Tag Archives: Airbus A319-100

Aeroflot suspends the Moscow-Kharkiv and Moscow-Dnepropetrovsk routes

Aeroflot Russian Airlines (Moscow-Sheremetyevo) has suspended the Moscow-Kharkiv and Moscow-Dnepropetrovsk routes following actions by the Ukraine government. Both cities are located in the Ukraine. The Russian airline issued this statement:

Ukraineโ€™s State Aviation Administration without giving a reason has banned Russian airlines flights on the route Moscow โ€“ Kharkiv and Moscow โ€“ Dnepropetrovsk. The affected airlines are Aeroflot, Transaero, UTair, UTair-Ukraine and Dniproavia. Thus the permission to perform operations on these routes issued by Ukraineโ€™s State Aviation Administration on October 24, 2014 and November 17, 2014 has been withdrawn.

Due to this fact Aeroflot was forced to cancel a previously scheduled winter season 2014/15 flights:

SU1810/1811 and SU1838/1839 Sheremetyevo โ€“ Kharkiv โ€“ Sheremetyevo;
SU1816/1817 Sheremetyevo โ€“ Dnepropetrovsk โ€“ Sheremetyevo.

Passengers of canceled flights are able to return their tickets without penalties as well as to reroute for Aeroflot flights to/from Kiev.

Copyright Photo: OSDU/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 VP-BWL (msn 2243) arrives back at the Sheremetyevo hub in Moscow.

Aeroflot aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-1/Airlines-Europe-1/Aeroflot-Russian-Airlines

Spirit Airlines to start Denver-Los Angeles flights on April 16, 2015

Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) today announced newย daily nonstop service between Denver and Los Angeles beginning on Aprilย 16, 2015.

Spirit will operate one flight daily between Denver and Los Angeles.

In addition to this new service, Spirit recently announced that nonstopย service between Denver and San Diego will begin on January 6, 2015, asย will a second daily flight between Denver and Chicago’s O’Hare
International Airport. Spirit also will begin nonstop service betweenย Los Angeles and Cleveland on April 16, 2015.

From Denver (DEN), Spirit will offer nonstop flights to ten cities,ย including Chicago (O’Hare), Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Fortย Lauderdale/Hollywood, Houston (Bush Intercontinental), Las Vegas, Los Angelesย (starting April 16), Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix, and San Diegoย (starting January 16).

From Los Angeles (LAX), Spirit will offer nonstop flights to nineย cities, including Chicago (O’Hare), Cleveland (starting April 16),ย Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver (starting April 16), Detroit, Fortย Lauderdale/Hollywood, Houston (Bush Intercontinental), Las Vegas, andย Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-132 N503NK (msn 2470) in the new livery lands in Las Vegas. Spirit Airlines, like others in the past, now has three active brands.

Spirit Airlines:ย AG Slide Show

Czech Airlines to add seven new destinations next summer after years of cutbacks

Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) has announced it will add seven destinations for the 2015 summer season.

In stages, Czech Airlines will launch operations on its regular scheduled connections to Oslo (OSL), Billund (BLL), Cork (ORK), Bilbao (BIO) and Bologna (BLQ). The carrier also plans to launch two new connections with Russia โ€“ flying to Kaliningrad (KGD) and Kazan (KZN). Additionally, Czech Airlines will launch a connection between Billund and Oslo, and Copenhagen and Stockholm.

The airline continued;

โ€œAfter a year of cutbacks, we plan to expand the existing Czech Airlinesโ€™ network starting the 2015 summer season. We feel that there is a significant business potential in our new destinations which we would like to use fully. At the same time, we would like to capitalize on Czech Airlines great reputation in the Russian market and, effective April 2015, service a total of nine destinations in Russia,โ€ said Jozef Sinฤรกk, Chairman of Czech Airlines Board of Directors, and added: โ€œWe have set the new destinations timetables in a way to best use the market potential and at the same time appeal to both local and transfer passengers as the connections were designed with the customersโ€™ priorities in mind. We will operate all new destinations using the existing free capacity of Czech Airlines and thus improve the fleet use.โ€

