OUR PARTNER AIRLINES FEATURED AIRLINE

China’s Xiamen Airlines celebrated its inaugural flight to Vancouver on July 25, marking the start of a new year-round, nonstop Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner service operates three times a week between Vancouver YVR and Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN). The wide-body aircraft features four first-class, 18 business class, and 215 economy class seats. The new route to Xiamen also offers visitors a 72-hour visa-free stopover program, for those who may want to explore the official sister city of the City of Richmond. (Read more) Air Astana celebrates Skytrax success for 5th consecutive year Air Astana continues to be recognized for service excellence with this year’s Skytrax World Airlines Awards event seeing a 4 Star rating and "The Best Airline in Central Asia and India" award being achieved for the fifth consecutive year and "The Best Airline Staff Service in Cen-tral Asia/India" for the fourth time. The prestigious awards ceremony took place at the Farn-borough International Airshow in the United Kingdom. (Read more)

Up close and personal with Air Astana’s Michael Whitehead, Regional General Manager of the UK, Ireland, & North America Get to know more about Air Astana’s Regional Manager in an interview with Travel Research Online (TRO). Air Astana launches a new Almaty-Tehran service Air Astana commenced its three times weekly direct flights between Almaty and Tehran, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The route is operated with the airline’s an Embraer 190. (Read more)

Hong Kong Airlines adds Osaka-Kansai to its growing network Hong Kong Airlines is now operating daily flights between Hong Kong (HKG) and Osaka-Kansai(KIX) using its A340-300s. With this new service, the airline now operates a total of 49 weekly flights between Hong Kong and Japan, including twice-daily flights to Okinawa and Tokyo Narita, five-time weekly service to Sapporo and Kagoshima and twice-weekly service to Okayama and Miyazaki. (Read more)

AIRLINE PARTNER NEWS UPDATE

ASIA & PACIFIC

Michael Whitehead, Air Astana Regional Manager

Xiamen Airlines begins nonstop flights from Vancouver to Xiamen, China

Hong Kong Airlines ranked top three in the "Best Regional Airline: Asia" Hong Kong Airlines has received numerous awards in the 2016 World Airline Awards. Besides receiving the highly-esteemed Skytrax 4-star rating, Hong Kong Airlines also ranked third place in Skytrax “Best Regional Airline: Asia”. Stanley Kan, Director of Hong Kong Airlines' Ser-vice Delivery and Mr Christopher Birt, General Manager, Inflight Services received the award at the Farnborough International Airshow Trade 2016. (Read more) Hong Kong Airlines unveils details of new VIP lounge Hong Kong Airlines (HX) has revealed its new VIP lounge in the Midfield Concourse of Hong Kong International Airport, which is due to open in September. Learn more about the details from the airline’s COO Ben Wong interview with Business Traveler Asia-Pacific. (View here) Lao Airlines signs codeshare agreement with SilkAir Lao Airlines and SilkAir signed a codeshare agreement for the latter’s flights to Vientiane and Luang Prabang, offering SilkAir’s and Lao Airlines’ customers more options when traveling to and from Singapore and Laos. From 31 October 2016, SilkAir will offer three weekly flights on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. With the new codeshare agreement in place, customers have a choice of six weekly flights to Laos shared between both airlines. Under the agreement which takes effect on 1 September 2016 (subject to regulatory approval), SilkAir will add its 'MI' designator code to selected Lao Airlines-operated flights between Singapore, Vientiane and Luang Prabang. Likewise, Lao Airlines will add its 'QV' designator code to selected SilkAir- operated flights between Singapore, Vientiane and Luang Prabang when flights commence on 31 October 2016. (Read more) Xiamen Airlines signs MOU for up to 30 737 MAX 200s Xiamen Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for up to 30 Boeing 737 MAX 200 aircraft. The proposed deal is valued at up to $3.39 billion at list prices. (Read more) Xiamen Airlines orders six Boeing 787-9s Xiamen Airlines has ordered six Boeing 787-9s, in a deal worth $1.4 billion at list prices. The aircraft, which are scheduled for delivery from 2016 to 2018, will be used to speed up the carrier’s international expansion pace. (Read more) Arkia orders four Airbus A330neos Tel Aviv-based Arkia Israeli Airlines has firmed an order for four A330-900neo aircraft valued at $1.15 billion at list prices. (Read more) Air Namibia Plans Bulawayo-Windhoek Flights Air Namibia is planning to introduce flights between Windhoek and Bulawayo to cater for the increasing number of people travelling between the two cities. (Read more) Air Seychelles's New Codeshare Flights Air Seychelles has established one-stop air connections to six cities in the United States as part of a major expansion to its codeshare agreement with Etihad Airways. Under the agreement, the airline will codeshare on transatlantic flights operated by Etihad Airways between Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Abu Dhabi, where travelers have convenient four-hour flights with Air Seychelles to Mahé, the biggest island in the archipelago. Both legs of the journey are combined on a single ticket with the Etihad Airways “EY” or the Air Seychelles “HM” code and travelers can earn frequent flier miles on each flight. (Read more) Air Seychelles & Air Serbia Sign a Codeshare Air Seychelles is expanding its network by adding its HM flight code on four routes operated by Air Serbia, from Abu Dhabi and Paris to Belgrade, as well as on onward flights from Belgrade to Prague and Moscow, providing leisure and business travelers with smooth connections from Seychelles to Serbia, the Czech Republic and Russia Consequently, Air Serbia will place its JU flight code on four routes operated by Air Seychelles, from Paris and Abu Dhabi to Mahé, as well as from Mahé to Johannesburg and Praslin. (Read more)

