Airtran has signed a new three year contract with Coca-Cola. Onboard, you can get Coca-Cola Classic®, Diet Coke®, Sprite®, Sprite Zero(TM), Coca-Cola Zero(TM), Minute Maid® Lemonade, Dasani® Water, Cherry Coke(TM), Cherry Coke Zero(TM) and three types of Minute Maid® juices. Poor Pepsi. Has anyone signed with them lately?
Air France-KLM announced last week they would reduce fuel surcharges on European intercontinental routes, removing an earlier surcharge increase.
American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey recently suggested voluntary schedule reductions by airlines might be a way to reduce delays and congestion. Arpey noted that American and United reduced their schedules at Chicago O’Hare at the FAA’s request some years ago.
American will be adding nonstop service between St. Louis’s Lambert Field and Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield, IL. Service will be twice daily on 50-seat ERJ-145 regional jets operated as American Connection by Trans States Airlines. Service will begin November 4th.
Airtran announced service from Raleigh/Durham to Orlando beginning February 14th using its Boeing 717 aircraft. Service will be once daily.
Horizon Air will be offering once-daily nonstop service from San Jose to Palm Springs from November 4th through April 6th and will also add a flight during the same period from Portland, Oregon to Palm Springs to supplement Alaska Airlines’s seasonal service on the route. Both routes will use 70-seat CRJ-700 regional jets.
On November 5th, Delta will add four daily roundtrips between Boston and Philadelphia using 50 and 70 seat regional jets operated by Comair. The route has long been dominated by US Airways, and is also offered by Airtran, which is not currently selling seats past November 6th. Hopefully, Delta will bring some much needed competition to the route.
As we previously reported, a Southwest plane suffered a bird strike last week that tore a 6-inch hole in the skin of the plane and damaged part of the tail section. The plane has been repaired and returned to service. Bird strikes do happen, but it is rare that it will damage the skin of a plane.
Richard Branson announced last week that he is going to avoid buying four engine airplanes to curb fuel costs and the environmental impact of his airlines. Virgin Atlantic’s fleet of 38 planes all have four engines, as do the four A380s on order. However, they are ordering 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners to replace A340s. The Dreamliners burn 27% less fuel. In the past, he favored four engines planes, claiming the passengers, staff and pilots preferred them.
Today in the Sky reports that Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate NewYork is trying to capitalize on the fact it is only 60 miles from Montreal by referring to itself as “Montreal’s US Airport.” The airport opened June 18th, and has Continental Connection service operated by Commutair to Boston with a stop in Saranac Lake. Since Commutair operates 19-seater planes, that is not much service. Now, they will be receiving flights to Ft. Lauderdale on Allegiant Air. Service will be on Tuesdays and Fridays beginning November 16th.
Speaking of Allegiant, they’ve announced a slew of new service of late. Latest updates include:
Tri-Cities Regional in Tennessee to Ft. Lauderdale on December 12th, twice weekly on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Tri-State Airport near Huntington, WV, with service to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday and Monday starting November 16th.
Triad International Airport in Greensboro, NC, with service to Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesdays and Sundays on November 14th.
Billings, Montana to Phoenix-Mesa on Friday and Monday starting November 16th.
Allegiant has apparently, without fanfare, also raised its fees. Baggage fees are now $6 for the first bag, $10 for the second. $11 to select a seat, and online reservations are charged an $8.50 convenience fee. Apparently, the internet costs the company more money than finding an Allegiant counter…one would think they’d do it the logical way and encourage online booking.
Northwest has dropped its plans to operate flights from LaGuardia to Dallas/Ft. Worth…an American hub route that it made no sense for them to be on, before the service even started. It was set to begin yesterday, but instead the slots have been assigned to Des Moines, Flint, and Madison…all cities served by American Eagle. Seems they’ve moved from one money-losing retaliatory strike to another.
ABX Air is growing. The cargo airline is staffing in Bloomington, Aurora, Kansas City, Atlanta, Roanoke, Fresno, Niles, Salt Lake City, Waco, Providence, and Phoenix.
Frontier’s new regional subsidiary, Lynx Aviation, has reported a delay in receiving certification from the FAA. They expected this to happen before their scheduled launch date of October 1st. Frontier’s scheduled Q400 flights for Wichita, Rapid City, Sioux City, Albuquerque and Billings will be served by regional jets provided by E170 and CRJ-700 aircraft provided by Republic Airways and Horizon Air and supplemental mainline service as needed.
SkyTeam has welcomed Air Europa, Copa Airines, and Kenya Airways as the first official SkyTeam Associate Airlines. This will add 47 additional destinations and over 500 flights to the SkyTeam route network. Associate Airlines operate under the direction of the Sponsor Member, who represent the interests of the Associate Airline in all decision-making situations and serve as the liaison between the Associate Airline and other alliance members. Copa will be sponsored by Continental, while the others will be sponsored by Air France-KLM.
The first Embraer 170 aircraft was delivered to Virgin Blue on Tuesday. Virgin Blue has six orders for the 170 and 14 for the Embraer 190.
Airtran has completed its inspections of its Boeing 737 fleet early. The FAA ordered all slat attachment hardware inspected on these airfcraft after a recent incident with the plane overseas. Airtran completed the action in 7 days, as opposed to the mandated 10 days for inspection, and 24 for technical services. Each inspection took 20 hours and no major problems were discovered. Airtran suffered a major accident in its previous incarnation as Valujet due to improper and unsafe maintenance procedures.
Dragonair will be joining the Oneworld Alliance as an Affiliate member on November 1st. Dragonair serves more destinations in mainland China than any other airline not based there. Dragonair is part of the Cathay Pacific Group.
Delta is adding three new routes to Cancun. Effective February 2nd, they will operate once daily Saturday service from Orlando and Raleigh-Durham. On April 12th, they will operate Saturday service from Hartford, CT. Delta currently operates nonstop service between Cancun and Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Boston, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C.
Boeing and Aeroflot have finalized an offer for 22 Boeing 787-8s.
British Airways is offering a guarantee on its business class experience. Until December 31st, passengers who register in advance will receive the guarantee that if they don’t exceed their expectations on a BA flight to London in Club World, they will receive a free one-way upgrade to First Class(where available) on a future flight the next time they fly in business class from the U.S. or Canada or receive 25,000 miles in their Executive Club account. To qualify, they must submit a designated form detailing why they felt BA did not exceed their expectations.
Alaska Air, also known for a major maintenance problem in 2000 causing an aircraft accident, has announced it completed checks on all of its 737s in compliance with the FAA mandate. They began ahead of the mandate, and checks confirm that all slats are in order.
American Airlines began its service from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Minneapolis/St. Paul, offering three daily roundtrips on MD80 aircraft. American also expanded its service today between JFK and O’Hare, adding two flights using the MD80 to its existing daily American Eagle flight. American is reaffirming its commitment to growing its New York service by not only its competitive growth out of LaGuardia, but increasing its connection of passengers from its Chicago hub to its New York focus city, providing connections between international and other services. American operated 38 daily flights between Chicago and the New York area: 19 to LaGuardia, 10 to White Plains, 6 to Newark, and three from JFK.
American also began nonstop service from JFK to Las Vegas, once daily. Passengers on the inaugural flight enjoyed baguettes and wraps provided by New York steakhouse the Strip House, as well as miniature chocolate cake for dessert. The flight is set to make international connections in both directions.
American Eagle will be offering 50-seat regional service from LaGuardia to Montreal three times daily and once daily from JFK to Pittsburgh on December 13th. The JFK flight will be timed to make international connections at JFK. American already offers three flights a day from JFK to Montreal.