New Czech Airlinesโ€™ Routes in North Europe

Czech Airlines will launch operations on its Prague – Oslo route on March 30, 2015. At the beginning of the summer season, the carrier will service the route twice weekly. Effective May 30, 2015, two more return connections will be added on this route, which will then be operated with four weekly frequencies until the end of the summer season. Czech Airlines will use Airbus A319 aircraft exclusively to service the route. The new Oslo service was designed for local – i.e. point-to-point passengers from the Czech Republic and Norway and also for transfer passengers travelling from Norway to Mediterranean cities โ€“ destinations offered by Czech Airlines for the second year during the summer season on a code-share basis with Travel Service. For now, Czech Airlines plans to operate the Oslo connection on a seasonal basis.

New Czech Airlinesโ€™ flights to Billund, Denmark are scheduled to first take off on March 29, 2015. The route will be operated by the carrier four times a week, year round, by ATR 42 aircraft with the option of using a larger ATR 72 aircraft if necessary. Business travellers and tourists from both countries โ€“ i.e. the Czech Republic and Denmark, form the target group of this new flight.

On work days, i.e. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, these Czech Airlinesโ€™ flights will continue from Billund to Oslo. The carrier wants to apply its successful model of the Prague โ€“ Bratislava โ€“ Koลกice and Prague โ€“ Hamburg โ€“ Gothenburg routes.

Czech Airlinesโ€™ News in West and South Europe

A new Cork connection will be serviced from May 14, 2015 until the end of the summer season with two return flights a week. The timetable was tailored to the priorities of the main target group, i.e. tourists from the South-West part of Ireland travelling to Prague for a long weekend, complemented by Czech tourists headed to explore the South of Ireland.

Czech Airlines will service its new connection to Bilbao during the main operational season, i.e. between ย June 1 and September 30, 2015, offering two return frequencies a week. The Bilbao connection, just as the other new connections, was designed predominantly for tourists. Czech Airlines will service both the Cork and the Bilbao route by Airbus A319 aircraft. Both connections will be operated on a seasonal basis, i.e. with services break during the winter seasons.

Czech Airlines will be returning to the Prague – Bologna route after a four-year pause. The carrier will operate it year round four times a week with ATR 72 aircraft from March 29, 2015. This connection was designed for business travellers and tourists alike.

Czech Airlinesโ€™ Plans in Russian Market during 2015 Summer Season

Despite this yearโ€™s year-on-year drop in passenger demand for travels between Russia and the Czech Republic, Russian market has been of great significance for Czech Airlines with high potential for further development thanks to the option of launching operations to new destinations located there. That is why Czech Airlines plans to launch two new connections within the market at the beginning of the 2015 summer season โ€“ to Kaliningrad and to Kazan.

Connections between Prague and Kazan will be operated by Czech Airlines twice weekly, using Airbus A319 aircraft. The timetable for the new Prague โ€“ Kaliningrad route is designed in the same way as the Prague โ€“ Kazan connection, using the same attractive combination of weekdays of operations for weekend and mid-week stays in Prague. Czech Airlines will operate the service using ATR 72 turbo propeller aircraft. Both connections will be operated year round.

Effective 2015 summer season, Czech Airlines will service a total of nine destinations and operate eleven regular scheduled connections between the Czech Republic and Russia. Alongside the mentioned Kazan and Kaliningrad services, there will be Czech Airlinesโ€™ services from Prague to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Rostov upon Done, Ufa and Perm, alongside two connections from Karlovy Vary to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Copyright Photo: Karl Cornil/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-112 OK-OER (msn 3892) with the special Instaforex markings departs from Brussels.

Czech Airlines aircraft slide show:ย AG Slide Show

Czech Airlines puts its new Airbus A319 “Wow Prague” logo jet into service

Czech A319-100 OK-NEP (14-Wow Prague-L)(Tko) PRG (Czech)(LR)

Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) on November 21 put its Airbus A319-112 OK-NEP (msn 3660) painted in this new “Wow Prague” special livery into revenue service.

