New flights in Alaska, Europe and beyond lead this week’s air travel news.
This week United Airlines announced plans to launch two new nonstop routes to Fairbanks, Alaska, in summer 2019, from Denver and San Francisco. The San Francisco route will be in operation from June 6 to August 18, 2019. The five-hour flights will operate Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday departing San Francisco at 7:51 p.m. and arriving in Fairbanks at 11:56 p.m. The southbound flights will depart Fairbanks on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 12:47 a.m. and arrive in San Francisco at 6:42 a.m. The Denver service will be in operation from June 7 to August 18. The five-and-a-half-hour flights will operate Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday departing Denver at 6:56 p.m. and arriving in Fairbanks at 10:37 p.m., and will depart Fairbanks at 11:37 p.m., arriving in Denver at 6:52 a.m.
Elsewhere in the United States, Colorado is counting down to ski season with new and expanded flights for winter 2018 - 2019. A new commercial airline is coming to Telluride, as Boutique Air will offer year-round service with multiple daily round trips from Denver. Telluride will also add twice daily nonstop flights from Dallas/Fort Worth on American Airlines, as well as daily nonstop flights during the ski season from Newark on United. Steamboat Resort’s regional airport, Steamboat/Hayden, will add year-round direct flights to Boston, Ft. Lauderdale and Long Beach, California, with JetBlue. Boston and Long Beach service will operate twice a week, while Ft. Lauderdale service will operate once a week.
In Europe, this week Delta announced plans to double its flights from Edinburgh next summer with new service to Boston Logan, effective May 24, 2019. The seasonal Boston route, operating in conjunction with joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic, will complement the airline’s existing daily service to New York - JFK. 163-seat Boeing 757-200ER aircraft will operate the new route.
In low-cost carrier news, this week Norwegian inaugurated its first flight to Canada, between Montreal and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. The new nonstop service was followed by flights to Martinique on November 1. Both flights will operate three times a week until the end of March 2019. The airline is also launching its first Canadian transatlantic service with a year-round, daily flight from Hamilton to Dublin on March 31, 2019.
In South America, this week JetBlue announced plans for a new flight between Ft. Lauderdale and Guayaquil, Ecuador, starting February 28, 2019. The new daily, nonstop flight will depart Fort Lauderdale at 7:00 p.m., with the return flight departing Ecuador at 12:45 a.m. It will be operated on Airbus A320 aircraft.
Finally, in distribution news, this week Hahn Air Systems and Podeba Airlines signed an agreement allowing the Russian low-cost carrier to be distributed under Hahn Air’s H1 code in all major GDS’s worldwide. Pobeda Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aeroflot, is based at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow. Founded in 2014, Pobeda serves 78 destinations across 13 countries in Asia and Europe. Pobeda’s fleet consists of twelve B737-800 aircraft.
Related Stories
Who’s Where in Travel: New at American Queen Steamboat Company, Protravel
Hotelbeds Group and Its Subsidiaries Rebrand as Hotelbeds