AIRLINE NEWS

QATAR AIRWAYS has started a second daily flight to New York’s JFK, on an A350. The airline’s existing service leaves from Terminal 8 but the new morning service uses Terminal 7, home to Oneworld’s BA, Cathay Pacific, Iberia and Qantas.

TIANJIN AIRLINES is to launch its first flights to the UK on June 25, with a twice-weekly A330 service. The airline will fly the Tianjin-Chongqing-Gatwick route, with flights departing China on Wednesday and Saturday at 0905, landing in London at 2025. The return leg will leave Gatwick at 2225, arriving in Tianjin at 2235 the next day.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is to fly from Manchester to San Francisco and Boston next summer. The seasonal Californian route will run three times a week, with Boston twice-weekly, both with A330s.

FLYBE will launch a route from Cardiff to Berlin Tegel for winter. The twice-weekly service will operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with flights departing Cardiff at 1020, arriving at 1320, and leaving Berlin at 1355, landing at 1505.

AIR EUROPA has received its first B787-8 Dreamliner, under an agreement with SMBC Aviation Capital. It has 274 economy seats in a 3-3-3 layout, with a pitch of 79cm, and 22 business class seats configured 2-2-2, 56cm wide and with a bed length of 203cm.

AIR CANADA is launching wifi connectivity on its international services. The carrier will fit Gogo 2Ku satellite technology on its wide-body fleet from autumn, starting with its B777s. Wifi is already on the airline’s narrow-body fleet in North America.

EMIRATES has placed a new order for two A380s. The two-class aircraft will arrive in the fourth quarter of 2017. This takes the carrier’s total orders for the superjumbo to 142. It currently has 75 superjumbos, with 65 still to be delivered.

VIETNAM AIRLINES is to offer a daily Heathrow-Vietnam service from June 23 with a Thursday service to Hanoi. The extra frequency means the Skyteam carrier will have three flights per week to Ho Chi Minh City and four to Hanoi.

BRITISH AIRWAYS’ app now allows multiple boarding passes to be viewed for one flight. A single passenger can “hold” passes for up to eight people under the same booking. It is currently available for departures from Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Basel, Belfast, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Geneva, Glasgow, Heathrow, Jersey, Leeds, London City, Manchester, Vienna and Zurich, with more to come.

AUSTRIAN AIRLINES is dropping its Vienna-Tokyo route from September 4.