- BMI will start London Heathrow to Tel Aviv service on March 13th. The route will be operated by an Airbus 320 with 20 seats in business and 108 in economy. Connections will be available from Dublin, Belfast, Durham Tees Valley, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, and Scotland.
- VRG began daily operations from Sao Paulo to Mexico City on Friday. This is their first North American destination.
- Jetblue will begin service from Orlando to Cancun on March 13th. Service will operated once daily using their Embraer 190 regional jets. We continue to commend Jetblue for establishing new service that does not connect through New York and hope the benefits of this service, outside of the immediate ones, are seen during the next snowstorm, when it allows passengers to be routed around the hubs of the northeast.
- Jetblue will also be offering service from Boston to Jacksonville, Florida beginning March 15th, which will also be operated once daily with their Embraer 190s.
- Hawaiian Airlines has announced the schedule for its upcoming Honolulu to Manila service. Flights will begin on April 14th from Honolulu and the 17th from Manila, with four flights per week. Manila will be the airline’s first gateway into Asia.
- Delta will begin service from New York’s JFK Airport to Antigua and Barbuda on Thursdays and Sundays beginning June 12th.
- As we previously reported, the Jetblue codeshare and better timed service on Cape Air’s Rutland, VT to Boston flight is seriously increasing service at that airport. In the first month of service, the number of passengers using the airport was double and triple that of the two preceding Novembers.
- Spirit Airlines canceled its nonstop service last week from Las Vegas to Atlantic City, citing high fuel costs.
- Big Sky Airlines has grounded its East Coast operations due to disappointing revenues. Big Sky operates as a Delta Connection carrier out of Boston under EAS subsidies. If it cuts its flights on the East Coast, it must cut all of its EAS service, including 30 flights a day to 7 cities in Montana. The airline is in serious trouble, as MAIR Holdings, its owner, has announced it will liquidate their assets. They have made a deal to transfer EAS flights to Montana towns to Great Lakes Aviation as early as next month. One hundred and forty workers were laid off last week, and with the airline set to fire all in March, the employees have launched an attempt to buy the airline.
- United Airlines will be offering direct flights between Washington D.C. and nine East Coast Cities, including four in West Virginia. Last week, they began service, operated by Colgan AIr, between Dulles and Parkersburg WV, Bradford PA, and Jamestown NY. Service to Clarksburg and Morgantown WV will begin on the 21st, Altoona and Johnstown PA on Febuary 4th, and Beckley and Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley on February 18th.
- We’ve avoided talking about Skybus, because they just make us angry. But they are news, so… Skybus has begun service to New York’s Stewart Airport, in Newburgh from Columbus. We are from New York, and we were hoping they would stay out of our state, but we were not so lucky. They plan to add service from Greensboro, NC on February 25th. Reports indicate Wilmington DE, Niagara Falls NY, and Gary IN will be coming.
- Delta eliminated service to Bentonville, AK and Sioux Falls, SD from Salt Lake City citing high fuel costs. This comes as they and other airlines are reducing domestic capacity.
