Tag Archives: Vancouver

Air New Zealand is coming to Houston

Air New Zealand (Auckland) has announced it will expand its North American presence by opening a fifth gateway this December. The airline will soon provide nonstop service between Houston, Texas and Auckland, New Zealand up to five times per week.

The Auckland – Houston (Bush Intercontinental) route will start on December 15 and will operate five days a week.

Air New Zealand’s completely refitted Boeing 777-200 aircraft will operate the route. Air New Zealand’s Star Alliance partner United Airlines (Chicago), which has a large Houston-based hub, will code share into Houston from numerous North American cities. A global gateway city, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) provides nonstop service to almost 200 airports around the globe (113 domestic U.S. destinations).

Air New Zealand, celebrating its 75th anniversary on April 30, is also set to commemorate 50 years of flying from North America later this year. The airline began service from Los Angeles to Auckland (via Nadi & Honolulu) on December 14, 1965. With the addition of Houston, Air New Zealand will offer nonstop service to New Zealand from five North American gateways, also including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and Honolulu.

Copyright Photo: Steve Bailey/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 777-219 ER ZK-OKC (msn 34377) appraches the runway at Vancouver International Airport.

Air New Zealand aircraft slide show:

American expands Embraer 175 operations from Los Angeles

American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) is adding four additional Embraer ERJ 175 American Eagle routes from Los Angeles International Airport. Los Angeles – Austin will be started on May 7 along with Los Angeles – San Antonio. Additionally on June 4, the Los Angeles – Edmonton and Los Angeles – Vancouver routes will also be added per Airline Route.

In other news, American Airlines and US Airways hope to receive a single operating certificate (SOC) in early April from the FAA completing the merger process. US Airways meanwhile has started using the “American” call sign, retiring the former “Cactus” (America West) call sign. The end of US Airways is near.

Copyright Photo: Chris Sands/AirlinersGallery.com. Republic Airlines’ “Brickyard 4231” arrives from Jacksonville at Miami International Airport (MIA).

American Airlines aircraft slide show:

American Eagle-Republic Airlines aircraft slide show:

Philippine Airlines returns to New York after 17 years

Philippine Airlines (Philippines) (Manila) as planned, departed from Manila yesterday (March 15) for its return to New York. The airline restored regular service to New York after an absence of 17 years. The Airbus A340-300 (above) will operate four days a week via Vancouver.

Philippine Airlines Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Dr. Lucio C. Tan presented a Boeing 777 model aircraft to US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg during the March 15, 2015 send-off ceremony of the airline’s inaugural flight to New York.

Photo Below: Philippine Airlines. PAL Chairman and CEO Dr. Lucio Tan and PAL President and COO Jaime Bautista with US Ambassador to the Philippines Phillip Goldberg makes PAL’s New York official with the traditional ribbon cutting in Manila on the departure.

Photo Below: Philippine Airlines. The flight crew for the historic return to New York poses with CEO Dr. Lucio C. Tan.

Top Copyright Photo: Airbus A340-313 RP-C3435 (msn 302) taxies at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Philippines aircraft slide show:

WestJet to increase Vancouver-Toronto capacity by more than 10% this summer

WestJet (Calgary) has announced even more nonstop flights between Vancouver and Toronto as Canadians prepare for the busy summer travel season.

WestJet will add nearly two dozen more flights between May 3 and October 24, increasing overall capacity between Vancouver and Toronto by more than 10 percent. The schedule features up to 10 daily flights in the spring, 11 during the peak travel months of July and August, and nine in the fall.

WestJet also offers up to 12 daily nonstop flights between Calgary and Toronto, nine from Edmonton to Toronto and six from Winnipeg to Toronto.

Copyright Photo: Chris Sands/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8CT C-GWSZ (msn 37092) in the special Magic Plane scheme of Walt Disney World departs from Calgary.

Westjet aircraft slide show:

Air Canada targets August 4 for the Boeing 787-9 inaugural

Air Canada (Montreal) has tentatively set August 4 as the inaugural date for the new stretched Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner according to Airline Route. The first route will be between Toronto (Pearson) and Vancouver. On September 1 the new aircraft will transition to the Toronto (Pearson) – Munich route followed the next day on the Toronto (Pearson) – Milan (Malpensa) route.

Air Canada has 22 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on order.

Videos:

Air Canada aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Canada/Airlines-Canada

QANTAS Airways to return to Vancouver with seasonal services

QANTAS Airways (Sydney) has announced it will return to Vancouver for the northern hemisphere summer season on the Sydney-Vancouver route starting on June 20. The restored route will be operated three days a week.

QANTAS will operate 33 roundtrip flights between Sydney and Vancouver – 13 in June/July, and 20 from mid-December to late January 2016, operated by a three-cabin, 364-seat refurbished Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

In other news, QANTAS is also making improvements to its Honolulu services with schedule changes to improve arrival and departure times in Honolulu. The new times will open up more onward connections to other Hawaiian Islands, and will also facilitate a fifth weekly service to operate on Mondays during peak seasons, from September 7 – October 19, 2015 and November 30, 2015 – January 25, 2016.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-438 ER VH-OEJ (msn 32914) in the special “Proudly Supporting the Socceroos” livery arrives at Los Angeles International Airport.

QANTAS aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Australia/Airlines-Australia-AZ/QANTAS-Airways

WestJet is coming to Houston and Gander, adds Encore routes from Halifax

WestJet (Calgary) today announced two new destinations – Houston, Texas and Gander, Newfoundland – as part of the 2015 summer schedule release. The airline adds a total of nine new routes and increased frequency on 15 established routes.

