AIRLINE NEWS

AIR INDIA will increase the frequency of its flights between Delhi and San Francisco starting this winter. The carrier currently operates the route three times a week, but will soon turn this into a daily service. ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS is planning to launch a daily round-trip service between Tokyo Haneda and Kuala Lumpur in October. It will offer its newest flatbed seats on the service – something currently only available on long-haul flights to Europe and the US. AMERICAN AIRLINES has started operating daily, non-stop flights between Los Angeles and Auckland. The service, operated by the B787-8 Dreamliner, offers almost 1,600 seats a week. CHINA AIRLINES has upped the free baggage allowance by 10kg on its Asian, Australia/NZ and European routes. Economy passengers now receive 30kg of checked baggage allowance, with those in premium economy and business class getting 35kg and 40kg respectively. CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES has reduced the capacity of its Beijing–Amsterdam route by replacing the A380 with the smaller A330-300. EASTAR JET, a South Korean low-cost carrier, has become the fifth member of the U-Fly Alliance, alongside HK Express, Lucky Air, Urumqi Air and West Air. EMIRATES will deploy its flagship A380 on the Dubai– Guangzhou route from October 1. The introduction of the superjumbo will see overall route capacity increase by 15 per cent. EVA AIR will move to a daily service on its non-stop route between Paris and Taipei from October 10. HONG KONG AIRLINES has launched a new daily non-stop service that links its base in Hong Kong with Osaka, Japan. SICHUAN AIRLINES has started operating a twiceweekly service between Chengdu and Prague – the only non-stop link between the two cities. SILK AIR, the regional carrier of Singapore Airlines, will begin operating a four-times-a-week service to Fuzhou from November 21. TIGERAIR has become the only carrier to offer non-stop flights between Singapore and Zhengzhou. UNITED AIRLINES has launched non-stop flights between San Francisco and Hangzhou, making it the only carrier to operate a direct service between the two cities.