Tag Archives: Airbus A319

Gambia Bird ceases operations, an apparent victim of the Ebola crisis in west Africa

Gambia Bird Airlines (Banjul), since the Ebola crisis spread, continued to operate the Banjul – London (Gatwick) route but dropping the stop in Sierra Leone due to the on-going crisis. A few days ago, the company announced they would add London (Gatwick)-Accra and Gatwick-Lagos flights. However yesterday (December 30), the west African airline ceased all operations.

The airline issued this statement yesterday:

Gambia Bird Airlines has suspended commercial flight operations until further notice. This operational decision is effective as of December 30.

We wish to express our sincere regrets for disrupting the travel plans of those of our esteemed guests who are booked on the suspended flights. We further wish to confirm that we will provide a full refund of all tickets purchased prior to this flight suspension.

Furthermore, Gambia Bird Airlines wishes to reaffirm that we will comply with all our obligations and that we will provide all necessary support services to passengers affected by the flight suspension.

Copyright Photo: Terry Wade/AirlinersGallery.com. Gambia Bird Airlines-AJW Aviation (Germania) Airbus A319-112 D-ASTB (msn 4691) arrives at LGW.

Gambia Bird aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Africa-2/Airlines-Africa2-GZ/Gambia-Bird

Brussels Airlines to add Bordeaux and Zagreb

Brussels Airlines (Brussels) will launch a new service to Bordeaux on March 29, 2015. Bordeaux is the twelfth destination of Brussels Airlines in France.

Brussels Airlines will fly to Bordeaux four times a week during the entire summer season which starts at the end of March and lasts till the end of October. All flights are operated with Airbus A319 aircraft and the flight time is 1 hour 35 minutes.

Brussels Airlines has also announced flights to a second Croatian destination: Zagreb. On October 24, 2014 Brussels Airlines already announced six new European destinations for the 2015 summer season: Dubrovnik, Calvi, Lourdes, Olbia, Billund and St. Petersburg.

Starting on September 20, 2015, Brussels Airlines will operate six flights per week between Brussels and Zagreb, in the afternoon. Zagreb is the 18th European capital that Brussels Airlines connects to Brussels, and the third capital in Eastern Europe, next to Warsaw and Riga.

Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-112 OO-SSK (msn 1336) prepares to touch down in malaga, Spain.

Brussels Airlines aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-1/Airlines-Europe-1/Brussels-Airlines

EasyJet flight attendants in France to strike on Friday

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton) flight attendants, angry over scheduling and pay, announced a strike on Friday. The planned action is expected to force the low-cost carrier to cancel about half its flights in France the day after Christmas day.

Though workers from SNPNC-FO and UNAC unions said their strike is to start on Christmas, there are no flights scheduled that day, so the walkout will only impact travellers flying on December 26.

EasyJet said in a statement it “doesn’t know exactly how many workers are to down tools”, but anticipates fewer than half of all flights will be impacted.

The British airline will know the extent of the strike Tuesday because aviation workers are legally obligated to announce strikes 48 hours in advance.
But general director, of EasyJet’s France operations, François Bacchetta told AFP agency the company expected “less than half of flights” to be cancelled.

“On Monday, we will pre-emptively cancel a certain number of flights in order to transfer passengers, so they can adjust their plans,” he said.

Workers are upset over schedules that “can change twenty times per month”, making “family life totally impossible”, said Laurent Nicolas of the SNPNC-FO flight attendants’ union.

Bacchetta acknowledged the demands of the industry were “complicated” and that he understood the “frustration” of workers.

But he was less lenient with protests over salaries, which he said were currently entering annual negotiations.

EasyJet employs about 1,000 people in France, including 600 flight attendants.

Read the full report from The Connexion: CLICK HERE

Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock reporting from Manchester.

EasyJet (UK) aircraft slide show:

EasyJet announces two more new routes including Paris CDG-Tel Aviv

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) is expanding it’s route map with the airline confirming via their Twitter account that they are launching a new route connecting Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion) to Paris (Charles de Gaulle Airport), starting on March 30, 2015.

The low-cost airline also confirmed at the same time that it is expanding its London (Gatwick) operations, with the addition of flights to Figari, in Corsica, launching on June 14, 2015.

Report by Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock from Manchester.

EasyJet aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-1/Airlines-Europe-1/EasyJet-UK

Virgin America completes the fleetwide installation of Gogo ATG-4 WiFi service

Virgin America (San Francisco) today announced the fleetwide rollout of Gogo’s faster ATG-4 WiFi service – with the completion this week of ATG-4 WiFi installation on its Airbus A319 plane “Jane” (N526VA, above).

In 2009, Virgin America became the first airline to offer Gogo Inflight WiFi service on every flight – a distinction the airline still maintains today.

