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United Airlines plans nonstop service between New York/Newark and Cape Town

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United Airlines today applied with the U.S. Department of Transportation for authority to begin new service between New York/Newark Liberty International Airport and Cape Town International Airport. United plans to operate nonstop three-times weekly flights to Cape Town starting in December 2019.

“We are always looking at ways to expand our industry-leading international route network to offer our customers more convenient options. We’re thrilled to announce the addition of Africa to our global route offering,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s vice president of International Network. “This new flight will provide customers with the only nonstop service between the United States and Cape Town.”

United’s nonstop service between New York/Newark and Cape Town will decrease the current travel time from New York to Cape Town by more than four hours and provide customers from more than 80 U.S. cities with easy one-stop access to Cape Town. If approved, United’s service between New York/Newark and Cape Town will be operated with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft featuring 48 seats in United Polaris business class, 88 seats in United Economy Plus and 116 seats in United Economy.

Proposed Flight Schedule, Beginning December 15, 2019*

From To Depart Arrive Aircraft
New York/Newark Cape Town 8:30 p.m. 6:00 p.m. +1 Boeing 787-9
Cape Town New York/Newark 8:50 p.m. 5:45 a.m. +1 Boeing 787-9

*Subject to government approval

Cape Town is the oldest city in South Africa and the country’s center of trade and commerce. Located at the shore of Table Bay, the city is home to some of the most popular attractions in South Africa including Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Travelers to South Africa often begin their African journey in Cape Town before touring the Cape Winelands, viewing the African penguins at Boulder Beach or traveling beyond Cape Town to explore South Africa’s natural beauty including its many national parks, game reserves and beautiful coastlines and beaches of the KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces.

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Vietjet launches new service to Indonesia with Ho Chi Minh City-Bali route

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Vietjet today opens ticket sales for its new international route connecting the biggest city of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City with Bali (Indonesia). Vietjet is the first and only airline to operate this route, which will better link the two tourist-attraction cities to meet the increasing travel demands of local people and tourists as well as boosting the regional trade promotion and integration. Hongkognese will be more convenient to travel these two cities.

The Ho Chi Minh City– Bali route will operate five return flights per week, on every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday starting from May 29, 2019. Flying time is around 4 hours per leg. The flight departs from Ho Chi Minh City at 08:05 and arrives in Bali at 13:05. The return flight takes off from Bali at 14:05 and lands in Ho Chi Minh City at 17:05 (All in local times).

Vietjet Vice President Nguyen Thanh Son said: “Vietjet has the advantages of an expanding flight network and comfortable, friendly aviation services; therefore, I believe that the new route will not only create opportunities for people to travel by safe, civilized and modern air transport, but also connect two cities as known as two economic, cultural centers of Vietnam and Indonesia. The route will contribute to promoting tourism and economic integration in the region as well as introduce the images of Vietnam to the world.”

Bali – the popular tourist island of Indonesia and Asia is often called among travelholics as ––“Island of the Gods”, “Tropical Paradise” or “Dawn of the World”. Voted as the best tourist island in the world, Bali is a wonderful blend between the pristine, beautiful landscape with the local cultural, artistic and religious quintessence. Besides visiting Ubud Palace, discovering the famous town Bedugul with large Bratan lake, tourists can go surfing, ‘snorkeling’ diving or visiting endless terraced fields.

Vietnam, the country of thousand years of culture was always a favorite destination of many international tourists. If Hanoi capital is a representative of ancient culture, bold identity; Hue ancient capital is dreaming or Da Nang, Quang Binh are impressive wonders, Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam’s largest economic, financial central, vibrant and modern travel destination. The culture exchange trend and retaining characteristics make image and beauty of one of the most dynamic cities of the S-shaped country.

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United Airlines announces new Florida service

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United Airlines today announced more flights and more opportunities for customers to connect between Washington, D.C., and Florida. Beginning October 29, United will begin new twice-daily, year-round service between Washington Dulles and Fort Myers and Sarasota in Florida. Additionally, United will begin operating extended seasonal winter service between Miami and Washington Dulles starting two months earlier than originally planned in October 2019.
United’s new service to Fort Myers and Sarasota complements the airline’s growing Florida network of more than 50 routes served from Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

“These new routes offer our customers many more opportunities to conveniently travel year-round between Florida and our Washington hub,” said Ankit Gupta, United’s vice president of Domestic Network Planning. “Our schedule offers customers from Fort Myers and Sarasota easy connections to more than 130 flights across the United States and 11 European destinations with just one stop.”

United in Florida

In addition to its new service between Washington Dulles and Fort Myers and Sarasota, United operates more than 140 daily flights to 12 Florida cities. Effective October 27, United will offer the following service from its U.S. hubs to Florida.