Czech A319-100 OK-NEP (14-Wow Prague-R)(Grd) PRG (Czech)(LR)

Photos: Czech Airlines. The sub-titles are “Fly to the City of Magic”.

Czech A319-100 OK-NEP (14-Wow Prague-R)(Tail) PRG (Czech)(LR)

Video: Washing Czech’s Airbus A330-300:

Video: The “Wow Prague” slogan is part of a city-wide unified promotional campaign to bring visitors to the historic city:

Czech Airlines aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-1/Airlines-Europe-1/Czech-Airlines-CSA

EasyJet’s full year pre-tax profit rises 12.8% to $909 million

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) reported a pre-tax profitย of ยฃ581 million ($909 million), up 13% from last year.

During the year the low-fare airlineย opened new bases at Hamburg and Naples during the year and new bases were announced for Amsterdam and Porto.

EasyJet started flying the former Flybe slots at London Gatwick on March 30, 2014.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZAY (msn 2827) is pictured in action at Nantes, France.

EasyJet (UK) aircraft slide show:ย AG Slide Show

Video: EasyJet TV commercial:

SAS signs a contract with Statoil Aviation for a regular supply of biofuel at Oslo, Norway

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) has issued this statement regarding a regular supply of biofuel at Oslo Airport:

SAS has, along with the Lufthansa Group and KLM, signed an agreement with Statoil Aviation for a regular supply of biofuel at Oslo Airport.

SAS was first off the ground in Norway and from Stockholm Arlanda in Sweden with a biofuel mix around a week ago and this agreement shows the airline takes its corporate social responsibility seriously in reducing its green house gas emissions.

Via an agreement signed with Avinor and the above named airlines, Statoil Aviation is to supply 2.5 million liters of biofuel to the refueling facility at Oslo Airport. With a 50% biofuel mix, this will fuel around 3,000 flights between Oslo and Bergen and make OSL the first major airport in the world to offer a regular supply of biofuel as part of daily operations from March 2015.

Via a continuous renewal of its airline fleet and a comprehensive environment efficiency drive in the air and on the ground, SAS has reduced its total CO2 emissions by the airline by around 13% since 2005.

The airline has also enjoyed an increase in production over the same period. SAS is also the first and only airline in Scandinavia whose fleet consists exclusively of next generation jet aircraft.

From next year, the most energy efficient short and long-haul aircraft will be rolled out one after the other: Airbus A330 Enhanced, Airbus A320 Neo, followed by the Airbus A350.

SAS aims to use synthetic fuel on an increasingly regular basis in the next few years, and expects biofuel to become competitive with the fossil fuel alternative. For this to happen, a general environment and tax policy will be required from governments, based on aviation being a form of internationally competitive public transport with thin profit margins.

Copyright Photo: Airbus A319-132 OY-KBO (msn 2850) in the 1952 retrojet scheme taxies at London’s Heathrow Airport.

SAS aircraft slide show:ย AG Slide Show

Spirit Airlines announces a major expansion at Houston; 10 new destinations

Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) hasย announced it will be expanding its nonstop
service to ten new destinations beginning in the Spring of 2015. Theย new locations include domestic cities including Tampa,ย Baltimore/Washington, DC and Oakland, and sevenย destinations in Latin America including Mexico, Costa Rica, Elย Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua (International routes are subject toย foreign governmental approval).

New U.S. Destinations
——————————————————————————————–
Destination Start Date Frequency
——————————————————————————————-
Tampa (TPA) March 26, 2015 Daily
——————————————————————————————-
Baltimore/Washington, DC (BWI) March 27, 2015 Daily
——————————————————————————————-
Oakland/San Francisco Bay (OAK)* April 16, 2015 Daily
——————————————————————————————-

New Mexican Destinations**
——————————————————————————————–
Destination Start Date Frequency
——————————————————————————————-
Cancun, Mexico (CUN) May 7, 2015 3 per week
Increases to daily on June 11, 2015
——————————————————————————————-
Los Cabos, Mexico (SJD)* May 7, 2015 2 per week
Increases to 4 per week on June 11, 2015
——————————————————————————————-
Toluca/Mexico City, Mexico (TLC)* May 7, 2015 2 per week
Increases to 3 per week on June 11, 2015
——————————————————————————————-

