ALASKA AIRLINES TO ADD SAN DIEGO – HONOLULU LINK
US carrier Alaska Airlines is to introduce a new daily flight between San Diego and Honolulu, complementing its existing link to Kahului, Maui from the US city, a route that was launched in October last year. The new service will be launched from November 17. Alaska Airlines currently offers five flights per day to Honolulu with daily links from ANC, BLI and PDX and a twice daily service from SEA. Hawaiian Airlines already offers a daily service between Honolulu and San Diego, carrying an estimated 110,000 O&D passengers in the past year. This, however, is just a 54 per cent share of the total 207,000 O&D passenger traffic, the rest using the flights of the US majors via Intermediate hubs. In the past year Alaska Airlines handled around 321,000 passengers on its flights between Honolulu and the mainland US, placing it as the seventh largest carrier in this market with just a 2.9 per cent share. Hawaiian Airlines dominates this area with a 48.4 per cent share, followed by United Airlines (14.6 per cent), Delta Air Lines (10.6 per cent), American Airlines (6.7 per cent), Continental Airlines (4.8 per cent) and Mesa Airlines (4.6 per cent).
TACA BOOSTS LINKS TO HAVANA
TACA International is to add a third link to Havana, the capital of the Caribbean island of Cuba next month. The company already offers flights from Lima, Peru but from August 5 it will inaugurate a three times weekly service from San Salvador, El Salvador. Just days earlier on August 1, the airline will also boost frequencies on the Lima – Havana route from three to five flights per week. TACA International is part of the wider Grupo TACA Central American airline alliance and its partner carriers also provide links to Havana. Costa Rica-based LACSA has a six times weekly link to the Cuban capital from San Jose. There are currently no direct links between San Salvador and Havana, although an estimated 4,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two destinations in the past year with more than three quarters flying with Copa Airlines via its regional hub at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City.
AIR CANADA EXPANDS ITS LEISURE OFFERING FOR WINTER 2011/2012
Air Canada is to open at least seven new seasonal routes to Mexico and the Caribbean this winter, according to the latest changes to its planned schedules for the 2011/2012 season. The information has already been uploaded to the GDS but as is always the case, it remains subject to change until the carrier formally announces its operational plans. The additional flights, which are outlined below and will commence from the week beginning December 18 unless stated, are all planned to operate on a weekly basis until the middle of April and include links from five different Canadian cities. There will be two new routes to Mexico, including a link between Edmonton and Cozumel, a destination already served during the summer months from Montreal. Air Canada will use a Boeing 767-300ER on the service from December 22. The second new route will be between Montreal and Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Guerrero on the Costa Grande Pacific Coast. This flight will be operated by an Airbus A319. Elsewhere, a new link will be introduced between Halifax and Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a location ranked as offering the best destination beaches in a survey by Trip Advisor earlier this year. Air Canada carried around 23,000 O&D passengers to Providenciales in the past year, with the largest traffic flows being from Toronto (65 per cent), Montreal (15 per cent) and Ottawa (9 per cent). This route is due to start on February 16 and will likely only operate for a six to eight week schedule. From Ottawa a new Embraer 190 rotation will be provided to Holguin to cater for increasing demand for the developing tourist offerings in this region of Cuba. Around 22,000 O&D passengers flew with Air Canada to the destination in the past year with traffic flying on links from Montreal (54 per cent) and Toronto (29 per cent). At Toronto three new routes are planned, including the only non-stop commercial flight from Canada to the Caribbean island of St Kitts, making the destination and its sister island Nevis, a more viable winter destination choice for travellers from North America. There is a good demand for a direct service as already an estimated 8,000 O&D passengers make the journey every year, the majority flying with American Airlines via Miami International. The other new connections include Curacao and a triangle route to St Thomas and San Juan.
SUREJET TO EMERGE FROM ASA AND EXPRESSJET MERGER
US regional carrier SkyWest has revealed that its Atlantic Southeast Airlines subsidiary will be rebranded as SureJet when it completes the integration of former Continental Airlines division ExpressJet Airlines later this year. SkyWest acquired the airline in November 2010 and is in the process of bringing them together under a single Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC). Although SkyWest will continue to operate in its own right, the new SureJet venture will become one of the largest regional entities in the US with a combined fleet of 412 aircraft flying for among others Delta Air Lines and United Continental Holdings. In the last year the two carriers together carried around 27 million passengers and generated revenues of over $13 billion. Atlantic Southeast Airlines currently serves over 120 airports across the US and Canada with hubs at Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis and Washington. Meanwhile, ExpressJet serves 148 airports across the US, Canada and Mexico from hubs at Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Newark and Washington. “A key part of our merger is developing a truly unified company for the long-term benefit of our business and our people,” said Bradford Holt, President and Chief Operating Officer, Atlantic Southeast Airlines. “One way to foster unity is by establishing an altogether new company name that is representative of all our employees, instead of asking half of our people to adopt an existing name and history as their own.”
CHINA EASTERN OPENS BOOKINGS FOR HONOLULU CHARTER LINK
China Eastern Airlines has finally opened reservations for its new twice weekly scheduled charter between Shanghai Pu Dong and Honolulu, two months after it revealed plans to introduce the new service. The carrier will use an Airbus A340-300 on the flights which will operate for a limited schedule between August 9 and October 29 only. The HUB reported earlier this year that the Hawaiian Tourist Authority (HTA) was working with the operator to introduce the flights after it operated three successful flights across an eleven day period at the start of the year. China Eastern subsequently made all the necessary applications to the US Department of Transportation for approval to launch this extended schedule. According to the HTA the new service is projected to bring as many as 82,000 Chinese visitors to the islands, an increase of 24 per cent compared with last year. This will generate significant economic benefits for Hawai'i, according to the HTA with a predicted average spend of $368 per day, bringing the anticipated overall annual visitor spend above $60 million and stimulating the market. The three earlier flights from China Eastern in late January / early February generated an estimated $1.7 million in direct visitor expenditure, according to the HTA. The flights are currently only available until October 29, but the HTA reports that they will continue through to January 2012 with a total of 50 return services due to operate. "This new route creates ease and availability for those who travel between Hawai'i and China," the HTA said in a statement. "Prior to this, travelers from China were routed through Korea or Japan. The HTA is committed to increasing airlift to and from China in collaboration with Hawai'i Tourism China and Hawai'i's visitor industry to ensure the long-term success and continuation of the new route."
CAPE AIR TO ADD SAN JUAN – ANGUILLA FLIGHTS
US regional carrier Cape Air is to operate a further four weekly flights San Juan in Puerto Rico and Anguilla from December. The airline inaugurated a twice daily schedule on December 22, 2010, but confirms that exactly one year on it will add a further four weekly rotations, meaning that three daily flights will be offered on four separate days. Cape Air uses its Cessna 402s on the route, one of many flights it operates across the US and the Caribbean. “The Cape Air model of high-frequency flights and easy connections with the mainland is a needed service on Anguilla,” said Andrew Bonney, Vice President of Planning, Cape Air. “We are thrilled to be at a point already where it makes economic sense to add capacity on Anguilla. With a fleet of 66 aircraft, Cape Air can add as many seats as Anguilla needs, in an economically rational and sustainable way.” The route has certainly been a success for Cape Air. It carried an estimated 5,300 O&D passengers in the first four months of this year and highlights its partnerships with JetBlue Airways and Continental Airlines as helping its distribution and increasing access to Anguilla as a tourism destination.
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