New transborder routes connecting Edmonton with Minneapolis and Seattle along with increased access across Canada from WestJet

WestJet announces largest network expansion from Edmonton in airline's history with launch of new U.S. routes and enhanced domestic connectivity

New transborder routes connecting Edmonton with Minneapolis and Seattle along with increased access across Canada underpins continued expansion of Alberta's global aviation network

This week, WestJet has revealed significantly increased transborder connectivity from Edmonton International Airport, with new non-stop service to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Seattle, Washington as part of its 2023 summer schedule. In addition, WestJet's summer schedule from Edmonton will revitalize the city's domestic connectivity from coast-to-coast with the airline unveiling new routes from Edmonton to London, Moncton, Charlottetown and the resumption of nonstop flights to Ottawa, Montreal, Nanaimo and Penticton.

WestJet's renewed commitment to the city of Edmonton will see the airline's service increase by almost 50 per cent this summer when compared to 2022. Additionally, today's announcement underpins WestJet's strategic ambitions to grow its presence across Western Canada and further strengthen Canada's east-to-west connectivity.

"Since our first day of operation in February 1996 to reaffirming our commitment to the city and region almost exactly 27 years later, Edmonton is an integral part of WestJet's beginnings and our future," said Alexis von Hoensbroech, WestJet Group Chief Executive Officer. "As WestJet continues to own our position as the undisputed home-team carrier of Western Canada, I am grateful to be celebrating our renewed focus on Edmonton alongside our valued partners as we take strides to energize the city's two-way tourism opportunities and bolster its accessibility for business and leisure travellers."

Turkish Technic to Provide Base Maintenance Services to Air Serbia

Turkish Technic to Provide Base Maintenance Services to Air Serbia

Turkish Technic, a leading provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services has signed an agreement with the flag carrier of Serbia, Air Serbia, for the base maintenance services of four Airbus A320 family along with an A330 aircraft.

In accordance with the contract, base maintenance of the first Airbus A320ceo aircraft has commenced at Turkish Technic’s Istanbul Ataturk Airport facilities. Its Certificate of Release to Service will be issued in the first week of February. The other aircraft within the scope of the contract will be taken to service at Istanbul Ataturk Airport facilities in the upcoming months.

Lithuanian Airports complete preparations for a modern border screening system! Changes expected to start this year.

Lithuanian airports are among the first in Europe to complete preparations for a modern border screening system: changes expected to start this year.

A new Entry - Exit System (EES) is planned to be launched at border posts this year. This will directly affect third-country citizens entering the European Union (Schengen area) for the first time, who will have to undergo an additional registration procedure before crossing the border. This upcoming change will also require new infrastructure and space at border crossing points, and all Lithuanian airports are among the first in Europe to have already made these necessary changes to prepare for the start of the system.

The new Entry-Exit System is based on an EU regulation which stipulates that all Community (Schengen area) countries that have an external border with third countries must make it possible for foreigners to register in the Entry-Exit System, which requires the introduction of a new system of registration and border checks, as well as the setting up of a new space for registration and border controls. Lithuania has opted for a comprehensive universal system.

At the moment, many EU countries and airports are still in the process of implementing automated screening systems and preparing their premises for the Entry - Exit System procedure, and Lithuanian airports are among the first in the region and the EU to have already completed the preparation of the new system infrastructure. The hardware of the system has also been finalised and software installation as well as configuration are underway.

“We have already carried out contractual works on the adaptation of the spaces in all Lithuanian airports, which will be much more convenient for passengers to pass border checks and will also include self-service terminals and information screens. We have also carefully planned not only the new areas where additional checks will be carried out, but also modelled the processes for passenger flow management and passenger convenience. Once the screening starts, third-country citizens will not only receive detailed information on the procedures to be followed but will also have the opportunity to perform most of the services completely independently in the self-service terminals,” says Vidas Kšanas, Director of Safety and Security Department of Lithuanian Airports.

Qantas shifts more aircraft memorabilia for charity....

Qantas has held an open house and charity auction of items from the cabin of an Airbus A330 passenger aircraft before it travels overseas to be converted into a dedicated air freighter.

