Tag Archives: Boeing 737-800

American Airlines and JetBlue Airways end their interline agreement

American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) and JetBlue Airways (New York) plan to terminate their interline traffic agreement and reciprocal frequent flyer program accrual agreement, which includes select routes from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and New York’s John F. KennedyInternational Airport (JFK).

Each airline will no longer accept new interline sales for travel on the other carrier. Effective April 1, customers will no longer earn miles or points when traveling on eligible routes operated by the other airline. All American AAdvantage miles or JetBlue TrueBlue points already accrued through this partnership will be credited to customers’ accounts and are not affected. The two airlines are working together to ensure these changes have little impact to customers.

Top Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-823 N922NN (msn 29523) approaches the runway at Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

American Airlines (current):

JetBlue Airways:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 N599JB (msn 2336) in the Barcode tail design taxies to the runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Jet Airways starts Hyderabad-Abu Dhabi service on March 1

Jet Airways (Mumbai) launched a new daily nonstop service from Hyderabad to Abu Dhabi staring on March 1, 2014.

Jet Airways flight 9W 550 departed Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 2025 and arrived in Abu Dhabi International Airport at 2310 (LT). On the return leg, the flight 9W 549 will depart Abu Dhabi at 1045 (LT) and arrive in Hyderabad at 1610.

Jet Airways currently operates a daily flight each from Delhi, Kochi and Chennai and 11 flights a week from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi.

The airline will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the new route.

Jet Airways:

El Al selects ViaSat’s Exede for inflight Internet service

El Al Israel Airlines (Tel Aviv) has agreed to be the launch customer in Europe for Exede® In The Air in-flight Internet service from ViaSat Inc. To begin, ViaSat plans to deliver the service to El Al Boeing 737s flying routes from Tel Aviv into several European cities. The two companies plan to immediately begin working toward certification and installation of the Exede terminals on EL AL aircraft with a target date to launch service within one year.

For El Al, ViaSat is responsible for providing and managing a complete in-flight Internet service to the aircraft, including airborne terminals, antennas, radomes, and air time from the Eutelsat KA-SAT high-capacity Ka-band satellite. Additional details of what services will be offered to EL AL passengers will be announced closer to the launch of service.

Exede in-flight Internet service is designed to eclipse the service quality and speeds of other in-cabin airline broadband services. The major differentiator is an innovative, high-capacity Ka-band satellite system developed by ViaSat. The more favorable economics of the ViaSat system enable airlines to provide a consistent, high-speed service level to each passenger, rather than simply an aggregate amount of bandwidth to the plane that leaves passengers competing for service. The system is capable of delivering 12 Mbps or more to each connected passenger.

El Al:

Nordwind to acquire four new Boeing 737-800s

Nordwind Airlines (Moscow) has announced a long term lease agreement for four new Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2015.

Nordwind’s fleet is 51 aircraft today, including Boeing 777-200 ERs, 767-300 ERs, 757-200s, 737-800s and Airbus A321s.

Nordwind says it has been able to successfully operate a mixed fleet of aircraft despite difficulties because of its keen understanding of the environment it operates in. The airline has been able to maintain profitability with modern aircraft and technology.

According to the airline, “the company is focusing on running the airline efficiently, reducing inefficient flying and implementing strong capacity discipline by “matching” the right size aircraft with each market, while improving customer satisfaction.”

Further from the company, “According to 2013 statistics, Nordwind transported 3.7 million passengers (up 69% from 2012). Among the top-ten Russian airlines, Nordwind is the fastest growing, having a 4.8 times higher rate than the industry average. In 2014 the company plans to scale new heights – begin scheduled flights and expand its fleet even more to reach 6 million passengers”.

“With this brand new aircraft commitments, Nordwind will continue to gradually grow and modernize its operating fleet with more frequencies and destinations for the convenience of our passengers. It provides best-in-class efficiency, economics, reliability and passenger comfort that Nordwind needs for its fleet renewal initiative.” said Oguz Senol Yuce, a Member of Board of Directors. He added ”Nordwind expects to finalize more brand new 737-800s for 2015.”

Passenger traffic carried by Nordwind grew 38.7% in January 2014 compared with January 2013 with a 93.8% load factor. This is the highest load factor in the country.

Nordwind Airlines:

Ryanair opens its Brussels Zaventem base, adds more flights from London’s Stansted Airport

Ryanair (Dublin) on February 27 opened its second base in Belgium at Brussels (Zaventem) with four based Boeing 737-800s. The ultra low-fare airline will operate to 10 destinations (Alicante, Barcelona, Ibiza, Lisbon, Malaga, Palma, Porto, Rome, Valencia and Venice) with 200 weekly flights.

In other news, the carrier on February 26 added extra flights on nine London Stansted routes to Bologna, Dublin, Lanzarote, Marrakech, Paphos, Riga, Salzburg, Santiago and Tours.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8AS EI-EVV (msn 40314) with special “Krakow and Malopolska” sub-titles departs from the lunar-like landscape of Tenerife (Sur) in the Canary Islands.

Ryanair:

Scandinavian Airlines improves its inflight food service with two new levels

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) is improving its inflight food service and has issued this translated statement today:

As a part of the continuous development of SAS’ service concept, SAS has developed the onboard food and beverage offering to improve the customer experience. The adjustments follow a broad customer survey and are introduced from beginning of March.

In June 2013, SAS launched the new service concept called “SAS Go & Plus” which has been overall well-received by SAS customers. A customer survey, with more than 4500 respondents, shows that the customers appreciate SAS Go & Plus for its
simplicity and 85% of the customers are positive or neutral to the concept.

There are three main initiatives in the development of SAS Go & Plus:

1. Improvements of the food and beverage offering; adjustments of onboard concept and clarification of the difference between SAS Go & SAS Plus.

2. We introduced SAS Go & Plus to make travel easier for our customers. By clarifying and improving our on board offering we want to ensure a pleasant and joyful overall experience for customers when they choose SAS says Snorre Andresen, Vice President Product Management and Development at SAS.

The first changes to the onboard concept come into effect on March 1 and again on March 20. The improvements of meals are ongoing.

Facts about improvements and adjustments:

SAS improves food experience on board

SAS customers appreciate proper meals on longer flights, and snacks and beverages on shorter flights.

SAS reduces the number of menu variants and introduces a clearer concept for flights within Europe: one for the Nordic region and one for flights to Europe.

SAS Plus includes a new evening meal and drinks served in classic Orreforsglass

Warm bread with the meal.

The cafe offers a selection of fresh food, such as sandwiches salads and hot wraps.

The cafe menu is continually updated with seasonal additions.

The dining experience will be enhanced on intercontinental flights for SAS Go & Plus and Business.

All meals will be renewed or enhanced and the food presentation improved with new design and packaging.

Along with other treats, pre-departure champagne will be re-introduced in Business. SAS Go includes pre-departure water and one non-alcoholic drink together with meals. Alcoholic beverages are included in SAS Business and Plus, and are for sale in SAS Go.

SAS clarifies the difference between SAS Go and Plus:

SAS Plus includes everything, also food and drinks onboard, and with SAS Go food and drinks are for purchase.

Breakfast included in SAS Plus and available for purchase in SAS Go. It is possible to buy breakfast with EuroBonus points.

Coffee, tea and newspaper are as always included for all SAS passengers.

Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-883 LN-RCY (msn 28324) in the special “Disney Planes” motif taxies at Munich, Germany.

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS:

American Airlines ends its bereavement fares for family members

American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) has ended its policy of extending special fares to family members who must buy a ticket a last-minute flight because of a relative’s death according to the Associated Press.

The change at American now mirrors the policy at merger partner US Airways, which does not offer bereavement fares. US Airways management is now running the “new American”.

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-823 N815NN (msn 33208) completes its final approach from the south into Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

American Airlines (current):

Is the Air Jamaica brand facing the final extinction?

Caribbean Airlines (Port of Spain), as we first reported in July of 2012, was modifying its aircraft that were painted in the Air Jamaica (Kingston) brand. The Trinidad and Tobago Civil Civil Aviation Authority (TTCAA) in 2012 mandated Caribbean Airlines must drop the Air Jamaica brand because of the conditions of their Air Operators Certificate (AOC) that it operate under one name. The first casualty was the pictured Boeing 737-8Q8 9Y-JMA (msn 30645) “Spirit of Kingston” which was sporting Caribbean Airlines titles on the Air Jamaica 2011 livery in 2012. The airliner previously had full Air Jamaica titles and color scheme.

This thorny issue, one of national pride in Jamaica, has moved slowly since the issue first emerged in 2012. Now Caribbean Airlines has repainted 9Y-JMA (above) with full Caribbean Airlines titles (minus the tail logo) eliminating the Air Jamaica colors. The aircraft re-entered revenue service on the February 23, 2014. This new change may be a new signal that Caribbean has decided to move ahead with the mandated one brand ruling eliminating the iconic Air Jamaica brand and name.

Caribbean Airlines had previously adopted a “two brands, one airline” marketing strategy to mainly keep alive the Air Jamaica brand, especially for the Jamaican market. Because the aircraft were intermingled between markets, this often led to a diverse identity in the two main markets.

A report by The Gleaner of June 19, 2013 reported the government of Jamaica (which retains a 16 percent share) was concerned about the reduction of flights by Caribbean Airlines to the island nation. Caribbean Airlines reduced the number of flights to Jamaica on April 16, 2013. The new CAL board was given a month to come back with a new development plan for Air Jamaica. Previously the Jamaican government has threatened to withdraw the Air Jamaica brand from the combined airline per Caribbean 360.

Read the full report The Gleamer: CLICK HERE

Read the full report from Caribbean 360: CLICK HERE

Finally, if this drama was not enough, Trinidad and Tobago Newsday reported Caribbean Airlines and Bahamasair (Nassau) in January 2014 were holding discussions on possible closer ties. Will this lead to a three-brand airline? Not likely.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

In addition, Americans were warned not to fly Caribbean Airlines to and from Guyana because of possible threats against the carrier.

In conclusion, Caribbean Airlines needs to make a final decision of this difficult national pride issue and move ahead towards profitability once again.

Read the full report from Reuters: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Nigel Steele/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8Q8 9Y-JMA (msn 30645) arrives back at the Port of Spain base with the new (almost full) identity.

Caribbean Airlines:

Air Jamaica:

Current Route Map:

Air Transat to operate Montreal-Las Vegas Boeing 737-800 flights

Air Transat (Montreal) (website) will introduce seasonal twice-weekly flights from Montreal (Trudeau) to Las Vegas with its newly-acquired Boeing 737-800s starting on August 31 per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Gilbert Hechema/AirlinersGallery.com. Leased from Transavia France, Boeing 737-8K2 F-GZHD (msn 29650) in full colors arrives back at the Montreal (Trudeau) home.

Air Transat:

Ryanair to add more routes and flights from Dublin

Ryanair (Dublin) has announced extra flights on four Dublin routes to Barcelona, Faro, Nice and Beauvais (near Paris), offering passengers even greater choice this summer at Dublin Airport. These increases are in addition to Ryanair’s 9 new Dublin routes to Almeria, Bari, Basel, Bucharest, Chania, Comiso, Lisbon, Marrakesh and Prague, which will start in April, and extra flights on its Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, London Stansted, Madrid and Manchester routes. This growth is in direct response to the Government’s decision to scrap the travel tax from April this year and will result in over 700,000 extra passengers at Dublin Airport this year>

Ryanair: