Tag Archives: LHR

New Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 cabin takes to the skies

Singapore Airlines has taken delivery of the first of five new Airbus A380 aircraft scheduled to join the carrier’s fleet over the coming year, at a special ceremony hosted by Airbus in Toulouse.

The aircraft delivered is the first in the airline’s fleet to feature its recently launched on-board cabin products and innovations (above and below).

In addition to the five new aircraft, Singapore Airlines will also retrofit 14 A380s already in service (above) with its new cabin products. The retrofit work is expected to begin late in 2018 and will be undertaken by the airline in conjunction with Services by Airbus. All 14 aircraft are scheduled to be retrofitted by 2020.

The new Singapore Airlines A380 offers more personal space in all classes, accommodating a total of 471 passengers. The cabin features six private Suites and 78 Business Class seats on the upper deck and 44 Premium Economy Class and 343 Economy Class seats on the main deck. The aircraft also features the latest in-flight entertainment systems and full connectivity from every seat.

Capable of flying up to 8,200 nautical miles nonstop, the A380 is the world’s largest and most spacious airliner and offers the most efficient solution to meet growth in passenger traffic on the world’s most heavily travelled routes. The A380 is the only aircraft with two full decks, featuring wider seats, broader aisles, and more floor space. Today the A380 is flying with 13 world class airlines on 120 routes around the globe. Since entry-into-service in 2007 the A380 world fleet has carried over 190 million passengers.

Top Copyright Photo (all others by Airbus): Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-841 9V-SKB (msn 005) LHR (SPA). Image: 935861.

Air China and Air Canada expand their strategic cooperation, strengthening Canada-China network in advance of full joint venture

Air Canada and Air China Limited have announced that the airlines will expand their mutual codeshare services and lounge agreement in time for the 2018 Canada-China Year of Tourism, recognizing the importance of tourism and trade between the two countries. As Air Canada and Air China work toward finalizing their planned joint venture, while satisfying both countries’ applicable regulatory conditions, the two Star Alliance carriers also launched their first joint frequent flyer promotion to offer the carriers’ respective Aeroplan and PhoenixMiles members up to 30 per cent bonus miles effective December 15, 2017 for eligible travel between April 1, 2018 and June 15, 2018 on all flights between Canada and China operated by Air China and Air Canada.

Logos: Air Canada and Air China (CNW Group/Air Canada)

As a result of the codeshare expansion, Air China will place its code on Air Canada’s new daily Montreal–Shanghai flight, as well as Air Canada’s flights from Vancouver to Victoria, Kelowna, Saskatoon, and Regina.

In addition, Air Canada will place its code on Air China’s flights between Beijing and Zhengzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen and Nanjing as well as Air China’s flight between Montreal–Havana, Cuba. The expanded codeshare cooperation is planned to come into effect in April 2018, subject to regulatory and government approvals.

Both carriers have also implemented an expanded lounge agreement. In addition to Star Gold customers, all Air China First and Business class customers will now have access to Air Canada’s recently upgraded International Maple Leaf Lounges featuring enhanced food and beverage offerings at Montreal and Vancouver airports. Air Canada’s eligible customers will continue to enjoy access to Air China’s lounges in Beijing, Shanghai and other airports throughout China.

Currently, Air Canada offers its customers codeshare flights operated by Air China between Beijing and Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi’an and Shenyang, and between Montreal and Beijing, and between Vancouver and Beijing. Similarly, Air China offers its customers codeshare flights operated by Air Canada between Vancouver and Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg, and between Montreal and Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg, as well as Vancouver and Toronto to and from Beijing and Shanghai.

Air Canada operates up to a total of 35 flights per week between Canada and China, from Toronto, Vancouver and Montrealserving Beijing and Shanghai. Air China operates up to 11 flights per week between China and Canada, from Beijing serving Vancouver and Montreal.

Top Copyright Photo: Air Canada Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner C-FRTW (msn 37179) LHR (SPA). Image: 940256.

Air Canada:

Air China:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Air China Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner B-7898 (msn 34310) LAX (Michael B. Ing). Image: 940236.

Air Malta to fly to Comiso, Sicily

Air Malta has announced a new twice-weekly scheduled service to Sicily’s Comiso airport, every Friday and Sunday from December 17, 2017.

Last year the Maltese airline also restarted a two to three times weekly scheduled services to the Sicily’s capital Palermo, and with another 14 weekly flights to Catania.

Air Malta is now serving three Sicilian airports with a total of 38 weekly frequencies.

Copyright Photo: Malta – airmalta.com (Air Malta 2nd) Airbus A319-112 9H-AEM (msn 2382) LHR (Antony J. Best). Image: 909859.

British Airways’ incident with G-CIVM at Phoenix

British Airways flight BA 288 from Phoenix to London (Heathrow) on December 6, 2017 had to return to PHX after dumping fuel due to a “technical issue” according to the airline. The crew had to shut down one of the engines on the pictured G-CIVM.

Read the full report from Fox 10 in Phoenix: CLICK HERE

Video:

Brussels Airlines to add Zadar and Split next summer

Brussels Airlines expands its network in Croatia, one of the fastest growing holiday destinations. Next to Zagreb and Dubrovnik, the Belgian airline will now add two new destinations to its portfolio. From May 12, 2018 onwards, Zadar is connected to Brussels Airport and on April 28, 2018 the first Brussels Airlines flight to Split takes off.

Brussels Airlines will depart for Zadar every Saturday afternoon between May 12 and September 19, 2018.

Between April 28 to October 6, 2018 Brussels Airlines flies to Split every Wednesday and Saturday.

Finnair adds flights to top European destinations for summer 2018 and to Lapland for winter 2018/2019

Finnair has made this announcement:

In line with its growth strategy, Finnair continues to grow its traffic and will add frequencies to popular destinations in Europe for summer 2018 and winter 2018, as well as increase flights to the popular winter destinations in Finnish Lapland for the peak season in winter 2018/2019. The additions are fueled by the increasing number of Asians traveling to Finnair’s European destinations.

Starting in June 2018, Finnair adds frequencies to its new year-round destination, Lisbon, where Finnair will operate daily flights during the summer season. Finnair also adds frequencies to Barcelona, operating up to 18 weekly frequencies during the high season in summer 2018. Budapest will get a third daily flight for the summer season, with improved connections to Finnair’s US network. In addition, Krakow will get two new weekly frequencies, with improved connections from Krakow to Asia and America, and Geneva will get one additional weekly frequency in summer and winter 2018. Finnair will also fly again to Astana, with two weekly frequencies in July-August.

Driven by demand from Asia, Finnair is also adding frequencies to its winter 2018/2019 schedules. Finnair will fly to Madrid with a total of 10 weekly connections in winter 2018, and Keflavik (Reykjavik) will also get two additional weekly frequencies for winter 2018/2019.

Asian demand is also fueling Finnair’s growing traffic to Finnish Lapland, known for its untouched nature, northern lights and possibilities for snow activities. Finnair is adding over 230 flights to Finnish Lapland for the winter season 2018/2019, offering more connections to the popular winter destinations of Ivalo, Rovaniemi, Kittilä and Kuusamo during the peak travel season. Altogether, Finnair will offer 482,000 seats to Lapland during the 2018/2019 winter season, an increase of 15% compared to the current winter. Finnair will also continue the non-stop flights from London Gatwick, Paris and Zürich to Lapland during the 2018/2019 winter season.

Finnair is also launching a new Rail & Fly cooperation with Deutsche Bahn, combining air and rail travel. The new cooperation means that customers buying a Finnair ticket to or from Germany can also include a rail trip to their booking. The cooperation covers more than 5,600 railway stations in Germany.

British Airways to launch London Heathrow – Kefalonia, Greece flights next summer

British Airways customers will have even more choice of holiday hotspots this coming summer with the launch of a new route to Kefalonia and more seats on sunshine services.

From May 15 until October 6, 2018, customers will be able to fly direct from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to the island of Kefalonia, home to some of Greece’s best beaches and the idyllic setting to Louis de Bernieres’ novel-turned-film Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Flights will depart on Tuesday and Saturdays.

The island of Kefalonia (below) is renowned for its picturesque beaches, traditional fishing villages and stunning scenery and Myrtos beach is one of the world’s most photographed stretches of sand. It will be the first time the airline has operated to the Greek island.

Earlier this month British Airways announced it would start flying between London Heathrow and Corsica, with direct flights to Figari Airport operating every Sunday from May 27 until October 7, 2018. A new route to the historic Spanish city of Almeria will also launch with flights taking to the skies from March 27, 2018.

Next summer, Ibiza will go from four per week to a daily service, Mykonos will be served six times a week from four, while an additional weekly flight will be added on to the airline’s schedules to Olbia and Split.
Kefalonia timetable

Flight No.	Day of week	Departure time	Arrival time	Aircraft type
BA0646	Tuesday	11:55	17:30	A320
BA0647	Tuesday	18:20	19:50	A320
BA0646	Saturday	08:00	13:35	A320
BA0647	Saturday	14:30	16:00	A320

Top Copyright Photo (all others by British Airways): British Airways Airbus A320-232 G-EUYH (msn 4265) LHR (SPA). Image: 931167.

Delta flies cancel-free over Thanksgiving holiday

Delta Air Lines has made this announcement on its operational performance over the long Thanksgiving holiday period:

Delta Air Lines flew more than 2.35 million customers on nearly 23,000 flights during the holiday period from Wednesday to Sunday without a single cancellation anywhere across its global operation and an on-time rate of 92.7 percent.¹

The strong operational performance during one of the busiest travel periods of the year continues an 11-day streak without a mainline or Delta Connection regional flight cancellation and a more than 42-day streak on the mainline, eclipsing a previous airline record by more than 10 days.²

“Delta employees are always committed to providing our customers with superior reliability and, during the holidays, it’s even more important that we run the best airline operation in the industry,” said Gil West, Delta’s Chief Operating Officer. “This weekend Delta people did what they do best—run a record-setting operation, ensuring our customers got to be with family and friends for the holidays.”

The airline handled nearly 1.7 million bags over the holiday period, highlighting the outstanding work of Delta’s baggage handling team and the airline’s industry-leading strategy to leverage radio frequency identification (RFID) chips embedded in each bag tag to gather more information throughout the bag’s journey.

[1] Based on Delta internal flight operations preliminary reporting for on-time arrivals (arrival within 14 minutes of scheduled arrival time) Nov. 22 to Nov. 26, 2017, based on flights flown system wide across Delta’s mainline and Delta Connection carriers.

[2] Based on Delta internal flight operations reporting for Jan. 1 to Nov. 27, 2017, based on flights scheduled across Delta’s mainline and Delta Connection system.

Not to be outdone, American Airlines issued this performance graph for the same weekend:

Copyright Photo: Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-432 ER N845MH (msn 29719) (The Breast Cancer Research Foundation) LHR (Keith Burton). Image: 929680.

Air Mediterranean launches operations, will add more routes in December

In December 2016, Air Mediterranean S.A (ICAO code: MAR), the new Greek commercial airline operator based in Athens, Greece welcomed its first Boeing 737-400 (SX-MAH) to its home at El Venizelos Athens International airport.

Above Copyright Photo: Air Mediterranean Boeing 737-405 SX-MAH (msn 24643) LHR (Antony J. Best). Image: 940261.

Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 8.07.56 AM.png

On January 17, 2017, the new airline received its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC).

The company launched scheduled passenger operations to both London (Stansted) and Stockholm (Arlanda) on November 2, 2017 followed by Baghdad service the following day.

On December 1, 2017 the new airline will launch new routes from Athens to Casablanca, Jeddah and Larnaca followed by Khartoum the following day.

All photos by Air Mediterranean.

Air Mediterranean aircraft photo gallery:

Air Malta to start services to Casablanca, Venice and St. Petersburg next summer

Air Malta has announced new nonstop services to three destinations; Casablanca (twice-weekly), Venice (twice-weekly, March 26, 2018) and St Petersburg (twice-weekly, March 29, 2018) for the summer of 2018 starting in March 2018.