Wizz Air announces a new destination from Vienna.

Wizz Air, one of Europe’s fastest growing airlines and the leading low-cost carrier in Central and Eastern Europe, announces a new route from Vienna to Eilat in Israel. Tickets are on sale now, with fares from just 29.99 euro. 

Starting operations on 17 of November 2018 the new service to Eilat will be the first direct connection from Vienna and will be operated twice a week during the winter season. Eilat is Israel’s most southern city, a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea. The city’s beaches, coral reefs, nightlife and desert landscapes make Eilat a popular destination for international tourists – especially during Winter time.

Sorina Ratz, Acting Head of Corporate Communications at Wizz Air said: “Continuing our investment in Austria, we are pleased to announce for our Austrian customers a new and unique destination, with fares as low as 29.99 EUR* to the sunny resort of Eilat, Israel. Furthermore, today we are also announcing for our Austrian passengers the early commencement of our services to Catania Lisbon, Nice and Kutaisi. We remain committed to our Austrian customers and we are looking forward to bring even more opportunities and provide truly affordable air travel.”

In addition to the new route, responding to the increasing demand for Wizz Air services the carrier is bringing forward start dates on other routes from Vienna. Catania (Italy) moves forward to 25 Nov, Lisbon will now start 25 Nov, Nice will start 26 Nov and Kutaisi in Georgia will begin 11 Oct.

Emirates is offering its passengers flying to and through Dubai exceptional summer experiences across the city

Travellers who are yet to decide on summer plans can take advantage of attractive holiday packages to Dubai by simply flying with Emirates. Upon booking, passengers can avail exclusive rates at world-class hotels, enjoy outstanding entertainment and experience theme parks across Dubai, including tickets to some of the city’s world-class shows and attractions*. 

Air Canada Foundation Netted More Than $1,000,000 to Help Canadian Children's Charities

Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer at Air Canada,
Kaleb, Kaleb’s mom and Justin at the lemonade stand at the
Air Canada Foundation’s seventh annual golf tournament.
(CNW Group/Air Canada Foundation)

The Air Canada Foundation's seventh annual golf tournament netted over $1,000,000 in support of organizations focused on the health and well-being of children in Canada.  The tournament took place Monday, July 9 at the Saint Raphaël Golf Club in Ile-Bizard, Quebec, and featured close to 350 attendees from around the world. It included a full day of golf followed by a cocktail-style dinner, as well as silent and live auctions of items donated by tournament partners and Air Canada Foundation supporters.

"The overwhelming generosity of Air Canada's partners and friends has once again made the Air Canada Foundation's golf tournament a huge success with over $1 million raised," said Priscille LeBlanc, Chair of the Air Canada Foundation. "We also appreciate the tireless work of Air Canada employee volunteers who helped organize and facilitate the event, which was once again a sellout, allowing the majority of the funds raised to directly benefit children in need. On behalf of all the children and their families whose lives are touched by the Foundation, I thank our loyal sponsors, participants and volunteers for their on-going generosity and support."

Two young boys – Justin and Kaleb – who benefited from the support provided by the Air Canada Foundation played an important role during the day by manning the highly coveted lemonade stand. They helped raise a record amount of $11,713.50 for the Foundation as they enticed golfers with their refreshing lemonade on a sunny day.

The Air Canada Foundation was proud to welcome AMADEUS as Presenting Partner of this year's event, which was supported by more than 100 Canadian, American and international corporations and organizations.

Finnair launches off-airport baggage collection and check-in service in London with AirPortr

The popular European airline Finnair will begin offering a new baggage collection and check-in service from London Heathrow to enhance its customer experience in partnership with leading airport baggage innovators, AirPortr.

The digital ancillary service is designed to enhance the customer experience for the airline’s London-based travellers, enabling them to arrange the collection of their baggage from the doorstep of their home or hotel, which is delivered and checked-in to their flight on their behalf.

For Finnair customers who have checked in online, baggage can be collected at their London location up to a few hours prior to departure. The cost for this service starts at £30 for 1 bag if you want a 1 hour collection window, or if you have more bags and are more flexible with your time, you can select an option for AirPortr to come and get the bags anytime during a three hour slot and they will take up to 4 bags for £40.    