With a base of tech-forward flyers, the airline has similarly invested in the next generation of WiFi technology – with the rollout of Gogo’s enhanced WiFi product to all 53 of Virgin America’s Airbus A320 Family aircraft. ATG-4 offers a faster average guest experience with peak speeds of 9.8 Mbps to each aircraft – more than triple the peak speed of the 3.1 Mbps available with the first generation of inflight WiFi. To help celebrate this milestone, Virgin America and Gogo are asking guests to share their best “office in the sky” moment on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #OfficeInTheSky for a chance to win a round trip Main Cabin flight for two on Virgin America, a brand new iPad or complimentary Gogo Inflight WiFi service for one year (full terms and conditions available here).

Gogo’s ATG-4 technology includes three industry-leading innovations: the addition of directional antennas and dual modems on each aircraft and the deployment of EV-DO Rev B technology on Gogo’s airborne and ground networks. Utilizing directional antennas and dual modem technology, ATG-4 increases overall peak connection speeds and ensures a more reliable connection to each and every passenger on board who chooses to connect.

The airline’s in-flight connectivity milestones have included:

November 2008: Virgin America streams the first ever “air-to-ground” video stream to YouTube Live – YouTube’s first official real-world user event from the airline’s first WiFi-enabled aircraft

February 2009: The CBS Early Show airs the first-ever live broadcast transmission from a commercial plane – a Virgin America Airbus A320 – via the airline’s in-flight WiFi

May 2009: Virgin America becomes the first U.S. domestic airline to achieve fleetwide WiFi

December 2014: Virgin America is the first U.S. airline to offer next-gen, Gogo ATG-4 Inflight WiFi on every plane

The airline continues to expand its network across the country with flights to Austin, Boston, Cancun, Chicago, Dallas Love Field, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Los Cabos, Newark, New York (JFK and LGA), Orlando, Palm Springs (seasonal), Portland, Puerto Vallarta, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma and Washington D.C. (IAD and DCA).

Top Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com (others by Virgin America). Airbus A319-112 N526VA (msn 3347) departs from Los Angeles.

Virgin America aircraft slide service:

Video: In December 2014, Virgin America became the first airline to install Gogo’s faster ATG-4 WiFi service fleetwide with the installation of the service its Airbus A319 plane “Jane” (N526VA). With the rollout of Gogo’s enhanced WiFi product to all 53 of Virgin America’s Airbus A320 Family aircraft the airline now offers guests peak speeds of 9.8 Mbps – more than triple the peak speed available with the first generation of inflight WiFi.

Watch how each aircraft is converted:

EasyJet announces 19 new routes for summer season 2015

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) is continuing it’s ever-expanding route map by announcing 19 new routes for the summer season of 2015.

The new routes were released on the carrier’s website. They are as follows:

Amsterdam – Corfu (June 30) twice weekly
Amsterdam – Ibiza (June 30) three times weekly
Amsterdam – Palermo (June 29) twice weekly
Bristol – Bilbao (April 19) twice weekly
Bristol – Isle of Man (April 19) four times weekly
Bristol – Zakinthos (May 13) once weekly
Hamburg – Alicante (March 30) twice weekly
Hamburg – Bologna (March 29) three times weekly
Hamburg – Irakleion (June 27) twice weekly
Hamburg – Paris Orly (March 29) once daily
Hamburg – Pisa (March 30) twice weekly
Hamburg – Thessaloniki (June 29) twice weekly
Lisbon – Ponta Delgada (March 29) three times weekly
London Luton – Split (June 16) three times weekly
Manchester – Kefalonia (June 16) twice weekly
Manchester – Split (June 17) twice weekly
Newcastle – Corfu (June 7) once weekly
Newcastle – Rhodes (June 4) once weekly
Newcastle – Split (June 2) twice weekly

Sophie Dekkers, easyJet’s UK Director, said:

“We’re pleased to be continuing our growth with additional new routes for next summer placed on sale today.”

“This underlines our commitment to both leisure and business passengers across the UK, making it easy and affordable for them to connect to a choice of summer destinations and we expect our new routes to be especially popular.”

Reported by Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock from Manchester.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZGA (msn 4427) lands at EuroAirport serving Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg..

EasyJet (UK) aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-1/Airlines-Europe-1/EasyJet-UK

Air Canada outlines its new North American growth routes

Air Canada (Montreal) today announced additional details of its previously stated plans for profitable growth. Strategic enhancements include expanding its North American route network with the addition of new nonstop services from Calgary-Terrace; Calgary-Nanaimo; Vancouver-Comox; Toronto-Austin and Montreal-Mexico City. Air Canada is also increasing capacity on key domestic markets that have high volumes of leisure traffic with the expansion of Air Canada rouge to operate the airline’s new seasonal Calgary-Halifax route and current Toronto-Kelowna and Toronto-Sydney, NS services. New services are now available for purchase at http://www.aircanada.com.

“Air Canada continues to strategically add new routes in response to the strong demand in Western Canada, notably the growing business market between Calgary and Terrace/Kitimat in Northern BC, the increasing demand to and from Vancouver Island, and the continued travel demand between Western Canada and Atlantic Canada,” said Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines.

Air Canada is returning to Austin, Texas from Toronto and to Mexico City from Montreal.

Highlights of Air Canada’s 2015 North American summer schedule enhancements include:

Calgary-Terrace

New daily, year-round Air Canada Express service starts June 1, 2015 operated by Jazz Aviation LP with 50-seat Bombardier CRJ jets.

Calgary-Nanaimo

New daily, year-round Air Canada Express service starts May 1, 2015 operated by Jazz Aviation LP with 74-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft.

Calgary-Halifax

New summer seasonal six times weekly service starts May 1, 2015 operated by Air Canada rouge with 136-seat Airbus A319 aircraft offering both premium and economy cabins of service, increasing up to ten weekly flights during peak summer period.

Vancouver-Comox

New twice daily, year-round Air Canada Express service starts May 1, 2015 operated by Jazz Aviation LP with 50-seat Bombardier Dash 8-300 aircraft.

Kelowna-Toronto

More than 40 per cent increased capacity year-over-year starting June 1, 2015 with up to daily service during peak summer, deployment of 136-seat Air Canada rouge Airbus A319 aircraft offering both premium and economy cabins of service, following the transfer of this route from Air Canada.

Toronto-Austin

New daily, year-round Air Canada Express service starts May 18, 2015 operated by Jazz Aviation LP with 75-seat CRJ705 aircraft offering both premium and economy cabins of service.

Toronto-Sarasota/Bradenton

Winter seasonal service extended effective May 2 offering the only non-stop, year-round flights between Toronto and Sarasota/Bradenton, operated twice weekly by Air Canada with 97-seat Embraer 190 jets offering both premium and economy cabins of service.

Toronto-Sydney, NS

More than 40 per cent increased capacity year-over-year starting May 1 with daily deployment of 136-seat Air Canada rouge Airbus A319 aircraft offering both premium and economy cabins of service, following the seasonal transfer of this route from Air Canada.

Montreal-Mexico City

New, up to five times weekly, summer seasonal service starts May 2 operated by Air Canada rouge, with 136-seat Airbus A319 aircraft offering both premium and economy cabins of service.

Ottawa-Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood

Seasonal service now extended to year-round, operated twice weekly by Air Canada with 97-seat Embraer 190 jets offering both premium and economy cabins of service.

In addition, starting in May 2015, Air Canada will transfer to Air Canada rouge its Calgary-Varadero and Montreal-Varadero routes which will be operated with 142-seat Airbus A319 aircraft, as well as its Montreal-Martinique route operated with 136-seat Airbus A319 offering both premium and economy cabins of service.

Copyright Photo: SM Fitzwilliams Collection/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-112 C-GITP (msn 1562) arrives in Shannon, Ireland.

Air Canada aircraft slide show:

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:

Ukraine’s State Aviation Administration without giving a reason has banned Russian airlines flights on the route Moscow – Kharkiv and Moscow – Dnepropetrovsk. The affected airlines are Aeroflot, Transaero, UTair, UTair-Ukraine and Dniproavia. Thus the permission to perform operations on these routes issued by Ukraine’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 – Kharkiv – Sheremetyevo;
SU1816/1817 Sheremetyevo – Dnepropetrovsk – 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 new daily nonstop service between Denver and Los Angeles beginning on April 16, 2015.

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

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

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

From Los Angeles (LAX), Spirit will offer nonstop flights to nine cities, including Chicago (O’Hare), Cleveland (starting April 16), Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver (starting April 16), Detroit, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Houston (Bush Intercontinental), Las Vegas, and 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:

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 – 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;

“After a year of cutbacks, we plan to expand the existing Czech Airlines’ 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,” said Jozef Sinčák, Chairman of Czech Airlines Board of Directors, and added: “We 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 customers’ priorities in mind. We will operate all new destinations using the existing free capacity of Czech Airlines and thus improve the fleet use.”

New Czech Airlines’ 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 – 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 Airlines’ 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 – 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 Airlines’ flights will continue from Billund to Oslo. The carrier wants to apply its successful model of the Prague – Bratislava – Košice and Prague – Hamburg – Gothenburg routes.

Czech Airlines’ 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 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 Airlines’ Plans in Russian Market during 2015 Summer Season

Despite this year’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 – 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 – Kaliningrad route is designed in the same way as the Prague – 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 Airlines’ 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: