Midwest Airlines has added the option to purchase a customized Travel Guard single-trip travel insurance policy specifically for Midwest customers during the ticket purchase process on the Midwest Airlines website and through their other distribution means. We love trip insurance….it protects you from the horror stories we often collect about horrible situations that have happened to people while flying.
Air Canada has announced new daily service to Madrid from Toronto on June 15th, subject to government approval.
Virgin America launched service today between San Francisco and Las Vegas. It marked the event with party and inaugural flight, showgirls from La Reve, Carmen Electra, World Series of Poker Champ Jamie Gold, Kyla Ebbert (who was famously removed from Southwest for her skimpy outfit and apparently loves the attention), and an in-flight wedding performed by Sir Richard Branson. Branson, whatever else you can say about it and his airlines…knows how to throw a party.
The DOT has fined Jetblue and Hawaiian for failing to properly disclose on-time performance of flights when requested. The regulations require any carrier that submit performance data to the DOT provide them to passengers on request. Both say their noncompliance was unintentional and have begun training reservations agents to provide this information.
Airtran announced that beginning February 14th, it will add new service between Pittsburgh and Ft. Myers and Pittsburgh and Ft. Lauderdale. Service between Pittsburgh and Tampa will increase to daily from Saturday only.
Delta has expanded service in Cincinnati, a fortress hub they’ve been neglecting of late, through their partnership with Big Sky Airlines. Big Sky operates 19-seat B1900D turboprops. Beginning November 18th, they will operate daily service from the hub to Cape Girardeau, Mo., Jackson, Tenn., and Owensboro, Ky. These communities have been without air service for a few months.
Northwest plans service between Portland, OR and Amsterdam. The advantage of the route will be the connections in Amsterdam with Northwest partner KLM, rather than point-to-point service. Service will begin March 29th, 2008, and will be daily, operated by Airbus 330-200 aircraft. Portland is not a big city for Northwest, but connections will be available to Northwest partner Alaska and its partner airline, Horizon. All in all, Northwest stands to make a lot of money.
Frontier launched service from Sioux City to Denver on October 5th with a 76-seat Embraer 170 twice daily operated by Republic Airlines until Frontier subsidiary Lynx Aviation receives FAA approval, at which point a 74-seat Q400 turboprop will be substituted. Lynx employees will provide customer service support in Sioux City.
Varig has begun ticket sales for an October 28th launch of service from Rio de Janiero to Sao Paulo to London Heathrow.
Jetblue will be adding one daily nonstop flight between Salt Lake City and Burbank, adding to its growth in the Utah city, considered a Delta stronghold. Jetblue also offers service to Long Beach in the LA area.
The Embraer Regional Jet 145 family of aircraft achieved its 1000th aircraft on September 28th, with the presentation of the 1000th aircraft to Grand China Express. The family includes the 50-seat ERJ145, the 37-seat ERJ135, the 44 seat ERJ140, and the ERJ145XR, an extended range version of the ERJ145. The first ERJ145 series aircraft was delivered to ExpressJet in December 1996.
Republic Airlines has received authority from the Mexican government to operate Embraer 170/175 aircraft. It is now operating, or will operate: Denver to Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Mazatlan and Zihuatanejo; Sacramento and San Jose, California to Los Cabos; and Albuquerque, New Mexico to Puerto Vallarta under the flag of Frontier Airlines.
Delta announced service from Boston to Saranac Lake and Plattsburgh, NY. Service will be thrice daily on each route, beginning October 31st, operated by Big Sky Airlines and its 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircraft. Big Sky will also add two additional daily flights from Boston to Bangor.
Alaska Airlines announced year-round Anchorage to Honolulu service, extending its seasonal service. Service will be thrice weekly until April 26th, and twice weekly between April and October 25th.
Midwest Airlines added frequencies on the following routes. A second daily nonstop effective November 1st from Milwaukee to LAX; A third nonstop effective November 15th from Milwaukee to Phoenix; a fifth nonstop effective November 18th from Milwaukee to Dallas/Ft. Worth; a fifth flight effective December 1st from Milwaukee to Newark.
American is expanding its maintenance facility at Northwest Arkansas Airport in Fayetteville, partly driven by recent additions of service to Washington-National, Raleigh-Durham, and Miami. The expansion will bring 100 new jobs to the airport in the years to come. American was the first airline to serve the airport nine years ago.
Jetblue and subsidiary LiveTV are going to provide customers with a cashless cabin. In-flight purchases will accept credit and debit cards and not cash for in-flight purchases effective November 1st. The portable handheld devices cnan also be used for future in-flight offerings.
Frontier launched service from Wichita to Denver on October 1st, also served by Republic Airlines until Lynx Aviation receives its FAA certification.
Hawaiian Airlines has been granted approval to fly from Honolulu to Manila. They will be the only U.S. carrier offering nonstop service between these cities. Service will begin in March using a 767-300ER.