Norway: Norwegian Airlines cancelling several international flights starting 29 March 2020

Norwegian Airlines is cancelling all of its long-haul routes from Copenhagen's airports Kastrup and Stockholm Arlanda from March 29, 2020, as part of the low-cost carrier's strategy of moving from growth to profitability.

The airline's five routes to the United States from Copenhagen to New York's JFK airport,  Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Oakland and Los Angeles will not return after their winter break.

 Norwegian's twice a week service to both Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Krabi in Thailand will be maintained until March 27, 2020, before being cancelled.

Liverpool welcomes Lauda arrival

Austria's revived airline Lauda, which claims to be the greenest cleanest airline group in Europe with the lowest CO2 emissions, began new twice-weekly direct flights last week between Liverpool and Vienna with an Airbus A320.

CEO Andreas Gruber said: “We are delighted to offer our passengers a new non-stop service from Liverpool to my hometown of Vienna and expand our route network to allow more passengers access to the most livable city in the world.”

Liverpool John Lennon Airport director of aviation development Paul Winfield added: “Adding another new carrier to Liverpool to serving the North West and North Wales markets is good news for our passengers.

“Everyone is pleased to welcome services to a new and exciting destination and business centre from Liverpool, allowing passengers to travel from what we call the North West’s Faster, Easier, Friendlier Airport. We look forward to working with Lauda for years to come.”

Wizz Air joins the Southend family

Southend Airport greeted its latest airline last week as Wizz Air celebrated the start of operations to four destinations – Vilnius in Lithuania and Bucharest, Sibiu and Iași in Romania.

The expansion of the carrier’s UK network at Southend will see the creation of more than 100 indirect jobs in the area and means Wizz Air now operates from three London airports including Luton and Gatwick.

The airline has added 27 new routes to its UK network this year alone, meaning it now offers 103 routes to 27 countries from 12 UK airports, representing 23% growth year on year.

Wizz Air UK managing director Owain Jones praised Southend Airport’s easy accessibility via London’s public transport network which he said enabled the airline to connect passengers with the new destinations in a matter of hours.

Passengers would also benefit from flying with one of the youngest fleets, currently consisting of 120 aircraft with an average age of 4.7 years, making Wizz the greenest airline in Europe reporting only 56.8 grams CO2 emissions per passenger per kilometre.

The airline was welcomed to Southend by Glyn Jones, CEO of airport owner Stobart Aviation, who said the partnership between the two companies was another significant milestone in the airport’s development.

Atlanta debut for new BA Dreamliner

In another significant step in its £6.5bn service improvement programme, British Airways will take delivery of its first brand new Boeing B787-10 Dreamliner in January, with London – Atlanta as its first route a month later.

Also from January, the airline says it will become the first in the UK to offset emissions on all domestic flights, joining a growing number of carriers announcing similar plans.

The state-of-the-art B787-10 is more fuel efficient and quieter than its predecessors and has a carbon fibre fuselage which allows the pressure to be maintained at a lower level in the cabin for greater passenger comfort.

The aircraft will feature an exclusive eight-seat First cabin with the airline’s newest First seat (below), as on its B787-9. It will also feature BA’s Club Suite in a 48-seat forward-facing Club World cabin, 35 seats in World Traveller Plus and 165 in World Traveller.

BA chairman and CEO Alex Cruz said: “Delivery of our first 787-10 aircraft is another milestone, delivering a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the aircraft it replaces, another step towards our commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

BA has 12 B787-10s on order. Six are scheduled to arrive in 2020, joining a Dreamliner fleet of 12 B787-8s and 16 B787-9s. 

Air Transat on growth path

Named the world’s best airline in its class at the 2019 Skytrax Awards, Canadian carrier Air Transat is expanding services between the UK and Ireland to Toronto and Montreal next summer.

The frequency of Gatwick – Toronto flights will double to twice daily and Gatwick – Montreal from three to five times weekly, with many of the services operated by the airline’s new Airbus A321neo LR.

Air Transat is also increasing capacity from Glasgow and Dublin to Toronto by phasing out the Airbus A310 for an all-A330 service from Glasgow five times weekly and a mix of A330 and A321neo LR services from Dublin five times a week.

The airline will also continue to offer an all-A330 five times weekly service from Manchester to Toronto, meaning for summer 2020 Air Transat will offer more than 30 direct flights every week from the UK and Ireland to destinations across Canada.

The 199-seat Air Transat A321 features a newly re-designed 12-seat Club Class with personalised service, gourmet meals, natural leather seats with leg rests and wider 13in touchscreens.

Economy Class offers more personal space with wider leather seats and state-of-the-art in-seat entertainment systems with 10in individual touch screens and USB ports to charge personal electronic devices.