City Destination

Chicago Destin/Fort Walton Beach, Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, West Palm Beach, Panama City, Pensacola, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Tampa

Cleveland Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa

Denver Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Fort Myers, Tampa, Miami, West Palm Beach, Pensacola, Sarasota, Destin/Fort Walton Beach

Houston Panama City, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, West Palm Beach, Pensacola, Fort Myers, Tampa, Destin/Fort Walton Beach

Los Angeles Orlando

New York/Newark Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Tampa

San Francisco Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Miami, Tampa

Washington Dulles Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Fort Myers, Sarasota

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Southwest Airlines: Nonstop from Silicon Valley to Long Beach

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Today, Southwest Airlines launched nonstop service to Long Beach Airport from Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC).

The flights are scheduled throughout the day to allow travelers more choices in departure and arrival time, and to support ongoing demand for travel between the Bay Area and Los Angeles Basin.

“Southwest has added important new service between Mineta San Jose International Airport and Long Beach Airport, a modern and accessible gateway to Southern California,” said Director of Aviation John Aitken. “The Bay Area to Los Angeles Basin corridor is the U.S.’s busiest air travel market, and Southwest’s four new daily flights give travelers more choices in airline, time-of-day for travel, and airport proximity to their business or leisure destination.”

 

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Heathrow zaps the airport with speedy Wi-Fi

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Heathrow has launched a fast speed Wi-Fi service at the airport. In partnership with Boingo, passengers at all Heathrow terminals are now able to enjoy the new Wi-Fi experience with up to 100 Mbps (megabytes per second) speeds.

Whether it’s booking last-minute travel insurance, pre-ordering groceries for the return home or streaming cartoons to keep children entertained, passengers will have no time limit when browsing on Wi-Fi at the airport.

The new service uses Passpoint1 technology to deliver a next generation, secure Wi-Fi experience and will enable travellers to seamlessly roam between Wi-Fi and cellular for a better-connected experience. Investments have been made to upgrade the wireless network across the airport, ensuring bandwidth capacity, and Boingo has installed two new high-speed internet links at the airport as part of the service overhaul.

Passengers who are already members of the Heathrow Rewards loyalty programme can earn 100 points by signing in to the new Wi-Fi with their Rewards account.

John Arbuckle, Head of Property at Heathrow said, “Whether passengers are streaming, browsing or working on the go, we’re excited to improve their connectivity experience with the latest generation of Boingo’s award-winning Wi-Fi. This is just one of many initiatives that Heathrow has invested in to serve and delight our 80 million passengers, making Heathrow a world-class airport”.

Dawn Callahan, Chief Marketing Officer at Boingo said, “Passpoint is a Wi-Fi game changer that facilitates a seamless, secure and fast connected experience for Heathrow passengers. We’re proud to introduce the technology at the busiest airport in Europe and launch easy-to-use, high-speed Wi-Fi that travellers now expect.”

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Munich Airport welcomes new US destination

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Effective immediately, American Airlines has launched a new service to the “land of endless opportunities.”

An Airbus A330 will be departing daily from Munich, Germany, to Charlotte, in the US state of North Carolina.

Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, with a total of 46.6 million passengers per year, is comparable to Munich Airport. It is the sixth-largest US airport and one of the busiest American Airlines hubs.

The US carrier is planning to offer more than 700 daily connections there by the end of this year.

The decision by the airline to expand its services in Munich underscores the important role played by Munich Airport for US routes. In 2018, 1.8 million people departed from Munich for destinations in the USA, making it not only the number one destination country in the intercontinental segment, but also placing it in the top three among all countries served from Munich.

Among US destinations served from Munich, Charlotte ranks eighth in total passengers.

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Thank you for flying TAP Air Portugal: Welcome to Tel Aviv

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Israel has about 9 million inhabitants and annually receives more than 4 million visitors. TAP Air Portugal landed its inaugural flight between Lisbon and Israel on time on Sunday night at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.

With this new route, TAP will offer connecting service from the United States via its Lisbon hub. Like all TAP’s “beyond Portugal” destinations, Tel Aviv qualifies for the airline’s stopover program en route.

TAP’s daily flight leaves Lisbon at 2:20 pm and arrives in Tel Aviv at 9:30 pm. From Tel Aviv, flights depart at 5:05 am, arriving in Lisbon at 9:00 am.

One of Israel’s main tourist attractions is the city of Jerusalem, where one can visit holy sites of various religions. Within walking distance are the Holy Sepulcher (Christian), the Wailing Wall (Jewish) and the Mosque of Al-Aqsa (Muslim).

But Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Nazareth, Tiberias, Caesarea, Haifa, the Dead Sea region, and in the Palestinian part, Bethlehem and Jericho, among other points, also have many attractions.

The Portugal Stopover comprises a network of more than 150 partners who provide exclusive offers for Stopover customers for hotels discounts and complimentary experiences such as tuk-tuk tours, visits to museums, dolphin watching in the River Sado and food tastings – even a free bottle of Portuguese wine in participating restaurants.

Travelers can also enjoy a stopover in Lisbon or Porto even if their final destination is in Portugal, such as: Faro (Algarve); Ponta Delgada or Terceira (the Azores); and, Funchal or Porto Santo (Madeira).

Furthermore, Stopover passengers can also create a multi-destination journey, making it will be possible to travel to one destination and return from another. For example, people may choose to fly to Barcelona then return from Seville, but they will still qualify for a stopover in Lisbon or Porto on either their outbound or return travel. Stopover visits are now also available on just one-way travel to Europe or Africa.

TAP will receive 37 new aircraft by the end of this year — and 71 by 2025 — thus becoming the operator of one of the most modern fleets in the world. This renewal and growth of the fleet has allowed TAP to announce new routes and more frequencies. From the United States, new service from San Francisco, Washington DC, and Chicago start in June. TAP has also announced new routes including Naples, Tenerife, Dublin, Basel and Conakry for 2019.

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Boston-Logan Airport: New international routes

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The last 24 hours have brought 2 new international flights to Boston Logan International Airport, thanks to Delta joint venture partners KLM and Virgin Atlantic – setting the stage for a year of growth and expansion for Delta in the Northeast.

Delta Air Lines and its partners KLM, Virgin Atlantic, and Korean Air will offer up to 149 daily departures to more than 50 destinations from Boston-Logan Airport in 2019, an increase of nearly 30 daily departures compared to 2018. New routes include Amsterdam, London-Heathrow, Lisbon, Edinburgh, and Seoul.

KLM – Amsterdam

On March 31, KLM began flying between Boston and Amsterdam, adding to the two daily flights to Amsterdam already operated at Logan Airport by Delta. KLM CEO Pieter Elbers joined officials from Massport, Delta leaders, customers and employees at the airport in a ribbon-cutting ceremony ahead of the outbound flight across the Atlantic.

Virgin Atlantic – London-Heathrow

And on April 1, Virgin Atlantic launched its daytime service from Boston to London-Heathrow – a morning departure that will better enable in-flight workday productivity for London-bound business travelers. Virgin and Delta together now offer three daily flights to Heathrow Airport from Boston.

Delta – Lisbon and Edinburgh

Later this spring, Delta will begin its own seasonal Boston service to Lisbon and Edinburgh, rounding out a full slate of new international destinations now directly accessible to Boston customers. Through this and an extended summer season to Dublin, by May Delta and its partners will offer the most international seats from Boston with flights to up to 19 international destinations — more than ever before.

Korean Air – Seoul-Incheon

A third partner, Korean Air, will start new service in Boston on April 12, when it begins nonstop flights to Seoul, one of the first additions to that joint venture’s transpacific network since Delta and Korean Air launched their partnership last May.

This new Boston flying comes as Delta continues to reinforce its position as the city’s leading carrier and deepen its investment at Logan Airport and in the greater Boston community. Overall, the airline and its partners will offer up to 149 daily departures to more than 50 destinations from Logan in 2019, an increase of nearly 30 daily departures compared to 2018.

Delta has doubled domestic daily departures out of Boston since 2013 and this year will serve four additional domestic destinations — Cleveland, Chicago, Washington-Reagan, and Newark-Liberty — while also adding more frequencies in another seven key domestic markets. Overall, the airline and its partners will offer up to 149 daily departures to more than 50 destinations from Logan in 2019, an increase of nearly 30 daily departures compared to 2018.

In addition to Delta’s network growth, the airline is also investing in Boston in other ways. With Massport’s partnership, Delta plans to assume operations at all gates at Logan’s Terminal A by the third quarter of 2019, growing its airport footprint by five gates. Delta also plans by 2020 the expansion of one of its Delta Sky Clubs, including new showers, expanded seating and a reimagined food and beverage area.

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Munich to Osaka now nonstop on Lufthansa

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Lufthansa launched a new service from Munich to Osaka on March 31 using an A350 aircraft. Along with the established flights operated by Lufthansa and All Nippon Airways to Tokyo, Munich Airport is now offering a second Japanese destination for the first time. With three daily connections, Munich Airport now ranks fifth in Europe in terms of flights to and from Japan.

From Europe, Japan’s third-largest city can be reached non-stop only from Amsterdam, Helsinki, London-Heathrow, Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and now Munich. Japan is one of the most important destinations in Asia – as demonstrated by the rising passenger figures. In 2018 a total of 200,000 passengers traveled in each direction between Munich and Japan.

Asian routes are the main source of growth in intercontinental traffic in the summer of 2019. “We believe that Munich Airport will establish itself as a convenient hub for travel to Asia in the coming years and see strong potential for further growth in this market segment,” says Oliver Dersch, Munich Airport’s Vice President for Traffic Development.

Lufthansa is also adding a daily connection to Bangkok starting in June 2019, complementing the existing service operated by Thai Airways. Moreover, Lufthansa is bumping up the frequency of its flights to Seoul from 6/7 to 7/7. From June onward, Lufthansa will increase its service to Singapore from five flights a week to a daily connection.

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Summer Schedule 2019: Frankfurt Airport puts spring in its step

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New flight schedule to take effect on March 31 – Total flights expanding moderately

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) continues to strengthen its status as Germany’s leading international aviation hub. Starting on March 31, travelers will be able to fly from Frankfurt to a total of 306 destinations in 98 countries.

In this year’s summer season, the number of flights will increase moderately (by more than one percent) compared to last year. Seat capacity will also grow by between one and two percent.

European, domestic German and especially intercontinental flight offerings will all expand. A rise of between 1.5 and two percent of aircraft movements is expected in the intercontinental category, with seat capacity increasing by 1.5 to 2.5 percent.

 New long-haul destinations

United Airlines will introduce daily services to Denver (DEN) in early May. Lufthansa will also offer a once-daily flight to DEN, while adding Austin (AUS), Texas as a new destination in North America. Cathay Pacific is increasing the frequency on its Frankfurt-Hong Kong (HKG) route, thus bringing the total to three services a week. Qatar Airways will offer more seats on one of its two daily flights to Doha (DOH), which will now be operated by an Airbus A380.

The intercontinental connections available from Frankfurt are marked by an impressive diversity, serving a total of 137 destinations. Lufthansa is continuing the new services introduced last winter to Cancún (CUN) in Mexico and Agadir (AGA) in Morocco. Condor will retain its flights to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) in Malaysia while stepping up the frequency to Phoenix (PHX) in the U.S., Calgary (YYC) in Canada, and Mombasa (MBA) in Kenya. Air India will also maintain its Frankfurt-Mumbai (BOM) route.

More connections to Turkey from FRA

Holidaymakers who wish to spend their vacation in Turkey have quite a few options to choose from: 11 airlines will now fly from FRA to a total of 15 destinations in that country, 15 percent more than before. They include a new service to Bodrum (BJV) by Lufthansa, which is also adding two other European holiday destinations: Heraklion (HER) in Greece and Tivat (TIV) in Montenegro.

Lufthansa will also continue flying to the new destinations it inaugurated last winter. Among them are Thessaloniki (SKG) in Greece, Trieste (TRS) in Italy, and Tromsø (TOS) in Norway. The airline is also adding more frequencies to Tirana (TIA) in Albania and Sofia (SOF) in Bulgaria, as well as Palma de Majorca (PMI) and Pamplona (PNA) in Spain. German leisure carrier TUIfly is strengthening its services from Frankfurt to Lamezia Terme (SUF) in Italy, Larnaca (LCA) in Cyprus, and Djerba-Zarzis (DJE) in Tunisia. In late March, Ryanair will add more services to Dublin (DUB), the Irish capital, bringing the total to 12 a week. Altogether, the total number of European destinations served from FRA will climb to 154, and within Germany to 15.

The impact on Frankfurt Airport of recent airline insolvencies is negligible. Flybmi will no longer be serving Bristol (BRS) in the United Kingdom and Jönköping (JKG) and Karlstad (KSD) in Sweden but because the aircraft used on those routes had only limited passenger seating their cancellation is only minimally affecting FRA’s total capacity. Nor are the failures of two other airlines, Germania and Small Planet Germany, having more than a very slight effect on total traffic. 

Good preparation for a positive travel experience

The moderate growth in flight movements is fully in line with the expectations of Fraport, the operator of Frankfurt Airport. To handle the increase, Fraport has been hiring more staff and allotting more space for additional security checks during the summer season. Nevertheless, passengers may still experience processing delays on peak days. They are therefore advised to check in online before leaving home, arrive at the airport at least two and a half hours before departure, and then head immediately for the security checkpoint. Travelers intending to drive to the airport and leave their vehicles there can book parking spaces online in advance. Passengers are also advised to observe the airlines’ rules on cabin luggage. Fraport recommends taking as few carry-on items as possible. Information and pointers on travel and carry-on luggage can be found at www.frankfurt-airport.com.

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