American Celebrates Milestone of 700 Daily Departures at CLT Hub

                                         American Airlines joined leaders from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), elected officials from the Charlotte region and other community leaders at a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the carrier’s continuous growth in the region — the milestone of 700 daily scheduled departures from CLT.

The increased schedule was made possible after American leased four new gates at CLT’s Concourse A.

As one of the fastest-growing airports in the country, CLT is American’s second-largest hub. The carrier serves 149 destinations from CLT.

“With the addition of these new gates, we were able to add frequencies on popular routes and we now operate nearly 80 flights per day to Florida, 30 flights per day to the New York metro area and 25 flights per day to D.C. metro area,” said Brian Znotins, American’s Vice President of Network Planning. “We’ll continue to be the best airline with the most choice in Charlotte for both business and leisure customers.”

US Air Force Selects Boeing to Sustain C2 Software Platform for Air Mobility Command

Boeing's subsidiary Tapestry Solutions has secured a five-year U.S. Air Force recompete contract to sustain and modernise the Global Decision Support System, or GDSS – the principal command and control (C2) software platform that supports global Air Mobility Command (AMC) missions.

GDSS helps mobility aircrews successfully plan and execute core missions, ranging from aerial refueling to strategic airlift, while providing a common operational picture for AMC and mission partners on a fully integrated platform. This enables Mobility Air Forces to rapidly move personnel and equipment – anywhere in the world within hours – and sustain troop support or relief operations as long as needed.

Air Transat unveils its 2020 summer flight programme

Air Transat has released more details of its 2020 summer flight programme for Ontario. In all, the airline will be offering 95 direct flights a week from Toronto to Europe, the South and the United States. This includes a new direct flight to Faro, Portugal—a first in the summertime.

European destinations still a priority

Air Transat's new program features 14 weekly flights to London (England), up from nine flights a week in summer 2019. There will be five direct flights a week to Manchester (England), Dublin (Ireland), Glasgow (Scotland) and Paris (France). Options will also abound for Italy, with seven direct flights a week to Rome, two to Venice and one to Lamezia. Travellers will find eight weekly departures for Portugal: four to Lisbon, three to Porto and, for the first time in summer, a direct flight to Faro, in the Algarve. Finally, Air Transat will fly direct three times a week to Barcelona (Spain), Zagreb (Croatia) and Athens (Greece), and four times to Amsterdam (Netherlands).

Covid-19 outbreak forces reductions in Singapore Airlines and SilkAir services across the network

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir have confirmed that it will temporarily reduce services across the group's route network due to weak demand as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.  The airline is cutting the SQ318/SQ321 services on the Singapore London - Singapore route for almost the entire month of May. The firm is also axing some flights to Frankfurt, Paris, Copenhagen and Dusseldorf in Europe.   

Details of the affected flights can be found here.

SIA said it would continue to monitor the situation and make further adjustments as necessary to the schedule, with local media predicting a further downfall in demand as the epidemic is expected to worsen in the coming months.   

Singapore Airlines says all affected customers will be notified and re-accommodated onto other flights and  "Singapore Airlines and SilkAir apologise for the inconvenience caused."

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Silver Airways Kicks Off Summer Travel Between Orlando and Destin, Florida

On March 13, 2020, in time for the Memorial Day weekend, Silver Airways is kicking off the summer travel season between two historic U.S. Air Force bases – Orlando International Airport, formerly McCoy Air Force Base, and Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport, located within Eglin Air Force Base.

Flights are scheduled to take just under two hours on the airlines Saab 340B aircraft featuring 34 seats in an economy cabin. 

Snowflake Software Agrees to Join Cirium in a Deal Focused on Delivering a Complete, Real-time View of World Flight Operations

Snowflake Software Ltd (Snowflake), an innovator in fusing and streaming live flight and navigational data, has signed an agreement to become part of Cirium, the expanding aviation analytics group. Cirium, which is part of RELX, expects the acquisition to give the combined group a world-class capability in handling live flight data for the global air transport industry.

Based in Southampton, UK, Snowflake has accelerated the integration and exchange of flight, weather and aeronautical data through its cloud-based Laminar Data platform. This will now be brought together with Cirium’s flight status, schedule, fleet and traffic analytics.

As demand for air travel increases, seamless data exchange to enable collaborative decision making is fundamental to the future growth of the air transport industry. Snowflake with its award-winning Laminar Data platform is well-placed to leverage this unprecedented demand for data exchange across many airspace users including Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), Airlines, Airport and Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) providers.

Despite the Boeing 737 Max groundings, Air Canada saw record revenue in 2019

Leading Canadian carrier, Air Canada has reported record revenues for 2019 despite the fall out from the grounding of the firms Boeing 737 max aircraft.

The airline reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and impairment of $3.636 billion up from $3.213 billion in 2018.  The carrier managed to achieve operating income of $1.650 billion in 2019 compared to operating income of $1.496 billion in 2018.

Air Canada expects that six of 12 undelivered Boeing 737 MAX aircraft originally scheduled for delivery in 2019 will be delivered in 2020 with the remaining six delivered in 2021, and that 14 undelivered Boeing 737 MAX aircraft originally scheduled for delivery in 2020 will be delivered in 2021. Whilst no firm date is yet available for the return of the 737 MAX aircraft to the schedules, the airline believes it will gradually return to service commencing late in the third quarter of 2020. 

Air France celebrates 20 year partnership with Henri Dumont School Complex

A 20-Year Partnership Between the Air France Foundation and the Henri Dumont School Complex

On 15 February, the Air France Foundation, together with the local Air France establishment, celebrated their 20-year partnership with the Henri Dumont School Complex in Douala, in Cameroon.

The main ambition of this partnership initiated in 2000 is to enable children enrolled through to the end of their primary education at Henri Dumont school to pursue their studies up to their final year. Another objective is to turn this school into a major reference centre for schooling and education.

Over 20 years, the Air France Foundation’s participation in the development projects undertaken by the school, located in a disadvantaged area, has amounted to over 272,000 euros.

Alitalia sees a growth passengers and revenue in January

Photo Alitalia 

The growth in passenger traffic revenues and the number of travellers carried by Alitalia last year also continues in the first month of 2020.

The Italian company reported revenues of 180.35 million euros in January this year, an increase of 4.1% compared to the same month in 2019 (and 8.2% on January 2018), in the face of a 4.2% decrease in capacity offered. This is good news for the financially troubled carrier that faces an uncertain future, although the recent demise of rival airline Air Italy, has given the state-funded carrier some breathing space. 

The results were also positive as regards the number of passengers transported, which in January 2020 rose by 2.9% compared to the same month of the previous year. Overall, 1,480,504 passengers flew with Alitalia in the first month of this year, with a load factor of 74.4%, an increase of 3.7 percentage points compared to January of last year .

Singapore Airlines makes senior management appointments

Photo Singapore Airlines

The SIA Group is making a number of changes to its senior management structure as moves forward to modernisation plans in 2020.  The airline confirmed the changes this week and will take effects from 1st April 2020, local sources say more leadership announcements will be made in the forthcoming weeks.  

Mr Mak Swee Wah, Executive Vice President Commercial, will assume the post of Executive Vice President Operations. He will be responsible for SIA’s Cabin Crew, Customer Services and Operations, Engineering, and Flight Operations divisions.

Mr Lee Lik Hsin, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of low-cost carrier Scoot, will return to SIA and be promoted to Executive Vice President Commercial. He will be responsible for the Cargo, Customer Experience, Marketing Planning, and Sales and Marketing divisions, as well as the Sales Regions.

Mr Tan Kai Ping, Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, will be promoted to Executive Vice President Finance and Strategy. In his new role, he will oversee the Corporate Planning and Finance divisions.

You could have part of the first Airbus A380 in your pocket soon!

The first-ever A380 to enter scheduled service
and also the first-ever to be retired is

now available as a new edition of especially rare Aviationtags

Photo Aviationtags

On 25 October 2007, the largest and heaviest commercial airliner that had ever flown on this planet took to the skies, the legendary Airbus A380 with the manufacturer serial number MSN003. It was the first of some 240 A380s now in existence to enter scheduled service with passengers onboard, flying from Singapore to Sydney for Singapore Airlines as flight number SQ380. The four pilots, 26 crew members and exactly 455 passengers must have been very aware that on this flight they were witnessing a historic event. The tickets sold for record prices, with one passenger paying over 100,000 US dollars for a First-Class cabin measuring a little under three square metres. For a decade, the jumbo Airbus spanned the globe for Singapore Airlines until it was finally retired at the airport in Tarbes, France, also the first-ever A380 to have this distinction.

Russia's United Aircraft Corporation creates Commercial Aviation Division

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) forges corporate and business processes to form the Commercial Aviation Division. In accordance with the decision of the UAC’ Board of Directors, JSC Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and LLC UAC - Aggregation Center will join the PJSC Irkut Corporation as subsidiaries. As part of the Division, subsidiaries retain core competencies in the development and production of aircraft.

The main efforts of the Division in the near future will be focused, first of all, on the completion of MC-21-300 tests and the serial production establishment, modernization of Superjet 100 and its business version, the creation of a unified system of MRO and marketing.

Consolidation of the main scientific and production capacities of civil aircraft industry will allow more efficient implementation of existing programs and development of prospective projects.

It is planned to achieve significant progress in the field of after-sales support service, optimize operational processes and, ultimately, significantly increase the attractiveness of Russian commercial aircraft in the market. Measures to resolve existing intra-group obligations and accomplishing of the formation of the share capital structure will be implemented during 2020.

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Bombardier sells transportation division to concentrate on business aviation

The Canadian firm Bombardier has announced today of a further shrink the once mighty global company with the sale of its transportation division to concentrate exclusively on business aviation.  

Ther firm had previously held preliminary talks with a number of parties regarding the sale of core assets and divisions but confirmed the move on Tuesday 18th February. “Today marks an exciting new chapter for Bombardier. Going forward, we will focus all our capital, energy and resources on accelerating growth and driving margin expansion in our market-leading $7.0 billion business aircraft franchise. With a stronger balance sheet after the completion of this transaction, an industry-leading portfolio of products, a strong backlog, and a rapidly growing aftermarket business, we will compete in this market from a position of strength,” said Alain Bellemare, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc.

Radisson Rewards offers members the chance to win a spectacular adventure to Iceland.

ICELAND: LAND OF FJORDS, FANTASY, AND FUN!

Search for whale sightings, soar above geological landmarks, and bathe in Iceland’s hot springs with our Iceland Moments contest. One lucky Radisson Rewards member will win a five-night stay for two in this land of explosive geysers, wondrous wildlife, and the Northern Lights. 

The contest is open to residents in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

For more details  please visit Iceland Moments.

Take flight

Feel like you’re flying over stunning glaciers, fjords, and mountains with ultra-modern technology. You’ll soar above the dramatic landscape, aided by special effects such as wind and mist as you take in the sights, sounds, and smells of this beautiful country.

Golden memories

See Iceland’s most celebrated natural landmarks on the “Golden Circle” tour. Stopping at the Geysir geothermal area, Gullfoss Waterfall, and Thingvellir National Park, you’ll also visit the Fridheimar greenhouse to learn about sustainable tomato farming and taste their delicious produce.

Heat up...

Indulge yourself in the restorative waters of the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa – one of 25 wonders of the world. You’ll enjoy access to this all-natural pampering spot, along with a mud mask, towel, and a free drink to savour as you luxuriate in the hot springs.

Radisson Hotels. 

Spirit to move more than 240 jobs out of Florida to Tennessee

The US budget carrier Spirit is moving its Operational Control Centre out of Miramar Florida to a nearly 49,000-square-foot facility in Williamson County, Tennessee.

The airline says the move will bolster network resiliency and reduce hurricane and tropical storm risk by shifting the 240 or so jobs out of Florida and nothing to do with costs.  The airline says the transition is scheduled to be completed by early 2021, and Spirit also plans to add nearly 100 more positions at the OCC over the next five years.

The OCC controls round-the-clock flight operations for more than 650 flights each day across the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. Team Members are responsible for flight dispatch, crew scheduling, maintenance control, aircraft routing, air traffic control coordination, Guest solutions and more. Spirit’s operations team is instrumental in the airline’s commitment to invest in the Guest experience and deliver the Best Value in the Sky. Spirit secured industry acclaim as the country's most on-time Low Cost Airline by Flight Global, as well as international recognition as the Low Cost Airline of the Year at the CAPA World Aviation Summit and Air Transport World'sValue Airline of the Year. Spirit’s OCC team efforts have helped the airline achieve among the best on-time performance for the past two years.