September 2011

Lufthansa to launch Munich-Mexico City route

German flag carrier Lufthansa will fly five times per week to Mexico City from March next year, using A340-600 aircraft.  The new route will commence on March 26, with flights departing Munich on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 2225, arriving at 0325 the following day (0425 from April 1), and the return leg leaving Mexico City at 0925 (1025 from April 1), landing back in Germany at 0505 the following day.  There are currently no direct, nonstop flights between Munich and central America. Lufthansa also serves the Mexican City daily from Frankfurt.

Hilton opens new hotel at Heathrow

Hilton has opened its latest UK hotel near Terminal Five at London Heathrow Airport.  The 350-bedroomed hotel is about one mile from Terminal Five and designed to accommodate both business and leisure guests.  Bedrooms are equipped with workspace and free Internet access.  The hotel has space for nearly 1200 guests in its conference area as well as a further 800 in its ballroom. There is also a range of cafes, bars and restaurants.

American Airlines is formally launching its AAdvantage Million Miler scheme on 1 December, offering benefits including lifetime elite tier status, albeit with stricter eligibility rules than the unofficial programme it is replacing. AA is one of several US carriers that have over the years offered unofficial benefits for their most loyal customers reaching mileage milestones. Rewards include lifetime AAdvantage Gold status for those members earning one million miles, and lifetime Platinum status for those reaching two million miles.  The carrier is now formalising these benefits under the Million Miler programme, but frequent travellers will spot that AA has made changes to the rules, making it harder to reach the mileage landmarks.

World’s safest airlines named

British Airways and Continental Airlines are among the ten safest airlines to fly with, according to a new report.  The Air Transport Ratings Agency used data from 2009 to analyse the safety ratings of some 100 airlines.  From this, ATRA created a list of the 10 world’s safest airlines, six of which are based in the US.  The other airlines to make it onto the list were Air France-KLM, AMR Corporation (American Airlines, American Eagles), Airlines, Delta Airlines, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines  and US Airways (the airlines were named in alphabetical order, rather than naming the safest airline overall).

IATA reports boost for passenger traffic

Air passenger traffic rose by 5.9% in July compared with the same month last year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The airlines’ cartel said that during the month, international traffic rose by 7.3% while domestic numbers increased by 3.5%.  IATA said that compared with pre-recession levels in 2008, international passenger traffic had increased by 12%.  Load factors had also increased in July by 0.5% to 83.1% compared to July last year with North American carriers (86.9%) and European carriers (84.1%) in the lead. European carriers saw a 9.3% leap in demand along with an 8.9% increase in capacity.