Emirates Airline (Dubai) on March 1 launched daily nonstop service from Dubai toย Houari Boumediene Airport in Algriers. It is the 22ndย gateway for Emirates in Africa and the airlineโs 130th international destination. The new route will be operated with Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
Copyright Photo: Christian Volpati.ย Airbus A330-243 A6-EKQ (msn 518) arrives at the Dubai hub.
Emirates:ย 
Fiji Airways (2nd) (formerly Air Pacific) (Nadi) is planning to introduce its first Airbus A330-200 in its new name and brand on April 21 to both Auckland and Brisbane per Airline Route. The flag carrier is reverting back to its original name. The pictured A330-243 F-WWKD (msn 1394) on a test flight today at Toulouse will become DQ-FJT when it is handed over to the carrier next month. This delivery will also mark the change of the name for the company.
In other news, the revitalized airline is losing its CEO who led the turnaround. The company issued this statement:
Air Pacific Chairman Nalin Patel has announced that the airlineโs Managing Director and CEO, David H. Pflieger, Jr., has notified the Board of Directors of his decision to leave the airline and return to the United States following the completion of his three year contract on May 1, 2013. Mr. Patel also announced that the Board would immediately begin the recruitment process for the airlineโs next Managing Director and CEO.
โGiven the exceptional results Dave has delivered, it is with immense gratitude for his extraordinary service that we have reluctantly accepted his decision to relinquish the helm of Air Pacific and return home. At a time when many of the worldโs other airlines were struggling, Dave skillfully guided Air Pacific through one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the airline industry. Thanks to his incredible vision, drive, and leadership, Air Pacific is now again profitable and extremely well-positioned for future growth and success,โ said Mr. Patel.
โI would like to say โVinaka Vakalevuโ or โthank you very muchโ to our Board, to everyone at Air Pacific, and to the people of Fiji for an incredible three years. Fiji is an amazing country, and I am humbled by and grateful for the once-in-a lifetime experience that my family and I enjoyed and will never forget,โ said Mr. Pflieger. โThe tremendous accomplishments Air Pacific has realized over the past three years would not have been possible without the foresight of our Chairman, Mr. Patel, the outstanding support of our Board, and the efforts of some of the most talented and dedicated professionals working and flying in the airline industry today โ the men and women of Air Pacific,โ said Mr. Pflieger. โIt has been an honour and a privilege to work with each and every one of them.โ
During his three-year tenure at Air Pacific, Mr. Pflieger led the dramatic and highly successful restructuring, re-branding, and revitalization of Fijiโs national airline, highlighted by achievements that include:
โข Restoring airline to profitability in just two years–reversing record operating losses ofย FJ$12 million and FJ$91 million in the two financial years before he arrived, to produce a FJ$16 million profit
โข Winning first-ever recognition from Conde Nast Traveler magazine as one of the Worldโs โTop 5โ Small Airlines for two years in a row (2011 and 2012)
โข Modernizing the fleet by leading the landmark acquisition and financing of the airlineโs first brand-new wide-body aircraft, three A330s, scheduled for delivery in March, May, and November of 2013
โข Initiating and leading the complete re-branding, renaming, and restoration of the airline to its 1960s name of โFiji Airwaysโ
โข Entering into an extensive code-share agreement with American Airlines
โข Implementing the Companyโs first-ever profit sharing and quarterly performance incentive plans for front-line employees; and
โข Instituting a new and highly robust Corporate Social Responsibility initiative that now includes partnerships with the Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises and Development (Friend) for education of underprivileged children, the Mamanuca Environmental Society to preserve Fijiโs amazing coral reefs, and a soon to be announced health and wellness programme.
โAs we prepare to fly as โFiji Airwaysโ with brand new Airbus A330 aircraft, strong P&L, cash, and balance sheet positions, and international awards for being one of the best airlines in the world, it is clear that the company now has a proven track record of success and an exciting future ahead. With our modernization and rebranding almost complete and a completely new and highly capable management team in place, the time is right for me to pass the reigns and pursue other opportunities,โ said Mr. Pflieger.
At the Boardโs request, Mr. Pflieger, a business executive, attorney, and pilot with almost three decades of aviation experience, will assist with the selection and transition of a new chief executive and help ensure a smooth and successful introduction of the airlineโs new aircraft and โFiji Airwaysโ rebranding.
โThe capstone of Air Pacificโs incredible turnaround will be the introduction of our new Airbus A330s. When we welcome the first of these three new wide-body aircraft in mid-March, it will be a proud day for the airline, Fiji, and all Fijians. Thus, I am especially pleased that Dave โ as the architect of the airlineโs turnaround, rebranding, and growthโ will remain with us to see that through,โ said Mr. Patel. โIt is with great appreciation for a job extraordinarily well done that the Board thanks Dave for his leadership and wishes him and his family our very best regards for the future.โ
Copyright Photo: Eurospot.
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Air Pacific:ย
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AirEuropa (Palma de Mallorca and Madrid) will add Montevideo, Uruguay and the Madrid-Montevideo nonstop route on June 3. The new route will be served three days a week with Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
Copyright Photo: Paul Denton. Airbus A330-243 EC-LQP (msn 526) taxies at Geneva.
AirEuropa:ย 
International Routes:
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Air China (Beijing) onย March 31, 2013 willย upgrade its aircraft to theย Boeing 777-300 ERย (see above) and increase its frequency from 7 to 11 per week for its nonstop New York (JFK)-Beijing flights.
Air China is the only airline with nonstop service between New York and Beijing.ย It is also the only airline with first class cabin between these two cities.ย Current daily flights between New York and Beijing are CA 982 and CA 981.
The additional outbound flight, CA 990, departs from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 2:50 AM, arriving in Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) at 2:20 PM local time the next day.ย Inbound, CA 989 leaves Beijing at 9:00 AM also on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, arriving in New York at 10:20 AM local time on the same day.
According to the airline, the “Triple Seven” has a wider cabin than any competing aircraft.ย It is designed for maximum passenger comfort and convenience.ย Air China’sย Forbidden Pavilionย (first class) features eight luxury suites, 41 full-flat bed seats in theย Capital Pavilionย (business class) and 259ย economy seatsย with individual monitors and in-seat audio-video on demand (AVOD).
Designed for maximum passenger comfort, theย interiorย of Air China’s Boeing 777-300 ER feature ten mood lighting variations in the Forbidden and Capital Pavilions, each timed to complement the differentย phases of a flightโfrom boarding through meal service, sleeping and pre-arrival.ย The ambient lighting recreates the sunset, night and sunrise to reflect the various services associated with each phase and create a totally relaxing environment.
Today’s announcement follows last week’s approval granted to Air China by the U.S. Department of Transportation to start four weekly nonstop services between Houston and Beijing on July 11, 2013 using the Boeing 777-300 ER. Houston is Air China’s fifth gateway in North America in addition to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver.ย The Los Angeles-Beijing service, operated with the Boeing 777-300ER, will resume its double daily flights on March 31, 2013.ย Vancouver-Beijing is scheduled to increase from 7 to 11 flights per week on May 17, 2013.ย A bigger Boeing 747-400 full passenger aircraft will be used for the San Francisco-Beijing daily operation beginning on March 31, 2013.
In other news,ย Air China will commence nonstop Chengdu-Frankfurt service on May 19, 2013.
Chengdu, the capital of a province widely known as China’s breadbasket, is a southwestern Chinese city with huge growth potential. Recent years have seen a continuous uptick in the number of outbound travelers from Chengdu and other southwestern neighboring cities like Lhasa, Kunming and Xi’an who leave China via Chengdu. Currently, passengers who travel between Chengdu and other southwestern regions and Germany have to transfer in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong, and the whole journey takes at least 15 hours. The opening of the new Chengdu-Frankfurt nonstop service will make Chengdu the third Mainland China city with direct air links to Frankfurt. The whole flight takes just 10 hours, which represents a significant cut in travel time. This faster service will be another driver of the fast growth in tourism and economy of southwestern China.
The three-times weekly service, CA431/432, will be operated with an Airbus A330-200 (see below) on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. The flight time is approximately 10 hours. The flight leaves Chengdu at 01:30 and arrives in Frankfurt at 06:10 on the same day. The return flight is expected to take off from Frankfurt at 14:00 and arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 05:40 the next day.
Top Copyright Photo: Yuji Wang. Boeing 777-39L ER B-2035 (msn 38674) in the “Smiling China” special livery climbs away from Shanghai (Hongqiao).
Air China:ย 
Bottom Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing. Airbus A330-243 B-6117 (msn 903) completes its approach back at the Beijing hub.
Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (Honolulu), parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (Honolulu), reported its financial results for the full year 2012 and the fourth quarter of 2012.
2012 Full Year Financial Highlights
Fourth Quarter 2012 Financial Highlights
Mark Dunkerley, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented that “A good year of growth and improving financial performance was finished off by a disappointing break-even result in the fourth quarter.ย The sharp weakening of the Yen, continued excess capacity in certain markets and an accounting charge all worked to depress our earnings for the period despite many other things going right for the business.
The year as a whole was every bit as busy and exciting as we had forecast.ย We added four new long haul destinations, eight long haul and short haul aircraft, opened a hub on Maui and added approximately 600 employees to our rolls, all in 2012.ย Throughout it all, the employees of Hawaiian Airlines continued to deliver the very highest quality travel and shipping experience to our customers.ย Our employees’ tireless dedication to our customers and to our business is a distinguishing strength of Hawaiian Airlines.ย 2013 promises to be an equally exciting year for the company with new destinations, new aircraft and more employees being planned.”
The fourth quarter 2012 results reflect an out-of-period frequent flyer adjustment related to the timing of revenue recognized for mileage credits sold to participating companies in previous years.ย ย This adjustment resulted in a net decrease to pre-tax income of $7.3 million in the quarter, or $0.08 per diluted share ($7.9 million decrease to passenger revenue and $0.6 million decrease to other operating expense).ย See Table 2 for the impact of this adjustment on selected statistical data.
Statistical data, as well as a reconciliation of the reported non-GAAP financial measures, can be found in the accompanying tables.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2012, the Company had:
The Company expects to take delivery of five Airbus A330-200 aircraft in 2013, and has entered into debt and lease financing commitments for the first four deliveries in the first half of the year.ย The increase in Hawaiian’s fleet resulting from the delivery of these five Airbus A330-200 aircraft in 2013 will be partially offset by a decrease of four Boeing 767-300ER aircraft during the year, with three aircraft returned at the end of their lease terms and one planned retirement.
In January 2013, the Company signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the purchase of 16 new Airbus A321neo aircraft for delivery between 2017 and 2020, with the rights to purchase an additional nine aircraft.ย The long-range, single-aisle aircraft will complement Hawaiian’s existing fleet of wide-body, twin-aisle aircraft used for long-haul flying between Hawai’i and the U.S. West Coast.
2012 Highlights
Operational Highlights
Fleet
New routes and increased frequencies
New Partnership, Code-Share and Frequent Flyer agreements
Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems. Airbus A330-243 N380HA (msn 1104) taxies at Los Angeles.
Hawaiian Airlines:ย
Air China (Beijing) has announced it will add Genevaย starting on May 7, 2013. The flag carrier will offer nonstop four-times weekly Beijing – Geneva service using the Airbus A330-200. That will make Air China the only carrier offering nonstop rotations between Beijing and Geneva. The Beijing – Geneva route will become East Asia’s first direct route to Geneva, offering an additional flight option to travelers to and from Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Manila.
The flight numbers of the Beijing – Geneva service will be CA 861/862. The four-times weekly flight leaves Beijing at 13:30 and arrives at 18:25 in Geneva on the same day. The return flight is expected to take off from Geneva at 20:25 and arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport at 12:55 the next day.
The Chinese carrier is also retiring the Boeing 757-200 from international service on March 31, 2013 on the Chengdu-Karachi route per Airline Route.
Top Copyright Photo: Dave Glendinning. Airbus A330-243 B-6076 (msn 797) in the special Zichen Hao livery taxies to the gate at London (Heathrow).
Air China:ย 
Bottom Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing. Air China’sย Boeing 757-2Z0 B-2820 (msn 25885) arrives back at the Beijing hub.
Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (Honolulu), a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc, today announced its systemwide traffic statistics for December, fourth quarter, and full year 2012.
