A snapshot of the week's airline news
Airline ups capacity on JNB route
EGYPTAIR will increase its capacity and product offering by replacing
the Airbus A330-200 with the Airbus A330-300 on its Johannesburg
service, effective May 11. The new aircraft has 301 seats – 265
seats in economy and 36 in business class – an increase in capacity
of 33 seats. The airline said the change in aircraft also brought
an upgrade in the product offered on the route. “In the businessclass
cabin we now offer a lie-flat bed and in economy class the
overhead entertainment monitors have been replaced with individual
monitors,” EgyptAir said in a statement.
Emirates extends online check-in
EMIRATES has extended its online check-in from 24 to 48 hours
before departure, effective immediately. Customers around the world
can now check in online on both desktop and mobile devices from
48 hours to 90 minutes before flight departure. The increased lead
time offers customers greater flexibility to choose their seats, and
reduces waiting times at the airport as they would already have their
boarding passes before arriving. Passengers can then drop their
luggage at online check-in counters before heading straight through
to immigration and security. For flights to and from the United
States, while online check-in is available 48 hours before departure,
boarding passes will only be issued 24 hours in advance.
Fly Blue Crane available on GDS
AMADEUS travel agents can now search, sell and service bookings
on Fly Blue Crane’s route network on the GDS. Coo, Theunis
Potgieter, says its network will also be available on Galileo’s
GDS in the coming weeks. The airline commenced operations
on September 1, 2015, and currently operates flights from
Johannesburg to Bloemfontein, Kimberley and Cape Town. “We are
growing fast and in the coming months we plan to expand our route
map to additional SA cities and new regional services. We will be
able to announce our first regional market in May,” says Theunis.
Delta expands network through codeshare
DELTA Air Lines has entered into codeshare partnerships with KLM
Royal Dutch Airlines and Jet Airways, increasing connections for
passengers to and from destinations across North America to the
Indian subcontinent via Amsterdam. Delta will now codeshare on
Jet Airways’ daily non-stop flights from its hubs in Mumbai and
New Delhi as well as on KLM’s daily flight between Amsterdam and
Mumbai. Jet Airways also operates a daily flight to Toronto from
Amsterdam.
LH, SWISS and SQ expand codeshare
FOLLOWING the conclusion of a commercial joint venture in
November, SWISS International Air Lines, Lufthansa and Singapore
Airlines are expanding their codeshare agreements. In addition to
the Lufthansa Group’s Frankfurt hub, the expanded codeshare offers
Singapore Airlines’ travellers more than 20 codeshare routings via
the group’s Zurich and Munich hubs to and from various points
in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Belgium. SWISS passengers
flying from Zurich via Singapore will be able to connect to Adelaide,
Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur,
Auckland and Christchurch. SWISS and Lufthansa passengers can
benefit from the codeshare on routes in southeast Asia and the
southwest Pacific. Some of these include connections to Denpasar
and Jakarta when flying on Lufthansa from Frankfurt via Singapore.
Baggage that is checked in Switzerland or Germany will be checked
through to passengers’ final destination.
Proflight Zambia replaces Kasama with Mbala
PROFLIGHT Zambia will launch flights between Lusaka and Mbala
in June. This comes after the airline’s customer satisfaction survey
indicated passengers would use this service as an alternative to
the current Lusaka-Kasama route. The launch of the Mbala route
is subject to regulatory approval and flights will be available for
booking from May 23. The airline currently flies from Durban
to Lusaka. The flight from Lusaka to Mbala would still enable
travellers to easily access Kasama, as well as tourist destinations
on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, the airline said. Proflight will
operate a shuttle bus between Kasama and Mbala airports for the
convenience of those customers in Kasama.
