Since Avianca resumed operations in October, the South American airline has reactivated almost 100 routes. Little by little, Avianca is reconnecting Colombia and El Salvador with many Latin American countries, despite the ongoing travel restrictions and waves of COVID-19 infections. Simple Flying spoke with Avianca’s CEO, Anko van der Werff, about …
Yukon’s Air North stepped up last week, flying a COVID-19 vaccination team up to Old Crow in Canada’s far north. One of Air North’s ATR-72s headed up to Old Crow on Friday. Onboard was Team Balto, one of the two mobile vaccination teams covering Yukon. Operating the aircraft was Captain David Laviviere and First Officer Johannes Geisler. Looking af …
There’s more uncertainty for airlines flying across the Tasman Sea. The long-awaited two-way travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand is potentially under a cloud. The uncertainty is caused by a cocktail of internal border issues within Australia, a small COVID-19 outbreak (now contained) in Sydney over the New Year period, and a New Zealand …
2021 will mark the beginning of several new connections between North America and India. From Air India’s Bangalore to San Francisco to United’s Delhi to Chicago service, carriers are jumping on the chance to start new routes. So what is driving this surge? And why are new routes cropping up at a time of low demand? Long coming Despite being one of t …
China’s lunar new year is in mid-February. It is China’s most important holiday. Typically, hundreds of millions of travelers go on the move, heading home for the holiday. For China’s airlines, it’s usually the busiest time of the year. But not this year. On the back of another wave of COVID-19 in China, the 2021 lunar new year looks like being a b …
United Airlines looks to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for its employees and calls for other companies to follow its lead. The Chicago-based carrier wants all of its 60,000 staff to be vaccinated for COVID-19, Chief Executive Scott Kirby told employees on January 21, 2021. Kirby believes it would be the best practice to require vaccines from the airl …
India has made its largest airport drug bust in history this week, seizing ₹68 crores ($9.28 million) worth of heroin. The drugs were found during a search of two passengers traveling from Uganda, who hid them in their checked bags. Here’s more on the incident. Huge In a statement from the Customs Department, seen in Outlook, two men were arrested at …
Israel will ban foreign airlines from flying in and out of the country until January 31 to curtail the spread of new COVID-19 strains. The country’s cabinet on Sunday approved plans to freeze flights starting at midnight between Monday and Tuesday, Haaretz reported Sunday. Flights leaving the country will only be approved in rare instances. Firefigh …
Wanting to take advantage of the country’s location, Turkmenistan Airlines has inked an agreement with European aircraft manufacturer Airbus for two Airbus A330 cargo aircraft. The widebodies will passenger to cargo converted fuselages and will be due for delivery in 2022. Born out of the success of converting older Airbus models, the A330 passenger …
JetBlue has filed a complaint with the US Department of Transportation (DOT), complaining of the difficulty in obtaining slots in London. The carrier is very interested in starting up operations across the Atlantic to the UK’s largest cities. However, the airline has had difficulties getting slots in London. JetBlue complains of London slot difficul …
The President of the Republic of Seychelles has signalled that changes could be inbound for its national airline. In his first State of the Nation address, Wavel Ramkalawan advised that Air Seychelles maintains a solely domestic focus. The airline is debt-laden by millions of dollars worth of loans. A first opposition victory Last October, Wavel Ramk …
After more than a year since the initial agreement was signed, Iberia has announced today the finalized acquisition of Air Europa. In November 2019, IAG, the parent company of Iberia, closed the purchase of Air Europa to create a great Spanish super-carrier, all while transforming Madrid Barajas Airport is one of the main European hubs. The COVID-19 …
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