Hawaiian carried 9,484,204 passengers in 2012, the most in the company’s history. Passenger statistics for December and the fourth quarter were also company records.
| SYSTEMWIDE OPERATIONS | |||
| FULL YEAR | 2012 | 2011 | % Change |
| PAX | 9,484,204 | 8,666,319 | 9.4% |
| RPMS (000) | 12,217,635 | 10,151,216 | 20.4% |
| ASMS (000) | 14,687,472 | 12,039,937 | 22.0% |
| LF | 83.2% | 84.3% | (1.1 pts.) |
| FOURTH QUARTER | 2012 | 2011 | % Change |
| PAX | 2,413,629 | 2,155,310 | 12.0% |
| RPMS (000) | 3,279,105 | 2,607,548 | 25.8% |
| ASMS (000) | 4,006,840 | 3,104,833 | 29.1% |
| LF | 81.8% | 84.0% | (2.2 pts.) |
| DECEMBER | 2012 | 2011 | % Change |
| PAX | 812,395 | 740,660 | 9.7% |
| RPMS (000) | 1,095,269 | 892,269 | 22.8% |
| ASMS (000) | 1,371,367 | 1,077,262 | 27.3% |
| LF | 79.9% | 82.8% | (2.9 pts.) |
| PAX:ย ย ย Passengers transported | |||
| RPM:ย ย One paying passenger transported one mile | |||
| ASM:ย ย One seat transported one mile | |||
| LF:ย ย ย ย ย ย Percentage of seating capacity utilized |
Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing. Airbus A330-243 N383HA (msn 1217) completes its final approach into Los Angeles International Airport.
Hawaiian Airlines:ย 
Hawaiian Airlines (Honolulu) today announced plans to launch nonstop service between Taipei, Taiwan and Honolulu in July 2013, further extending the airline’s strategic expansion into Asia.
The new service, which would operate three times a week, capitalizes on the extension of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program to cover citizens of Taiwan.
Hawaiian will operate the Taipei-Honolulu route using its new 294-seat, wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft, adding nearly 46,000 new air seats to the market annually to the benefit of Hawai’i’s visitor industry. According to the Hawai’i Tourism Authority, the economic impact of restoring nonstop service from Taipei will be significant for Hawai’i.
Taipei is the capital city of Taiwan and its economic center, with the surrounding metropolitan area of Taipei, New Taipei, and Keelung being home to nearly seven million people. As a whole, Taiwan has more than 23 million people and is considered one of the “Four Asian Tiger Economies” with one of the highest Per Capita GDP in Asia.
Taipei will be the ninth new gateway that Hawaiian has introduced or announced new service to since November 2010, following Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Sapporo, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; New York City; Brisbane, Australia; and Auckland, New Zealand (March 13, 2013).
Copyright Photo: Roy Lock. Airbus A330-243 N381HA (msn 1114) powerfully climbs away from the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.
Hawaiian Airlines:ย 
Hawaiian Airlines’ Route Map:
US Airways (Phoenix) has announced it has been awarded operating slots to inaugurate daily, nonstop service between its Charlotte hub and London’s preferred business airport, Heathrow, beginning in March 2013. US Airways will operate the service between Charlotte and London Heathrow with Airbus A330 aircraft that features Envoy, the airline’s international business class. ย Specific schedule and fare details will be released at a later date.
The new service from Charlotte, N.C. will supplement the airline’s existing daily service between its international gateway in Philadelphia and London Heathrow.
The flight will originate in Miami, offering customers in South Florida convenient one-stop service to London via the airline’s Charlotte hub.
On the flip side, US Airways’ flight attendants have voted by a 94 percent margin to authorize a strike should the continued negotiations fail according to this report by Reuters.
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. Airbus A330-243 N279AY (msn 1011) climbs away from the runway at the Charlotte hub.
US Airways:ย 
Air Nigeria‘s (formerly Virgin Nigeria Airways and Nigerian Eagle Airlines) (Lagos) owner, Jimoh Ibrahim,ย on September 5 announced he was suspending operations for a year due to the “disloyalty” of some staff members and a weak economic environment according to this report by Bloomberg. He is demanding a plan from the remaining staff to develop a plan to make the airline profitable again. The suspension will be effective on September 10.
The airline had previously dropped all domestic and regional flights in June and was only operating international flights.
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Meanwhile Air Nigeria’s workers who were fired are taking to the streets today in Lagos to peacefully protest the closure according to a report by Business Day in Nigeria. The employees are claiming they have been unpaid for four months.
Copyright Photo: Terry Wade. Airbus A330-243 SU-SCI (msn 696) was being leased from EgyptAir on May 13, 2012 and now will be returned. The airliner is pictured preparing for departure from London (Gatwick).
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