Air & Sea

Norwegian moves two more routes to San Francisco, adjusts Transatlantic winter season program

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Air & Sea Air & Sea; Published: 10 July 2019 10 July 2019

Norwegian will move two existing routes from Oakland International Airport to San Francisco International Airport: the two nonstop services to Barcelona-El Prat Airport and to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, starting this winter season. This follows the change of the London service from Oakland to San Francisco on March 31 earlier this year.

San Francisco to Barcelona service will launch October 28, 2019, and operate twice weekly during the winter season, on Mondays and Fridays.

San Francisco to Paris service will launch October 30, 2019, and operate twice weekly during the winter season, on Wednesdays and Sundays.

“We are excited that Norwegian has chosen SFO for their nonstop flights to Barcelona and Paris this fall. This move gives travelers at SFO even more ways to enjoy Norwegian’s amazing value,” said Airport Director Ivar C. Satero.

Norwegian’s summer seasonal service to Copenhagen, Oslo, Rome and Stockholm will remain at Oakland International Airport. Both San Francisco to Barcelona and Paris are now out for sale on Norwegian.com/us. To find the most affordable fares, go to the low fare calendar.

Adjusted winter season program

Some year-round routes will become summer seasonal only services as demand is lower during the winter season, and aircraft will be utilized to operate more profitable long-haul routes elsewhere within the network, which is aligned with the airline’s focus on return to profitability.

Ten previously year-round long-haul routes from the United States will not operate this winter, but some might return for the winter season 2020/21. Las Vegas to London and Orlando to Stockholm have been discontinued indefinitely.

This summer, Norwegian is operating 188 weekly flights from the U.S. to Europe, compared to 163 weekly flights summer 2018, 85 in summer 2017, or 19 in summer 2016. This winter, the airline will operate 113 weekly flights from the U.S. to Europe, compared to 150 weekly flights winter 2018/19, 119 in winter 2017/18 or 78 weekly flights winter 2016/17.

“After a thorough review of our long-haul network and given that some U.S. markets are highly seasonal, it is a natural step to focus our operations this winter on counter seasonal routes that are more profitable, such as Asia, and also looking into growing our South America network," said Matthew Robert Wood, Senior Vice President Commercial Long-Haul and New Markets, Norwegian.

The following routes will not operate during the winter 2019/20 season:

Boston – Paris
Chicago - London
Denver – London
Fort Lauderdale – Copenhagen
Los Angeles – Copenhagen
Los Angeles - Oslo
Los Angeles – Rome
New York JFK – Copenhagen
New York JFK – Stockholm
Orlando – Oslo

Norwegian continues to offer close to 50 nonstop transatlantic routes and more than 550 routes overall with customers still able to access most European destinations through other routes within Norwegian’s network at any time of the year.

Most recently, the airline launched new nonstop service between New York JFK and Athens, Chicago and Barcelona; from Boston to both Madrid and Rome; to London from both Miami and San Francisco; as well as from Hamilton, Canada, to Dublin.

Finnair to operate first-ever non-stop flights from South Korea's Busan to Europe

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Air & Sea Air & Sea; Published: 10 July 2019 10 July 2019

Finnair continues to grow its Asian operations and adds Busan in South Korea as a new destination in summer 2020. Finnair will be the first and only airline connecting Busan to Europe with a non-stop flight.

In summer season 2020, Finnair will operate from Helsinki to Busan three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, starting on March 30th, 2020 (subject to regulatory approvals) with its modern Airbus A350 aircraft, with flights connecting smoothly to and from Finnair’s vast network of European destinations.

The addition of Busan into Finnair’s network connects over 100 European destinations with 20 destinations in Asia.

“We are excited to be the first European airline operating to Busan, which is a wonderful addition to our Asian network,” says Ole Orvér, Chief Commercial Officer, Finnair. “Korea is one of our top markets globally, and we have been operating to Seoul for 11 years. We are delighted to be able to offer a new destination to our customers in Korea and to continue growing sustainably in Asia.”

Busan is South Korea’s second largest city with 3.5 million inhabitants. It is located on the south-eastern tip of the Korean Peninsula and is known for its beautiful scenery that combines mountains, rivers and the sea. It offers excellent beaches and great hiking trails in a temperate climate.

Finnair specialises in connecting Europe and Asia via the short Northern route through Helsinki, Finland, with timetables designed to support smooth transfers and short travel times.

United to offer more seats from Newark to six international cities next summer on its brand-new Boeing 787-10 aircraft

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Air & Sea Air & Sea; Published: 14 November 2018 14 November 2018

United Airlines today announced it will operate its newest Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner on six trans-Atlantic routes from its New York/Newark hub beginning in March 2019. United was the first North American airline to take delivery of the 787-10, and is also the first airline in the world to have the entire family of Boeing's 787-8, 787-9 and 787-10 Dreamliners in its fleet. United's 787-10 features 44 United Polaris business class seats, 21 United Premium Plus seats, 54 Economy Plus seats and 199 standard Economy seats. Tickets will be available for purchase on Dec. 3, for travel beginning March 30.

"United is proud to offer more seats between New York and Europe than any other carrier and our Boeing 787-10 aircraft based in New York/Newark will enable us to connect even more New York City customers to Europe and beyond," said Patrick Quayle, United's Vice President of International Network. "We are thrilled to announce six international cities that will be served with this aircraft and we look forward to offering our customers all of the comforts and services of our most advanced aircraft."

Offering more service than any other U.S. airline from New York to Germany and Israel, United currently offers daily nonstop service to Frankfurt and twice-daily nonstop service to Tel Aviv. United also operates daily service from New York/Newark to Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin and Paris.

Investing in customer-friendly advancements onboard

In addition to United's signature all aisle access Polaris business class and United Premium Plus seats, United is investing in several customer-friendly advancements onboard. The aircraft features updated lighting patterns that mimic sunrise and sunset and are designed to help customers in each cabin fall asleep and wake up more adjusted to new time zones. A brand new seatback entertainment system is also available at every seat, which includes:

– Split screen capabilities allowing customers to watch a movie and view the flight map simultaneously.
– A relax mode for customers who want to customize a selection of soothing videos and relaxing audio playlists.
– The world's most extensive suite of accessibility features on a seatback entertainment system, which accommodates any level of vision, as well as provides support for customers with hearing and mobility issues.
– Movie and television recommendations based on remaining flight time and previously watched content.

United previously announced its first 787-10 aircraft will begin operating between New York/Newark and Los Angeles and San Francisco in January 2019.

The Boeing 787-10 is 18 feet longer than the 787-9 and can carry more passengers and more cargo. The -10 aircraft can fly up to 6,430 nautical miles, while using 20 percent less fuel than older generation airplanes. United currently operates 25 787-9 and 12 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. The airline expects to take delivery of 14 787-10 aircraft over the next two years.

Royal Air Maroc to join oneworld

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Air & Sea Air & Sea; Published: 06 December 2018 06 December 2018

Royal Air Maroc is to join oneworld®, adding one of Africa’s leading and fastest growing airlines to the world’s premier airline alliance.

Royal Air Maroc is expected to be implemented into oneworld in mid-2020, when it will start flying alongside some of the biggest and best brands in the airline business. Its regional subsidiary Royal Air Maroc Express will join as a oneworld affiliate member at the same time.

Royal Air Maroc is today the largest unaligned carrier in Africa – with a transformational strategy well underway to develop it quickly into a truly global airline and the continent’s leader in terms of both size and quality. Its schedule today will add 34 new destinations and 21 countries to the oneworld map, taking the alliance’s network to 1,069 airports in 178 countries and territories.

It will also be the alliance’s first new full member airline signed since 2012. Fiji Airways was also linked to the alliance from December 5 as its first oneworld connect partner, the first new membership platform since the alliance was established.

oneworld CEO Rob Gurney noted: “When we unveiled our new membership platform oneworld connect in June, we said that in the future oneworld would target as full members large airlines that have a significant presence in the alliance’s prime target market, providing connections between the world’s leading business centres. Royal Air Maroc is growing into a truly global airline, with its home base Casablanca to be developed into Africa’s leading aviation gateway while also consolidating its place as Africa’s number one financial centre.”

Royal Air Maroc carried 7.3 million passengers last year on a fleet of 55 aircraft, with a network that currently connects its Casablanca base with 94 destinations in 49 countries across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America, including oneworld hubs Doha, London Heathrow, Madrid, Moscow Domodedovo, New York JFK and Sao Paulo.

Singapore Airlines to open service to Sea-Tac Airport

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Air & Sea Air & Sea; Published: 01 November 2018 01 November 2018

Adding more ways to reach more parts of the world, the Port of Seattle welcomes the announcement of Singapore Airlines nonstop service beginning September 2019 from Singapore Changi Airport to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Singapore is one of Seattle’s largest unserved markets in the Southeast Asia region and Changi Airport is a global hub for the carrier, offering multiple connections to its network including India. Sea-Tac will be the fourth North American nonstop destination for Singapore Airlines adding to current service in San Francisco, New York (Newark), and Los Angeles. Singapore Airlines also operates one-stop services to JFK and Houston.

“This new link to Singapore and connections to destinations beyond will broaden the global connectivity of our region,” said Port of Seattle Commission President Courtney Gregoire. “Singapore is an increasingly important consumer of Washington State services and export products and is a global hub for tech start-ups and entrepreneurship. It is fitting that our two regions will now be connected with a nonstop flight.”

“Our new non-stop flights to Seattle are another demonstration of our commitment to expand our operations in the important US market and grow our network reach. The new services will also further strengthen the Singapore hub by providing customers faster and more convenient connectivity from key markets such as Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australasia to North America,” said Singapore Airlines CEO, Mr. Goh Choon Phong.

The four-times-a-week service, beginning on September 3, 2019, will be on a fuel-efficient A350-900 aircraft with 253 seats (42 business, 24 premium economy, 187 economy). It will be initially operated three times per week before increasing to four times per week in October 2019.

At a little over 8,000 miles, the route will be the longest nonstop service from Sea-Tac, surpassing Seattle-Dubai by several hundred miles.

Singapore Airlines has been named the World’s Best Airline in 2018 by numerous publications, including Travel+Leisure Magazine, SkyTrax, and TripAdvisor. For more information visit Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines also has a codeshare agreement with Alaska Airlines, and members of Alaska’s Mileage Plan and Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer loyalty programs can earn miles on each other’s flights.

“This new route expands our global partner network, giving Mileage Plan members more international utility as well as the ability to earn Alaska miles,” said Andrew Harrison, Alaska Airlines' executive vice president and chief commercial officer. “Guests traveling to Singapore and beyond can enjoy the added convenience of connecting via our largest hub in Seattle. By next September, our Global Partners will offer nonstop service to 11 international destinations from Sea-Tac.”