AIRLINE NEWS

AMERICAN AIRLINES plans to operate its first nonstop flight between Dallas/Fort Worth and Beijing next summer, subject to regulatory approval. It will roster a B777-200ER aircraft with fully-flat beds in business class on the route. BRITISH AIRWAYS will from March 31 reduce its daily Buenos Aires service to five-times weekly by dropping its Tuesday and Thursday flights. AIR CANADA will launch an up to six-times weekly Toronto-Amsterdam service on June 4, using a B767-300ER with 24 fully-flat business seats. VIRGIN ATLANTIC will place a B787-9 on its Delhi route from March 29. The Dreamliner will operate flight VS300, departing London Heathrow at 2200 and arriving in Delhi at 1040 the following day, and return service VS301, leaving at 1325 and landing at 1755. QATAR AIRWAYS will add a second A380 to its Doha-London Heathrow route in December. Its inaugural superjumbo service to Heathrow launched on October 10 on flights QR003 and QR004. The second will operate flights QR001 and QR002. (See review, page 24.) ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES will next year start operating its B787 Dreamliner to Los Angeles via Dublin. The carrier will fly Addis Ababa-Dublin-LA three-times weekly from June. EGYPTAIR has cancelled its five-times weekly Manchester-Cairo route only 16 months after it launched the service. CITYJET has axed both its Cambridge International airport services, only five months after it first launched its 12-times weekly routes to Dublin and Amsterdam. The airline has also cancelled its Cardiff to Glasgow sector.