AIRLINE NEWS

RYANAIR will increase frequency on its London Luton-Copenhagen route this winter. From October 25, the budget carrier will operate a four-times daily service between the two airports, up from three-times daily in winter 2014/15 and twice-daily this summer. SAS is to switch its Heathrow-Gothenburg service to London Stansted. From October 26, the Scandinavian airline will operate 12 weekly flights using a B737-600 aircraft to Stansted. FLYBE’S winter schedule will see the airline boost its services from London City to Edinburgh, from Manchester and Birmingham to Amsterdam, from Birmingham to Dusseldorf, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and from Belfast City to Edinburgh and Glasgow. A new codeshare with Emirates will see the Gulf airline’s EK code added to 25 Flybe routes in the UK. LUFTHANSA will operate a daily A380 service from Frankfurt to Hong Kong from late October, replacing a B747-8. It will launch four-times weekly flights from Frankfurt to Nairobi on October 27 using an A340-300. DELTA AIR LINES is trialling a system in the US whereby passengers’ hand luggage is preloaded above their allocated seats before boarding begins. The Early Valet service sees airline employees take specially-tagged carry-on bags at the departure gate and place them on board. MALAYSIA AIRLINES, which has been placed in administration, will emerge in September as Malaysia Airlines Berhad. It will continue to operate two A380s on its Kuala Lumpur to London Heathrow route. EMIRATES has closed its lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 until October for refurbishment. In the meantime, first and business class passengers and silver, gold and platinum Skywards members can access British Airways’ Galleries Club lounge. LUFTHANSA GROUP travellers booking tickets through an agent will soon face paying an extra booking fee of € 16, as from September 1 a GDS charge will be applied to each booking.