Air Travel: New in Australia, the Middle East and Beyond

From new codeshare agreements to new flights, it’s been a busy week for air travel. 

All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Virgin Australia have signed a new codeshare agreement. Under the terms of their agreement, ANA and Virgin Australia will implement codeshare flights within Japan and Australia and introduce reciprocal frequent flyer benefits for their members. 

Starting on January 30, ANA and Virgin Australia will begin their codeshare on six routes within Australia:

  • Sydney and Brisbane
  • Sydney and Melbourne
  • Sydney and Cairns
  • Sydney and Canberra
  • Sydney and Gold Coast
  • Sydney and Adelaide

The codeshare routes within Australia will open for booking January 21, subject to government approval. 

In new flights news, Qatar Airways announced its new destination plans for 2020. This year, eight new destinations will join the airline’s network, in addition to the recently announced gateways of Santorini, Greece; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and Osaka, Japan

The new destinations are:

  • Lyon, France – Five weekly flights (starting June 23)
  • Siem Reap, Cambodia – Five weekly flights (starting November 16)
  • Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan – Two weekly flights (starting March 30)
  • Almaty, Kazakhstan – Two weekly flights starting April 1, increasing to four weekly flights from May 25
  • Cebu, Philippines – Three weekly flights (starting April 8)
  • Accra, Ghana – Daily flights (starting April 15)
  • Trabzon, Turkey – Three weekly flights (starting May 20)
  • Luanda, Angola – Four weekly flights (starting October 14)

All told, the new routes will expand the airline’s operations to a total of 177 destinations around the world. 

In Central America, JetBlue announced plans to expand into Guatemala. JetBlue said that it will launch new service to Guatemala City’s La Aurora International Airport starting June 1, 2020. Nonstop flights will operate daily between Guatemala City and New York City’s JFK Airport, with seats open for booking now. Flights will depart JFK at 7:00 p.m., arriving in Guatemala City at 10:15 p.m., with the return flight departing 11:25 p.m. and arriving at 6:00 a.m. 

Finally, LATAM Airlines Group has announced plans to move operations at New York City’s JFK Airport and introduce its Premium Economy product to all national and international flights within Latin America operated by the Airbus A320 family. 

At JFK, LATAM will relocate from Terminal 8 to Terminal 4, where new partner Delta serves over 90 destinations in the United States, Canada and worldwide. The move is effective February 1. 

In onboard product news, LATAM also announced plans to introduce its Premium Economy class to all national and international flights within Latin America operated by the Airbus A320 family, starting March 16. 

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