Delta adds new services to Seattle-Tacoma

By BA Staff

Delta 737NG. Boeing photo.

Delta Air Lines will add new daily non-stop flights to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from San Diego International Airport and Portland International Airport as well as an additional flight from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, beginning next year. The new service will provide customers with convenient connections to the airline's growing international network from Seattle.

Delta's new and expanded Seattle service includes:

• Four new daily nonstop flights from San Diego beginning June 2, 2014.
• Four new daily nonstop flights from Portland, Ore. beginning Sept. 2, 2014.
• One summer seasonal flight from Anchorage, Alaska beginning June 5, 2014 in addition to returning seasonal service which begins on May 23, 2014.

In addition, Delta is adding double Medallion Qualification Miles to its recently announced Seattle double miles campaign. SkyMiles members now have the opportunity to earn double miles and double Medallion Qualification Miles for Seattle service between Anchorage, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego and San Francisco on all Delta-marketed and Delta or Delta Connection-operated flights through Oct. 31, 2014

Mike Medeiros, Delta's vice president – Seattle said:

"We have continued to strategically add service from key markets in an effort to support passenger demand for our expanding international destinations. Delta's most recent additions will provide our customers with one-stop access to and from several of the top international and domestic destinations via our growing global gateway in Seattle."

Delta's new service from San Diego and Portland will be operated by Delta Connection carrier SkyWest Airlines using 76-seat, two-class CRJ-900s. The additional Anchorage-Seattle seasonal service will be operated with a Boeing 737-800. Each aircraft is equipped with First Class and Economy Comfort seating as well as onboard Wi-Fi.

Read more »

Alaska Airlines inaugurates new service between Boise, Idaho, and San Diego

By BA Staff

Alaska Airlines began daily service between Boise, Idaho, and San Diego, from this month, as the carrier celebrates 30 years of service to Boise Airport. To celebrate the new flights, Alaska is offering one-way fares starting from $99* between Boise and San Diego.

Joe Sprague, vice president of marketing said:

"Alaska Airlines offers more flights from Boise than any other airline—a total of 19 peak daily departures to six different cities. With the addition of San Diego, our Boise customers can visit two sun-filled destinations. They can enjoy San Diego as well as easy connections on Alaska Airlines flights to Los Cabos, Mexico."

Boise Airport Director Rebecca Hupp said:

"We are very excited that Alaska Airlines is adding nonstop service from Boise to San Diego. Alaska is a valued airline partner in the Boise region with strong passenger loyalty and broad community support. We're pleased that they continue to expand service and be successful here. With increased frequencies to both Portland and Seattle and the new nonstop to San Diego, Alaska Airlines offers convenient, high-quality travel options for Boise travelers."

Summary of new service:
Start date	City pair	Departs	Arrives	Frequency
Nov. 1	Boise-San Diego	10:30 a.m.	11:40 a.m.	Daily
Nov. 1	San Diego-Boise	5:35 p.m.	8:45 p.m.	Daily

All times based on local time zones

Read more »

Japan Airlines faces much smaller impact of Boeing 787 grounding

by Devesh Agarwal

The impact of the month old grounding of their Boeing 787 Dreamliners on Japan Airlines (JAL) appears to much smaller when compared to fellow Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA). "We operated only six Dreamliners out of a fleet of 200 aircraft, so the total impact of the Dreamliner grounding on us is very small" JAL CEO Masaru Onishi told Bangalore Aviation on the sidelines of the Oneworld event to mark the entry of Malaysia Airlines in to the alliance, on January 31.

Onishi-san explained that JAL operated six Dreamliners to Boston, San Diego, Singapore and Moscow, keeping one aircraft spare, a much smaller number when compared to the 24 Dreamliners in the fleet of fellow Japanese carrier ANA.

Keeping in mind his airline's focus on passenger convenience, he went on to say, that JAL had minimised disruptions by deploying Boeing 777s on the higher demand routes serviced by the 787, and 767s on the lower demand routes. JAL had also transferred some of its passengers on to fellow oneworld member American Airlines. While JAL did not transfer any passenger on to ANA, they did receive transferred passengers of ANA.

One route that was affected was Tokyo Narita - San Diego, which was specifically planned for 787 operations only. For JAL to operate the flight using 777s, the airline had to take specific certifications which take about three weeks. The airline has already commenced the certification process, but the San Diego flight is suspended till JAL completes the formalities and obtains the certification. [Editor's note: This morning Japan Airlines announced that it was indefinitely delaying the launch of its Narita Helsinki route, scheduled to commence on February 25.]

On operating costs, Onishi san conceded that airline was taking a hit. "With [Boeing] 777s we achieve about 60% passenger load factor compared to 80%+ in the 787s."

Onishi-san also appeared to be resigned to the fact, that the battery problem, which has resulted in the grounding of the global 787 fleet, is not going to be resolved any time soon. "We have had discussions with Boeing and they are doing their best to fix it [the problem], and we hope they do it within two months, but I cannot say for sure".

When asked what will be Japan Airlines' stand on compensation or their order book especially if the fix took longer than the anticipated two months, Onishi san refused to speculate, saying "Let us not focus on such issues right now. More important is the fix."

Onishi-san also indicated that JAL is committed to its 787 orders.

Read more »

Breaking: Alaska Airlines Group expands Horizon Air

Seattle based Alaska Airlines has announced new service via Horizon Air for the summer of 2012. All flights mentioned below will operate on Horizon's Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 equipment.

They are adding "daily nonstop service from San Diego to Monterey and Santa Rosa, and twice-daily service to Fresno. Two daily flights between San Jose and Reno are also being added as well as a third daily summer flight between Los Angeles and Santa Rosa."

In order to support the Santa Rosa-San Diego service, Horizon will be dropping current service on Las Vegas- Santa Rosa.

Flight Schedules are as follow:

San Diego-Fresno flights:
Start Date City Pair Departs Arrives Frequency
June 4 San Diego-Fresno 9:15 a.m. 10:50 a.m. Daily
June 4 San Diego-Fresno 8:45 p.m. 10:20 p.m. Daily
June 4 Fresno-San Diego 7:15 a.m. 8:42 a.m. Daily
June 4 Fresno-San Diego 6:45 p.m. 8:12 p.m. Daily

San Diego-Monterey flights:
Start Date City Pair Departs Arrives Frequency
June 4 San Diego-Monterey 6:55 p.m. 8:37 p.m. Daily
June 5 Monterey-San Diego 7:30 a.m. 9:12 a.m. Daily

San Diego-Santa Rosa flights:
Start Date City Pair Departs Arrives Frequency
June 5 San Diego-Santa Rosa 9:45 a.m. 11:50 a.m. Daily
June 4 Santa Rosa-San Diego 4:25 p.m. 6:22 p.m. Daily

San Jose-Reno flights:
Start Date City Pair Departs Arrives Frequency
June 5 Reno-San Jose 6 a.m. 7:08 a.m. Daily
June 4 Reno-San Jose 2:15 p.m. 3:23 p.m. Daily
June 4 San Jose-Reno 11:55 a.m. 1 p.m. Daily
June 4 San Jose-Reno 10:20 p.m. 11:25 p.m. Daily

Summary of seasonal Santa Rosa-Los Angeles service:
Start Date City Pair Departs Arrives Frequency
June 4 Santa Rosa-Los Angeles 1:35 p.m. 3:09 p.m. Sun, Mon, Thu, Fri
June 4 Los Angeles-Santa Rosa 11:30 a.m. 1:04 p.m. Sun, Mon, Thu, Fri

*All times based on local time zones

Service will be confirmed with link to official press release as soon as possible

Read more »