Air Canada
Air Canada said it will launch the only daily service between Vancouver
and Paris to meet seasonal travel demand. Between July 1 and Sept. 29,
2009, the carrier will operate daily one-stop same plane flights
linking Vancouver with the French capital during the busy summer
season. This service complements Air Canada’s daily
non-stop services between Toronto-Paris, and
Montréal-Paris using brand new 349-seat Boeing 777-30ER
aircraft. In addition, effective June 1, Air Canada is introducing new
Montréal-Geneva service also providing easy access to a
number of popular destinations in France served by train such as nearby
Lyon, Annecy, Dijon and Grenoble. Geneva flights are timed to offer
Vancouver customers easy and convenient connections in
Montréal. For more information, visit www.aircanada.com.
Mar 30, 2009
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines will sponsor free Wi-Fi at the Oakland airport: The
service will be free from 13 April to 5 July, and seems intended to
raise the awareness of Alaska's Wi-Fi trial with Row 44, currently
underway. Alaska seems likely to put Wi-Fi on its planes if it gets a
good response from passengers to the in-flight Internet service. Many
of Alaska's routes pass over water, and a satellite-backed service is a
good fit if passengers are willing to pay for the privilege. It's also
a way for the no-extras airline to bring entertainment onboard without
installing seatback systems. Apr 4, 2009
American Airlines
American Airlines has opted to install Aircell's Gogo in-flight
Internet system on more than 300 domestic aircraft over the next two
years, as a growing number of operators commit to keeping their
passengers connected during flight. The Oneworld alliance member began
trialling Gogo last summer on its 15 domestic Boeing 767-200s operating
primarily on nonstop flights between New York JFK and San Francisco,
Los Angeles, and Miami. Mar 31, 2009
American Airlines, Gogo
After testing Gogo's Inflight Internet service on 15 of its passenger
jets, American Airlines has decided to install the Wi-Fi service on a
third of its 900 aircraft over the next two years. American Airlines
said it will start the deployment process by installing the Gogo
service on 150 domestic MD-80s this year, to be followed by the rollout
of the Wi-Fi service on Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Garton said the tests,
carried out on 15 Boeing 767-200 planes, were successfully tested on
flights between New York's Kennedy Airport and San Francisco, Los
Angeles, and Miami. In essence, the service turns passenger jets into
flying Wi-Fi hotspots after the jets reach 10,000 feet, letting
passengers use their laptops and smartphone handsets to surf the Web.
Users, however, won't be able to make VoIP calls. American is pricing
the service at $12.95 for flights longer than three hours and $9.95 for
flights shorter than three hours. Customers using smartphone handsets
will pay $7.95 to use the service for short and long flights. A
competing service is offered by Row 44's satellite technology, which
utilizes satellite technology. Southwest Airlines said recently that it
plans to test the Row 44 service. The Row 44 service is also used by
Alaska Airlines. Boeing's earlier satellite-based service was canceled
after the aircraft builder installed it on several international
flights. Apr 1, 2009
Atlantic Southeast, Bombardier
Atlantic Southeast Airlines expected to return to service by late
yesterday all Bombardier 60 CRJ200s grounded for safety inspections.
ASA, which operates as a Delta Connection carrier, voluntarily pulled
the 50-seat aircraft on Tuesday after an internal audit raised
questions about whether engine maintenance was in compliance with
manufacturer recommendations. Aircraft were returning to service as
soon as they were inspected and no problems or maintenance issues were
revealed, ASA said. Apr 3, 2009
Boeing, All Nippon Airways
As its first flight nears, Boeing has significantly reshuffled the
early recipients of the 787, with launch customer All Nippon Airways
now set to take delivery of an overwhelming portion of aircraft once
slated for Chinese carriers. The first 30 787s, ANA was set to take
delivery of three Dreamliners in the first three months of production
based on an anticipated August 2009 entry into service. The new
schedule has 11 aircraft being handed over to the Japanese carrier
during the same three-month production period beginning in February
2010. The first six flight test aircraft once allocated to ANA, Delta
Air Lines and Royal Air Maroc are no longer assigned to airline
customers. Apr 2, 2009
Chicago O'Hare International
Fifty new computer tourism "kiosks" will be installed throughout O'Hare
International Airport, Mayor Richard Daley announced Monday. Travelers
at the airport will be able to use the touch screen-computers to access
the city's 2-month-old tourism site, explorechicago.org. The computers,
which provide information in several languages, will provide many
functions once performed by the red-jacketed greeters the Daley
administration recently laid off to help address the city's budget
deficit. Apr 1, 2009
Cougar Helicopters, Sikorsky
Aircraft
Canadian safety investigators say the Cougar Helicopters S-92 that went
down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland on 12 March
hit the water “belly first” in an upright
position with a “tail-low” attitude, a
finding that could indicate the pilots may have been able to maintain
attitude control of the twin-engine heavy helicopter if not its
vertical descent rate during the ditching attempt. Investigators said
accelerometers in the seats of the helicopter showed an impact force of
20Gs, a level one expert called “quite
abrupt.” The aircraft’s tail section
separated from the main fuselage, with the upper deck and main cabin
badly damaged but holding together. Seventeen of the 18 onboard
perished in the crash. Apr 2, 2009
Delta Air Lines
Travelers walking into Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are
seeing the Delta name splashed across a terminal that was once
dominated by Northwest Airlines. Delta Air Lines bought the
Minnesota-based airline last year. But the Northwest name is going
away, and the new airline is run out of Atlanta. Delta has pulled down
the old Northwest signs and replaced them with the Delta logos across
the main terminal. Gate agents are all wearing Delta uniforms, too,
although some still work for Northwest and some work for Delta. Apr 2,
2009
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines said new signage will be appearing this week at former
Northwest Airlines hubs in Detroit, Memphis and Minneapolis-St. Paul as
part of its $500 million integration effort. It expects to have all
domestic airports re-branded by year end, with international facilities
finished next year. Former NWA employees began wearing DL uniforms this
week as well. The carrier said 33 NWA aircraft already have been
repainted, with some 250 left to complete before the end of 2010. Apr
1, 2009
Delta Air Lines, Boeing
Delta Air Lines Inc. will debut its Boeing 747-400 jet in Delta colors
Thursday on a flight between Atlanta and Honolulu. The first flight of
a Boeing 747 jumbo jet in Delta livery since 1977 will depart for
Honolulu at 10:15 a.m. April 2. Delta obtained 16 Boeing 747-400s in
last October’s acquisition of Northwest Airlines Corp,
according to a regulatory filing. Mar 31, 2009
Delta Air Lines, Northwest
Airlines
Fans of Northwest Airlines aren’t going to have a good
start to their travel this week. Although the airline still
won’t be totally merged into Delta just yet, things are
getting pretty darn close. After a week of digging through their
closets and showing off their in flight fashions from years past,
Northwest’s flight attendants will be debuting Delta digs
starting today. Let’s just hope everyone can get along and
merge into one big Brady Bunch of an airline. So just as a final
reminder, double check those boarding passes and flight numbers. With
so much crew sharing and snazzy paint jobs, you don’t want
to end up in Minneapolis instead of Atlanta. So far there
hasn’t been a decision on whether to offer Coke or Pepsi,
but we’re thinking they should just offer beer. No matter
how cramped and stuffed the flight, just imagine the party scene if
free booze was a promotion to kickoff the new Delta. Mar 31, 2009
General Electric, Pinnacle
Airlines, Bombardier
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has concluded that
"excessive" friction between the static and rotating portions of a
certain seal inside the General Electric CF34 turbofan engine under
certain high-power, high-altitude conditions is unsafe and must be
corrected. A final rule to be published tomorrow calls on US operators
of some 2,450 CF34 engines to replace the original 4-step air balance
piston seals with 8-step seals at the next life-limited parts
replacement interval, a relatively inexpensive modification expected to
take five hours per engine. The issue gained prominence in the
investigation of the Pinnacle Airlines Bombardier CRJ200 crash in 2004.
Both pilots were killed during the repositioning flight after
purposefully stalling the aircraft at 41,000ft and experiencing a dual
flameout that resulted in core lock of both engines. The crew initially
misreported the situation to air traffic controllers, and ultimately
failed to restart the engines. The aircraft crash-landed short of the
airport in a Missouri neighbourhood. Apr 1, 2009
Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines plans is introducing meals for purchase on long-haul
flights in addition to complimentary meals the carrier already offers.
The airline last year completed a three-month trial of selling meals,
and now is offering various options to customers for $10 on long-haul
flights from domestic US markets to Hawaii. Mar 30, 2009
Horizon Air
Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines have announced a new fare of only $69
for travel from Eugene and Redmond/Bend, Ore., to Las Vegas between
April 3 and May 31, when tickets are purchased by April 10. Passengers
connect in Portland or Seattle. Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines
announced today a new fare of only $69 for travel from Bellingham to
popular destinations throughout California, Nevada and Arizona between
April 3 and May 31, when tickets are purchased by April 10. For more
information, call Horizon at 800-547-9308 or Alaska Airlines at
800-252-7522, or visit www.horizonair.com or www.alaskaair.com. Mar 30,
2009
Priceline.com
Priceline.com has released its weekly airfare index. Each dollar amount
shown is the average of the lowest fares returned through multiple
airfare searches for flights that are at least seven days away from
departure. The percentage change compares fare averages for the current
week with those from the previous week. Amounts shown include all taxes
and airline fees. Airfare pricing is subject to change and there is no
guarantee that any airfare will be available at the amounts shown. The
bottom line: fares to and from Washington, D.C., have increased, while
fares to Las Vegas are down. Fares to Chicago are also down. Here are
city pairs with the biggest changes: Portland to Las Vegas, $233, down
20 percent; Indianapolis to Orlando, $214, down 16 percent; Chicago to
Phoenix, $280, down 14 percent; Chicago to San Francisco, $283, down 14
percent; and Seattle to Phoenix, $266, down 12 percent. For more
information, visit www.priceline.com. Mar 31, 2009
