlines aircraft slide show:

Frontier Airlines orders 10 Airbus A321s and two additional A320s

Frontier Airlines (2nd) (Denver) has placed a firm order for 10 Airbus A321 and two A320 aircraft. All 12 aircraft are current engine option (ceo) aircraft. This is the second time in less than a year that the airline has ordered the A321, the largest member of the Airbus A320 Family. Including this order announced today, Frontier has a backlog of 101 Airbus single-aisle aircraft. Their current in-service fleet consists of 55 A320 Family aircraft (34 A319s and 21 A320s).

Each of the newly ordered planes will feature lightweight composite Sharklets, 2.4-meter/94-inch tall wing-tip devices that provide a fuel consumption reduction of up to 4 percent, plus either a range extension of 100 nautical miles or increased payload of up to 450 kilograms/992 pounds.

Frontier took delivery of its first Airbus aircraft in 2001 and has since transformed into an all-Airbus, all-A320 Family fleet.

Image: Airbus.

Frontier Airlines aircraft slide show:

Volaris to introduce the new Airbus A321 on June 1

Volaris (Mexico City) will introduce the new Airbus A321-200 initially on the Mexico City – Cancun route on June 1. This will be followed by the Mexico City – Moneterrey route on August 17 per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo below: Gerd Beilfuss/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A321-231 D-AZAN (msn 6558) became XA-VLH when it was handed over on April 20. A second A321 will follow.

Volaris aircraft slide show:

Finnair expands its codeshare relationship with Japan Airlines and QANTAS Airways, Lufthansa Technik to provide component support for the new Airbus A350s

Finnair (Helsinki) is strengthening its ties with fellow oneworld alliance members JAL-Japan Airlines (Tokyo) and QANTAS Airways (Sydney), with new codeshares on the airlines’ respective services to Busan, South Korea and Perth, Australia.

Busan is a new addition to Finnair’s extended network, which Finnair passengers can now reach daily via Tokyo Narita on services operated by Japan Airlines. The new codeshare allows Finnair to serve South Korea’s prosperous second-largest city, with a population of 3.6 million that is growing in economic clout and seeking more connections to Europe.

Japan Airlines and Finnair already codeshare extensively on each other’s services throughout Europe and Japan.

Additionally, from June 26, 2015 Finnair passengers can connect to Perth via Singapore on services operated by oneworld partner QANTAS Airways. This creates additional scheduling and route options for Finnair passengers, who can also connect to Perth via Hong Kong on oneworld partner Cathay Pacific Airways (Hong Kong).

In other news, Finnair, the first European airline to operate the Airbus A350-900 aircraft (above), has awarded Lufthansa Technik a 12-year agreement for component support for the new aircraft type. Lufthansa Technik is one of the leading providers of technical services for the aviation industry, and the agreement with Finnair is the company’s first contract for A350 XWB component support.

The exclusive Total Component Support TCS®contract covers the availability and repair services of A350-900 XWB components. Finnair already has an agreement with Lufthansa Technik on engine-related components service for V2500 engines and APU services for APS3200.

Finnair’s own maintenance organization at the Helsinki Airport is responsible for the line maintenance of Finnair’s current fleet and the new A350-900 XWB fleet.

Finnair has firm orders for 19 A350-900 XWB aircraft, the first four of which are expected to arrive in the fleet in the second half of this year, with another seven in 2016 and 2017. The complete order will be fulfilled by 2023.

Copyright Photo below: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A321-231 OH-LZH (msn 5803) with Sharklets approaches the runway for landing at Las Palmas.

Finnair aircraft slide show:

Airberlin Group’s first quarter net loss remains flat

Airberlin Group (Airberlin and Niki) (Berlin) reported its first quarter net loss narrowly widened to €210.1 million ($237.6 million), up slightly from €209.8 million $237.2 million) in the same quarter a year ago. Stefan Pichler, CEO of Airberlin Group, stated “We are at the beginning of a long road to recovery.”

Here is the full report:

In the first quarter of 2015, EBIT rose to -159.9 million euros, or 23 million euros over the same quarter last year (Q1, 2014: -182.8 million euros). This demonstrates that despite a competitive market environment, the strategic and operational realignment at airberlin had already begun producing some positive effects on earnings at the start of the year.