New Central American Destinations**
——————————————————————————————–
Destination Start Date Frequency
——————————————————————————————-
Managua, Nicaragua (MGA) May 28, 2015 3 per week
——————————————————————————————-
San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) May 28, 2015 4 per week
——————————————————————————————-
San Pedro Sula, Honduras (SAP) May 28, 2015 3 per week
——————————————————————————————-
San Salvador, El Salvador (SAL) May 28, 2015 4 per week
——————————————————————————————-

* Routes served for summer season only

** International routes areย subject to foreign governmental approval

These new destinations are in addition to the 12 nonstop cities Spirit
currently offers from Houston, which includes Atlanta, Chicagoย (O’Hare), Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Losย Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans, Orlando, and San Diego,ย along with connecting service to an additional 17 cities.

Copyright Photo: Ken Petersen/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A329-132 N502NK (msn 2433) arrives in Las Vegas in the new look.

Spirit Airlines aircraft slide show:ย AG Slide Show

Spirit Less Money More Go logo

Existing and new routes from IAH:

Spirit IAH 11.2014 Route Map

Aer Lingus’ third quarter operating profit increases almost 14% to $140.1 million

Aer Lingus (Dublin) reported an operating profit of โ‚ฌ112.9 million ($140.1 million) for the third quarter ending on ย September 30 2014, up 19 percent from the โ‚ฌ94.9 million ($117.7 million) reported a year ago.

This was the best third quarter financial report for the company since the financial crisis of 2008.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 EI-EPU (msn 3102) approaches the runway at London (Heathrow).

Aer Lingus aircraft slide show:ย AG Slide Show

Atlantic Airways to start Edinburgh, Scotland flights on March 30

Atlantic Airways (Vagar, Faroe Islands) will start a new route next summer to Edinburgh, Scotland. The route will be operated twice-weekly with Airbus A319s starting on March 30, 2015 per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Atlantic Airways Airbus A319-112 OY-RCI (msn 3905) taxies at Amsterdam.

Atlantic Airways:ย AG Slide Show

Finnair’s third quarter net profit declines by 38% to $20.8 million

Finnair (Helsinki) reported a third quarter net profit of โ‚ฌ16.6 million ($20.8 million) ending on September 30, down over 38% from the amount of โ‚ฌ27 million ($33.8 million) reported for the same quarter in 2013.

CEO Pekka Vauramo commented:

โ€œFinnairโ€™s passenger and cargo revenue for Julyโ€“September declined year-on-year, causing our turnover to decrease to 622.7 million euros. The decline in unit revenue, caused primarily by the strengthening of the euro against key Asian currencies, continued in the third quarter, although at a slower rate than earlier in the year. Growth in passenger volume and the progress of cost reduction measures were not sufficient to compensate for the weak revenue development, as our operational result fell to 26.7 million euros.

In order for Finnairโ€™s profitability to improve, it is essential that we increase unit revenues and maintain tight control over costs. By the end of September, we had nearly achieved the overall target for our 200-million-euro cost reduction program. The program will be completed by the end of the year. The savings agreements we concluded with pilots and cabin crew in September and October will contribute to our cost competitiveness from 2015 onwards. I am very pleased with the outcome of the negotiations, as they not only produce cost savings, but also enable us to continue to develop our operations together with our personnel.

In August, we announced a number of product upgrades with which we pursue additional revenue. We expect our first A350 aircraft, which join our fleet in late 2015, to show an impact on our profitability from 2016 onwards. A significant improvement in revenue before that, however, would require a substantial recovery in domestic market demand and a substantial decrease in the world market price of fuel.โ€ –

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-112 OH-LVA (msn 1073) completes its final approach to the runway at Zurich.

Finnair aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-2/Airlines-Europe-2/Finnair

Video: Business class on Finnair: