Ethiopian Airlines (Addis Ababa) will extend its current route to Bangkok to Manila in the Philippines on July 9 with 235-seat Boeing 767-300 aircraft. Manila will bring the airline’s list of international destinations to 88.
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 767-360 ER ET-ALP (msn 33769) approaches the runway at Stockholm (Arlanda).
Ethiopian Airlines aircraft slide show:ย 
Wizz Air (Budapest) has announced further growth of its route network from Lithuania with two new Vilnius services to Stockholm and Billund starting from September 14 and operating with three and two weekly frequencies respectively.
Wizz Air is now offering a total of 24 routes to 14 countries from Lithuania.
In other news, Wizz Air alsoย announced that it will open its 22nd base on December16 in Debrecen (Hungary) with one new Airbus A320 and further increases to its regional Hungarian services.
Already served by Wizz Air flights, Debrecen will be Wizz Airโs second Hungarian airport with base operations. The new aircraft will increase the number of routes served from Debrecen to six and increase annual seat capacity from the airport by 136% to 145,000 seats per year. The airline hopes this will stimulate the local job market in aviation and tourism sectors as consumers will have access to more low cost routes.
Wizz Air will operate three new routes from its Debrecen base to Charleroi (near Brussels), Malmo and Beauvais (near Paris) starting December 16, all initially operating with two weekly flights. The Debrecen route to Beauvais will provide Hungarian consumers with Wizz Airโs low fare access to the French capital. Frequencies on its existing popular Debrecen services to London Luton and Eindhoven will also be increased.
Wizz Air now offers a total of 47 Hungarian routes to 22 countries from two Hungarian airports.
Copyright Photo below: Eurospot/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 F-WWIA (msn 6614) became HA-LYQ on delivery and was the first to introduce the new 2015 look.
Wizz Air aircraft slide show:ย
airBaltic (Riga) has announced it will be filling the void left by the closure of Air Lituanica (Vilnius) with six new routes starting on September 3. The airline issued this statement:
airBaltic will replace Air Lituanica flights and rescue the stranded passengers, affected by todayโs suspension of operations of the Lithuanian carrier.
Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer: โOur home market for airBaltic is Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. We will consolidate and strengthen our service in our home market by offering more direct flights. We announce the first direct routes out of Vilnius to Western and Northern Europe and will evaluate additional ones gradually. We will rescue the stranded passengers in the first days following the suspension of flights, and will offer special rescue fares for customers booked for flights later in the summer.”
The routes to be operated:
airBaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia.
Copyright Photo below: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. airBaltic currently uses the pictured Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) for the current routes from Vilnius to both Amsterdam and Riga. YL-BAE (msn 4289) departs from Stockholm (Arlanda).
airBaltic aircraft slide show:ย
Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) has announced that it is expanding its services to the United States from its Manchester hub. From May 2016, the carrier will fly to Los Angeles and Boston. Thomas Cookโs fleet of Airbus A330-200s will most likely serve the routes, which, as previously reported, already serve routes to New York (JFK) and Miami as well as seasonal services to Las Vegas and Orlando.
Unfortunately, if you are one of the people eagerly waiting for Thomas Cook to open its seasonal service from London Gatwick to Reno, Nevada beginning on December 19, your luck may be out. The Reno Gazette is reporting that the carrier has abandoned its plans for the route, citing U.S. Customs’ inability to process London arrivals at Reno-Tahoe International Airport in a timely manner.
Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock reporting from Manchester.
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A330-243 G-OMYT (msn 301) in the old 2002 livery with the Sunny Heart tail logo prepares to land at Stockholm (Arlanda).
Thomas Cook Airlines aircraft slide show:ย
United Airlines (Chicago)ย plans to suspend winter service to Stockholm (Arlanda) and Oslo from its Newark hub between September 5, 2015 and May 4, 2016 according to a report by Reuters quoting a statement by the carrier.
United also expects to suspend one of its two daily flights between Newark and Paris from October 25 through March 26, 2016.
The carrier is reacting to weaker demand this coming winter season due to the strong U.S. dollar.
In other news, with additional Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (below) deliveries, United will start to assign the new type to the Houston (Bush Intercontinental) hub on its routes to Latin America and Europe, replacing older Boeing 767-300 ERs.
Copyright Photo below: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner N38950 (msn 36401) climbs away from Los Angeles International Airport.
United Airlines aircraft slide show:ย
Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) has started it summer schedule with 11 new routes. The airline issued this report on the new routes and summer services:
SAS is launching its summer timetable for 2015 with a number of new destinations from Scandinavia. Eleven new routes are being launched and many popular summer destinations are also returning.
From March 29, SAS will gradually be introducing its summer timetable and launching a total of eleven brand new routes, both from its main Scandinavian hubs and regional airports such as Gothenburg and Bergen.
New Routes
From Sweden
– StockholmโBudapest: Departures on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. First departure March 29. No departures during the high season.
– Stockholm โ Riga: Departures daily. First departure 29 March.
– StockholmโFaro: Departures on Saturdays, plus Wednesdays in the high season. First departure April 4.
– StockholmโAnkara: Departures on Thursdays. First departure July 2.
– GothenburgโAlanya (Gazipasa): Departures on Wednesdays. First departure July 1.
– GothenburgโDublin: Departures on Saturdays, plus Wednesdays and Sundays in the high season. First departure April 11.
From Denmark
– CopenhagenโEdinburgh: Departures on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and daily during the high season. First departure March 29.
– CopenhagenโAnkara: Departures on Saturdays, plus Mondays and Wednesdays in the high season. First departure June 6.
From Norway
– OsloโSalzburg: Departures on Saturdays. First departure May 23.
– BergenโGothenburg: Departures on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. First departure March 30. No departures during the high season.
Summer routes re-opening
Sweden
From Stockholm to Chania, Cagliari, Olbia, Biarritz, Palermo, Pisa, Pristina, Bristol, and Bodรธ, Pula, Bologna, Milan, Alanya.
From Gothenburg to Pula, Nice, Athens, Pristina, Alicante, and Palma de Mallorca.
Denmark
From Copenhagen to Dubrovnik, Split, Pula, Montpellier, Biarritz, Chania, Thessaloniki, Palermo, Naples, Pisa, Gazipasa, and Alicante.
From Billund we are also re-opening the route to Gazipasa in Turkey.
Norway
From Trondheim to Malaga and Barcelona. From Bergen to Split, Dubrovnik, Nice, Malaga, Barcelona, and Alanya (Gazipasa).
From Stavanger to Split, Nice, Malaga, Barcelona, and Alanya (Gazipasa).
From Kristiansand to Split.
From Oslo to Dubrovnik, Pula, Olbia, Pisa, Palermo, and Pristina.
Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A321-232 OY-KBF (msn 1807) prepares to touch down in Tenerife Sur.
SAS aircraft slide show:ย 
Air China (Beijing) plans to start Beijing – Minsk – Budapest services from May 1, 2015. The will be the only direct route from China to Belarus and Hungary.
The four-time weekly Beijing – Minsk – Budapest services CA721/722 will be operated on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sunday. The outbound flight departs from Beijing at 13:00 Beijing time and arrives in Minsk at 16:50 local time and in Budapest at 18:20 local time. The return flight departs from Budapest at 19:00 and arrives in Beijing at 11:50 Beijing time on the second day. The route is to be operated with Airbus A330-200
By December 2014, Air China had a fleet of 523 passenger aircraft and freighters of mainly Boeing and Airbus families (including those of the carriers which Air China has a majority stake in). It operates 322 routes, including 82 international routes, 15 regional routes and 225 domestic routes. It serves 159 cities in 32 countries and regions, including 53 international cities, 3 regional cities and 103 domestic cities. Every week, Air China offers over 1.3 million seats on over 7000 flights per week.
Utilizing its extensive route network and its hub in Beijing, especially after its admission to the Star Alliance, Air China can fly passengers to 1,328 airports in 195 countries.
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A330-243 B-06073 (msn 780) prepares to land in Stockholm (Arlanda).
Air China aircraft slide show:ย
Bmi Regional (East Midlands) announced in a press release on Wednesday February 18, an expansion of services from Bristol Airport for the Summer 2015 season, which sees the launch of Dusseldorf and Paris (CDG) service from April 27. Seasonal services to Nantes will also be offered from July to September 2015. These additional services bring the number of routes flown by the airline from Bristol to eight, alongside Aberdeen, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt and Milan.
The new routes will be run as follows:
Bristol โ Dusseldorf: 6 times weekly
Bristol โ Paris CDG: 11 times weekly
Bristol โ Nantes: Twice weekly from July 4 to September 12
The new destinations will be operated by a 49-seat Embraer ERJ 145s, with a Tuesday flight to Nantes operated by a 37-seat Embraer ERJ 135.
Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock reporting from Manchester.
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. Is a new livery coming for this regional or will it cling to the now retired bmi 2001 livery? All white Embraer ERJ 145EU (EMB-145EU) G-EMBI (msn 145126) arrives in Stockholm (Arlanda).
Bmi Regional aircraft slide show:ย
Bloomberg: “Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum has a simple message for airlines accusing his Dubai-based carrier of taking away their passengers: improve your offering and theyโll come back.”
Watch the interview video and read the full article: CLICK HERE
Top Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 777-31H ER A6-EGC (msn 35596) prepares to touch down in Stockholm (Arlanda).
Emirates aircraft slide show:ย
Norwegian Air Shuttle (Norwegian.com) (Oslo) has announced new weekly nonstop flights between Stockholm (Arlanda) and Bastia in Corsica starting on April 25. Additionally the airline will launch new twice-weekly nonstop flights between Madrid and Nice starting on March 29 as well as weekly flights between London (Gatwick) and Kefalonia in Greece on April 18.
Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8Q8 LN-NOD (msn 35280) with Sonja Henie on the tail approaches the runway at Gatwick Airport near London.
Norwegian aircraft slide show:
http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-2/Airlines-Europe-2/Norwegian-Air-Shuttle
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