Frequent flyers and aviation enthusiasts were invited to an open house in Qantas’ Hangar 96 at Sydney Airport to inspect and bid on a number of items from the aircraft, including a bar cart, exit signs and a business class suite, to help ensure as much of the aircraft interior is reused, recycled or repurposed as possible.

The auction raised $16,300 for Qantas Pathfinders, a group of current and past Qantas staff which raises funds for NextSense (previously Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children).

After 15 years of safely flying passengers around Australia and overseas, this A330 (VH-EBE Kangaroo Valley) will head to Dresden, Germany, to be converted into a dedicated freighter and will return to Australia as part of the Qantas Freight fleet.

The conversion will be performed by EFW, a specialist joint venture between Airbus and ST Engineering. Conversion work will include a full strip-out of the cabin (seats, galleys, toilets), replacing the existing cabin door with a larger freight door and installing a cargo handling system.

Virtual reality and assisted flight to help people with fear of flying....

Brussels Airlines and behavioural therapists The Human Link organize new 'Fear of Flying' course

Now that the travel sector is slowly picking up speed again, people suffering from fear of flying are also seeking help more frequently. That is why behavioural therapists from The Human Link and Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines are again organizing a 'Fear of Flying' course for the first time in four years. Remarkably, participants can now be counselled using Virtual Reality (VR), which is a first. "VR makes the threshold even lower to get on an accompanied flight afterwards and give your fear a place," it is said. More than eight in 10 participants are able to travel by plane carefree after completing the course.

Last summer, people in Belgium already travelled as much as before the Covid pandemic, according to research by Statbel. And the number of plane trips to and from Brussels Airport is also gradually picking up. "Almost logically, there are again more requests for help from people with a fear of flying," says psychologist and behavioural therapist, Marieke Impens of The Human Link. "These are people from all walks of life, from teenagers to those in their seventies. And it's really not just business travellers. Think of parents whose children go abroad to study with Erasmus or people who have found a partner they love dearly and who wants to see the world. Some even work in the aviation industry and are suddenly constrained by fear."

To meet the demand, The Human Link is organizing another 'Fear of Flying' course at the end of March, in collaboration with Brussels Airlines, for the first time in four years. "The course was created back in 2006 in collaboration with the Ghent University and is scientifically based. The success rate was always above 80 per cent," says Marieke Impens. "Due to the Covid pandemic, we put the course 'on hold' for a while, but continued tweaking our approach. This has given us even more insight into how fear works and we are convinced that we can now counsel people with fear of flying even better."

SWISS expands its ‘Green Fares’ Europewide

Following successful trials in Scandinavia, SWISS is expanding its ‘Green Fares’ programme throughout Europe together with the Lufthansa Group. With SWISS’s Green Fares, the offsetting of the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the customer’s air travel is included in the price. The new Green Fare option complements SWISS’s existing range of products in the sustainability field.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is expanding its ‘Green Fares’ to all its European markets with immediate effect, together with the further airlines of the Lufthansa Group. The new fares were introduced in SWISS’s Scandinavian markets on a trial basis in August 2022.

Any SWISS customer choosing a Green Fare for their flight will be automatically offsetting the carbon dioxide emissions generated by their individual air travel – 20% through the use of sustainable aviation fuel or SAF and the remaining 80% through a contribution to quality climate protection projects. The present generation of sustainable aviation fuels generates 80% less carbon dioxide emissions than traditional aviation kerosene. SAF also offers the future prospect of almost carbon-neutral flying.

“With our Green Fares, which we have already successfully trialled in Scandinavia, we are offering our customers a further attractive and simple option for making their air travel more sustainable and, by purchasing SAF, helping to transform the aviation sector,” says SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour. “Working together in this way, we can send strong signals to the market to continue to pursue SAF’s development and production. We will only be able to scale up SAF production to the extent required through a joint drive of this kind from customers, airlines and technology providers alike, and with the appropriate political support.”

Cathay Pacific Group is first to offer intermodal cargo operations with upstream acceptance at Hong Kong International Airport’s Logistics Park Pilot Scheme in the Chinese Mainland

Regular sailings from Dongguan will bring security-screened and palletised air cargo direct to a secured pier at Hong Kong International Airport for export

Cathay Pacific Cargo and the Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal, operated by Cathay Pacific Services Ltd (CPSL), have become the first carrier and first cargo terminal operator to have cargo shipments accepted in Dongguan and transported to Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) by ship for outbound airfreight, enabling full upstream sea-air intermodal export cargo handling between the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and Hong Kong.

The HKIA Logistics Park in Dongguan developed by the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) enables shipments to be security screened, built up and accepted as cargo for flights before being loaded on ships that unload in a secured area at HKIA, from where pallets and ULDs can be towed straight to a waiting aircraft. The pilot scheme’s base will migrate to a permanent facility from 2025.

WestJet announces largest network expansion from Edmonton in airline's history with launch of new U.S. routes and enhanced domestic connectivity

WestJet announces largest network expansion from Edmonton in airline's history with launch of new U.S. routes and enhanced domestic connectivity

New transborder routes connecting Edmonton with Minneapolis and Seattle along with increased access across Canada underpins continued expansion of Alberta's global aviation network

WestJet today revealed significantly increased transborder connectivity from Edmonton International Airport, with new non-stop service to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Seattle, Washington as part of its 2023 summer schedule. In addition, WestJet's summer schedule from Edmonton will revitalize the city's domestic connectivity from coast-to-coast with the airline unveiling new routes from Edmonton to London, Moncton, Charlottetown and the resumption of nonstop flights to Ottawa, Montreal, Nanaimo and Penticton.

WestJet's renewed commitment to the city of Edmonton will see the airline's service increase by almost 50 per cent this summer when compared to 2022. Additionally, today's announcement underpins WestJet's strategic ambitions to grow its presence across Western Canada and further strengthen Canada's east-to-west connectivity.

"Since our first day of operation in February 1996 to reaffirming our commitment to the city and region almost exactly 27 years later, Edmonton is an integral part of WestJet's beginnings and our future," said Alexis von Hoensbroech, WestJet Group Chief Executive Officer. "As WestJet continues to own our position as the undisputed home-team carrier of Western Canada, I am grateful to be celebrating our renewed focus on Edmonton alongside our valued partners as we take strides to energize the city's two-way tourism opportunities and bolster its accessibility for business and leisure travellers."

In celebration of its new Edmonton-based investments which mark the single largest expansion of WestJet's network serving Edmonton in history, the airline, in partnership with Edmonton International Airport, was joined by valued partners from across the region at a special event held in the heart of the city's vibrant downtown ICE District.

"WestJet continues to invest in our region by creating important non-stop routes to critical destinations that foster business development and propel the visitor economy," said Myron Keehn, President & CEO, of Edmonton International Airport (YEG). "The more flights we have at YEG, the more opportunities we can offer Edmonton, our region, and Canada's North, and we're thrilled to welcome even more WestJet flights to our airport and showcase the Edmonton Region as an attractive hub for tech, sustainability, trade and tourism."

Rounding out Alberta's growing and thriving aviation hub

WestJet's summer schedule serving Alberta builds on the airline's foundational support of the province that will allow for its leisure, cargo and business economies to thrive like never before. With five new additions and the restart of four destinations to Edmonton's network, WestJet will serve 21 domestic and four transborder destinations from Alberta's capital this summer.

Exeter Airport launches summer season recruitment drive.....

Exeter Airport is creating 25 new jobs

ahead of the busy summer season

Exeter Airport is launching a recruitment drive to attract 25 new staff as it gears up for the busy summer season.

The airport has 26 direct destinations on offer this year with new summer flights to Faro in the Algarve with Ryanair, and year-round connections to the USA including New York, via Dublin, with Aer Lingus.

It is expecting to handle over 450,000 passengers this year and staff are needed to support the busy operation over the coming months.

Exeter Airport has won plaudits for its customer service and was ranked the best airport in the UK in a national league table published last year.

The airport will be holding a recruitment open day on Tuesday 21st February in the main departures terminal from 1.00pm to 6.00pm. Car parking is free and there is no need to book.

There is a wide range of posts on offer including passenger services agent, security officer, ground crew, despatcher, executive lounge assistant, cleaner, and Royal Mail screener.

To help potential new recruits get a flavour of the roles on offer, Exeter Airport has recently published a series of online videos in which its own staff are the stars, explaining why they love the jobs they do.

Stephen Wiltshire, managing director of Exeter Airport, said: “We’re expecting a busy summer ahead with new routes and increased capacity so we’re recruiting for around 25 roles to meet that demand and add to the 260 employees we already have. “The open day is a chance for people to come along and meet the team and find out more about working at their local airport, and we look forward to welcoming potential applicants to the terminal.”

Airport staff enjoy a range of benefits including free on-site parking while on duty, free airport parking when they go on holiday, discounts on Fred Olsen holidays and pension scheme. Full training and uniform are provided and there are great career development opportunities. 

The latest job opportunities at the airport are also posted on the airport’s website with details about how to apply.

Jetstar adds 58,000 seats on Adelaide-Bali route

Jetstar’s newest and most fuel-efficient aircraft, the A321neo LR, will start flying between Adelaide and Bali from 21 July.  

The aircraft has up to 46 more seats on each flight compared to the Airbus A320 which is currently flying the route, boosting capacity by 25 per cent and adding around 58,000 more low fares on the ever-popular route.  

Two of Jetstar’s state-of-the-art, longer-range NEOs will be permanently based in Adelaide from mid-year, flying to Bali as well as domestic destinations to support Jetstar’s ongoing commitment to offering incredible low fares.   

Jetstar’s NEOs 

The A321neo LR offers the best inflight experience of any low-cost carrier — featuring a quieter cabin, wider seats, bigger overhead bins, inflight USB charging and seat-back device holders.  

Jetstar’s A321neo LR fleet is continuing to grow, with the fifth NEO due to touch down early next month from the Airbus factory in Germany. In total, the aircraft manufacturer is delivering 18 NEOs by the middle of 2024.  

Jetstar Group CEO, Stephanie Tully, said flying the NEO will see Jetstar welcome onboard over 250,000 customers a year between Adelaide and Denpasar.   

“Bali has always been Jetstar’s most popular international destination and it’s not hard to see why with its beautiful beaches, delicious food, friendly locals, affordability, and proximity to Australia,” Ms Tully said.   

Iberia is the first airline in the World to obtain all three Aenor Innovation certificates

Iberia is at the forefront of innovation, as demonstrated by its three Aenor certificates.  It is the first company in the tourism sector and the first airline in the world to obtain these three certificates simultaneously. In Spain, only three companies have achieved all three UNE certificates, and one of them is Iberia.

The UNE are certifiable specifications whose objective is to standardise processes, establishing requirements to be fulfilled by organisations according to each type of standard. Iberia has obtained the three UNE innovation certificates that endorse its innovation, surveillance, and intelligence management system, as well as its capacity to carry out the technological transfer of its own intellectual property to a third company.

Iberia Airport Services, at the Forefront of Digitisation and Innovation in the Handling Sector. Obtaining these innovation UNEs is directly linked to the ramp handling tenders called by Aena, in which Iberia Airport Services is bidding for the licences at 41 airports. The technical section of these tenders has been built on three verticals: innovation, sustainability, and people, and Iberia Airport Services has presented a very robust proposal in all three of them.

European travel is at loggerheads with recession fears, according to Bloomberg Intelligence

European travel is at loggerheads with recession fears

Photo by Pascal Meier on Unsplash

European travel companies will be hoping demand continues to remain solid, ensuring strong enough pricing can offset cost inflation and boost margin as capacity and occupancy are restored, with recession trends not yet much in evidence as passengers catch up on experiences missed during the pandemic.

Conroy Gaynor, Consumer Industry Analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence, said: “Budget airlines Ryanair and EasyJet have upbeat bookings, but consumers trading down could soften the yields of legacy rivals due to report 4Q earnings and issue outlooks. Full-service carriers rely on long-haul travel, with Lufthansa among those benefitting from market power on some routes. The price of jet fuel is 28% lower since June but still up 45% vs 2019 and strike disruption and salary increases remain 2023 headwinds. Some hotel chains, including Accor, have been raising room rates for higher energy and wage bills.”

 

European legacy airlines’ share price outperformance has generally improved, along with earnings expectations, since the last reporting season. Pent-up demand remains robust and macroeconomic headwinds have eased, including those related to energy and currency. IAG and Lufthansa benefit from Trans-Atlantic flights and some Asian reopening prospects, but Air France-KLM’s operational recovery is overshadowed by concerns at Amsterdam Schiphol airport and balance sheet complications.

 

IAG benefits as travellers splash out on long haul

Emirates celebrates 10 years in Poland.

           Emirates, the world's largest international airline, celebrates the tenth anniversary of its first commercial flight operation in Poland. Since the inaugural flight in February 2013, the airline has carried more than 1.6 million passengers on the service across more than 6,300 flights from Dubai to Warsaw in both directions. The carrier offers Polish passengers a daily direct flight operated by a Boeing 777-300ER wide-body aircraft.

This year we are celebrating Emirates’ anniversary in Poland, which is an exceptional opportunity to summarize the past decade as we look ahead to 2023 with greater optimism. We are delighted that we have been operating flights on the Dubai-Warsaw route for the past ten years. Poland consistently remains a very important market for us, and we particularly value cooperation with partners that contribute to exceptional service for our clients and support the domestic development of trade and tourism. The past decade is motivation for us to continue on the path of providing the best quality services and maintaining the highest standards – said Maciej Pyrka, Country Manager of Emirates in Poland.

Over the years, Emirates flights to Warsaw have created new opportunities for business, trade and tourism and strengthened the ties between the United Arab Emirates and Poland. The Emirates Group employs more than 600 Poles, including cabin crew, pilots and employees in other business areas across the Group. Emirates offers candidates exceptional career opportunities, the chance to gain world-class expertise at the airline's state-of-the-art training center in Dubai, including an excellent training facility and a wide range of development programs.

S&P downgrades SriLankan Airlines bond after default

Photo by Fasyah Halim on Unsplash

              Ratings agency S&P Global on Monday cut its long-term issue rating on state-owned SriLankan Airlines' foreign currency-denominated bond after the airline was unable to meet an interest payment and defaulted on a paper.

"We lowered the issue ratings on the SLA 2024 bond to 'D' from 'CC' because both the issuer and government of Sri Lanka, as guarantor, missed a coupon payment of about US$6.1 million," the ratings agency said in a statement on Monday.

SriLankan Airlines defaulted on a $175 million bond as it was unable to meet a $6 million interest payment, its chairperson told Reuters on Thursday.

S&P affirmed the other ratings on Sri Lanka and said that the outlook on the country's long-term local currency rating is negative.

Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru

flynas now offers electronic stopover visa service

flynas, the Saudi air carrier and the leading low-cost airline in the Middle East, announced that its passengers can apply for an electronic Stopover Visa through its website. The "Stopover Visa" is issued after purchasing the airline ticket, and the validity of the visa extends to three months and the stay in the Kingdom up to 4 days.

The visa application will be passed automatically to the unified national visa platform at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to process and issue the digital visa immediately and send it to the beneficiary via e-mail.

Expecting that the new service will contribute to increasing the visitors to the Kingdom, including Umrah and Pilgrim visitors, tourists, and businessmen, Bandar Almohanna, CEO and Managing Director of flynas, said, “the Saudi Vision 2030 has laid the foundations for cooperation among the regulatory and executive sectors on one hand, and with the private sector on the other hand, to serve the Kingdom’s goals in all sectors. Today, we see a practical application of this integration and cooperation by enabling the national carriers to facilitate a request for issuing a Stopover visa, which facilitates procedures of obtaining a Stopover visa for whoever wishes to visit the Kingdom”.

Almohanna stressed that this service will contribute to strengthening the Kingdom's position as a global hub for travel and business by facilitating quick business visits, making the Kingdom a point of contact between countries and continents. He indicated that the new service comes in line with the civil aviation strategy to reach 330 million passengers and link the Kingdom's cities with 250 global destinations and 100 million tourists annually.

Thousands of tourists are expected to benefit from the Stopover visa to attend the various cultural and entertainment events in the Kingdom throughout the year. Additionally, the 4-day visa can also be used to perform Umrah in Makkah Al-Mukarramah and visit the Prophet’s Mosque in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah. Moreover, business people can benefit from the Stopover visa to enter the Kingdom for quick business trips.