Airlines
Network Expansion
Air Canada will be introducing year-round mainline service to Amsterdam from Toronto beginning in June 2015 as part of its continuing expansion of its international network. AC also said that additions to its summer network next year would include new Air Canada rouge seasonal service from Montreal to Venice and between Vancouver and Osaka. Benjamin Smith, president, passenger airlines, at Air Canada, said: "Air Canada will continue its international expansion drive next summer, led by the addition of Amsterdam to its mainline global network. Apart from being a popular tourist...
Ryanair Partners With Amadeus
Ryanair and Amadeus have signed a new agreement that will bring a wide range of the carrier’s fares and full ancillary services content to Amadeus subscribers for the first time in over a decade, via Amadeus’ innovative light ticketing technology. The agreement also means that Ryanair's new Business Plus fares will be made available to Amadeus subscribers, offering business and corporate travellers a tailored package, including flexible ticket changes, a 20 kg baggage allowance, fast-track at airports, priority boarding and premium seating. The agreement marks a significant...
Food Glorious Food
Lufthansa hosted a Culinary Academy in Toronto yesterday (Sept. 24) providing travel trade types with an insider's look a how the airline is able to consistently provide its passengers with a superior culinary experience. On hand for the presentation were Lufthansa's director & head of inflight services and lounges, Dr. Ingo Bulow and area manager Americas product design and caterer management, Ernst Derenthal. Together, Bulow and Derenthal offered those on hand a look at the effect of altitude on the taste of food and the changes that needed to be made to recipes in order to...
Making Dreams Happen
In an event jointly developed with the ad firm Bleublancrouge, KLM gave passersby on the street a chance to live a childhood dream – flying a jumbo airplane. The onlookers got to play airline pilot by pushing a throttle connected to a huge board displaying a KLM aircraft. The object was to leave a white contrail streaking across the sky. The 30 people from among the participants who performed the maneuver successfully were invited to try their hand a second time at producing a contrail. For one “pilot” who managed a successful “takeoff” again, the reward would be two KLM...
Addressing The Needs Of Travellers
When over 700 of the top executives from airlines, global distribution systems, travel trechnology providers, airports and travel management companies gather in San Diego in mid-October for IATA's fourth annual World Passenger Symposium (WPS), the topic of discussion will be “From Exclusivity to Commodity: Is Flying Still Glamourous?” IATA’s director general and CEO, Tony Tyler observed that: “2014 marks a century of commercial aviation. Some 65 billion passengers have flown in the 100 years since the first airline flight. Airlines will carry the next 65 billion passengers...
Air Canada Preferred
Air Canada has been named Canada's favourite airline for business travel in an Ipsos Reid Canadian Business Traveller Study. Air Canada was the preferred airline of 83% of Canadian frequent business travellers surveyed for 2014, an improvement of 14 percentage points in Air Canada's ratings in the national survey over the past six years. “We are especially gratified that the trend is positive across the country, with a significant increase in our preferred rating among Western Canadian business travellers in 2014,” said Benjamin Smith, president, Passenger Airlines at Air...
Not A Good Idea
Air France is telling its customers to either reschedule their flights or exchange their tickets free of charge as the airline's pilots' union threatens further strike action. Noting that from the beginning of the strike action, its commercial teams have been working to keep customers informed of any changes to its flight program and will continue to do so. Frédéric Gagey, president and CEO of Air France, said: “Air France has maintained constant dialogue with its pilots in order to reach an agreement to benefit the Group's growth and competitiveness. I deplore that our concrete...
Butlers In The Sky
Butlers will soon be on board Etihad Airways as the carrier prepares to introduce The Residence by Etihad on its fleet of 10 Airbus A380s – the first of which is set to be delivered in December 2014. The Residence by Etihad is a three-room cabin that features a living room, private shower room and double bedroom and butler service. The first group of Etihad Airways’ inflight Butler trainees has now departed Abu Dhabi for specialist training at the Savoy Butler Academy in London. The 13 men and women, all In-Flight Chefs or Food & Beverage Managers, were carefully chosen to...