Finnair customers will be able to book the AirPortr service online at www.airportr.com/finnair and through Finnair.com, Finnair’s pre-departure e-mails and Manage Booking section. This means all customers can now head straight through airport security when departing, enjoying hassle-free boarding and a smoother, more enjoyable journey – next seeing their baggage at their destination airport.

Lufthansa's month of June saw passenger numbers up by 11.8 percent

Good results from the German carrier, Lufthansa for the month of June 2018 have been released by the airline.  An amazing 13.3 million people travelled on Lufthansa Group flights during June this year, an 11.8 percent increase compared to the same month last year.

The available seat kilometres were up 8.3 percent over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by 9.3 percent. The seat load factor increased by 0.8 percentage points compared to June 2017 to 83.5 percent.

The airlines of the Lufthansa Group carried a total of 66.9 million passengers in the first half of 2018 - more than ever before. A seat load factor of 79.8 percent was achieved. This is also a historic high for the first half of the year.

JetBlue's order for 60 A220-300 aircraft confirmed.

JetBlue has confirmed today it has ordered 60 Airbus A220-300 aircraft, which is the renamed Bombardier CSeries CS300 today, powered by Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan (GTF) PW1500G engines

The airline expects to start taking delivery of the fuel-efficient and technologically advanced regional passenger jet from 2020 and will be used to replace the carriers Embraer 190 aircraft. JetBlue also has placed an option for an additional 60 aircraft starting in 2025. 

JetBlue decided to make the order for the Airbus A220-300 after an intensive review to ensure the best financial performance and maximum flexibility of the airline’s fleet, while also providing its industry-leading customer experience.

The airline is also converting its order for 25 A320neos to the A321neo and adjusting the delivery schedule. “We are evolving our fleet for the future of JetBlue, and the A220-300’s impressive range and economics offer us flexibility and support our key financial and operating priorities,” said Robin Hayes, chief executive officer, JetBlue. “As we approach our 20th anniversary, the A220, combined with our A321 and restyled A320 fleet, will help ensure we deliver the best onboard experience to customers and meet our long-term financial targets as we continue disciplined growth into the future.”

Classic plane comes down in South Africa

One person has died and more than 20 injured in the crash of a classic Rovos Air Convair 340, registration  ZS-BRV, just after takeoff from Wonderboom Airport in Pretoria, today.

The aircraft had only recently been repainted in a classic Martinair livery to make it all ready for its journey to a new home, the Aviodrome museum Lelystad, in the Netherlands and was undergoing a test flight. The aircraft was built in 1954 and had recently undergone a major renovation and restoration.

It had been due to embark on a long series of flights on a journey to its new home in Lelystad that would have seen it fly via east Africa, through Egypt, Croatia, Austria and finally to the Netherlands.

The Dutch museum said it was "hugely shocked" to learn of a plane crash, which saw the aircraft come down just after take off. Smoke appeared to come from one of the engines and the aircraft failed to climb after leaving the ground. 

The South African Civil Aviation Authority has said it had investigators at the scene to look into the causes of the crash and would issue a statement in due course.

KLM airline Martinair issued the following statement, "Martinair has been informed that a Convair aircraft has crashed in South Africa. The aircraft was painted in Martin’s Air Charter (retro) livery but is not operated nor owned by Martinair.

The Convair aircraft was destined for the Dutch aircraft museum Aviodrome at Lelystad Airport in The Netherlands, which is also the owner of the aircraft. Martinair wishes to send it’s sympathy to the passengers and crew and all others involved in this accident."

Goodbye CSeries CS100 and CS300 and hello Airbus A220's

Airbus has revealed possibly the worst kept secret in the aviation world for the last few weeks, the new name for what was the Bombardier CSeries aircraft CS100 and CS300.  From now on, following the sell-off of the CSeries programme to Airbus, the aircraft will be known as the A220-100 and A220-300.

The European giant manufacturer held a special ceremony at its Henri-Ziegler Delivery Centre, near Toulouse, today, to show off the new paint job on a CS300, opps, I mean A220-300.  The event was witnessed by Airbus employees and some specially invited members of the media. 

The A220 family has now been born and marks the end of the Bombardier's new jet commercial aircraft operations, the Canadian company is now just concentrating updating its CRJ series of aircraft. The strategic limited partnership that handed over control of the CSeries to Airbus is made up of 50,01%  Airbus, approximatively 34% by Bombardier and 16% by Investissement Québec. 

Icelandair Group lowers net profit predictions for 2018

The premier full-service airline from Iceland, Icelandair has this week lowered its projected net profit predictions for 2018.

The Icelandair Group says that conditions are less favourable than it expected earlier this year and as such is predicting its net profit would be lower than prteviously suggested , somewhere in the range of  US$120-140 million. 

Icelandair said that it is apparent that performance in the second quarter will fall short of its  projections, citing disruptions in its flight schedule, delays in commissioning new aircraft, adverse weather conditions and other negative factors, had increased costs whilst not m,aking as much money.  

Air France - KLM June results

The Air France - KLM group released its June2018 figures on Monday and passenger numbers were up despite the numerous strikes and employee dissatisfaction at Air France. The group saw the number of passengers rise by 2.9 percent, traffic was up 3.5 percent whilst load factor increased by 1.5 percent when compared to the same period last year.

American Airlines score top marks on 2018 Disability Equality Index

Mega US carrier American Airlines has received the top score of 100 on the 2018 Disability Equality Index (DEI) and was also named among the “2018 DEI Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion” for the third year in a row. The DEI is a joint initiative between the US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).

KLM traffic June 2018

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines released its June figures on Monday and the airline welcomed 3.6% more passengers in June this year, with capacity up 2.2% in available seat kilometres. Consequently, load factor for June rose to a record 90.5%.

Up by 1 million passengers to 16.6 million in first half of 2018

Looking at the first six months of 2018, we see that our revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) are up 5.4%, with capacity up 4.2% compared to the first half of last year. This resulted in a 1% increase in load factor during the first half of the year, in which KLM welcomed 16.6 million passengers, up from 15.6 million in the first half of 2017.

KLM Cargo kept its traffic virtually stable during the first half of the year while reducing capacity by 1.9%, which led to a 1.2% increase in load factor to 66.3%.

Transavia saw its load factor rise by 2.9% in the first half of 2018, with traffic up 3.3% and capacity down slightly.

Pieter Elbers, the KLM President & CEO said, "The traffic figures confirm that all our hard work has paid off. During the first half of 2018, we achieved record growth of 1 million passengers, compared to the same period last year. If we compare our figures to those achieved four years ago, in the first six months of 2014, we see that we welcomed 3.3 million more passengers than we did back then. That’s an impressive difference and an achievement everyone at KLM may be proud of."

Ethiopia and Eritrea declare end of war and resumption of air services

Eritrea is back on the schedule for Ethiopia’s state-owned airlines according to local media reports. The flights to Eritrea’s capital Asmara will resume next week, following the restoration of diplomatic ties and trade links after talks on Monday between the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Ethiopia’s new prime minister reached out an olive branch to Eritrea, to resume diplomatic and trade arrangements and agreements that had been in disarray since a war between the two nations started in 1998.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (left) and Eritrean Prime Minister Isaias Afwerki
sign a statement declaring an end of war on July 9, 2018.

Allegiant pilots vote to strike

Pilots at Allegiant Air, the ultra-low-cost-carrier in the US and one of the most profitable airlines in the US—voted with 93.5 percent support to authorize a strike should it become necessary.

The vote comes in response to Allegiant's years-long refusal to live up to its commitments and fix a sham scheduling system that has negatively impacted the lives of many pilots and their families.

Saudi order for 777X says Boeing.

Boeing sources are briefing the media that Saudi Arabian Airlines is about to make a large order for the Boeing 777X aircraft.

The unofficial briefing didn't stipulate the number of 777X jet's Saudi Arabian Airlines would order, although it is understood to be 20 confirmed frames and a few more possible options.

If the briefing is true and Boeing has secured an order for the 777X from Saudia, it is likely to be from the 80 surplice frames from the Iran Air order that the sanctions reimposed on that nation by President Trump, had halted.

There have been no comments from Saudi Arabian Airlines on the issue.