Tag Archives: San Jose

Volaris to expand into Costa Rica

Volaris (Mexico City) has announced their expansion into the Costa Rica market with the launch of two new flights from Cancun, Quintana Roo and Guadalajara, Jalisco to Costa Rica’s capital city, San Jose, starting on September 10 with two flights per week.

Volaris is expanding its presence to Costa Rica as part of the carrier’s international growth plans, seeking to increase the country’s connectivity to Mexico’s most important cities as well the US market. Volaris CEO, Enrique Beltranena said: “We are extremely proud to announce flights to Costa Rica, a destination special not only as a natural and adventure tourism location, but also for their history and cultural heritage”.

“Two new services plus our innovative business framework make visiting Costa Rica easier than ever for our Customers in Mexico”, Beltranena added.

Separately, Costa Rica Minister of Tourism, Mauricio Ventura said, “Mexico is Latin America’s top issuing market for tourism by air, which is why Volaris’ bet strengthens the work we’ve done towards attracting more airlines and opening our markets by increasing the number of seats available to the destination and becoming a complement to traditional offerings with an option that provides good service at an affordable price,” the official said. “This also introduces an element of competitiveness in terms of fares to Costa Rica.”

To date, Volaris is the airline with the widest route network servicing Mexico and the US. The carrier has transported nearly 50 million passengers since it started operating in 2006, and this number continues on the rise as a result of more than 240 daily flights operated to 61 leading destinations, including 38 in Mexico and 23 internationally.

For those interested in the new service, flight schedules, including dates and times of operation, are announced as follows:

San Jose, Costa Rica – Guadalajara, Jalisco
(Effective September 10. Thursday and Sunday)

Departing Guadalajara, Jalisco at 7:20 hrs., arriving San Jose, Costa Rica at 9:55 hrs.
Departing San Jose, Costa Rica at 19:05 hrs., arriving Guadalajara, Jalisco at 23:30 hrs.
San Jose, Costa Rica- Cancun, Quintana Roo
(Effective September 10. Thursday and Sunday)

Departing San Jose, Costa Rica at 11:25 hrs., arriving Cancun, Quintana Roo at 14:40 hrs.
Departing Cancun, Quintana Roo at 16:15 hrs., arriving San Jose, Costa Rica at 17:35 hrs.

Copyright Photo: Eddie Maloney/AirlinersGallery.com. Volaris Airbus A319-133 XA-VOE (msn 3069) (Erick) arrives in Las Vegas.

Volaris aircraft slide show:

Alaska Airlines to fly south to Costa Rica from Los Angeles, will also add LAX – BWI service

Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma) will chart new territory this fall when it adds new service between Los Angeles and Costa Rica’s two major international airports, further strengthening its southern California focus city. The eight weekly flights from Los Angeles to San Jose (SJO) and Liberia/Guanacaste (LIR), Costa Rica, are scheduled to begin October 31 and November 1 respectively, and are in addition to new daily service the carrier will add on September 9 between Los Angeles and Baltimore.

Summary of new Los Angeles (LAX) service:

Copyright Photo: Tony Storck/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-990 ER N435AS (msn 43292) with APB Split Scimitar Winglets lands at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).

Frontier Airlines aircraft slide show:

American Airlines to expand Embraer 175 operations and routes

American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) is further expanding its American Eagle Embraer 175 operations, routes and schedules from its Los Angeles, Chicago (O’Hare), Miami and New York (JFK) hubs per Airline Route. The new routes will be operated by its various partner airlines.

From Los Angeles, effective September 9, E175 service will be started to El Paso, Fayetteville (Northwest Arkansas), Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City and San Jose, California. Service to Phoenix starts the following day.

From Chicago (O’Hare), starting on March 29, E175 service will be initiated to Madison and Richmond. This will be expanded on May 7 with new E175 service to Austin and on June 4 to Memphis.

