Tag Archives: aviation

Lufthansa’ CEO states it may consider a possible SAS purchase

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) may have a new owner. Lufthansa‘s (Frankfurt) CEO Christoph Franz stated yesterday that his Lufthansa Group “could consider” a bid for the ailing carrier.

Read the full report from France 24: CLICK HERE

Lufthansa is also carefully evaluating its relationships with the very successful and aggressive Gulf carriers. So far, the Lufthansa Group has decided to serve those markets on its own but it will not rule out a possible future alliance with the Gulf carriers like Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways.

Read the full story from Reuters: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. SAS is one of the limited number of Boeing 737-600 operators. Boeing 737-683 LN-RPS (msn 28298) departs from the runway at Amsterdam International Airport Schiphol.

Lufthansa:

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS:

Fly Jamaica is coming to Toronto on October 8

Fly Jamaica Airways (Kingston) will launch a new route to Toronto (Pearson) on October 8.

The new airline commenced scheduled services on February 14, 2013 between Kingston, Jamaica and New York (JFK) with this former ATA Airlines Boeing 757-23N N524AT (msn 30233).

Sunwing Airlines to operate weekly vacation flights for Kelowna, BC to Ixtapa, Mexico for this winter season

Sunwing Airlines (Toronto-Pearson) is planning to launch a new route from Kelowna, British Columbia to Ixtapa, Mexico for the upcoming winter season. Flights from Kelowna to Ixtapa will start on Thursday, December 19, 2013 and operate weekly until March 27, 2014.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. Sunwing expands its fleet during it busy winter season adding extra Boeing 737-800s from European carriers who experience slower demand during their winter seasons. This creates a variety of hybrid color schemes during the winter months. One example is this Boeing 737-8K5 C-FYUH (msn 34689) leased from TUIfly in their colors but with Sunwing markings.

See the whole fleet – Sunwing Airlines:

United Airlines and the IAM reach a tentative agreement on a new contract

United Airlines (Chicago) has announced that the company has reached tentative agreements on new joint collective bargaining agreements with the International Association of Machinists (IAM) for the fleet service, passenger service and storekeeper workgroups at its United, Continental, Continental Micronesia and MileagePlus subsidiaries. United and the IAM reached these agreements with the assistance of the National Mediation Board, and the agreements are subject to ratification by IAM members.

The agreements cover more than 28,000 United employees.

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-824 N14228 (msn 28792) completes its final approach to the runway at Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

United Airlines:

JetBlue Airways is set to introduce a new tail fin design with the first Airbus A321

JetBlue Airways (New York-JFK) is getting ready to take delivery of its first Airbus A321. Besides introducing a new upscale cabin for the competitive trans-con routes next year, JetBlue will also introduce a new tail fin design.

The airline has 40 copies on order with 11 aircraft featuring 16 seats in first class which will arrive in the first quarter of 2014.

The carrier will launch the new Airbus A321 on December 19. The first three A321 routes will be from New York (JFK) to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Barbados (Bridgetown) and San Juan.

As announced last month, JetBlue unveiled its new, fully customized lie-flat seat which will be available on the highly popular trans-continental routes next year.

New lie-flat seats are expected to debut in the market on new Airbus A321 aircraft beginning in the second quarter of 2014 on the two most popular nonstop routes in the United States – New York to Los Angeles and New York to San Francisco. In addition, JetBlue will be the first and only airline in the market to offer customers the option of a completely separate single suite seat that includes a closable door for increased privacy.

The new lie-flat seat, created in a partnership with Northern Ireland-based Thompson Aero Seating, will be displayed in a unique 2-1 configuration. Rows 1, 3 and 5 will offer 2-by-2 seating, and rows 2 and 4 will offer private suites, with one seat on each side of the aisle.

The new seats also offer air cushions with adjustable firmness, a massage function, a 15-inch widescreen television featuring the most live entertainment in the skies, and a unique “wake-me-for-service” indicator if the customer chooses to sleep in, putting more control back into the customer’s hands. In addition, JetBlue will refresh the core JetBlue Experience in 2014 which will include a comfortable seat design with movable headrests, a new entertainment system with up to 100 channels of DirecTV® programming on 10.1-inch wide screens, and 110-volt and USB power ports accessible to all customers. And of course, more legroom throughout coach than any other U.S. airline.

JetBlue’s wholly owned subsidiary LiveTV will begin installing Fly-Fi on JetBlue’s fleet by the end of the year, a new high-speed, satellite-based wi-fi product that will offer true broadband speeds and serve as the fastest internet access at altitude. JetBlue expects to increase frequencies on JFK-LAX and JFK-SFO with new Airbus A321 aircraft next year to offer even more options, convenience and comfort for customers. There will be a dedicated sub-fleet of 11 aircraft initially used for the two core transcontinental routes. Additional markets are possible, based on customer response and demand for more service.

Copyright Photo: Gerd Beilfuss/Airlinersgallery.com. Appearing today taxiing around Finkenwerder Airport in Hamburg, Germany is JetBlue’s first Airbus A321. The pictured A321-231 D-AVZA (msn 5783) with a tail design that now includes green, will become N903JB on delivery.

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JetBlue Airways:

Atlas Air to fly for Astral Aviation

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. today announced that its Atlas Air, Inc. (New York) unit has entered into a contract with Astral Aviation Limited (Nairobi), a Kenya-based cargo airline, to provide Boeing 747-400 Freighter service.

The contract is for one aircraft under an ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) agreement, with service expected to begin in the next few weeks. This is the first 747-400F in Astral Aviation’s global network, and it will provide all-cargo operations between Europe and Africa.

Astral Aviation operates in partnership with UK-based ANA Airline Management Limited. ANA specializes in the development and operation of all-cargo aircraft across a wide range of scheduled routes as well as providing air charter capacity on a worldwide basis to the various airlines it works in partnership with. ANA was founded in 1985 and has offices throughout Europe, Africa and North America.

Copyright Photo: Tony Storck/AirlinersGallery.com. Atlas Air’s Boeing 747-47UF N492MC (msn 29253) climbs beautifully away from Anchorage International Airport.

Atlas Air:

KLM is coming to Santiago, Chile

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam) will extend the Amsterdam-Buenos Aires route to Santiago, Chile starting on February 2, 2014. The airline issued this statement:

From February 2, 2014, flights will be operated with a Boeing 777-300 (KL 701 and KL 702), with a stop in between in Buenos Aires three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday from Amsterdam and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Santiago.

To suit its clients’ needs, KLM offers 3 classes on board:

35 seats in World Business Class for 777-300,
350 seats in Economy Class and
40 seats in the Economy Comfort Zone that offers 10 cm extra room for passenger’s legs, twice the lean back of their seats and priority disembarking.

KLM weekly schedules as per February 2, 2014 are:

Winter schedule:

Departure	Time	Arrival	Time
Amsterdam	20:55	Buenos Aires	07:05
Buenos Aires	09:10	Santiago	11:20
Santiago	13:00	Buenos Aires	14:55
Buenos Aires	16:55	Amsterdam	10:15

Summer schedule:

Departure	Time	Arrival	Time
Amsterdam	21:00	Buenos Aires	06:10
Buenos Aires	08:10	Santiago	09:25
Santiago	11:05	Buenos Aires	14:00
Buenos Aires	16:00	Amsterdam	10:20

Copyright Photo: Karl Cornil/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 777-306 ER PH-BVD (msn 35979) painted in the SkyTeam alliance livery arrives back at the AMS hub.

KLM:

EasyJet to expand operations in Hamburg and Berlin

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has announced that it will open a base in Hamburg as well as increasing its fleet in Berlin in the Spring of 2014. The announcement was made by chief executive Carolyn McCall at an event at Airbus’ facilities in Hamburg.

Building on its success to date in both Hamburg and Berlin, EasyJet’s new base will open with three A319 aircraft with the airline increasing its fleet in Berlin by an additional plane.

EasyJet will more than double its network from Hamburg with 15 additional new business and leisure routes on the top of its existing portfolio of six routes offering almost 170 flights a week during summer 2014. With more frequencies and early morning departures from Hamburg the schedule will make easyJet more attractive to business passengers.

EasyJet (UK):

AeroMexico brings its new Boeing 787 to New York

AeroMexico (Mexico City) yesterday (September 24) introduced its new Boeing 787-8 on the Mexico City-New York (JFK) route. AM is now operating its flights AM 0409 and AM 0408 from New York to Mexico City with its new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with the following schedule:

New York – Mexico City				Mexico City – New York

AM 0409	1440	1850	Daily	AM 0408	0725	1300	Daily

The schedules are published in each country’s local time and are subject to changes without notice.

According to the airline, “the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has unique technological and structural advances in its type. The cabins are configured with 32 seats with a 180 degree “full flat bed” tilt in Clase Premier, y 211 cutting edge seats with greater space in the Economy cabin. The aircraft is also equipped with Sky Interiors Led lighting and outfitted with significantly larger windows for its kind of airplane, with pressurization features that reduce fatigue during the flight”

This new airplane is also equipped with personal entertainment systems with 16 inch Elite High Definition Panasonic screens in Clase Premier and Eco Monitor touch screens in the Economy cabin, where passengers can enjoy watching a wide variety of films and TV series. It also features the Moving Maps system that offers real time flight information the Jukebox software that allows users to program playlists with the 1,500 songs the system offers; iConnect to synchronize iPods with the entertainment system and the Seat Chat feature passengers can use to chat with each other on the same airplane, among many other advances.

The AeroMexico 787 operates with General Electric GEnx-1B engines whose structure is made of carbon fiber, plus high efficiency systems and equipment that serves to maximize operating and maintenance costs. All of this translates into significant benefits in environmental terms as this new airplane significantly reduces pollution levels with its lower carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and lower takeoff and landing noise pollution.

By operating the Boeing 787-8, AeroMexico becomes one of the first 14 carriers in the world to operate the new type.

Copyright Photo: Nick Dean/AirlinersGallery.com. AeroMexico’s first Boeing 787-8 N961AM (msn 35306) is pictured at Paine Field near Everett.

AeroMexico:

Premier Aviation to maintain Air Canada’s Embraer fleet

Air Canada (Montreal) and Premier Aviation have announced the signing of a five-year agreement for the provision of airframe maintenance in support of Air Canada’s fleet of 60 Embraer ERJ 190 and ERJ 175 aircraft. With the addition of a second line of maintenance at Premier Aviation’s Trois-Rivières, Quebec facility now in place, the work performed for Air Canada will have created a total of 120 jobs for aircraft technicians on the two lines. This contract follows a successful year of operations meeting the quality and on-time delivery requirements for 37 Air Canada Embraer ERJ 175 and ERJ 190 maintenance visits at Premier’s Trois-Rivières maintenance center.

Premier Aviation performs maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services consisting of airframe, painting and support services for Air Canada’s Embraer fleet at its Trois-Rivières maintenance center. Air Canada’s Embraer fleet consists of 45 ERJ 190 aircraft, with an additional 15 ERJ 175 aircraft now operated by Sky Regional Airlines.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Air Canada’s Embraer ERJ 190-100 IGW C-FHNY (msn 19000085) taxies at the Vancouver hub.

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