MIDDLE EAST

AFRICA

RwandAir to take delivery of four new planes over next ten months Three of the four new aircraft presently on order by RwandAir will be delivered before the end of this year. The first of two Airbus A330s will join the fleet in September, with the date still to be confirmed, while another Boeing B737-800NG will follow in October, bringing the number of aircraft operated to 10. The second Airbus A330 is expected to arrive to Kigali in December this year, allowing for the launch of the long anticipated flights to Mumbai and on to Guangzhou. This aircraft is a larger A330-300, while the September delivery will be an A330-200 type. With the delivery of another Boeing B737-800NG in May of next year, the fleet size will be 12 overall. (Read more) RwandAir to begin Harare flights in January RwandAir will commence flights to Harare, Zimbabwe, beginning January next year as it continues to execute its expansion program by adding six more destinations on the African continent, including Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, Lilongwe in Malawi, Cotonou in Benin, Khartoum in Sudan and Bamako in Mali. (Read more) Flybe and Singapore Airlines launch partnership Flybe and Singapore Airlines announced a new interline partnership. The deal will see more than 100 Singapore Airlines destinations across South East Asia and Australasia become more accessible to UK consumers. On the other hand, customers from 19 UK towns and cities are now able to book to fly with Singapore Airlines long-haul, to also include Flybe connections departing from their local airport. (Read more) Flybe launches London City Airport flights to Rennes Flybe launched a service from London City Airport to the French region's capital to run six days a week (excluding Saturdays) until Sunday, September 4 this year. (Read more ) Avianca Flights in Rio to Operate in Terminal 2 All Avianca, Avianca Brazil and Star Alliance member airlines operations, will be located within the same terminal T2 at RIOGaleão - Tom Jobim International Airport. Starting June 30, all Avianca flights originating in Rio de Janeiro heading to Avianca’s Hubs in Lima and Bogota, will operate out of Terminal 2 (T2) at RIOGaleão - Tom Jobim International Airport. (Read more) Azul Airlines adds Uruguay to network Azul Airlines commenced flights between Porto Alegre (POA) and Montevideo (MVD) on 1 July. The route is served four times weekly using the carrier’s 70-seat ATR 72s. (Read more) Azul Airlines’ David Neeleman on the economy, Zika and the Olympics Learn more about David Neeleman, founder, chairman and CEO of Azul Brazilian Airlines and his views in an interview with miamiherald.com. Pacific Coastal Airlines now offers electronic ticketing Pacific Coastal Airlines (8P) has introduced electronic ticketing, allowing agents to seamlessly add Pacific Coastal flights to a multi-airline e-ticket, or issue a stand-alone 8P ticket, via Sabre, Apollo and Worldspan. Canada-based travel agents can purchase electronic tickets for travel on Pacific Coastal Airlines using cash, Visa, MasterCard or American Express. (Read more)

EUROPE

NORTH & SOUTH AMERICA