Corporate Travel News For The Americas

Flughafen Zurich AG will reportedly commence operation of Florianopolis Hercilio Luz Airport on 03-Jan-2018, under the Floripa Airport brand (portaldailha.com, 26-Dec-2017). Floripa Airport also plans to commence construction of a new passenger terminal in Jan-2018.

LATAM Ecuador anticipates growth in domestic operations following the delivery of A319 aircraft, as it strengthens service on services from Quito to Cuenca and Guayaquil as well as to the Galapagos (America Economia, 26-Dec-2017). The carrier increased capacity by 70% on Quito-Cuenca route and 26% on Quito-Guayaquil route.

Brazil's Defence Minister Raul Jungmann said the government welcomed a commercial alliance with Boeing (Reuters, 23-Dec-2017). "We are in favour of this and other partnerships", Mr Jungmann said, adding that that foreign control of the company was out of the question, citing Embraer's central role in Brazil's defence industry. "The moment that control of Embraer passes to a company from another country, it will control strategic decisions" for Brazil", Mr Jungmann said, adding: "No country would give up control of that".

Viva Air signed (22-Dec-2017) a purchase agreement with Airbus for 50 A320 family aircraft. The 35 A320neo and 15 A320ceo aircraft will be operated by the group's airlines VivaColombia and Viva Air Peru, allowing the carriers to modernise their fleets and capture growth opportunities across Latin America. [more - original PR]

United Airlines and Mesa Airlines jointly affirmed (26-Dec-2017) United does not seek any additional Havana frequencies at this time beyond the six additional Houston-Havana frequencies for which it applied on 12-Sep-2017. As previously reported by CAPA, Delta Air Lines plans to reduce Havana frequency, making a number of US-Cuba frequencies available for reallocation. [more - original PR]

Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia announced (22-Dec-2017) a new codeshare agreement from the end of Jan-2018. The agreement covers connectivity from Melbourne to either Hong Kong or Los Angeles from Virgin Australia onto Virgin Atlantic services. Additionally, customers travelling through Los Angeles will be able to fly directly to Sydney and Brisbane as part of the new codeshare. The deal will also open more domestic options across Australia, enabling customers to add service to/from eight Australian cities including Cairns, Brisbane and Perth operated by Virgin Australia. [more - original PR]

Qantas plans to extend its codeshare partnership with Alaska Airlines, as the carriers' agreement extends to services operated by Virgin America aircraft (Routes Online, 25-Dec-2017). The extended agreement will be effective from 20-May-2017 and cover services from Los Angeles to Newark and San Francisco to Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Boston, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Kahului, Kona, Las Vegas, Los Cabos, Nashville, Newark, New Orleans, Orlando, Puerto Vallarta (replacing existing Alaska service), Raleigh, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Washington Dulles and Washington Reagan.

Viva Air Group reportedly formalised a purchase agreement for 50 A320s with Airbus, following an MoU signed at the 2017 Paris Air Show (aviacol.net). As previously reported by CAPA, the order for 15 A320ceos and 35 A320neos will be used to expand in Colombia and Peru, as well as to support potential start-ups throughout Latin America.

Brazil's President Michel Temer reportedly informed representatives from the Ministry of Defence and Brazilian Air Force he is not opposed to negotiations between Embraer and Boeing about a potential stake sale, but would not accept control of Embraer being taken by the US manufacturer due to the company's strategic and economic importance to Brazil (Folha/TV Globo, 21-Dec-2017). Embraer has been publicly listed since 2006, although the Brazilian Government holds a golden share, allowing it to block major share ownership changes and strategic moves. The Ministry of Defence is also reportedly opposed to any loss of control in Embraer, due to the extensive defence contracts it holds, including the KC-390 transporter and military/communications satellites.

Air China filed (21-Dec-2017) an application with CAAC to launch the following international services in 2018:

• Adjust select Beijing-Houston service to extend to Beijing-Houston-Panama City, operating twice weekly with Boeing 777 from Mar-2018;
• Adjust Beijing-Vienna-Barcelona service to three times weekly Beijing-Vienna and four times weekly Beijing-Barcelona services, both operating with A330 aircraft, effective Mar-2018. [more - original PR - Chinese]