AIRLINE BRIEFS NEWS FROM AROUND
THE AIR INDUSTRY
AIRPORT VOICE, SEPTEMBER 2019 27
Norwegian News. Norwegian
Airlines plan to
cease flights from Ireland
into Stewart International
Airport were disappointing
to many. Norwegian said it
would close its Dublin base
and will also cease flying
from Shannon and Cork on
transatlantic routes as of September
15th. The company
operated routes to New York,
Boston and Toronto from Ireland’s
three biggest airports
and cited the grounding of the
Boeing 737 Max as one of the
main reasons stating, “the
routes are no longer commercially
viable.” Norwegian
will continue its flight out of
JFK Terminal One to other
European locations.
Cathay Chaos. The board
of directors of Cathay Pacific
Airways announced on
Friday that it has accepted
the resignation of two airline
executives—CEO Rupert
Hogg and chief customer
and commercial officer Paul
Loo effective August 19. The
surprise announcement follows
a politically charged
week that saw the shutdown
of Hong Kong International
Airport and the sacking of
four Cathay Pacific employees
over their involvement
in anti-government protests.
Cathay said both Hogg and
Loo resigned to take responsibility
as leaders “in view of
recent events.” Hogg will be
replaced by Augustus Tang,
the head of Hong Kong Aircraft
Engineering Company
(wholly owned by Cathay’s
parent company Swire Pacific).
Loo will be replaced by
Ronald Lam, CEO of Cathay’s
low-cost arm Hong Kong Express.
Lam will continue his
CEO position until a successor
is appointed.
Cheers. British Airways
celebrates its 100th anniversary
on 25th August
2019, marking a century of
an iconic British brand that
has seen air travel evolve
from the birth of civil aviation
to the global network. It
was on this day in 1919 Aircraft
Transport and Travel
Limited (AT&T) launched
the world’s first daily international
scheduled flight
between London and Paris.
“From that first customer
who flew from Hounslow
Heath to Paris on 25 August
1919 in a single-engine De
Havilland DH4A to the millions
who choose to fly with
us every year on more than
800 flights a day to 200 destinations
around the globe –
we thank them all.” Maybe
this is why: The JFK-LHR
route earned British Airways
more than $1.15 billion
between April 2018 and 2019.
With more than 600 flights
per month, that breaks down
to a hourly revenue of $27,159
-- a 10% increase on last year.
Strike. Travelers on British
Airways flights booked
for Sept. 9, 10 or 27 should
take heed. BALPA, the British
Airline Pilots Association,
set those dates Friday
for strikes as negotiations
between the airline and the
pilots’ union have failed to
reach an agreement in a pay
dispute.
There is also news that
workers at Heathrow Airport
may also conduct a strike
making further complications
for travelers.
The pilots said British
Airways has not accepted any
of the pay packages they’ve
proposed, while the airline’s
most recent offer “will not
gain the support of anywhere
near a majority” of the pilots.
The union said 93 percent of
its members voted in favor of
the strike.
Goodbye Queen. QANTAS
Boeing 747-438, with registration
VH-OJU, will serve
its final journey after nearly
20 years. The aircraft was
affectionately named “Lord
Howe Island” after the tiny island
in the Tasman Sea. It will
be making its departure from
Sydney Airport on 13th October
2019 at 17:00. The airliner
will then arrive at its final
destination at Los Angeles International
Airport at 12:50. It
will not continue its voyage to
frequented JFK Airport.
AirCanada acquires. Air
Canada is pleased by the announcement,
earlier today, by
Transat A.T. Inc. (“Transat”)
of the approval, by a majority
of nearly 95% of its shareholders,
of its Arrangement
Agreement with Air Canada
under which Air Canada will
acquire all its issued and outstanding
shares. The acquisition
will proceed by way of
a court-approved plan of arrangement
pursuant to the
Canada Business Corporations
Act. If such approvals
are obtained and conditions
are met, the transaction is
expected to be completed in
early 2020.
Eastern Returns. The
iconic and historic airline
name will—pending on DOT
approval—take off on pointto
point missions to the Caribbean,
South America,
and even Asia. In a letter addressed
to the airline’s employees,
current Eastern
Airlines CEO, Steve Harfst,
noted that “in support of the
development of our new corporate
website and the promotion
of our new business.
A new Frontier. Frontier
Airlines has just announced
domestic service beginning
out of Newark. Currently
Frontier flies mainly out of
MacArthur Airport in Islip
but will be expanding to Newark
and adding flights to the
Caribbean in early 2020.
TAP taps Metro NY. Starting
June 2020, the airline will
serve the New York City area
with four daily flights—two
to Kennedy Airport (JFK-Jetblue
terminal 5) ) from Lisbon
(LIS), and a second daily
flight to Newark (EWR) from
Porto (OPO). ever-growing
network that will climb to
more than 70 weekly flights
by next year to eight North
American destinations. Atlantic
Gateway consortium,
owned mostly by Brazilian
air carrier Azul, held 45%
of TAP’s capital, with the remaining
55% divided into
5% for workers and 50% for
the Portuguese state. In 2015,
Neeleman led a consortium
of investors called Atlantic
Gateway in a successful bid
to take over Portugal’s 73-
year-old, government-owned
national airline.
The Airbus A321LR, and
A321LR and A330neo will
power the growing TAP fleet.
Tokyo, U.S. and Japanese
government delegations
signed a Record of Discussions
to recommend that the
two governments amend the
Open Skies civil air transport
agreement between the
two countries. The proposed
amendment would expand
daytime passenger service
between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport
and U.S. destinations.
It would provide for 12 additional
slot pairs (12 arrivals
and 12 departures daily) during
daytime hours for U.S.
air carriers and the same for
Japanese carriers. The new
flights are expected to begin
on or around March 29, 2020,
with the beginning of the
IATA Summer 2020 traffic
season. Both U.S. and Japanese
carriers have expressed
strong interest in offering
additional daytime service
to Haneda. U.S. carriers
currently operate five daytime
flights and one nighttime
flight daily to and from
Haneda.