January 2011

Qantas to link Sydney and Brisbane with Dallas

Qantas will launch flights from Sydney to Dallas Fort Worth this May, with the return leg routing via Brisbane. But the airline will drop existing flights from Sydney to San Francisco. The four times-weekly service (departing Sydney on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) will commence on 16 May, using Boeing 747-400 aircraft. The outbound leg will operate directly from Sydney to Dallas, while the inbound leg will route via Brisbane.

Qatar Airways announces capacity increases

Qatar Airways has announced its planned capacity increases to an array of destinations across its global network. Expansion highlights include three additional weekly flights to Kuala Lumpur making it a double daily operation and two extra services deployed to the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam, also taking frequency up to twice a day. The daily Bangalore services to southern India will be upgraded from a narrow-body Airbus A320 aircraft to a wide-body A330, marking the first anniversary of the route’s launch. Flights in the Gulf will also increase with three extra weekly services to the Omani capital Muscat with capacity rising to 24 flights each week.

Virgin Atlantic codeshares with Air New Zealand

Virgin Atlantic has signed a codeshare agreement with Air New Zealand. The deal between the airlines, which already share frequent flyer programmes, will offer UK customers increased connectivity across New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

AEA warns of fragile aviation recovery

Natural events and industrial action hampered recovery of the European airline industry last year, new figures show.  The Association of European Airlines estimates that the industry grew traffic by 2.5% last year to 335 million. However, factors such as the Icelandic volcano eruption, the heavy December snow falls and industrial action at British Airways led the AEA to estimate an underlying growth rate of five to six per cent.  Figures produced by Eurocontrol, the air traffic control body, estimate that 160,000 flights within Europe were cancelled during 2010. Of these, 100,000 were attributed to the volcanic eruption, but the remaining 60,000 represented a 150% increase over the previous year’s level of cancellations.

Dreamliner delivery delayed again

Delivery of the long-awaited Boeing 787 Dreamliner has slipped to the third quarter of 2011, following an in-flight fire during testing late last year.  Prior to the incident the first delivery had been expected early this year, but the fire on board a test aircraft last November means Boeing have once again had to delay the Dreamliner’s launch.  In a statement the aircraft manufacturer said that the new delivery date “includes the time required to produce, install and test updated software and new electrical power distribution panels in the flight test and production airplanes”.

Leading Hotels of the World revamps recognition programme

Leading Hotels of the World has relaunched its Leaders Club programme, with new benefits including free breakfast and internet access, but members will now need to pay $100 for entry level membership.  The revamped scheme sees members benefit from complimentary continental breakfast for two on each day of their stay, as well as free internet access at all Leading Hotels. These perks are in addition to existing benefits including a complimentary night for every five stays completed during the calendar year, preferred status for a one-category room upgrade, and early check-in and late check-out.

China to build its second seven-star hotel in Beijing

China has entered a joint partnership with an undisclosed Saudi Arabian firm to build a seven-star hotel in Beijing, similar to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. This announcement comes barely a month after China revealed plans to build the highest hotel in the world in Shanghai.  The hotel will cost an estimated US$1.3 billion and will be built in Beijing’s Mentougou district, which is at least 30km away from the capital’s city centre. No other details of the project have been released, although it is claimed that the design of the hotel will be modelled after its Dubai counterpart.  The hotel will be the second property to receive a sever-star classification in China, the first being the Pangu 7 Star Hotel in Beijing, built near the Olympic stadium in 2008.