From Miami, starting on May 7, E175 service will be offered from the MIA hub to various domestic and Caribbean routes by Republic Airlines (2nd) (Indianapolis), replacing Embraer ERJ 145 flights operated by Envoy Air (Dallas/Fort Worth). On May 7, the new type will be operated to Charleston, South Carolina, Norfolk and North Eleuthera. Starting on June 4, the E175 will be assigned to the Fort-de-France, Greensboro, La Romana, Marsh Harbour, Memphis and Port-au-Prince routes. Finally on August 19, the E175 will be operated to Providenciales (Provo) in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

From New York (JFK), new Embraer E175 aircraft will be assigned to the Norfolk route starting on May 7 followed by Indianapolis route on June 4.

Copyright Photo: Mark Durbin/AirlinersGallery.com. As planned, Compass Airlines (Minneapolis/St. Paul) started the Los Angeles – San Francisco E175 Shuttle on April 13. Officially certified as the Embraer ERJ 170-200LR (ERJ 175), N201NN (msn 17000461) taxies at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

American Airlines aircraft slide show (current livery only):

American Eagle-Republic aircraft slide show:

Alaska Airlines flight AS 336 returns to SeaTac after a bird strike

Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma) flight AS 336 bound from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to San Jose, California (SJC) with 112 and five crew members returned to SEA late last night (April 9) due to bird strike according to The Associated Press and The Seattle Times. According to an airline representative the flight returned to SEA out of abundance of precaution.

The Boeing 737-700 later departed SEA at 11:49 PM and arrived in SJC at 01:29 AM according to FlightAware.

Read the full story: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-790 N622AS (msn 30165) is pictured at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport hub.

Alaska Airlines aircraft slide show:

Southwest Airlines launches historic routes from Baltimore/Washington and Houston Hobby to Costa Rica and Aruba

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) yesterday (March 7) inaugurated two international routes from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. Each of the new routes is longer than 2,000 miles each-way and marks historic milestones for the carrier both by connecting Central America to the Southwest network of destinations and by offering its longest-ever nonstop scheduled service from any of Southwest’s Texas Triangle of original cities of Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston.

Southwest Airlines now operates nonstop service between:

San Jose, Costa Rica, and Baltimore/Washington on a once daily basis, and
Aruba and Houston (Hobby) seasonally, once every Saturday through Aug. 8, 2015

At Houston’s Hobby Airport, Southwest Employees celebrated the first Aruba-bound morning departure. Later, Customers on the first inbound international flight deplaned directly into a celebration in the main domestic concourse, following their U.S. Customs and Border Protection Preclearance processed prior to departing the Caribbean island. This is the first-ever international flying offered from Houston Hobby. This October, Southwest is scheduled to complete the construction of a $156 million international terminal project which will give Houstonians and Southwest Customers from across the network access to more international destinations.

Southwest Airlines flight 602 from Baltimore/Washington to San Jose, Costa Rica, brought 143 Customers and the Company’s legendary personality and value to Central America for the first time in the 44-year history of the largest domestic carrier* in the United States. Dozens of people came to Juan Santamaria International Airport outside San Jose at the invitation of the Costa Rica Tourism Board to welcome the historic arrival in the lush country known for its natural beauty and adventure tourism.

For an in-depth review of the first arrival at Houston Hobby from Aruba, read the Airways News feature article: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Derin Allard/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-7AD N798SW (msn 28436) taxies into position at Santa Ana (Orange County).

Southwest Airlines aircraft slide show:

Hainan Airlines to fly to China from Boston and San Jose, California

Hainan Airlines (Haikou and Beijing) today announced it plans to begin three new nonstop routes between the United States and China. Service will be inaugurated from Silicon Valley’s Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport to Beijing on June 15, from Boston’s Logan Airport to Shanghai’s Pudong Airport on June 20, and as previously reported, from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Shanghai Pudong on June 22.

Mainland China’s only certified Skytrax five-star airline will operate two-class Boeing 787 Dreamliners on between San Jose and Beijing five days a week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with early afternoon departure times. Service between Boston and Shanghai will operate thrice weekly: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with afternoon times. Between Seattle and Shanghai, using a two-class Airbus A330-200, the airline will operate four days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, with midday departure times.

From Boston, flights will depart at 4:25 pm (1625) and arrive Shanghai at 7:35 pm (1935) the following day. Return flights will depart Shanghai at 11:45 am (1145) and arrive Boston at 2:25 pm (1425) the same day. Flight time is 15 hours ten minutes westbound and 14 hours forty minutes eastbound.

The new flights from San Jose represent the first ever nonstop service between Mainland China and Silicon Valley. Flights will depart San Jose International Airport at 1:10 pm (1310) and arrive Beijing at 4:40 pm (1640) the following day. Return flights will depart Beijing at 2:30 pm (1430) and arrive San Jose at 11:10 am (1110) the same day. Flight time is 12 ½ hours westbound and 11 hours 40 minutes eastbound.

Cargo service is offered on all flights.

Service on the existing Beijing routes to and from Boston, Seattle/Tacoma and Chicago (O’Hare) will increase to daily on May 1, 2015. Hainan Airlines also operates daily between Toronto, Canada and Beijing.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner B-2728 (msn 34938) departs from Toronto (Pearson).

Hainan Airlines aircraft slide show:

Southwest Airlines and the International Association of Machinists reach agreement

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) issued the following announcement:

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) announced on December 3 that its Customer Service Agents (CSAs) and Customer Representatives (CRs), represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), have voted in favor of a new four-year contract. The agreement includes pay increases, as well as bonus opportunities that are tied to Company and Employee performance.

Southwest Airlines is approximately 83 percent unionized and actively engaged in negotiations with six out of its 12 unions. The airline is known for its friendly Customer Service and currently serves as the largest domestic carrier in terms of passengers boarded.

Copyright Photo: Jeffrey S. DeVore/AirlinersGallery.com. Southwest Airlines has started repainting the Boeing 737-300 fleet. Boeing 737-3H4 N640SW (msn 27713) is the first.

Southwest Airlines aircraft slide show:

Southwest Airlines files to serve San Jose, Costa Rica from Baltimore/Washington

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) announced today (September 12) that it has filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to add its first destination in Central America with daily roundtrip service between Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI) and Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in San Jose, Costa Rica, beginning on March 7, 2015.

Costa Rica will be the sixth near-international country served by Southwest Airlines from its U.S. gateway cities and the first new destination in the carrier’s network after the integration of wholly owned subsidiary AirTran Airways is completed by the end of this year. Service to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and Mexico City begins on November 2, as Southwest converts existing AirTran service in those destinations. Southwest began service this summer to Aruba, The Bahamas, Jamaica, and both Cancun and San Jose del Cabo/Los Cabos, Mexico.

Southwest Airlines began service from Baltimore/Washington in September 1993, with ten flights offering scheduled service through nonstop destinations Chicago (Midway) and Cleveland. Southwest, 21 years later, is the largest carrier at BWI in terms of daily departure and, by March 2015, will fly nonstop to 60 cities with more than 200 departures a day.

In October 2006, Southwest began serving Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and added service to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in July 2012. By November, Southwest Airlines will be the second largest carrier at DCA in terms of seats, offering 44 flights a day to 14 destinations: Akron-Canton, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago (Midway), Dallas (Love Field), Ft. Myers/Naples, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Tampa.

Top Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-7H4 N214WN (msn 32486) in the Maryland One scheme arrives in Las Vegas

Southwest Airlines:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Southwest Airlines. The new heart logo is directed too at its employees as it grows internationally and finalizes the AirTran merger.

Video:

A 16-year boy survives a flight from San Jose to Honolulu in the wheel well!

A 16-year old boy somehow survived a 5 and a half hour flight from San Jose, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. The boy from Santa Clara, California hopped the fence at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) and climbed into the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines (Honolulu) Boeing 767-300 departing for Honolulu. Running away from home according to ABC News, the boy somehow survived the long flight and the color temperatures. The airliner was flying over the Pacific Ocean at 38,000 feet. On arrival at HNL, he jumped down and started walking around the tarmac!

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 767-3CB ER N592HA (msn 33468) of Hawaiian Airlines taxies to the runway at Seattle/Tacoma.

Hawaiian Airlines:

Virgin America to cancel the #nerdbird flights between Los Angeles and San Jose on May 14

Virgin America (San Francisco) is dropping the short-lived service between San Jose, California (Silicon Valley) and Los Angeles on May 14. Started less than a year ago, the self branded #nerdbird flights did not apparently attract enough flyers.

Virgin America: