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AirAsia takes the A330neo Downunder

AirAirAsia A330neo Downunder
Photo: AirAsia

AirAsia is introducing its newest and most fuel-efficient aircraft Downunder to operate its Brisbane-Bangkok flights

The low-cost carrier group started flying the three times weekly route October 29 using a Thai AirAsia X A330neo.

It began flying to Brisbane in June 2019 after gaining support from the Queensland government.

READ: American claims first with flights to New Zealand’s South Island.

“We are delighted to bring this revolutionary aircraft to our newest Australian port, Brisbane,” said AirAsia X Group chief executive Nadda Buranasiri.

“Not only does the A330neo deliver significant cost benefits, which can be passed on to guests in the form of great value fares, but it also unlocks network expansion opportunities such as Brisbane, Australia.

“As the world’s best low-cost airline for the 11th consecutive year, the A330neo signifies a new era for low-cost flying with numerous features such as ambient mood lighting and power sockets in every seat, so guests are able to make full use of their own devices in-flight.

“This is in addition to AirAsia favorites, the kid-free Quiet Zone and Premium Flatbeds.”

AirAsaia A330neo

The carrier is introducing the new aircraft with one-way fares booked before November 2 starting at  $A299 for members of its BIG loyalty program or $A300.50 for those who are not members.

AirAsia X Thailand received its A330-900 in August and the aircraft features  377 seats in a two-class configuration that includes 12 Premium Flatbed offerings and 365 standard economy seats.

AirAsia X currently operates A330-300s and is the biggest customer for the A330neo with 66 on firm order.

The A330neo is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines and sports new Sharklet wingtip devices that deliver  25 percent lower fuel burn per seat than previous generation competitors.

AirAsia says other advantages of its new specification aircraft include more personal space for guests, larger cabin storage and the quietest cabin in its class.

The low-cost carrier has a strong presence in Australia with flights to Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.

 

American claims first with flights to New Zealand’s South Island

American proft
Photo: American Airlines

American Airlines will rachet up competition in New Zealand in 2020 by launching the only nonstop service between the US and the South Island and adding a direct service from Dallas-Fort Worth.

The US giant announced Monday it would fly between Los Angeles and Christchurch three times a week from October 2020 to March 2021 using a Boeing 787-8.

It said the new routes were a direct result of its recently-approved joint business with Qantas and that Qantas Group airlines would connect passengers from Wellington and Melbourne to the 13-hour Christchurch-LA flight.

READ our widest ever test of American Airlines economy and what we found.

The 787-8 features 20 Flagship Business seats and 28 Premium Economy seats, as well as a mix of Main Cabin Extra extra legroom seats and standard economy seats.

The aircraft features in-seat power and American’s impressive entertainment system featuring live television, and hundreds of movies, music, games and TV shows.

American will use the bigger Boeing 787-9, featuring 30 business seats and 21 premium economy seats, to add the new service from DFW to complement the seasonal service between Auckland and LA.

The service will operate from October 25 to March 25 from Dallas-Fort Worth, starting three times weekly and moving to daily from December 1.

From Auckland, it will run from October 27 to March 27 and move to daily flights from December 3.

It will complement the seasonal Auckland-LA service which next year will start three weeks earlier from October 7.

American senior vice president network strategy Vasu Raja said the South Island summed everything its customers were looking for in New Zealand.

“We want to make their lifelong dreams a reality and bring New Zealand’s beauty even closer as the gateway to the South Island where you can drive, hike, cruise and fly to a variety of classic New Zealand experiences,” he said.

Vaja said the DFW service would allow the airline to bring in customers from places Louisville Kentucky or Monterey, Mexico with just one stop.

American said its new relationship with Qantas meant the two carriers would next year have the most flights between Australasia and the US.

The partners have already rolled out improved frequent flyer benefits, including higher earning rates for points and status credits on each airline’s network, as well as expanded codeshare routes on their networks.

