WestJet to start widebody transatlantic service from Canada

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Air & Sea Air & Sea

Published: 16 June 2015 16 June 2015

WestJet today announced it has selected London, England as the first transatlantic destination from Canada for its wide-body Boeing 767-300 aircraft. Service from Canada to London will be through London Gatwick.

"This news marks the next phase in the international portion of our strategic plan," said Bob Cummings, WestJet Executive Vice-President, Commercial. "WestJet is at the right scale to make this step in our evolution. Combined with our low-cost approach and renowned people-driven service, we have the network, brand and infrastructure to successfully enter and grow in the wide-body market. We look forward to announcing, later this summer, our entire schedule and low-fare approach for the spring of 2016."

"Well-managed and efficient airports like Gatwick are ideal for low-cost airlines like WestJet," said Chris Avery, WestJet Vice-President, Network Planning, Alliances and Corporate Development. "We love Gatwick as a convenient airport with great connectivity to central London and access to other low-cost airlines flying to points in Europe and beyond. We look forward to welcoming travellers from Gatwick through our network to destinations across Canada."

"Wide-body capability now allows us to serve London Gatwick from anywhere in Canada and brings into consideration more international destinations in the future. The Canadian cities we will fly from will be determined over the course of this summer," continued Bob Cummings. "We will meet with airports across the country to determine the most suitable ones we believe will meet our needs and those of our guests."

Further announcements on schedules, pricing and launch cities will be communicated later this summer with service commencing in spring 2016.

DHS announces intent to expand preclearance to 10 new airports

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Air & Sea Air & Sea

Published: 01 June 2015 01 June 2015

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced Friday the United States intends to enter into negotiations to expand air preclearance operations to ten new foreign airports, located in nine separate countries: Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.  If negotiations are successful, preclearance – where each traveler undergoes immigration, customs, and agriculture inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) before boarding a direct flight to the United States – could be completed before departure from these foreign airports rather than upon arrival in the U.S. Expanding the preclearance program is both a security imperative – enabling CBP to stop potential threats before they arrive on US soil – as well as a strong economic opportunity.

"A significant homeland security priority of mine is building more preclearance capacity at airports overseas. We have this now in 15 airports. I am pleased that we are seeking negotiations with ten new airports in nine countries. I want to take every opportunity we have to push our homeland security out beyond our borders so that we are not defending the homeland from the one-yard line. Preclearance is a win-win for the traveling public. It provides aviation and homeland security, and it reduces wait times upon arrival at the busiest U.S. airports,” said Secretary Johnson.

After nearly a year-long process that began with soliciting expressions of interest from foreign airports, CBP identified these airports in coordination with the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of State (DoS) and prioritized them based on the greatest potential to support security and travel facilitation.  More than two dozen foreign airports expressed an interest in opening Preclearance facilities.  DHS and DoS evaluated all interested foreign airports in collaboration with stakeholders across the government, and with the U.S. and global aviation industry.

The 10 airports identified for possible preclearance locations include:  Brussels Airport, Belgium; Punta Cana Airport, Dominican Republic; Narita International Airport, Japan; Amsterdam Airport Schipol, Netherlands; Oslo Airport, Norway; Madrid-Barajas Airport, Spain; Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden; Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey; and London Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport, United Kingdom. These countries represent some of the busiest last points of departure to the United States – in 2014, nearly 20 million passengers traveled from these ten airports to the US.

“CBP’s preclearance operations are an important step in the U.S. government’s effort to prevent terrorism from coming to our borders,” said CBP Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske. “Where we can identify foreign airports willing to partner with us, additional preclearance agreements will further protect the safety and security of our citizens while also streamlining legitimate travel and commerce.”

The United States and the governments of the host countries are expected to begin negotiations which could result in a final air preclearance agreement, paving the way for the establishment of a new preclearance facility.

Preclearance is the process by which CBP Officers stationed abroad screen and make admissibility decisions about passengers and their accompanying goods or baggage heading to the United States before they leave a foreign port.  TSA requires that passenger and accessible property screening at a foreign preclearance airport conforms to U.S. aviation security screening standards so that the U.S.-bound aircraft can disembark passengers at a domestic U.S. air terminal without needing to be rescreened.  CBP officers do, however, retain the authority to inspect passengers and their accompanying goods or baggage after arriving in the United States.  Today, CBP has more than 600 law enforcement officers and agriculture specialists stationed at 15 air preclearance locations in 6 countries:  Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas; Bermuda; Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg in Canada; and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  Last year, CBP cleared over 16 million passengers through these preclearance locations.

