Delta expands service at Boston

By BA Staff

Delta Air Lines will increase service at Boston's Logan International Airport with daily year-round and seasonal service to the following seven destinations, including three new markets.

Their services will include:

• New daily service to Jacksonville, Fla. and Richmond, Va., operated by Delta Connection carrier Endeavor Air using 76-seat, two-class CRJ-900s, effective March 3, 2014 and March 6, 2014
• New service to Las Vegas with three flights per week operating a Boeing 737-800, effective March 6, 2014
• Expanding service to Los Angeles with one additional flight for a total of two daily operating a Boeing 737-800, effective April 7, 2014
• New Saturday-only summer seasonal service to Nassau, Bahamas, operated by Delta Connection carrier Shuttle America using 76-seat, two-class E-175s as well as the Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands using an Airbus 320, effective March 8, 2014
• Extended service to Cancun, previously scheduled to end April 26, 2014, now ending Aug. 30, 2014

Bob Cortelyou, senior vice president –Network Planning said:

"We continue to see a growing demand in Boston and increased flights next year will give our customers more direct service at more convenient times. Boston is a key domestic city in our network, and we are committed to providing service that continues to keep us the preferred airline of our customers."

Delta and joint venture partner, Virgin Atlantic, recently announced they will coordinate schedules and retime their respective Boston to Heathrow flights.

Delta currently operates 70 peak-day departures from Logan International Airport to 16 nonstop destinations.

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Analysis: Delta-Virgin Atlantic tie up does little to enhance Indian connectivity for either carrier

by Vinay Bhaskara

Image by, and copyright Devesh Agarwal. Used with permission.

Earlier this week, Atltanta-based full service carrier Delta Air Lines and London based Virgin Atlantic Airways announced that their application for a code share and joint venture partnership on trans-Atlantic flights had been approved by antitrust authorities in both the United States and European Union.

The deal, in which SkyTeam member Delta will purchase a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic previously owned by Singapore Airlines, covers 108 routes, 91 by Delta, and 17 by Virgin Atlantic. According to the press release put out by Virgin Atlantic, the deal offers the following benefits for customers.

The agreement includes the following customer benefits:

• Virgin Atlantic customers will now enjoy a vast network of connecting North American destinations while Delta customers will gain an additional six daily frequencies between London to New York

• SkyMiles and Flying Club loyalty programs that will offer up to 125% tier bonus miles* to frequent fliers on all Delta and Virgin Atlantic flights - not just those within the codeshare agreement

• Reciprocal Delta Sky Club and Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse access at applicable airports for Upper Class and BusinessElite passengers and Flying Club Gold members and SkyMiles Platinum and Diamond members

• Priority check-in, boarding, baggage handling and additional baggage allowance on all Virgin Atlantic and Delta operated flights worldwide - not just those within the codeshare agreement - for Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and Flying Club Gold members as well as Delta BusinessElite and SkyMiles Gold, Platinum and Diamond members

This is all pretty standard fare for these types of joint venture agreements, though the reciprocal frequent flyer benefits are better than those for most of Delta's partners in the SkyTeam alliance. The benefits will kick in on July 3rd, and will hopefully mark better times for Virgin Atlantic after two straight years of massive losses and increased pressure from rival British Airways at their core hub at London Heathrow.

However, looking at the deal from an Indian consumer's perspective, it adds very little to the existing offerings for both carriers in the India-USA market. Delta Air Lines currently operates a daily flight between Amsterdam and Mumbai, which is fed by its myriad services between the US and Amsterdam. The deal with Virgin Atlantic does nothing to affect the existing Delta service one way or the other.

However, the deal does open up the potential for Delta to add London as an European connecting point for flights to India along with the existing Amsterdam and Paris Charles de Gaulle points, as well as for Virgin Atlantic to enhance its US-India connectivity on existing flights to and from India. However, the schedules just don't bear this out. First of all, the Delhi flights are poorly timed to connect with the additional Delta flights in either direction. The 5:55 pm arrival into Heathrow means that there are no connections possible onto Delta flights; the last Delta departure from Heathrow is 5:10 pm. In the other direction, every Delta arrival into Heathrow is before 12:15 pm, yet the Delhi flight does not depart till 10:00 pm. That 10 hour (minimum) layover simply is not competitive with the quick connections offered by the Middle East Big 3 competition.

In terms of Mumbai, the arrival into Heathrow at 7:55 am allows for relatively effective connections to New York JFK, Minneapolis, and Atlanta, but not Boston or Detroit (the switch from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3 requires passengers to clear security again at Heathrow, adding time to connections). The departure from Heathrow to Mumbai at 10:35 am allows for connections from Boston, New York JFK, and Atlanta, but not from Detroit or Minneapolis. Furthermore, these destinations already have easy access to Mumbai services via Amsterdam.

So in the short term, the Delta-Virgin Atlantic tie up has limited effect on the Indian market. However, it could push Virgin Atlantic to re-time its Delhi and Mumbai operations (creating a red-eye at Delhi?), which would only make Virgin Atlantic's Indian presence more competitive.