In addition to nonstop flights to Houston, growth in Western Canada includes new daily non-stop flights from Calgary to Yellowknife and Terrace, BC, launching May 3, 2015. WestJet Encore service between Edmonton and Kamloops, BC, announced early last year, is set to begin on February 15, 2015.

In addition, WestJet has announced the largest increase in service from Halifax Stanfield International Airport since the airline first arrived in February 2003. This announcement, part of the 2015 summer schedule release, makes it official – WestJet Encore is now serving Canadians coast to coast.

The airline continues to bolster its presence in the Atlantic Provinces where the majority of route and frequency increases announced today take place. New nonstop daily service from Halifax to Gander and Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Sydney, Nova Scotia begins July 15, 2015, along with increased frequency between Halifax and Ottawa, Toronto and St. John’s, Newfoundland. Cities currently served from Halifax include Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, Ontario, and six U.S. and international destinations.

Haligonians will also help WestJet celebrate new service between their fair city and Glasgow, United Kingdom, beginning May 29, 2015. As the halfway point between Europe and the west coast of North America, Halifax is the perfect jumping-off point for a tour across the pond.

Details of new daily nonstop service between Halifax and Glasgow, United Kingdom:

Copyright Photo: Steve Bailey/AirlinersGallery.com. With this announcement, WestJet Encore will now operate from coast to coast. On the other end, WestJet Encore Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) C-FHEN (msn 4441) lands at Vancouver International Airport.

WestJet aircraft slide show:

WestJet Encore aircraft slide show:

Video: Flying jump seat on a WestJet Boeing 737-800:

WestJet denies flight 254 from Vancouver to Puerto Vallarta was hijacked

WestJet (Calgary) has issued this statement:

WestJet can confirm that a rumor that WestJet flight 2154 from Vancouver to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, was hijacked on January 10 is completely false.

The rumor stemmed from a tweet by a flight-tracking website that the aircraft operating the flight was transmitting a hijack code via its transponders. However, at this point in time, WestJet has no evidence that such a code was ever transmitted. Both the flight crew and local air traffic control confirm that no such code was ever sent or received, and testing on the aircraft’s transponder shows it is (and was) functionally normally. WestJet cannot speak to rumour, speculation or comments that suggest otherwise.

The aircraft arrived in Puerto Vallarta as scheduled and is now operating its scheduled flight back to Canada. WestJet would like to thank everyone for their concern for our guests and crew during this incident.

Copyright Photo: Chris Sands/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8CT C-GKWJ (msn 34151) with Aviation Partners Boeing Split Scimitar Winglets arrives back at the Calgary home.

WestJet aircraft slide show:

Air Canada to expand Boeing 787 operations at Vancouver

Air Canada (Montreal) has announced it will expand the introduction of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft featuring the airline’s new International Business Class and Premium Economy seating to more of its routes to Asia from Vancouver including Beijing in February and Seoul in March 2015. Air Canada recently converted its Vancouver-Shanghai route to 787 Dreamliner service, with Vancouver-Tokyo (Narita) to be converted mid-December.

More information on Air Canada Boeing 787: CLICK HERE

Air Canada’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft feature three cabins of service offering comfortable ergonomic seating and enhanced definition intuitive touch personal entertainment screens. AirCanada’s International Business Class cabin features 20 Executive Pods with 180-degree lie-flat seats in a 1-2-1 configuration guaranteeing direct aisle access. The Premium Economy cabin has 21 seats in a 2-3-2 configuration and, unique for a North American airline, Air Canada’s Premium Economy seating offers more generous personal space, wider seats and greater legroom and recline as well as premium meals, complimentary bar service and priority check-in and baggage delivery at the airport. The Economy cabin has 210 slimline seats in a 3-3-3 configuration providing personal space consistent with the comfort of Air Canada’s current Economy cabin.

The fuel efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliners opens up opportunities for Air Canada to serve new international destinations and convert existing routes to Dreamliner service as the airline replaces existing Boeing 767 aircraft with the new Boeing 787 fleet. AirCanada’s first new route to be operated with the 787 Dreamliner was Toronto-Tokyo (Haneda) in July, followed by the conversion of the airline’s Toronto-Tel Aviv route to 787 Dreamliner service in August.

Air Canada will take delivery of six Boeing 787 aircraft by the end of 2014, with all 37 aircraft scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2019. The carrier’s Dreamliner fleet will consist of a total of 15 787-8 aircraft and 22 of the larger capacity 787-9 aircraft. As Air Canada takes delivery of new widebody aircraft for its mainline fleet, current Boeing 767 aircraft will be transferred to its leisure carrier subsidiary, Air Canada rouge.

Air Canada aircraft slide show:

Video: Air Canada’s Boeing 787:

Video: Born to fly:

Hawkair to take over the Vancouver-Dawson Creek route

Hawkair Aviation Services (Vancouver) will take over the nonstop service from Vancouver International Airport to Dawson Creek from its sister company beginning on Monday, December 1, 2014. Fort Nelson will continue to be serviced by Central Mountain Air through new flights.

Dawson Creek is Hawkair’s fourth nonstop destination from Vancouver International Airport. Located at Mile “0” of the world famous Alaska Highway in Northeastern BC.

Copyright Photo: Steve Bailey/AirlinersGallery.com. Bombardier (de Havilland Canada) DHC-8-102 Dash 8 C-FYDH (msn 83) arrives at Vancouver International Airport.

Hawkair aircraft slide show: