Gulf Air and Oman codeshare deal

Photo Gulf Air

Gulf Air, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier, has recently launched a new codeshare agreement with Oman Air, the national carrier of the sultanate of Oman, which will sees the airlines’ combined frequencies between Bahrain and Muscat increase to 6 daily flights.

Mr. Ahmed Janahi, Gulf Air Chief Commercial Officer, commented on the agreement: “This codeshare reflects Gulf Air’s consistent drive to offer our customers attractive options to fly to popular travel destinations. With this agreement we are not only increasing our flight frequencies to and from Muscat but also giving Muscat-based passengers an expanded range of connections with Gulf Air via Bahrain International Airport to various destinations across our network. On this occasion, we thank Oman Air for sharing our commitment and vision, which I am sure will allow us to continue to reinforce the longstanding relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Sultanate of Oman – helping strengthen tourism and commercial ties.”

Technical Issue Force Oman Air Flight To Return To Base.

Photo  Oman Air

An Oman Air plane flying from Muscat to Kathmandu, Nepal, was forced to return to base after experiencing a technical snag on takeoff.

Flight WY 337, which took-off at 0613 local time with 137 guests and six crew members on board, made a safe return to Muscat International Airport.

The guests and crew disembarked smoothly and without incident.

All guests were accommodated on an alternative aircraft later the same day.

"Oman Air’s over-riding priority is the safety and well-being of all its guests and staff, and the airline is proud of its unblemished safety record," the airline said in a statement.

"Oman Air thanks the Public Authority for Civil Aviation, the staff at Muscat International Airport, Royal Oman Police and Oman Airport Management Company for their cooperation and professional support," it said. 

 ♻ We care about the environment, please think twice before you hit ‘print’  

Follow @air101blog

Major US expansion for WOW air next year!

The low-cost transatlantic Icelandic airline, WOW Air continues its North American expansion plans by offering a raft of new flights from iceland's  Keflavik International Airport to the US.

The new destinations are Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Cincinnati and the rather lovely St. Louis Lambert International Airport.  The addition of these four routes brings the total Midwest destinations WOW flies to, to five.

Earlier this year, WOW air began service to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and now with these four more flights, the airline's total number of U.S. destinations to 12.

Read on to find out when the new services start.

8th A350 for Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines welcomed it's 8th super efficient and sexy Airbus A350 at the start of this week and has already put ti to use on commercial services.  

Originally in July2 015, the A350 uses the Rolls Royce’s Trent XWB engine. It is one of the largest, most efficient and most fuel efficient civil aviation engines in the aviation world today. This latest addition to the A350 fleet operated its first revenue service from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City  on 21st August.

Atlas to provide another 747-400f for Nippon Cargo Airlines

Atlas Air  announced that yesterday that it has entered into an agreement to operate a second Boeing 747-400 Freighter for Nippon Cargo Airlines, with also includes a possible expansion to include a third additional aircraft in the future.

This aircraft will be flown on key routes across the transpacific connecting Asia and the U.S. Service is scheduled to begin in September 2017.

“We are very pleased that NCA has chosen to expand its partnership with Atlas Air,” said William J. Flynn, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atlas Air Worldwide. “This follows the successful start of the first aircraft for NCA earlier this year and underscores our focus on the fast-growing Asia Pacific market.”

Fukashi Sakamoto, President and Chief Executive Officer, NCA, said, “We are delighted to expand this strategic arrangement with Atlas Air by adding the second aircraft, and we look forward to having a long, mutually beneficial relationship.”.

Profits Down for Air New Zealand

Increased competition has been blamed for a fall in Air New Zealand's profit, it's been announced today.  The Auckland based airline posted a fall of 17.5 percent in its annual net profit, stating net profit for the 12 months to 30th June was NZ$382 million thats $278 million, down from a record NZ$463 million in the previous year.

The carrier said it was still the second-highest figure ever recorded by the airline, describing it as a "strong" result.  "This year Air New Zealand faced an unprecedented increase in the level of competition from some of the world's largest airlines and effectively rose to the challenge," chief executive Chris Luxon said.

"The impressive way our team responded to the new competition while at the same time achieving commercial, customer and cultural excellence, helped to deliver our second highest profit ever."

Pre-tax earnings also dipped 20.5 percent to NZ$527 and operating revenue was off 2.3 percent at NZ$4.4 billion.

However the company is "optimistic about the overall market dynamics" and aimed to improve its earnings in the current financial year.

.

❗This article was written for this site by a member of our team 🙋, please do share it with your friends via social media. You are also welcome to post it or republish elsewhere on the 🌎web on the condition that you credit the author and link back to our site. Thank you.

 ♻ We care about the environment, please think twice before you hit ‘print’  

Follow @air101blog

Airports Want Quick Euro Deal Post Brexit

The owners for five of the busiest airports in the UK have joined forces to press the government to 'urgently' agree a post-Brexit deal on flights between the UK and the EU. They warn that the current uncertainty alone would be enough to see bookings drop by up to 41%.

A special report has been submitted to ministers by the owners of Manchester, Stansted, Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports which concludes that even if flights are not interrupted in March 2019 passenger numbers are likely to be hit hard without assurances.

WPI Economics created the report for the airports said that almost half of passengers booking in the year ahead were likely to alter their travel plans if there was any doubt over the status of flights. European based airlines have the freedom to fly from anywhere to anywhere in the EU, yet fears are this freedom of the air will end for UK based airlines as soon as Britain exits the EU.

Interline Deal For ANA and Malindo

Photo R A Samed

 All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline has signed a new interline deal with Malindo Air of Malaysia.  The interline arrangement will afford both airlines passengers to seamless travel with the two carriers offering greater connectivity on hundreds of routes.  

Malindo Air Chief Executive Officer Chandran Rama Muthy said the airline was delighted to partner ANA and take passengers beyond the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.  “With ANA, our passengers will be connected to more than 200 global and domestic destinations through its hubs in Narita and Haneda,” he said in a statement to mark the deal signing this week, adding "At the same time, this will increase the number of transit passengers at KLIA. Our extensive route network provides better options for passengers who travel for both the business and leisure segments,” he added.

ANA is the fifth addition to Malindo Air’s interline partners, after Turkish Airline, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Oman Air. The airline flies to over 46 cities - including 12 major Malaysian destinations.

Most On Time UK Airline - Jet2

OAG data shows that UK budget airline Jet2 has been ranked as the most punctual airline for the last two months in a row. 

The airline managed an 85.8% on time arrival rate in June and 85.7% the following month, which saw them beat all other airlines in the UK by just over 4%.

The performance of the airline is rather impressive, not least because this is the peak summer travelling period, the airline has also started flying from new bases Birmingham and Stansted. 

Windshear Caused Air Caraibes A350 to Collide With Runway Lights

An Air Caraibes Airbus A350-900 operating the airlines flight from Paris Orly to Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe, struck a number or runway edge lights causing major damage to part of its undercarriage.  windshere 

The incident took place at around 6pm local time on Sunday 20th and its believes that the aircraft was subjected to severe windshear upon touch down which caused to to veer to the right.  The aircraft's undercarriage came into contact with a number of runway boundary lights, damaging them and also the front two wheels of the right hand landing gear. 

American Airlines To Increase Capacity From Shannon to Philadelphia

American Airlines are to expand their operations from Ireland's Shannon Airport in a move welcomed by the airports management team.  

American Airlines will expand its Shannon to Philadelphia service during 2018, as the airline continues to build on the growing demand for flights between the Irish airport and its Philadelphia hub. 

Welcoming the increased capacity, Andrew Murphy, Managing Director Shannon Airport said: “The airline’s decision is significant and shows that the service is popular with passengers both sides of the Atlantic." 

"We are delighted with the increase which will add an additional 50 return flights and 7,000 passengers. It is a service that continues to grow, with a 60% increase in capacity already added since 2013.  We're look forward to partnering with American Airlines on making the expansion a real success."

BA's Not Taking The Pee......

In case you missed this story, it's the case of British Airways - taking the pee by not taking the pee! It's a rather disgusting tale of how one passenger had to endure an 11 hour flight sitting in a seat soaked with somebody else's pee.   

Andrew Wilkinson, paid more than £1,200  for a seat on a flight to South Africa with the British carrier, only to find when  he boarded the busy flight, his seat had a damp patch.   At first he thought it was just water, but upon closer inspection, the stench was unmistakable - it was urine.

He recalled: “I got to my seat and saw that there was a wet patch. It was about the size of two decks of cards laid side by side.

“At first I thought it was water but the smell was so distinct it could only have been urine.

“I told the stewardess and she smelt it and agreed it was wee."

“She said ‘sorry about that’. Then she went to the toilet and brought me seat wipes and told me to clean it up myself.”

Thomas Cook Pilots To Strike on 8th September

Approximately 91% of pilots at holiday airline Thomas Cook Airlines have voted to take industrial action in a dispute over pay and conditions.

The vast majority of the 560 pilots at Thomas Cook are members of the British Airline Pilots Association, of which 91% have voted for strike action. 

Executives at BALPA have announced the strike will take place for twelve hours between 3.00am and 3.00pm on the 8th September this year. However, it is understood that talks between the union and the airline will continue.

Baggage Delays at North Terminal

Photo Gatwick's North Terminal - courtesy of Gatwick Airport 

A large number, thought to be in the hundreds, of holidaymakers were left without their luggage after a baggage belt failure at Gatwick over the weekend.  

According to reports a number of flights departed from the North Terminal without some bags due to problems with the baggage distribution handling system.  

“A small number of bags were not put on departing flights over the weekend due to an issue with the baggage system. The issue has since been rectified." A spokesperson for the airport said. “Gatwick recognises the inconvenience that this issue has caused and would like to apologise to anyone affected."  Advising that “Passengers should contact their airline for the latest information on their missing luggage.”

EasyJet was the airline mostly affected, a spokesperson said: “Due to a baggage belt failure at London Gatwick, easyJet, like other airlines, experienced delays in the delivery of hold luggage to departing aircraft. This resulted in a number of flights departing without all of the luggage stowed in the hold.”

The airline advised they were working on reuniting passengers with their luggage as soon as possible. 

.

❗This article was written for this site by a member of our team 🙋, please do share it with your friends via social media. You are also welcome to post it or republish elsewhere on the 🌎web on the condition that you credit the author and link back to our site. Thank you.

 ♻ We care about the environment, please think twice before you hit ‘print’  

Follow @air101blog

Qatar Airways and Vistara Partnership

Qatar Airways has today entered into a new interline partnership with growing, full-service Indian airline Vistara, as the Qatari national carrier marks more than 20 successful years of flights to India.


The new interline agreement taking effect from 22 August, 2017 will allow Qatar Airways’ passengers to travel seamlessly to and from a wide range of cities within India across Vistara’s network, via Qatar Airways’ existing 13 Indian gateways and under a single ticket with QR’s generous baggage allowance throughout the journey.