CBP is transforming the international arrivals experience for travelers – creating a faster and more traveler-friendly process. Programs like Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, Automated Passport Control (APC) and Mobile Passport Control (MPC) are streamlining and expediting travelers’ entry into the United States, while maintaining the highest standards of security. With the expansion of CBP’s Trusted Traveler Programs, APC and MPC, average wait times were down 13 percent at the top 10 airports last year.

Friday’s preclearance announcement is one in a series of steps the Administration has taken to accelerate the growth of the American travel and tourism industry, while enforcing the highest level of security. For example, the Administration has facilitated travel to the United States by decreasing wait times for a visa from countries like China, India, and Brazil from a few months to just a few days.

American and Qantas to add flights between the U.S. and Australia

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Air & Sea Air & Sea

Published: 09 June 2015 09 June 2015

American Airlines and Qantas Airways plan to significantly expand their joint business by adding new service between the U.S. and Australia. New routes between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Sydney Airport (SYD), operated by American Airlines, and between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and SYD, operated by Qantas, will provide customers with expanded options when traveling between the two regions.  
 
Through this enhanced alliance, American will begin operating a daily, nonstop flight between LAX and SYD on Dec. 17, 2015, further strengthening its global network and its world-class LAX hub. Beginning Dec. 20, 2015 Qantas will begin operating service between SYD and SFO, expanding the airlines’ joint network to another key market for business and leisure customers. Services will initially operate on peak days and ramp up to six times per week in January 2016. Pending regulatory approvals, this expansion represents the natural evolution of the collaboration between American and Qantas, with revenue-sharing and other agreements that provide the airlines with a platform for closer commercial ties and an even more seamless customer experience on routes between North America and Australia/New Zealand. The closer and more integrated relationship also provides opportunities for future growth into trans-Pacific markets not currently served by either airline, such as New Zealand.
 
“Qantas has been a fantastic partner through oneworld and our joint business relationship, and strengthening those ties has provided us with a solid foundation to introduce American-operated flights into the Australian region,” said Doug Parker, chairman and CEO of American Airlines. “Our customers have asked us to expand to important business destinations across the Pacific, and flying our flagship aircraft, the Boeing 777-300ER, to Sydney will provide another world-class travel experience from our key gateway at LAX.”
 
“For over 20 years, we’ve worked in partnership with American to give our customers the best network on both sides of the Pacific,” said Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas Group. “We are excited to take the alliance to a new level and expand our services to new destinations including San Francisco – Australia’s biggest unserved direct corporate destination. We are seeing strong growth in numbers of visitors to Australia and look forward to carrying more travellers from the U.S. across our extensive domestic and international network in the South Pacific.”
 
Through their joint business, American and Qantas provide increased connectivity to destinations beyond their key gateways. Customers traveling from Australia can access more than 150 destinations throughout North America on American’s extensive network from Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and San Francisco. This includes transcontinental service to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) from LAX and SFO on the only true three-class aircraft flying those routes, the Airbus A321T. From LAX, customers can connect on to more than 50 destinations. American has added service to seven new destinations from its LAX hub over the past year, including Atlanta, Belize, Edmonton, Guadalajara, San Antonio, Tampa and Vancouver.  
 
Customers traveling from North America have access to nearly 60 additional destinations throughout Australia and New Zealand when connecting from Qantas trans-Pacific routes from Sydney.
 
American’s new service between Los Angeles and Sydney will be operated with the state-of-the-art, three-class Boeing 777-300ER. The aircraft features all-aisle access, fully lie-flat seats and a walk-up bar in the premium cabins; Main Cabin Extra seating provides more legroom; and all seats feature personal, in-seat entertainment screens with up to 250 movies, over 180 TV programs and more than 350 audio selections, international Wi-Fi capability and universal AC power outlets and USB ports.
 
Qantas will operate its service between Sydney and San Francisco with a reconfigured Boeing 747-400 that has the same style interiors found on its flagship Airbus A380 aircraft. It features the award-winning, fully-flat Skybed designed by Marc Newson in Business Class, custom-designed seats with ergonomic cushioning in Economy Class and the latest inflight technology with large in-seat screens in every cabin offering more than 1,500 entertainment options. Qantas’ SYD-LAX route will continue to operate with the A380.

Finnair opens sales for flights with all-new Airbus A350 aircraft

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Air & Sea Air & Sea

Published: 11 April 2015 11 April 2015

On April 9 Finnair inaugurated a new era in travel between Europe and Asia – and opened a new chapter in its history – as tickets went on sale for its first long-haul destinations to be served with next-generation Airbus A350 XWB aircraft. Finnair is the European launch customer, and only the third worldwide, of the completely new aircraft type, which substantially raises the bar for passenger comfort, environmental performance and operational efficiency.

Finnair is also the first airline in the world to operate the A350 on scheduled services to China, where Shanghai will be served with daily A350 service from 25 October 2015. Beijing follows with daily A350 service on 21 November 2015.

Finnair’s peak-season frequencies to Bangkok will be served with a combination of A350 and modern, comfortable A330 aircraft from 4 December 2015. Daily services to Hong Kong from 1 February 2016 and to Singapore from 5 May 2016 will also be operated with a combination of A350 and A330 aircraft.

Customers can determine the planned aircraft type of their flight by clicking on the flight number during the online booking process at Finnair.com, or by consulting with their travel agent. Changes in aircraft type are possible for operational reasons.

“We are thrilled to reach this important milestone as we gear up for a seamless transition to A350 operations,” says Finnair CEO Pekka Vauramo. “Our A350 investment program is the largest in the company’s 92-year history, and these aircraft will form the backbone of our long-haul operations for years to come while also playing an essential role in our sustainable, long-term profitability. I can truly speak for all employees when I say we cannot wait to welcome passengers on board.”

Finnair has 19 A350 aircraft on order, and expects to receive the first four by the end of this year. Another seven will be delivered in 2016 and 2017, with the remaining eight to be delivered between 2018 and 2023. Finnair plans to phase out its A340 aircraft by the end of 2017, leaving the entire widebody fleet comprised only of top-of-the-range Airbus A330 and A350 aircraft.

Crew familiarisation flights planned in Europe

Before long-haul A350 operations begin, Finnair will conduct crew familiarisation flights throughout Europe during October. These regularly scheduled commercial services will be operated as usual within the Finnair network, just with an A350 rather than the usual narrowbody aircraft. As part of this crew familiarisation, Finnair’s first ever commercial A350 flight will be on October 5 to Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, followed in the next two weeks by other European cities such as Brussels, Hamburg, London, Stockholm and Vienna. The full list of planned crew familiarisation flights is published online at a350.finnair.com. All such flights are subject to changes.

Finnair’s A350 XWB: New standards in passenger comfort

The A350’s bright and spacious cabin features large panoramic view windows and comfortable seating arrangements in both cabin classes. Gradual changes in dynamic ambient LED lighting ease customers into new time zones and help create a calming and fresh atmosphere. All Finnair A350s will also be equipped with Wi-Fi for greater passenger enjoyment and connectivity.

The eco-smart design of the A350 brings more than 25 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency and operating cost over the previous generation of aircraft in its class, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of Finnair and its passengers.

The A350 also features an advanced pure air filtration system that changes the air in the cabin every two to three minutes. Draft-free air management, adjustable multiple temperature zones and a higher cabin pressurization also enhance the well-being and reduce the fatigue of passengers and crew.

The 297-seat configuration includes 46 seats in Business Class in a 1+2+1 layout, ensuring direct aisle access for all Business Class passengers. The Zodiac Cirrus III seats convert to fully flat beds, while a 16-inch touch-screen inflight entertainment system comes programmed with films, TV shows, music and other digital content on demand in numerous languages. Seats in Business Class also come equipped with AC and USB power outlets.

The Economy Class cabin features comfortable Zodiac Z300 slim-line seats with a 31-inch seat pitch in a 3+3+3 layout. At the front of the Economy Class cabin are 43 Economy Comfort seats, which come with four extra inches of leg room as well as noise-cancelling headphones and an amenity kit. All seats in Economy include an 11-inch touch screen inflight entertainment system and USB power outlets.