American latest to try 757s on international routes

American Airlines has become the latest U.S. airline to begin flying Boeing 757 jets on international routes. AA yesterday unveiled a reconfigured version of its 757 that it says it will deploy on certain trans-Atlantic and Latin American routes. AA says it is reconfiguring 18 of its 124 757s for international service. AA’s 757’s “revamped interiors — which include new seats and updated in-flight entertainment systems — are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The 757 Business Class cabin, with a 2-2 seating configuration, features 16 lie-flat seats with drop-down armrests. The coach cabin has 166 seats in a 3-3 configuration.”

The first flight on one of those 757s took place yesterday, flying between New York JFK and Brussels.  AA will also fly the 757s between Miami and Salvador, Brazil, with continuing service to Recife.

AA “also has revamped 47 Boeing 777 airplanes to improve passenger comfort on flights performing on U.S. routes to the United Kingdom, Japan, China, India and Latin America.”Continuing upgrades of AA’s 767-200s are expected to be finished by mid-year.

Aer Lingus deal opens up US routes

From next month Aer Lingus customers will be able to use American routes and networks under a new agreement with United Airlines.

 

Aer Lingus and the American carrier have begun a code-sharing agreement, enabling Aer Lingus customers access to United Airlines’ network in North America from November 1.

From April 2009, Aer Lingus will also place its code on United’s domestic flights, giving customers access to United’s entire North American network.

The codeshare agreement will cover all six of Aer Lingus’ US gateways, including New York-JFK, Boston, Orlando, Chicago-O’Hare, San Francisco, and Washington DC.

Aer Lingus customers will have access to almost 200 additional destinations in the US through United’s hubs in Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington.

United customers will also benefit from greater access to destinations in Ireland and to destinations in the UK and in Europe through Aer Lingus’ extensive short-haul network.

Air France to start London – New York from 2009

As a result of the cancellation of London Heathrow – Los Angeles service from 26OCT08, which frees up a pair of slot in London, Air France plans to start Daily London Heathrow – New York JFK service in addition to existing DELTA’s 2 Daily flights, from 29MAR09

Air Jamaica increase Montego Bay – New York

Air Jamaica from 06DEC08 operates 2 Daily on the Montego Bay – New York JFK one-way route, an increase from 11 weekly.

The increase is on JM009

TAM Begins New Flights to the United States From Rio de Janeiro

TAM will begin two direct flights between Rio de Janeiro and the United States. The company’s passengers may fly these new routes in Executive or Economy class.

Flight JJ 8078 will depart the Tom Jobim International Airport (Galeao state), in Rio de Janeiro, at 11:15 p.m. (local time), Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. It will fly directly to the John Fitzgerald Kennedy
International Airport (JFK), in New York, where it will arrive at 6:00 a.m.(local time) on the following day.

The return portion of the flight will be made on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Flight JJ 8079* will depart New York at 4:15 p.m. (local time) and will fly directly to Rio de Janeiro (Galeao state), landing in the Brazilian city at 5:30 a.m. (local time). On Sundays, flight JJ 8075** will depart New York at 8:00 a.m. and will arrive in Rio de Janeiro at 9:15 p.m.

Currently, TAM operates two daily flights to New York, originating from Sao Paulo (Guarulhos state). All stages of the flight are made with A330 aircraft, both on the initial flight and on the return. With the start of
this new route, the company now offers 18 weekly flights between Brazil and New York. All flights have connections available.

To Miami, flight JJ 8056 will depart the Confins Airport in Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais state), at 7:30 p.m., arriving at 8:25 p.m. (local time) at the Tom Jobim International Airport (Galeao state), in Rio de Janeiro, from which it will depart at 11:05 p.m. (local time) and fly directly to the Miami International Airport in Florida, landing at 6:30 a.m. (local time) the following day.

The return will be flight number JJ 8057, which will depart Miami at 10:05 p.m. (local time) and fly directly to Rio de Janeiro (Galeao state), where it will arrive at 7:10 a.m. (local time), departing at 9:30 a.m. (local time) and landing in Belo Horizonte (Confins state) at 10:35 a.m. (local time). The stretch between Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro will be operated by the A320 aircraft on both halves of the round trip.

Air India to end LHR-JFK flights

Air India is to discontinue its daily service between London Heathrow and New York JFK from 10 September. The service is one of the longest continually operated transatlantic services between the two airports. The carrier has operated flights on the route since 14 May 1960, when it started a one-a-week flight from Bombay to New York via London, using a Boeing 707.

The airline had special dispensation to operate its so-called fifth freedom services, as were Kuwait Airways, El Al and IRan Air (the latter two no longer operate), under the Bermuda II aviation agreement between the UK and the US. The bilateral Bermuda II agreement was swept away by the Open Skies agreement earlier this year.

Delta to begin Mumbai-Atlanta from November 1

Delta Air Lines on Friday announced a new non-stop daily flight between Mumbai to Atlanta in the US from November 1. The new flight will replace Delta’s current non-stop flight from Mumbai to New York’s JFK. 

This flight will offer Mumbai’s community the benefit of connections across the US, the Caribbean and Latin America via Delta’s Atlanta hub, the release said. The Delta flight DL 185 will leave Mumbai at 1.05 am and reach Atlanta at 8.30 am while the flight DL 184 will depart Atlanta at 7.15 pm and arrive in Mumbai at 10.35 pm (next day), the release said. It would be a 17-hour, 55-minute non-stop west-bound flight.

I personally think that Delta is not able to sustain lodas on its BOM-JFK sector as there are 4 players in tis field and competition is cut throat. Yields on the BOM-NYC route will rise and will benefit Air India, Jet Airways and Continental.

Emergency landing at JFK after LaGuardia takeoff

An American Airlines MD-80 bound for Atlanta was forced to make an emergency landing yesterday when one of its two rear-mounted engines failed shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport. The plane landed a short time later at Kennedy Airport. No one was injured and the cause of the engine failure was not known yesterday.

Debris, believed to be from one of the aircraft’s two rearmounted engines, fell to the runway below.

Bill McLoughlin, National Air Traffic Controllers president, was working at the time in the LaGuardia tower . “We heard a large bang on departure,” he said. Moments later, the pilot radioed the tower that he had lost his right engine and was declaring an emergency.

McLoughlin said there are degrees of emergency. “On a level of one to three, this was a level two,” McLoughlin said. “Number three would be an aircraft that actually crashed.”

The pilot had difficulty gaining altitude and control of the aircraft, McLoughlin said, and controllers cleared aircraft from airspace around that plane, notified Port Authority security, New York City police and fire department about the emergency, and notified JFK officials to do the same, in case the pilot decided to try to land there.

The pilot landed at JFK, where the runways are longer, McLoughlin said, and the airspace and runway he wanted were cleared for him. McLoughlin said he received word at 5:10 p.m. that the aircraft had landed safely on JFK Runway 31R.

The debris on LaGuardia’s Runway 4 was cleared, and that runway was reopened at 5:16 p.m., McLoughlin said.

MD-80s like the one that landed yesterday at JFK have had their share of problems this year.

Over March 26 and March 27, and then again between April 8 and April 12, an FAA safety audit against American Airlines forced the airline to ground its MD-80 series fleet, to inspect the aircraft’s hydraulic wiring. American was forced to cancel nearly 2,500 flights in March and more than 3,200 in April.

In addition, Delta Air Lines inspected their own MD-80 fleet this year to ensure their 117 MD-80s were also operating within regulation. This prompted Delta to cancel 275 flights.

OpenSkies announces new Premium Service

OpenSkies, the new premium transatlantic airline from British Airways, announced today that it will offer daily service between Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport beginning on October 15, 2008.

Tickets for the Amsterdam-New York route will go on sale in early August.  The daily flight departs from Amsterdam-Schiphol at 1:20pm arriving in New York-JFK at 3:35pm and departs New York-JFK at 8:05pm arriving in Amsterdam-Schiphol at 9:40am the following morning.

 OpenSkies offers guests superior service, competitive fares and exceptional value.  The Amsterdam-New York route will be served by the current OpenSkies’ 757 flying the Paris-New York route.  An additional 757 from the British Airways fleet is now undergoing modification and will join OpenSkies when the Amsterdam route launches this fall.