Qantas will increase the number of flights between Sydney and DFW from six a week to daily service by mid-2020 and is launching new services from San Francisco International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Brisbane.

Air New Zealand recently announced it would axe its long-standing Los Angeles-London service and start non-stop flights between Auckland and New York ‘s Newark Liberty International Airport from October 29, 2020.

It expects the move to cut travel time to The Big Apple by about three hours.

 

 

Aussie international flights fullest from Melbourne

Victoria
Photo: Melbourne Airport.

International passengers using Australia’s major airports had the greatest chance of being on a full flight if they were going through Melbourne airport in 2018-19, a new analysis has found.

A report on international airline activity over the year by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics found Melbourne edged out Sydney when it came to the highest percentage of seats filled by passengers.

It wasn’t a big difference  — 81.7 percent at Melbourne versus 81.3 percent at Sydney — but neither airport boasted the country with the highest seat ulilization on a non-stop route.

That mantle fell to Perth where the Qantas non-stop flight to London made the UK a clear leader at 93 percent, well ahead of second-place holder Japan at 84.3 percent.

They were followed by Singapore (83.5 percent), the us (83.3 percent) and Thailand (83.1 percent).

READ: Cathay A350-1000 debuts in Australia

The Solomon Islands and New Guinea were among the destinations where travelers were most likely to find a spare seat next to them with seat utilization to both countries below 60 percent.

Adelaide was the major airport with the lowest seat utilization at 78.4 percent with Perth and Brisbane at 78.8 percent and the Gold coast at 79.4 percent.

Sixty-three scheduled international airlines operated to and from Australia in 2018-19 with passenger numbers rising 3.7 percent to 42.12 million.

The number of available seats also rose, but by a slower 1.8 percent to 53.86 million.

March proved a significant month and marked the first time since 2011 that monthly passenger traffic fell compared to the same month in the previous year.

Qantas Airways remained the dominant force with a market share of 17.4 percent followed by Jetstar with 8.6 percent.

Singapore Airlines (8.2 percent) came next, followed by Emirates (7.3 percent) and Air New Zealand (6.8 percent).

Australian designated airlines accounted for 32.5 percent of the market after reaching a low of 29.8 percent in 2013-14.

 

Epic new Star Wars safety video sees United join The Force

Star Wars United
United Airlines new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 737-800 aircraft will take flight in November. Photo: United

United Airlines is joining the expanding universe of Star Wars aircraft liveries and taking it a step further with a themed safety video featuring characters from “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”.

Watch the new Star Wars safety video here:

It is one of several airlines to have become one with the Force as Disney ends the original run of Skywalker films and after it opened its new “Galaxy’s Edge” attraction in Florida.

United’s striking Boeing 737-800 features X-wing and TIE fighters and a different colored light-sabre on each side of a black tail. It will take flight in November.

The airline is also offering “The Rise of Skywalker” themed amenity kits while passengers will be greeted during boarding with Star Wars music and headrests will sport the emblems of the fims dueling factions, the Resistance and First Order.

READ: Lufthansa expands basic economy.

Star wars fanatics who don’t get to fly on the themed plane will be able to follow its progress on FlightAware via a special X-wing fighter icon.

And MileagePlus members have a chance to bid for tickets at the US premiere of the movie as well as other items and experiences.

“We are thrilled to join forces and help promote the concluding chapter of the Skywalker story, while at the same time enlisting help from our new friends from the Star Wars universe to demonstrate the importance of safety for our customers and colleagues,” said United marketing vice president Mark Krolick.

Equally eye-catching is All Nippon Airways’ brightly colored C-3PO Boeing 777-200, which will be flying between Tokyo Haneda and the Japanese cities of Itami and Fukuoka in early December.

ANA Star Wars
ANA’s C-3PO Star Wars’ livery is eye-catching. Photo: ANA

The colorful  tribute to the popular Star Wars Andriod  will fly the routes to coincide the release of  “The Rise of Skywalker”.

