National carrier Air New Zealand announced it would cut average airfares on routes to the Pacific Islands by up to 50 percent as it unveiled the final stage of its revamp of short-haul services.
Air NZ has already introduced a no-frills model on trans-Tasman and domestic flights, stimulating demand as it fends off competition from Virgin Blue and Qantas. The new Pacific Express service would see fares across both business and economy classes between New Zealand and Australia and the islands of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands reduced by up to 50 percent, the company said in a statement. The cheapest one-day flight between Auckland and Fiji, excluding taxes and levies, would cost NZD$229 and NZD$289 to the Cook Islands.
An airline pilot, reported by passengers for flying his Boeing 737 erratically, was fined 1,500 euros (USD$1,845) after a breath test showed he had been drinking, German police said. The pilot worked for a north African airline and was flying from Morocco to Düsseldorf in western Germany. Police declined to name his airline. Police launched an investigation against the pilot for “endangering air traffic” and the civil aviation authority had confiscated the plane’s flight recorder. “Several of the 108 passengers complained about the pilot’s ‘erratic’ flying style,” Düsseldorf police said in a statement.
New European low-cost airline WIZZ Air secured its third base in Gdansk, Poland. The airline plans to start operations from May to coincide with European Union enlargement. Low-budget airlines are emerging across Central Europe, where treaties protecting national carriers must be scrapped after several countries in the region join the EU.
WIZZ Air said it planned to become central Europe’s third-biggest airline this year after Poland’s LOT and Czech CSA
JetBlue has announced its intention to begin nonstop service from its hub in New York to Santiago and Santo Domingo, both in the Dominican Republic.
Privately owned Spirit Airlines, which currently flies to Mexico, recently won federal approval to fly to 11 countries: Aruba, the Bahamas, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Panama.
America West announced nonstop service from Los Angeles to four new international destinations in Canada and Mexico.
British Airways plans to introduce a new Russian regional route and increase the number of flights on its existing routes to Russia. BA franchisee British Mediterranean Airways will operate three flights a week from London to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg from May 10.
Discus this article and give feedback in our online forum