Airlines
CANADA EXPANDS CHINA AIR LINKS
Canada's foreign affairs minister, John Baird has announced the successful conclusion of an expanded air transport agreement with China. The amendments to the agreement will give airlines the flexibility to offer more travel options and help Canadian airports attract new flight links, which will help to create economic opportunities in Canada and China. Baird said: "Our government is focused on jobs, growth and concrete ways to increase trade and tourism. This agreement is good news for travellers, shippers and CanadaÆs aviation industry as a whole." And the minister continued:...
PORTER BAGGAGE GUARANTEE
Porter Airlines is introducing a checked baggage delivery guarantee. All checked bags will reach the baggage claim within 30 minutes of aircraft arriving at the gate of any airport, or a $25 voucher valid for future Porter travel within six months will be provided. In the event of a delay beyond 30 minutes, a passenger simply needs to file a report with an on-site Porter agent at the baggage claim within one hour of flight arrival to be credited with an electronic voucher on their file. One voucher is issued per qualified passenger for one or more checked bag. The offer does not apply to...
WESTJET POSTS JUNE GAINS
WestJet posted at 76.8% load factor in June 2013. Revenue passenger miles (RPMs), or traffic, increased 8.3% year over year, and capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASMs), was 11.3% higher over the same period. In the first half of 2013, the airline achieved a load factor of 81.9% and flew nearly 9.0 million guests, a year-over-year increase of 5.7% or approximately 489,000 additional guests. WestJet president and CEO Gregg Saretsky said: "We continue to be pleased with our strong year-over-year traffic growth, notwithstanding reservation cancellations and weakness in advance bookings...
AER LINGUS PLANS YYZ-DUBLIN FLIGHTS
Irish eyes are definitely smiling these days with the announcement that Aer Lingus is plannng to laund a new, direct service between Toronto and Dublin beginning in April 2014. Tourism Ireland welcomed the news that confirmed a daily direct Boeing B757 service between Toronto and Dublin will operate during the summer season, with up to four weekly services operating during the winter months. Bookings are available now on the airline's web site -- http://www.aerlingus.com . The announcement provides a continued boost for both leisure and business tourism from Canada to the island of Ireland as...
AIR TRAVEL GROWTH CONTINUES
IATA reports that global passenger traffic results for May indicate that air travel is continuing to expand at a healthy rate. The growth was led by emerging markets. Compared to the year-ago period, overall demand rose 5.6%, while capacity climbed 5.2% pushing the load factor up 0.3 percentage points to 78.1%. Tony Tyler, director general and CEO of IATA, said: "Global economic performance remains a concern; however, demand for air travel continues to expand. The primary driver is growing demand for connectivity to emerging markets. The business environment has also improved compared to...
ROUGE LANDS IN SCOTLAND
You might call it a "rouge letter day" for Edinburgh as Air Canada rouge inaugurated its new flights between Canada and Scotland this week. And VisitScotland chairman, Mike Cantlay said that the launch of direct flights between Toronto and Edinburgh added an important piece to the "network jigsaw." Air Canada rouge will operate three flights a week between Edinburgh and Toronto. Canadian visitors already generate 83 million pounds a year for the Scottish economy and VisitScotland says the new route will provide a further boost to this important market. The national tourism organisation...
FINNAIR JOINS
Finnair has joined the transatlantic joint business founded by fellow oneworld alliance members American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia. Finnair customers flying to North America can now book flights to dozens more North American cities on one single ticket. Customers of the other three airlines now also have better access to 13 cities in Finland and the rest of Europe, thanks to efficient Nordic and Baltic connections from Finnair's Helsinki hub. Finnair also announced its intention to join the joint business agreement between oneworld members Japan Airlines and British Airways on...
A NEW WAY OF THINKING
IATA has called for new thinking on the relationships between partners in the air transport value chain in order to attract the $4 trillion to $5 trillion that will be needed over the next 20 years to meet the growing demand for aviation-enabled connectivity. The call came in an IATA study supported by analysis from McKinsey & Company, "Profitability and the Air Transport Value Chain," which shows that returns on capital invested in airlines have improved in recent years, but are still far below what investors would normally expect to earn. Tony Tyler, IATA's director general and CEO,...