And the colorful message doesn’t stop at the door, the interiors follows the same theme.

Star Wars ANA
Photo: ANA

“ANA seeks to inspire joy in all of our passengers, and we believe the C-3POTM ANA JET allows us to showcase our more playful side,” said Mitsuo Tomita, senior vice president of ANA.

“It is our goal to make every trip with ANA a memorable experience, and this aircraft is sure to provide long-lasting memories for each passenger.”

The C-3P0 livery comes after ANA in 2015 revealed a Boeing 787-9 designed to represent the golden android’s pal, R2-D2. The jet made appearances around the world and was the first to feature a Star Wars character.

The R2-D2 plane was the first to feature a Star Wars character.

Other Star Wars liveries to appear in 2019 include this Virgin Atlantic 747 emblazoned with the Millennium Falcon to promote Disney’s new “Galaxy’s Edge” attraction  in Florida:

Star Wars
Photo: Twitter

And another Galaxy’s Edge aircraft from LATAM:

Star wars ANA
Photo: LATAM

 

Cathay A350-1000 debuts in Australia

cathay A350-1000 debut
The A350-1000 arrival in Melbourne on October 27. Photo: Cathay Pacific

The biggest version of the Airbus A350 family — the A350-1000 — has made its commercial debut in Australia with Cathay Pacific flights to Melbourne and Perth.

Cathay is putting the bigger aircraft into the market despite weaker leisure demand in Australia and a traffic slump in its home hub of Hong Kong due to political unrest.

READ: Cathay expects tough times to continue.

It is also upgrading one of its Sydney flights from an A330 to an A350-900.

The A350-1000 is the contender put forward by Airbus for the Qantas Project Sunrise flights from Australia’s East Coast to New York and London.

Cathay’s configuration carries 334 passengers, 54 more than its A350-900 aircraft serving Sydney, with 46 lie-flat beds in business and 32 premium economy seats.

It is similar to its smaller sibling in that it brings together improved aerodynamics, engine technology and composite construction to boast a 25 percent change in fuel efficiency compared to older planes.

Like the Boeing 787, higher humidity and cabin pressure combine with lower ambient noise to give passengers a more comfortable ride.

One important advantage over its Boeing Dreamliner competitor, at least for economy passengers, is the wider cabin.

This allows Cathay to offer 18-inch wide seats with a 32-inch seat pitch as opposed to the more cramped seating in a nine-across 787 or Cathay’s more recent 10-across Boeing 777s.

Premium economy comes with a generous 40-inch seat pitch while business customers get a comfortable 70.5-inch bed.

The Hong Kong airline has recently boosted its inflight entertainment offering and all its A350s are equipped with inflight Wi-Fi.

READ: Cathay quadruples inflight entertainment offering.

“At Cathay Pacific, our passengers remain our top priority,’’ said Cathay South-West Pacific regional general manager Rakesh Raicar.

“The launch of this aircraft will allow us to deliver further enhanced features that improve the comfort and overall travel experience of our guests.”

 

 

 

 

Doha airport plans shop and lounge expansion

covid
Image: Doha airport.

Move over, faintly disturbing #lampbear: Doha airport, the hub for Qatar Airways, is planning a major expansion despite growing concerns about overcapacity in the region.

The aim is to make Hamad International Airport, in its own words,  “more than a gateway”.

It’s important to remember that Qatar-the-state treats its airport and airline like an exercise in public diplomacy, which is the principal reason why it likes to have the very best of everything.

Hence the upgrade, despite the regional political and aviation context.

To understand the plans, take a look at the shape of the airport’s terminal. In essence, it combines an upside-down T with a Y.

Doha airport Qatar
Image: Doha airport.

Concourse A is to the left of the main center atrium, with Concourse B on its right, and together they make up the crossbar of the upside-down T.