Summary of consolidated earnings in the first quarter of 2015

Current performance reviews show airberlin’s average yield at 121.66 euros (Q1 2014: 116.72 euros). This represents a yield optimization of 4.2 percent as compared to the same quarter last year, and was achieved primarily through improvements in revenue management.

Revenue development showed an increase to 793.7 million euros, corresponding to a 4.2 percent growth in revenue over the same quarter last year (Q1 2014: 761.8 million euros). Due to an improved performance during the first three months, operating earnings (EBIT), at -159.9 million euros during the first quarter, also showed a 14 percent increase over the same quarter last year (Q1 2014: -182.8 million euros).

Allowing for current exceptional expenses from the ongoing restructuring program as well as non-recurring effects, adjusted EBIT was -151.4 million euros. Net profit in the first quarter of 2015 was -210.1 million euros (Q1 2014: -209.8 million euros). The Net profit decreased owing to higher interest expenditures and shifts in the market valuation of hedge instruments. 287.6 million euros in liquidity as of 31 March 2015 means Air Berlin PLC is in a stable financial position (Q1 2014: 273.0 million euros).

The current cost structure is marked by a slight rise in personnel and technical and maintenance expenses and increased airport charges. The personnel costs have risen by a direct employee takeover from NIKI, tariff developments and non-recurring expenses. Expenses incurred for technical and maintenance as well as airport charges will, however, be offset over the course of the year by systematic structural effects during the ongoing realignment.

Available seat kilometres (ASK) increased by 1.5 percent. Capacity utilization in the first quarter of 2015 stood at 83.2 percent, a modest increase over the same quarter last year`s rate of 81.8 percent. Total revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) was 6.71 eurocts (up 2.6 percent on Q1 2014: 6.54 eurocts).

Total costs per ASK (CASK) rose by 0.8 percent year-on-year, going from 8.14 eurocts to 8.20 eurocts.

Stefan Pichler, CEO of Air Berlin PLC, comments on the results of the first quarter as follows:

”We have an initial operational earnings impact from the reduction in capacity and a slightly improved yield management approach. At the same time, seasonal effects such as Easter have also positively influenced the result. Still, we are at the beginning of a long road to recovery.“

Partnerships further strengthened, restructuring measures prove effective

Stefan Pichler emphasizes the importance of airberlin’s strengthened partnerships, in particular with Etihad Airways: ”During the first three months of the year, passenger volume increased by another 18 percent year-on-year, accounting for over 174.400 guests. We intensified our collaboration with Etihad Airways by expanding codeshare connections, with new ones available from Abu Dhabi to Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Nairobi.“

As well within oneworld® a 19 percent increase in the number of passengers was recorded in the first quarter of 2015. Route performance and effective capacity utilization by the airline partner Iberia contributed significantly to growth.

The restructuring program, initiated in 2014, has already been showing initial positive effects since the start of 2015. Initial positive effects on revenue have been produced by the network restructuring concluded in January, further improvements to the revenue management system as well as the establishment of a new fare concept, and should intensify in the coming months.

During the first quarter, the new “airberlin business benefits” brand was introduced, which combines and further expands airberlin’s many existing corporate benefits. At the beginning of May, airberlin launched its new fare concept for short and medium-haul flights. The tailored fares open up new customer groups for airberlin and offer a great deal of flexibility. Another focus is airberlin’s service offensive. This includes its newly introduced customer advisory boards. In June, airberlin will launch its 24/7 service offensive – from the middle of the year, every passenger will receive feedback on their enquiry within 24 hours, and all customer enquiries will be fully processed within seven working days.

Because of increased market pressures and special expenditures, current foreseeable business development in the second quarter has so far not fulfilled expectations. airberlin will be working systematically on realignment in the coming quarters in order to achieve positive revenue development with respect to revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) as well as steady improvement in average revenue (yield). Continued expansion of product offerings is also of strategic importance in this regard.

Stefan Pichler is convinced of realignment`s effectiveness: “The first quarter has turned out properly. We understand, however, that we need to continue the systematic re-engineering of our company in order to achieve the goals we have set and generate the necessary market momentum. I am convinced that we are on the right track. Our focus on an open and inclusive management culture will enable us to drive further operational improvements.“

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airberlin’s Airbus A321-211 D-ALSB (msn 1994) lands at Tenerife Sur.

Airberlin aircraft slide show: