AIRLINE NEWS

HONG KONG AIRLINES aims to launch new routes to London, New York and San Francisco next year, with the delivery of its new A350 aircraft. Overall, the carrier expects to have 21 A350s in its fleet with a plan to capitalise on the plane’s long-range capability. The A350 will make its long-haul debut on the airline’s upcoming service to Los Angeles in December. Additional European and American destinations are expected to be added next year, though no specific timeline has yet been specified for the routes. LUFTHANSA is to drop its one-stop service between Frankfurt and Doha from October 28, because it hasn’t proved to be commercially viable to the company. It currently operates a daily routing of Frankfurt-Kuwait-DohaKuwait-Frankfurt. The Frankfurt-Kuwait service will however continue. Dohabased Qatar Airways operates twice daily flights to Frankfurt, as well as services to the German cities of Berlin and Munich. The airline says, “All existing bookings will be re-protected and therefore will be rebooked within the coming days. Affected customers will be informed and rebooked directly. Lufthansa will exercise maximum flexibility for possible cancellations/refunds to existing bookings.” TOKYO NARITA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’S TERMINAL 2, has for the first time in Japan, opened duty-free shops in the arrivals area. Narita Airport now has duty-free shopping on the second floor of the Terminal 2 main building, in the international arrivals area. The two shops – Fa-So-La Arrival Duty Free North and Fa-So-La Arrival Duty Free South – do have a somewhat limited selection, however, with only alcohol and tobacco from overseas brands being offered. Narita Airport announced that additional stores are set to open in the future. These will be located in the arrivals areas of the airport’s Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 buildings and are expected to open before the end of the year, though an exact opening date for the shops has not been announced.