Concourse C is the span between A+B and the arms of the Y-shaped concourses D (on the left) and E (on the right). Concourse C spans roughly half a kilometre which the airport estimates as a nine-minute walk or a 90-second trip on the airport train (which is actually a horizontal cablecar)

The basic plan is first to create a second center atrium at the junction between concourses C, D and E.

Confusingly, the airport is talking about its expansion using the letters A and B, despite the actual expansion involving concourses D and E. No, I don’t understand either.

“The second phase of HIA’s expansion consists of Phase A and B. Phase A of the current expansion will comprise of the central concourse linking concourses D and E,” the airport says.

“Construction is to commence by early 2020 and will increase the airport’s capacity to more than 53 million passengers annually by 2022.”

It’s not entirely clear how a bunch of shops, a new lounge and a forest increases passenger numbers in this first phase.

Perhaps there will also be some expansion of other areas to add bus gate space for when the next phase starts or some rearrangement as the airline’s Airbus A380 fleet departs, removing the necessity for the ultra-large gates?

Doha airport Qatar
An aerial shot of the airport. Photo: Doha airport

On to the second phase.

“Phase B, which will be completed after 2022, will extend concourses D and E to further enhance the airport’s capacity to more than 60 million passengers annually,” says the airport.

So, essentially, the plan is to create another swanky space full of stores and lounges where the arms of the Y meet starting next year.

Cue the lofty superlatives: “a spectacular 10,000 sqm indoor tropical garden in a central concourse”, “a 268 sqm water feature which will be the focal point of the expansion project”, and “9,000 sqm of world-class Al Mourjan lounge located above the retail space with dramatic views looking towards the tropical garden”.

The Al Mourjan, for those playing along at home, is the business-class-for-business-class-booked-passengers lounge at Doha, and this will roughly double the space in this category — useful since the current one gets very busy at peak transit times.

In terms of the gate expansion starting in 2022, some of these spaces are already being used as bus gates. Take a look at the Google satellite image: these look like stands that can vary between widebody and narrowbody aircraft, which is, of course, smart in the current unstable global climate (and especially given regional geopolitics).

It looks to me as if the airport can add eleven widebody gates to each of concourses D and E, and/or a correspondingly larger number of narrowbody gates.

This is all notional, of course, and the details are still scant. It will, nonetheless, be fascinating to see just how flexible the airport can be once the concrete is poured, the steel welded and the glass installed.

 

FAA pulls certification of Lion jet sensor overhaul company

FAA Lion Air
Photo: PK-REN, Wikimedia Commons

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)  has revoked the certification of a Florida company responsible for overhauling a  sensor involved in the Lion Air Flight 610 tragedy.

The FAA issued an order Friday revoking the repair station certificate of Xtra Aerospace, which repaired an angle-of-attack sensor which played a crucial role in the fatal flight in October 2018.

READ: Lion Air MAX report finds Boeing, airline, pilots contributed to tragedy

The final report of the Indonesian  National Transportation Safety Committee found the sensor had been miscalibrated during the repair and this was not detected either during the repair or when the sensor was installed.

The report also criticized FAA oversight of the company and recommended that the Florida company implement a manual “including equivalency assessment, training and written procedure, to ensure component (s) being repaired are properly maintained”.

An FAA investigation after the Lion Air accident found that Xtra failed to comply with requirements to repair only aircraft parts on a list the FAA deemed it was capable of repairing.

“The company also failed to comply with procedures in its repair station manual for implementing a capability list in accordance with the Federal Aviation Regulations,’’ it said.

The FAA began its investigation in November 2018 and investigators looked specifically at the company’s compliance with regulatory requirements that apply to its capability list, and records and work orders for aircraft parts it approved for return to service.

“The investigation determined that from November 2009 until May 2019, Xtra failed to complete and retain records in accordance with procedures in its repair station manual to support parts on its capability list,’’ it said.

“The company also did not substantiate that it had adequate facilities, tools, test equipment, technical publications, and trained and qualified employees to repair parts on its capability list.”

The FAA said it issued the order as part of a settlement agreement with the company under which Xtra waived its right to appeal the revocation.

In a statement reported by Reuters, Xtra said it had cooperated with the FAA but “respectfully” disagreed with its findings.

The company noted the FAA action was separate from Indonesia’s investigation and “is not an indication that Xtra was responsible for the accident”.

 

Lion Air MAX report finds Boeing, airline, pilots contributed to tragedy

Lion Air report
Searchers sort through debris from the Lion Air crash. Photo: Seven News

The final report by Indonesian crash investigators into the Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX  tragedy has found design and certification shortcomings combined with airline maintenance issues and pilot errors to bring down the aircraft.

The report by Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) into the October 29, 2018 tragedy that killed 189 people found that a series of factors led to the tragedy, starting with Boeing’s design of new flight control software.

The flight control software, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), was designed to make the MAX handle in the same way as its predecessors when a jet’s nose was pointing too high in an elevated angle of attack.

MCAS was an extension of the existing speed trim system and pushes down the nose of the aircraft when it detects a high angle of attack.

Faulty sensor readings on Flight JT610 caused MCAS to activate and continually and aggressively push down the aircraft’s nose push.

READ: MAX crisis sees Boeing oust head of commercial airplanes.

The crew of flight JT610 battled with MCAS after leaving Jakarta but failed to follow procedures that would have deactivated the automatic stabilizer trim system and ultimately lost control.

That procedure, which involved flicking two “stab trim” switches to cutout, was followed in similar circumstances on a flight the previous night and prevented a similar disaster.

The report found that during the design and certification of the Boeing 737 MAX assumptions were made about how pilots would respond to malfunctions “which, even though consistent with current industry guidelines, turned out to be incorrect”.

“Based on the incorrect assumptions about flight crew response and an incomplete review of associated multiple flight deck effects, MCAS’s reliance on a single sensor was deemed appropriate and met all certification requirements,’’ it said.

Among the problems identified by investigators was a decision by Boeing to classify hazards associated with an uncommanded MCAS activation on the MAX as “major” rather than “hazardous” or “catastrophic”.

Investigators also noted the lower classification meant Boeing did not test the full 2.5 degrees of stabilizer movement that could be commanded by MCAS at low speeds in a flight simulator or look at repetitive erroneous MCAS activations.

Boeing also followed US Federal Aviation Administration guidance that pilots would respond within three seconds to any changes in flight conditions but it took the Lion Air pilots longer.

“In the accident flight, the system malfunction led to a series of aircraft and flight crew interactions which the flight crew did not understand or know how to resolve,” the report said

“It is the flight crew response assumptions in the initial design process which, coupled with the repetitive MCAS activations, turned out to be incorrect and inconsistent with the FHA classification of Major.”

The KNKT said the fact MCAS was designed to rely on a single angle of attack sensor made it vulnerable to erroneous input from that sensor.

Investigators were also critical that Boeing did not tell pilots about MCAS or include more detailed use of trim in the flight manuals and in-flight crew training.

This made it more difficult for flight crews to properly respond to uncommanded MCAS, they said.

Also a problem was the fact that an alert telling pilots that the plane’s two angle-of-attack sensors were giving different readings was not working.

Although Boeing has said this was not essential to flying the plane, the report noted the lack of an angle-of-attack disagree alert meant a miscalibrated AOA sensor could not be documented by the flight crew and was therefore not available to help maintenance identify the miscalibrated AOA sensor.

The AOA sensor installed on the accident aircraft had been miscalibrated during an earlier repair by a US company. Investigators said this miscalibration was not detected during the repair.

The investigation could also not determine that the installation test of the AOA sensor was performed properly by an engineer.

The sensor was replaced in Denpasar after problems on previous flights and ahead of the flight before the fatal accident.

A lack of documentation on the flight previous to the accident flight and maintenance log meant that information was not available to the maintenance crew in Jakarta or the accident pilots “ making it more difficult for each to take the appropriate actions”.

The report also noted photographs provided by the engineer as evidence of a satisfactory installation test result were not of the accident aircraft and were discounted.

Another problem uncovered by investigators was a lack of effective management by the pilots of multiple alerts, repetitive MCAS activations, and distractions related to numerous ATC communications.

“This was caused by the difficulty of the situation and performance in manual handling, NNC (non-normal checklists) execution, and flight crew communication, leading to ineffective CRM (crew resource management) application and workload management,’’ the report said.

“These performances had previously been identified during training and reappeared during the accident flight.”

The report revealed the first officer’s performance in a 2013 simulator check had been deemed unsatisfactory due to what an assessor described as  “a lack of situational awareness and judgment”  and there had been problems in subsequent checks.

As recently as April 2017, an assessor had noted the first officer has shown problems with stall recovery “due to wrong concept of the basic principle for stall recovery in high or low level”.

The captain also had demonstrated a lack of appropriate technique during a stall on final approach assessment in 2015.

The Indonesian agency issued a number of safety recommendations calling on Boeing to consider the impact of flight deck alerts and indications on the flight crew, introduce changes to MCAS as well as modify procedures and training.

This included redesigning it to accommodate “a larger population of flight-rated pilots” and activating the AOA disagree alert.

It recommended that Lion Air establish a system to update company manuals after finding they were not updated in a timely manner and content had “several inconsistencies, incompleteness, and unsynchronized procedures”.

It also called on the airline to improve its hazard report managements so that it identified problems and provided proper mitigation.

Recommendations to the FAA included improved oversight of maintenance facilities and a closer look with other international regulatory authorities to review guidance about what information should be included in flight crew and engineers’ manuals.

It also said that , given the problems with the AoA disacgree alert, Boeing and the FAA should “ensure that certified and delivered airplanes have intended system functionality”.

Boeing said in a statement that it was addressing the KNKT’s recommendations and commended its work in the investigation.

“We are addressing the KNKT’s safety recommendations, and taking actions to enhance the safety of the 737 MAX to prevent the flight control conditions that occurred in this accident from ever happening again,” chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said.

“Safety is an enduring value for everyone at Boeing and the safety of the flying public, our customers, and the crews aboard our airplanes is always our top priority.

“We value our long-standing partnership with Lion Air and we look forward to continuing to work together in the future.”

Boeing has redesigned the way angle-of-attack sensors work with MCAS to include information from both sensors.

It will now activate only once in response to incorrect sensor information and will also be subject to a maximum limit that can be overridden with the control column.

“These software changes will prevent the flight control conditions that occurred in this accident from ever happening again,” the company said.

The FAA described the report as “a sober reminder” of the importance of ensuring safety is  the first priortity.

“We welcome the recommendations from this report and will carefully consider these and all other recommendations as we continue our review of the proposed changes to the Boeing 737 MAX.” the agency said in a statement.

“The FAA is committed to ensuring that the lessons learned from the losses of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 will result in an even greater level of safety globally.

“The FAA continues to review Boeing’s proposed changes to the 737 MAX. As we have previously stated, the aircraft will return to service only after the FAA determines it is safe.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KLM restarts direct service to hurricane victim St Maarten

KLM St Maarten
People gather on the beach next to Princess Juliana airport to watch planes land. Photo: Dale Coleman/Wikicommons Media

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is restarting a direct service to the Caribbean drawcard St Maarten as part of a winter schedule that will also see it fly to India’s Bangalore Guanacaste Liberia in Costa Rica.

KLM’s direct flights to St Maarten were suspended in 2017 due to Hurricane Irma and subsequently combined with the Amsterdam-Curaçao service.

The direct service from Schiphol resumes October 27 with twice-weekly Airbus A330 flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

READ: Lufthansa expands basic economy on intercontinental routes.

St Maarten is famous for its beachside airport where thrill-seekers gather to watch aircraft land and take off.

KL0729 departs Tuesdays at 11:20 CET from Schiphol and arrives at 15:35 local time on St Maarten. On Thursdays, it departs from Schiphol at 11:45 hours CET and arrives at 16:00 hours local time.

Guanacaste Liberia is on the Pacific coast of northwest Costa Rica and KLM will operate a Boeing 787-9 flights four times a week from October 29.

It will operate to the Southern Indian technology hub of Bangalore three times weekly from October 30, also using a Boeing 787-9.

The airline said it was able to offer the three new destinations from slot-constrained Schiphol by optimizing its network.

“We constantly monitor whether the type of aircraft and frequencies for a certain route match market demand and the route’s results,’’ it said.

“This can mean that routes are sometimes suspended sooner than usual due to slot restrictions at Schiphol, as is the case with Colombo, Sri Lanka, this winter.”

The Dutch carrier said it would continue to operate services over winter to the new destinations of Boston, Las Vegas, Naples and Wroclaw launched at the start of the summer schedule.

It is also increasing flights on a number of routes including to destinations in Colombia, Brazil, Chile, China and Africa.

The Air France-KLM group is increasing capacity by 2.5 percent over the winter season, which ends March 28, compared to winter last year.

That includes a 4 percent increase on long-haul flights but a slight reduction on the medium- and short-haul network.

 

 

Lufthansa expands basic economy on intercontinental routes

Airbus

The Lufthansa group of airlines is expanding its “Economy Light” fare to routes to Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America.

The basic economy fare will be progressively available on intercontinental routes operated by Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS from October 30 and from November 6 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The fare has been available for North America since summer 2018 and the airline says it is the cheapest choice for price-conscious passengers who want to travel with hand luggage only and do not require ticket flexibility.

“The new tariff can be booked exclusively via austrian.com, lh.com and swiss.com as well as with our sales partners, for whom the fares are available via the direct interface (Direct NDC API),’’ the airline said.

READ: Air New Zealand flight to slash three hours off New York travel

Passengers can book checked baggage for a fee but meals and beverages on board remain free of charge.

Charges for checked baggage can be hefty and on an intercontinental flight, they are 50 euros or $US60 for the first item and 90 euros or $US100 for the second.

Advanced seat selection and extra legroom seats also cost more and the ticket cannot be rebooked and is non-refundable.

Basic economy fares were introduced by some full-service airlines in response to aggressive competition by low-cost-carriers for price-sensitive customers.

Delta Air Lines introduced the option in 2012 and was followed by other major US carriers.

Basic economy fares were extended to trans-Atlantic routes after the arrival of competitors such as Norwegian Air.

Norwegian continues to compete aggressively, and this week announced it will add a nonstop Austin Paris service for summer 2020 to complement its seasonal service to London.

The flight will operate three times weekly from May 6 with one-way tax-inclusive fares as low $US219.90 in economy  and $US829.90 in premium class

Austin will be Norwegian’s eighth gateway in the United States that has nonstop service to Paris. The others are Boston, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Orlando and San Francisco.

Separately, Lufthansa and partner Deutsche Bahn also announced additional Express Rail connections to Frankfurt airport from Aachen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Stuttgart and Ulm.

The airline said the additional services would provide Lufthansa passengers with better-coordinated connections for arrivals and departures at Frankfurt.

Lufthansa Express Rail offers feeder trains to Frankfurt Airport with integrated booking.

If the train or flight is unexpectedly delayed, Lufthansa will rebook the passengers free of charge.

Miles & More miles are credited and the airline’s business class passengers travel in the first class of Deutsche Bahn and have access to the DB lounges.

The changes in mid-December will see 119 Lufthansa Express trains to Frankfurt Airport from Cologne’s central station every week instead of the current 77, while the connections offered on the route to and from Dusseldorf will be doubled to 105 ICE trains.

Customers from Stuttgart will be able to use 77 connections a week and there will be 42 and 49 Express Rail trains a week to and from Aachen and Ulm, respectively.

The airline said all routes were already available for booking.

 

 

 

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