Corporate Travel News For The Americas

Air Europa Lineas Aereas plans to launch twice weekly Madrid-Recife service from 20-Dec-2017, with service to operate with A330-200 aircraft, as per a 12-Sep-2017 GDS and inventory timetable display. According to OAG, Recife Guararapes International Airport is connected to Europe via Frankfurt, Milan and Lisbon.

Norfolk Island Airlines suspended Auckland-Norfolk service after launching the route in Jun-2017, citing an increased departure tax and raises in airport movement charges, in addition to other financial issues (Radio NZ, 12-Sep-2017). The carrier will continue to operate Norfolk-Brisbane service, which also launched in Jun-2017.

Qantas senior executive VP the Americas, New Zealand, Pacific Islands & Japan Stephen Thompson, speaking at CAPA's 2017 Latin America Aviation Summit, stated (11-Sep-2017) the airline is hopeful its proposed JV with oneworld partner American Airlines will get approval. "Right from day one it made a lot of sense", said Mr Thompson. US authorities rejected the proposed tie-up in late 2016, citing concerns about the combined market share in the US-Australia market. Qantas and American are ensuring they explain all of the consumer benefits of the proposed partnership, Mr Thompson explained.

airberlin announced (11-Sep-2017) plans to suspend Caribbean services from Dusseldorf Airport. According to an 11-Sep-2017 GDS and inventory timetable display, details include:

• Duesseldorf-Cancun: Suspend twice weekly service from 23-Sep-2017;
• Duesseldorf-Curacao: Suspend weekly service from 19-Sep-2017;
• Duesseldorf-Havana: Suspend twice weekly service from 23-Sep-2017;
• Duesseldorf-Puerto Plata: Suspend twice weekly service from 21-Sep-2017;
• Duesseldorf-Punta Cana: Suspend three times weekly service;
• Duesseldorf-Varadero: Suspend twice weekly service from 22-Sep-2017.

airberlin plans to reimburse any tickets on the sectors purchased after the filing for insolvency proceedings on 15-Aug-2017. Tickets that were issued before the filing for insolvency proceedings will not be reimbursed due to insolvency law regulations. [more - original PR - English/German]

CAPA - Centre for Aviation, in a report entitled: 'Qantas' New York & London nonstops need long range aircraft, but secret ingredient is Qantas' brand', stated (10-Sep-2017) domestic strength and brand are key considerations for Qantas as it looks to ultra long-haul operations. While it will be a technical achievement for Airbus and Boeing to engineer variants of their A350 and 777X to allow service from Australia's east coast to London and New York, the real accomplishment will be for these services to achieve commercial sustainability. With the right aircraft, Qantas has a promising recipe of brand, loyalty and a home domestic market to create a customer loyalty base that should support the new services. [more - CAPA Analysis]

Ukraine's State Aviation Administration held (08-Sep-2017) a round of consultations with Kazakhstan's aeronautical authorities. While the parties agreed the 1993 air services agreement currently in place meets existing requirements, Ukraine's State Aviation Administration plans to prepare a new draft agreement to reflect Ukraine's national liberalisation policy, as well as ICAO standards and practices. Ukraine and Kazakhstan plan to conduct the next round of consultations in Dec-2017. [more - original PR - Ukrainian]

Sydney Airport MD and CEO Kerrie Mather stated (08-Sep-2017) the airport facilitates "58% of the passenger movements between the US and Australia". The airport will welcome United Airlines' new daily Houston-Sydney service on 20-Jan-2018, operating with Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The service will add 184,000 seats p/a on the route, increasing "the choice available to more than 2.4 million passengers travelling between our countries each year" added Ms Mather. [more - original PR]

Samoa Airways, via its official Facebook account, announced (07-Sep-2017) it opened its planned routes to ticket sales. The carrier will take phone bookings from Samoa, Australia, New Zealand and American Samoa. The carrier plans to launch services from 14-Nov-2017, with Apia-Auckland. This will be followed by Apia-Sydney. The services remain subject to regulatory approval.

Tampa International Airport estimated (07-Sep-2017) Icelandair's newly launched twice weekly Reykjavik-Tampa service will generate an economic impact of nearly USD19 million p/a. The inaugural service from Tampa to Reykjavik sold out all 183 seats, with many expected to transit onto other European destinations. [more - original PR]

Qantas and GE Aviation announced (08-Sep-2017) they have developed new flight data application, known as 'FlightPulse', which provides pilots with data to help them fly more efficiently and help reduce carbon emissions. FlightPulse is the first fully commercialised product to be developed with mobile services from GE's 'Predix' platform. It uses recorded aircraft data and smart analytics to enable pilots to securely access their individual operational efficiency metrics and trends. Qantas head of fleet operations Captain Mike Galvin said FlightPulse provides pilots with valuable information that was previously only available in aggregate or used by analysts. [more - original PR]