AIRLINE NEWS

AIR CHINA will deploy its B787-9 Dreamliner on its Beijing-New York Newark route starting December 2. AIR FRANCE has unveiled the name of its new airline focused on millennial business travellers – Joon. Medium-haul flights will begin flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport this autumn, with long-haul routes beginning next summer. AIR NEW ZEALAND has begun flying from Auckland to Tokyo Haneda three times a week, and is set to ramp up frequencies on its Vancouver and Honolulu services next year. CATHAY PACIFIC has confirmed it will deploy its new A350 to New York Newark Airport starting October 29, the same day it will start flying the A350 to San Francisco. DELTA will finally connect its main Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport hub directly with Shanghai in July. This will be the airline’s fourth route to Shanghai alongside Detroit, Seattle and Los Angeles. ETIHAD recently reported a US$1.87 billion loss for 2016, due to fuel hedging losses and financial exposure to equity partners including Alitalia and Airberlin. EVA AIR retired its B747-400 last month, with the “Queen of the Skies” making its final flight on the airline’s Hong Kong-Taipei Taoyuan route. The route is now served by various aircraft based on fleet rotation flexibility. HAINAN AIRLINES has its eyes set on launching two non-stop New York routes this October – one from Chongqing and another from Chengdu, each operating a Dreamliner aircraft twice per week. PHILIPPINE AIRLINES has brought forward the launch of its new B777-300ER on its London Heathrow service by three months, meaning the aircraft will now be deployed on September 19. The two-class, 370-seat aircraft replaces the A340. QATAR AIRWAYS will double the flight frequency of its Doha-Sydney service, adding Canberra as a “tag” destination from next February. SCOOT and TIGERAIR officially merged their brands in July, with both Singapore-based budget carriers now operating under the Scoot name. UNITED is dropping its non-stop San Francisco-Hangzhou service next month, with the final flight on October 16. The route is one of the airline’s more recent, having only launched in July 2016.