News From The Americas

Richard Maslen May 19, 2011

QANTAS LAUNCHES FLIGHTS TO DALLAS FORT WORTH

Australian national carrier Qantas Airways has launched flights from Sydney to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport, with brand ambassador, Hollywood superstar, John Travolta, the star guest at this week’s celebrations. The inaugural flight touched down at the Texas airport on May 16, where it received a customary water cannon salute from the Airport Fire Service. "We are very excited at the arrival of Qantas Airways here at DFW," said Jeff Fegan, Chief Executive Officer, DFW International Airport. "This flight really is a game-changer. The Qantas service opens up an entirely new part of the world to DFW passengers, giving American travelers unprecedented access to Australia and the entire South Pacific region." The inaugural flight was celebrated with a ceremony and press conference inside DFW's International Terminal D, and included remarks from Australia's ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Kim Beazley, and Wally R Mariani, Qantas' Senior Vice President for the Americas and the Pacific. The new flight operates four times a week with a three-class onboard service on the airline’s Boeing 747-400 aircraft, and includes a stop in Brisbane on the return leg to Australia. The new service is expected to generate approximately $130 million in annual economic impact for the Dallas-Fort Worth region. "Not only is Dallas/Fort Worth an outstanding destination in its own right, it is also the largest hub of our partner American Airlines, which means we can now offer passengers many additional options to connect conveniently to and from other cities throughout the rest of the United States, Canada and Mexico," said Mr Mariani, thanks to the airline’s membership of the oneworld alliance.

VISION AIRLINES DEVELOPS HUB CONCEPT AT DESTIN/FT WALTON BEACH

US carrier Vision Airlines has announced that it will establish Destin/ Ft Walton Beach as a regional hub, enabling passengers using its flights to transfer through Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS) to any of its other destinations. The new schedule will take effect from June 1 and will create a further 100 additional one-stop route options for domestic US travellers. "When we launched our service in March, we felt it would be prudent to keep things simple which meant only allowing passengers to fly directly to a destination,” said David Meers, Chief Operating Officer, Vision Airlines. “Now, by opening our entire system with connections, our customers will have many new destination options.” Vision Airlines is still perhaps best known for its charter activities, but the small US airline announced a major expansion of its scheduled network earlier this year with the launch of flights to 17 more destinations from VPS. These were inaugurated in late March and early April. Currently, passengers from Atlanta, for example, can only fly directly to Louisville, Destin or Gulfport. However, from June 1 they will be able to link to 14 different destinations, including Ft Lauderdale, St Petersburg/Tampa and Las Vegas via VPS. "This will give our passengers so many more options to take advantage of our low fares and we are very happy to deliver this value at a time when it seems airfares from other air carriers are skyrocketing," added David Meers.

TAM AIRLINES CONFIRMS LONDON EXPANSION

Brazilian carrier TAM Airlines has confirmed that it will double its direct overnight non-stop services between London Heathrow and Rio de Janeiro (Galeão) from three flights a week to six. The new flights start on August 2 and compliment TAM’s existing daily overnight Boeing 777 service between London and São Paulo, adding much needed seat and cargo capacity between the UK and South America. TAM first introduced a direct Rio de Janeiro-London service in August 2010 and demand for extra flights has been driven in each direction by both leisure and business traffic. There are strong business links between the UK and Brazil, especially among the oil and gas industry, the banking and finance sectors, and creative industries. London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016) are also the next two Summer Olympic Games host cities, and Brazil will stage the FIFA World Cup in 2014.

TACA PERU TO EXPAND LIMA – HAVANA LINK

TACA Peru has requested government approval to double capacity on its services from Lima to the Cuban capital Havana. The airline currently offers three flights per week on the route but plans to increase this to six weekly flights from August 5. TACA Peru is the only operator serving the route and currently the only airline offering any links between Peru and Cuba. An estimated 64,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two countries in the past year with around 16,000 flying with TACA Peru between the two capitals. Also from August 1, TACA Peru plans to introduce a second daily flight on its recently launched domestic link between Lima and Chiclayo, a route also served by LAN Peru and Star Peru. An estimated 221,000 O&D passengers used the route last year, up 17.4 per cent on the previous 12 months. The same month, the airline will also introduced a third daily frequency between Lima and Arequipa, Peru’s second most populous city, located in the south of the country in the Andes Mountains. The additional rotation will only operate for the single calendar month to cater for strong seasonal demand. LAN Peru dominates the route with eight daily schedules, while Star Peru also offers ten flights per week using smaller regional jet equipment.

DIRECT AIR EXPANDS IN CENTRAL FLORIDA

Air travellers looking for convenient, low fares to Central Florida will soon have more choices when Direct Air begins commercial services to Lakeland, Florida on June 23. The Lakeland Linder Regional Airport will welcome flights from four cities this summer, comprising Myrtle Beach, SC; Niagara Falls, NY; Hagerstown, MD and Springfield, IL with an initial ten flights per week. Plattsburgh, NY and San Juan, Puerto Rico are expected to be added to the schedule in November. Ed Warneck, President of Direct Air, believes the Lakeland region will be attractive to travelers because of its strategic location between Orlando and Tampa, and it will be a convenient and economical alternative to the busy and stressful larger airports in those surrounding cities. "The Lakeland area is perfectly positioned for utilising the hub and spoke concept,” he said.