A number of new flights to Europe, Africa and Asia lead this week’s top air travel news.
This week Delta and its partners, KLM, Virgin Atlantic and Korean Air, launched a number of flights from Boston’s Logan International Airport. On March 31, KLM began operating a route to Amsterdam, adding to Delta’s existing twice-daily service; on April 1, Virgin Atlantic launched daytime service from Boston to London - Heathrow, bringing service on that route to three times daily between the two airlines. Officials said that the new morning departure would enable better in-flight workday productivity for London-bound business travelers.
Looking ahead, on April 12 Korean Air will start new, nonstop service between Boston and Seoul, one of the first additions to the Korean Air - Delta joint venture’s transpacific network since the partnership was launched last May. Later this spring, Delta will begin seasonal service out of Boston to Lisbon and Edinburgh.
In 2020, Delta and Virgin Atlantic will also begin flying to London - Gatwick from Boston, as well as from New York - JFK, bringing the two airlines to 18 flights daily to the UK from the two cities. Full Gatwick schedule details will be announced later this year.
In other Europe flight news, this week Air France launched its new service between Dallas - Fort Worth and Paris - Charles de Gaulle, which will operate up to five times weekly throughout the summer on Airbus A330 aircraft. Dallas is the airline’s 13th destination in the United States.
On the West Coast, this week Air Italy inaugurated its new nonstop service between Los Angeles and Milan, marking the third destination in North America served by the airline. On April 10, the airline will also launch a new service to Milan from San Francisco.
The new Milan - Los Angeles flight also marked the launch of Air Italy’s new Business Class product. Business Class now includes a new dine-on-demand service that allows passengers to choose from an a la carte menu at any time. The new product is set to roll out across the airline’s network in the coming weeks.
In other new flight news, South African Airways increased its frequency on nonstop flights between Washington - Dulles and Accra, Ghana, this week. The service now operates five times weekly, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. The route also offers continuing service to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Finally, in other onboard product news, this week marked the launch of American Airlines’ new A321neo aircraft, which made its debut on a flight between Phoenix and Orlando. The new planes offer customers power at every seat, free wireless entertainment and live TV streamed to guest devices, high-speed Wi-Fi from gate to gate and built-in seatback holders for tablets and phones. The planes have a capacity of 196 seats -- 129 in the Main Cabin, 47 extra-legroom Main Cabin Extra seats and 20 first class seats -- as well as a number of features that improve fuel efficiency. American has ordered a total of 100 A321neos and plans to continue flying the aircraft on additional routes through the rest of the year.
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