Corporate Travel News For The Americas

Air France stated services from Tahiti to Los Angeles over the next four days will be provided with aircraft from Air Tahiti Nui and Hi Fly (RadioNZ, 27-Nov-2017). The altered operations comes amid a third consecutive week of strike action by Tahiti based cabin staff. Repeated talks to resolve the employment dispute failed and the airline's bid to get a court order to annul the stoppage was also unsuccessful.

Air Peace chairman and CEO Allen Onyema said the airline is "working on a huge expansion project", covering fleet and network expansion with the goal to "democratise flying" (Vanguard, 21-Nov-2017). The airline's six Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft will be deployed on domestic routes "with the challenge of austere load factor or limited runway facility". The carrier plans to expand regional operations to Abidjan, Banjul, Dakar, Douala, Freetown, Liberia, Lome and Niamey and is "working hard" to commence services to Dubai, Guangzhou, Houston, Johannesburg, London and Mumbai. Mr Onyema said: "We are deeply serious about creating a huge appetite for flying among members of the public".

Delta Air Lines reportedly plans to debut the "premium select" economy product on three routes from the US to Reykjavik, Shannon and Ponta Delgado in Nov-2017, utilising domestically configured Boeing 757 aircraft (RunwayGirlNetwork, 22-Nov-2017).

Surf Air, via its official Facebook account, announced (22-Nov-2017) Surf Air Europe will relocate its base from London Luton Airport to London City Airport (LCY) from Dec-2017. "We will be flying out of our new home in the Jet Centre at London City Airport", the carrier said, adding: "We are dedicated to saving our Members time and providing an exceptional flying experience, and our new partnership with LCY helps us do both". According to Surf Air Europe's official website, the first destination from the new London City base is Zurich from Dec-2017. Surf Air Europe also posted a provisional map outlining aims for new destinations. In 2017, the carrier aims to launch services to Cannes, Ibiza, Luxembourg, Milan and Munich. In 2018, the carrier will pursue new services to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Dublin, Duesseldorf, Geneva and Paris. Surf Air Europe utilises Phenom 300 aircraft, operated by FlairJet.

JETGO Australia Airlines, via its official Facebook account, confirmed (08-Nov-2017) the imminent delivery of new Embraer ERJ 145LR aircraft by the end of Nov-2017. The carrier posted: "In preparation for its long trip to Australia again our next ERJ145 LR is nearly ready. This aircraft will be known as VH-JGK after its ferry flight from the USA again later this month".

LOT Polish Airlines announced (22-Nov-2017) three new 294 seat Boeing 787-9 aircraft are scheduled to operate the following long haul Warsaw routes from 2018:

• Chicago: From the end of Mar-2018/beginning of Apr-2018;
• New York JFK: From the beginning of May-2018;
• Toronto: From the beginning of Jul-2018.

The aircraft may be also be deployed on selected Seoul frequencies. [more - original PR]

Airbus received (21-Nov-2017) type certification for the A350-1000 from EASA and the US FAA and announced the aircraft is ready for delivery to launch customer Qatar Airways before the end of 2017. 11 customers ordered a total of 169 A350-1000s, with Qatar Airways holding 37 firm orders as well as 39 A350-900 orders. Combined A350-1000 and A350-900 orders were 858 from 45 customers as of 31-Oct-2017. [more - original PR]

Air Sial chairman Fazal Jilani commented on the airline's operational plans, stating: "Other local airlines fly regionally, only up to the Middle East... We too shall commence with flying to the Middle East including Jeddah, Dubai, and Qatar, but we won't stop there" (Pakistan Today, 06-Nov-2017). He continued: "Our plan includes reaching up to Europe in the next 3-5 years, and then fly farther - to North America. We will decide on it after looking at the routes that suit us the most".

Turkish Airlines offered (20-Nov-2017) Exclusive Drive private and luxury transfer service to business class passengers who purchase flexible return tickets. The service is available to passengers travelling from Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Cairo, Karachi, Kuwait City, Lahore, Islamabad, Mumbai, Tehran, Tel Aviv to the US and Canada and return services. [more - original PR]

Travelgenio signed (20-Nov-2017) an agreement with Sabre Corporation to expand its global travel solutions. Sabre will provide the online travel agency with shopping and booking travel technology including a low fare search, workflow efficiency tools and data and business intelligence. Travelgenio operates a smart search engine for travel, available in 32 countries. Sabre Corporation VP Western Europe and Online, EMEA, Sabre Travel Network Antonella Vecchio said the agreement aims to provide "highly personalised search results based on a traveller's budget, profile and preferred vacation themes". [more - original PR]