Source: Air France Air France continues the roll-out of its new standard of travel, combining the highest levels of comfort and technology on board its Business, Premium Economy and Economy cabins Already available on select Boeing 777-300 ER, these new standards will gradually become the norm on the company’s future Airbus A350 fleet, beginning in July 2023 These aircraft feature unprecedented technological innovations – the widest screen of the entire Air France fleet, a large touchpad for easy browsing of the seat environment in the Business cabin, as well as new pairing options to connect personal devices in all travel cabins During the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2023 in Hamburg (Germany), Air France offered an exclusive first look at its brand-new [...]

Source: British Airways British Airways Holidays has launched its first Travel Trends Report, examining the behaviours and attitudes that are shaping travel trends today. Findings include that 63% of consumers say that holidays are the main way they treat themselves, more than half of Gen Z and millennials plan to book a package holiday this year and 40% of consumers associate ‘all-inclusive’ with luxury The report also highlights some of the most popular travel destinations on the cards for UK consumers this year, with the likes of Antalya, Maldives and Rhodes seeing surges in searches compared to pre-pandemic British Airways Holidays has released its Travel Trends Report, giving an insight into the attitudes that are influencing the current travel landscape, [...]

Source: IAG Highlights: Operating profit before exceptional items of €9 million, up €750 million versus quarter 1, 2022 and a positive outcome for quarter 1 for the first time since quarter 1, 2019, representing ongoing strong customer demand across all our airlines Better than expected1 due to strong yield performance across the Group and the benefit of a lower fuel price We continue to focus our capacity deployment on our core Latin America and North Atlantic markets, which are now back at pre-pandemic levels of capacity, as well as growing Vueling’s year-round leisure network Encouraging outlook for the summer with around 80% of expected quarter 2 revenue now booked We currently expect our full year 2023 operating profit before exceptional [...]

Source: WestJet Airline continues to bring increased capacity to Calgary with transborder network expansion WestJet also sees service between Edmonton and Minneapolis take off WestJet celebrated the launch of its first-ever service between Calgary and Washington D.C., with the departure of WS1618 at 11:30 a.m. MST on 2 June 2023. With the inclusion of Washington D.C. to WestJet's Calgary network along with new service to Detroit and the restoration of service to an expansive list of U.S. destinations, WestJet is increasing its Calgary transborder capacity by 46 per cent compared to Summer 2022, with direct service to 20 U.S. destinations across the country. "We are thrilled to be celebrating the inauguration of our service between Calgary and Washington D.C. forming yet another meaningful connection between our [...]

Source: Air Canada Airline expands partnership with Neste for first SAF supply in Europe Air Canada completed its inaugural Montreal to Amsterdam flights on 3 June 2023, with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner using sustainable aviation fuel. Coinciding with the launch of Air Canada's second route from Amsterdam to Canada, the airline is further advancing initiatives in its Climate Action Plan by expanding its partnership with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) producer Neste in Europe to now incorporate Neste MY Sustainable Aviation FuelTM in some of its flights at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Use of SAF could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 80%* over the fuel's life cycle, compared to use of conventional jet fuel. This reduction is calculated based on a full lifecycle assessment. "We are thrilled [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned that rapidly rising levels of blocked funds are a threat to airline connectivity in the affected markets. The industry's blocked funds have increased by 47% to $2.27 billion in April 2023 from $1.55 billion in April 2022. "Airlines cannot continue to offer services in markets where they are unable to repatriate the revenues arising from their commercial activities in those markets. Governments need to work with industry to resolve this situation so airlines can continue to provide the connectivity that is vital to driving economic activity and job creation," said Willie Walsh, IATA's Director General. The top five countries account for 68.0% of blocked funds. These comprise: Nigeria ($812.2 million) Bangladesh [...]

Source: JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation and Frontier Group Holdings, Inc. announced that the airlines have entered into a definitive agreement under which JetBlue will divest all of the holdings of Spirit Airlines, Inc. at New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Frontier in connection with JetBlue’s planned merger with Spirit. These divestitures are part of JetBlue’s upfront commitments included in the merger agreement with Spirit and are conditioned on the closing of the JetBlue-Spirit transaction. “We are committed to ensuring our combination with Spirit preserves ultra low-cost carrier access in New York,” said Robin Hayes, chief executive officer, JetBlue. “We are pleased that this agreement with Frontier will maintain the same level of ultra low-cost carrier service at LaGuardia Airport.” “We’re pleased [...]

Source: Air Canada With the arrival of two flights in Europe today, Air Canada has inaugurated two strategic non-stop routes from its Montreal global hub to Europe. Air Canada's non-stop, year-round service to Toulouse is the airline's fourth destination in France and marks the only year-round service between North America and southwestern France, connecting two global aerospace centres, as well as two dynamic francophone cities. Additionally, Air Canada's seasonal services from Montreal to Copenhagen complement its year-round services to the Danish capital from Toronto. "We are very excited to  have launched our long-awaited, year-round new flights between our Montreal global hub to the French-speaking world, and Toulouse! Not only are we connecting two significant business cities in the international aerospace [...]

Source: British Airways British Airways has launched flights between London Heathrow and Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen has become the latest destination to join British Airways’ network, with the inaugural flight touching down on the Anatolian side of Istanbul on Thursday 1 June 2023. The new route between London Heathrow (LHR) and Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) will operate four times per week on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays on a mix of A320 and A321 aircraft. Increasing connectivities from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport has become a hub adding three more destinations this June to its extensive network. These include London Heathrow (LHR), Rhodes (RHO) and Mytilene (MJT), Greece. Sabiha Gökçen serves 154 destinations located across 51 countries via flights operated by [...]