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Virgin Atlantic appoints American Airlines veteran as CEO

Richard Branson promoted Virgin Atlantic Airways has appointed Craig Kreeger, 53, as its new Chief Executive from February 1, succeeding Steve Ridgway, who is retiring. Kreeger joins Virgin from Dallas based American Airlines (AA), where he has held a 27-year career spanning commercial, financial and strategic roles.

Kreeger, a graduate of the University of California in San Diego (UCSD) and a MBA from UC Los Angeles, joined American Airlines in 1985 as an analyst, and was appointed Senior Vice President, Customer in 2012.

He spent six years in London as Senior Vice President, International and was responsible for American's operations and sales throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific. He has worked on American's joint ventures with British Airways and Iberia across the Atlantic, as well as its partnership with Japanese Airlines in the Pacific.

His predecessor Steve Ridgway, has grown Virgin Atlantic, over the last 23 years, from two 747s to 40 widebody aircraft fleet, flying over six million passengers annually.

Kreeger is joining just as Delta Airlines is investing $360 million in Virgin Atlantic to acquire a 49 per cent stake earlier held by Singapore Airlines and the two airlines finalise a new trans-Atlantic joint venture. Virgin is also scrambling to create a domestic network which was vacated when financially ailing BMI was sold by Lufthansa to Virgin's arch-rival British Airways. BMI was the main feeder of domestic UK and European routes to Virgin. Virgin needs to quickly create a domestic network, or it stands to miss out on some of the valuable slots and gates vacated by BMI.

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Jet Airways takes delivery of first new Airbus A330-300

Jet Airways, today took delivery of the first of four new Airbus A330-300 series aircraft into its fleet, at the airframer's headquarters in Toulouse, France. Aircraft registration VT-JWR. The airline is expected to take delivery of an additional A330-300 (VT-JWS) later this month.

The first A330-300 aircraft will be be deployed from December 22 as 9W 228/227 on the Mumbai Brussels sector.

The airline already has 11 of the smaller variant A330-200 aircraft, shorter than the A330-300 by 17.7ft, in its fleet. Each of the new A330-300's will replace an existing A330-200 aircraft, which will be returned to lessors.

Compared to the A330-200s, the new A330-300s have an additional 73 seats 4 Première business class and 69 Economy seats. Jet pilots will enjoy the benefit of a common flight deck between the two variants. The aircraft are configured with 34 seats in Première, and 259 seats in economy.

Jet continues with Welsh seat manufacturer Contour, though it has dropped the 'Herringbone' configuration whose design a court ruled in favour of Virgin Atlantic. The new seating is the ‘Contour Vantage 2’ seat control featuring air cushioned seats in a configuration very similar to the new Lufthansa business class (see photos and video here). The seat converts to a horizontal flat bed and offers pumped air lumbar support, with a massage feature.

The in-flight entertainment (IFE) system is via a 12.1” monitor. An eXport socket located immediately below the video screen is for guests to plug-in their personal Apple devices such as iPods, iPads and iPhones allowing them to view their personal video content on the video screen and/or listen to music, while allowing for the device to be charged. The seats also feature a PC power socket and USB socket both of which can charge various electrical items.

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Virgin Atlantic to deploy new £100 million business class cabin on new A330 aircraft to Delhi

Richard Branson promoted, British carrier, Virgin Atlantic will introduce a new Airbus A330 aircraft equipped with a re-designed and upgraded Upper Class (business class) Cabin National, on its London Heathrow New Delhi service starting July 11, 2012.

The state of art cabin boasts of the longest bed in business class in a modified herringbone layout, a 2.7 meters long bar onboard – the longest in the sky, an innovative touch screen entertainment system, unique mood lighting, stylish uplifting interiors and in flight mobile phone and GPRS connectivity.

The new Upper Class Suite has the airline taken four and a half years to design and build. Each seat has an innovative touch screen entertainment system JAM loaded with the latest Hollywood and Bollywood entertainment and has a new technology hub that allows passengers to connect their iPod, iPhone or other smart phone, USB stick or iPad or other tablet to JAM, to watch or hear personal content.

The new aircraft also has the AeroMobile system installed for passengers across the cabin to make and receive calls, and send texts from their mobile phones in-flight.

Steve Ridgway, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, explained the airline has experienced a business class growth exceeding 15% from New Delhi, prompting Virgin to deploy its latest product on the route. He is confident of even further growth with the new cabin product. Ridgway went on to invite visitors to the airline's virtual tour of the cabin with videos at their site, Virgin Atlantic PlaneView.

Share your view and your thoughts on the new cabin.

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Video: Virgin Atlantic's first Boeing 747 with new cabin re-fit G-VROM

Virgin Atlantic shows off the first of its "face-lifted" Boeing 747-400's G-VROM named 'Barbarella'. The aircraft features the new Virgin cabin interiors and new in-flight entertainment (IFE) system.

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