Corporate Travel News For The Americas

Norwegian Air Argentina plans to launch service from Buenos Aires to Tahiti (Radio NZ, 29-Dec-2017). Currently, the only air service between Papeete and South America is to Chile via Rapa Nui/Easter Island. French Blue and United Airlines, meanwhile, plan to operate to Papeete from San Francisco while Air France and Air Tahiti Nui operate from Los Angeles. There is reportedly concern in French Polynesia that there won't be sufficient tourist accommodation to cope with the additional capacity.

Canada's Minister of Transport Marc Garneau reportedly requested Air Canada to retrofit up to 100 A320s in an effort to remove a high-pitched whistling noise allegedly made by the aircraft when landing at airports in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver (Globe and Mail, 28-Dec-2017). Mr Garneau said: "This retrofit would lead to a tangible impact on noise, with potential reductions of five to 11 decibels for A320 aircraft". Air Canada stated it will review the government's recommendations.

Aerolineas Argentinas president Mario Agustín Dell'Acqua stated it would commence the replacement of aircraft in the Austral Líneas Aereas (Austral) fleet from Jan-2018 (baenegocios.com/reportur.com/.iprofesional.com, 28-Dec-2017). The carrier, which currently has a fleet of E190s, is seeking to upgauge from a fleet size with 96 seats to 170 seat aircraft, to support growth in the market. Mr Dell'Acqua stated: "It is more economical to fly the routes we have today with 170 seat aircraft than with 90 seat aircraft, even more so if we take into account the growth that is taking place in our country's aviation sector". He noted that the cost of deploying larger aircraft, where demand is sufficient, is significant lower, stating that "flying with a 737 aircraft has a cost of 25% over an Embraer, but the capacity is 60% higher".

Ecuador Government announced (27-Dec-2017) the adoption ofan open skies policy, which seeks the liberalisation of air transport, with the exception of cabotage traffic. President Lenin Moreno stated the government decided "to adopt as a national public policy the full liberalisation of air transport". The decree considers that the country requires an opening policy that "translates into the signing of flexible bilateral agreements or open skies gradually and progressively, allowing its development within a framework of security, transparency and flexibility". The Ministries of Transport and External Relations, in coordination with the tourism and foreign trade portfolios, "will be in charge of negotiating open skies agreements". The government noted the agreement is designed to ensure "free and healthy competition will be respected, guaranteeing the permanent provision of services and preventing unfair practices or the abuse of dominant monopolistic positions". In addition, it states that the "international airports that will be the subject of negotiation of these agreements, correspond exclusively to those located in continental Ecuador". [more - original PR - Spanish]

Mauritius' Government announced (28-Dec-2017) its delegation at the ICAO International Conference on Air Services Negotiations, held in Colombo from 04-Dec-2017 to 08-Dec-2017, achieved the following:

• Signed a bilateral air services agreement with Sri Lanka;
• Initialled bilateral air services agreements and signed corresponding MoUs with Ghana, Morocco and Namibia;
• Agreed minutes and a codeshare framework agreement with Chile;
• Signed a MoU with Russia on provisions for codeshare rights between the designated airlines of Mauritius and Russia and airlines of any third country;
• Held air services negotiations with Laos. [more - original PR]

Flybondi reportedly postponed plans to launch service in Argentina until the end of Jan-2018, after previously scheduling its launch for 03-Jan-2018 (La Nacion, 27-Dec-2017).

Hawaii Department of Transportation stated it will scale back expansion works at Honolulu Daniel K Inouye International Airport following Island Air's bankruptcy (The Honolulu Star Advertiser, 24-Dec-2017). Previous plans called for the construction of a USD40 million to USD45 million under Gate 6, with the project to now leave the 24,000sqft space as an unfinished shell, which will reduce the cost of construction by "several million dollars".

Louisville International Airport (Kentucky) stated a new app designed for visually impaired travellers, has been trialled at the airport since Oct-2017 (Sun Sentinel, 22-Dec-2017). Using Bluetooth technology, the free "Indoor Explorer" function of the existing Nearby Explorer app transforms a smartphone into an audio guide to direct passengers around the airport. The new feature for Nearby Explorer was developed by the American Printing House for the Blind.

Gol advised (27-Dec-2017) the price of standard airline tickets sold by GLA to Smiles will decrease by 0.6% and the price of miles sold to GLA by Smiles will decrease by 1.5%, effective 01-Jan-2018. [more - original PR]

easyJet forecast (27-Dec-2017) the following milestones for 2018:

• Passenger numbers are expected to reach 90 million, a 10 million increase on the 80 million passenger record set in 2017;
• A new easyJet base in Bordeaux will open in Mar-2018 marking the airline's sixth French base, creating 110 direct jobs, with three A320 aircraft to be based there and more than five new routes to be launched;
• By Jan-2018 half of easyJet's fleet will be A320 aircraft following a programme of upgrades from 150 seat A319 to the larger aircraft, which can seat up to 186, as well as a number of aircraft acquired from Air Berlin coming into operation. By spring, the airline's fleet will surpass 300 aircraft;
• easyJet expects to take delivery of its first A321neo in Jul-2018. Further deliveries in 2018 will bring the number of Neo aircraft in the fleet to 28;
• The airline also expects to link around half of its network to long haul services through its connections product 'Worldwide by easyJet' in 2018;
• easyJet will also continue to work alongside US based start up Wright Electric on their development of the all electric commercial aircraft and is expected to launch the first flight of a hybrid nine seat aircraft within the next 12 months. [more - original PR]