Hainan Archives - TravelSkills

Routes: LAX-China, Nashville, Toronto, Germany, India, Brazil

January 27, 2016

Hainan Airways is using a 787 on its new route to LAX from Changsha, China. (Image: Simon Auger)

Hainan Airlines is using a 787 on its new route to LAX from Changsha, China. (Image: Simon Auger)

In international route news, China’s Hainan starts a Los Angeles route; Canada’s WestJet plans new U.S. routes; Iberia sets its summer LAX schedule; new overseas code-share flights for United and Delta; British Airways brings 787s to more U.S. cities; and Brazil’s Azul drops a U.S. route.

China’s Hainan Airlines, which flies to Chicago to Beijing and from Boston and Seattle to both Shanghai and Beijing, has kicked off a new U.S. route between Los Angeles and Changsha, the capital of central China’s Hunan Province with a population of 2.3 million. Hainan, a code-sharing partner of American Airlines, is using a 787-8 on the route, which operates twice a week.

Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet said its summer schedule will include new non-stop flights from Toronto to Los Angeles and to Nashville as well as from Vancouver to San Diego. In addition, WestJet will begin new service from Toronto to Boston on March 15 with three flights a day. On June 15, WestJet’s Encore unit will begin five flights a week on the new Toronto-Nashville route with Q400 turboprops. June 29 is the launch date for daily Toronto-Los Angeles 737 service, and on June 16, WestJet begins three 737 flights a week between San Diego and Vancouver.

Iberia Airlines, a member of American’s Oneworld alliance, has set its summer schedule for Los Angeles-Madrid service, according to Airlineroute.net. It begins March 30 with three weekly flights, increasing to five a week on May 26, six a week beginning June 6, and daily from July 3 to August 28. (Last year, Iberia only had four summer flights a week on the route.) The airline will use A330s and A340s for the LAX flights.

British Airways will add San Jose service next spring with a new 787-9. (Image: British Airways)

British Airways bringing more 787s to US. (Image: British Airways)

British Airways plans to pull the 787-9 from its Austin-London Heathrow route on March 27, according to Airlineroute.net, and to replace it with a 777-200ER. But the airline is bringing 787s to more U.S. routes. It will begin 787-9 flights between Houston Bush Intercontinental and London on March 27, instead of August 1 as previously planned. And 787-9 service on the Newark-LHR route moves up to April 2 from August 1. BA will also use a 787-9 from Philadelphia to London on selected flights beginning April 9, and is sticking to its original May 4 stating date for new London-San Jose 787-9 service.

United Airlines has started putting its code onto several intra-European flights of Star Alliance partner Lufthansa’s low-cost affiliate Eurowings. The UA code is now on Eurowings flights from Dusseldorf to Geneva, Birmingham, Manchester, Milan Malpensa and Paris CDG; and from Hamburg to Dusseldorf, LHR, Manchester, Prague, Stuttgart, Toulouse and Zurich. MileagePlus members will get revenue and status miles on the flights.

Etihad uses a Jet Airways 777 on its new SFO-Abu Dhabi run (Photo: Aero Icarus / Flickr)

Delta selling tickets on India’s Jet Airways (Photo: Aero Icarus / Flickr)

Delta has started selling tickets for its new code-share service with India’s Jet Airways, which it is starting along with joint venture partner KLM. Effective for travel beginning March 27, Delta’s code goes onto Jet’s flights from Amsterdam to Delhi and Bombay, as well as service beyond those gateways. From Delhi, it’s on Jet’s flights to Amritsar, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata; and from Mumbai to Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi and Kolkata.

Brazilian airline Azul, which operates a daily A330 flight between Orlando and Belo Horizonte, Brazil, plans to discontinue that route on February 29.

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Bay Area to London for $299 + United non-stops to Singapore? + New Paris route + more

December 15, 2015

Norwegian’s Oakland-London Gatwick service will start at $299 one-way. (Image: Jim Glab)

In international route news this week, Norwegian confirms its plans for Oakland-London service; United says it is considering new non-stops to Singapore; Air France will add a new Paris route — but not to Charles de Gaulle; a Chinese carrier plans new LAX flights; KLM will boost its San Francisco schedule; and Southwest will drop a Mexico route.

Following up on our report from last week, European low-cost carrier Norwegian has confirmed that it plans to start new service from Oakland to London Gatwick effective May 12, operating three flights a week. The carrier said fares on the route will start at $299 one way, including taxes (plus ancillary fees, of course; it’s already taking bookings at www.Norwegian.com/us). Norwegian also announced plans to increase its Los Angeles-London Gatwick schedule from three to four flights a week starting May 10, and to move up the start of Boston-London service from late May to March 27, with five weekly flights instead of four. The carrier’s long-haul routes use 787-8s with economy and premium seating.

Have you flown or heard from someone who has flow Norwegian? What’s it like? Please leave your comments below.

London Gatwick airport is about 30 minutes south of the city (VisitLondon.com)

London Gatwick airport is about 30 minutes south of city center by train (VisitLondon.com)

Now that Singapore Airlines is on track to resume non-stop flights to the U.S. in 2018, United Airlines is considering a competing service. A United executive told Aviation Daily that the company is considering its aircraft options. “When we have the right aircraft, we will tackle that market” (i.e., non-stops to Singapore), United’s VP-Network Brian Znotins told the publication. Singapore Airlines will use a long-range version of the Airbus A350 designated the A350-900ULR. Znotis did not say which U.S. gateway United has in mind, but Av Daily noted that San Francisco would be the carrier’s hub closest to Singapore.

Air France already operates several flights a day from New York JFK to Paris Charles de Gaulle, but in June it plans to add a daily flight from JFK to Paris Orly, using a 309-seat 777-200 with business, premium economy and regular economy classes. Connections at Orly are available to the airline’s domestic network. Air France also plans to begin three weekly flights from CDG to Teheran, Iran in April.

According to Airlineroute.net, China’s Hainan Airlines plans to begin service between Changsha and Los Angeles on January 21, operating two flights a week with a 787-8. Changsha is the capital of Hunan Province in south-central China.

For its summer schedule beginning May 4, KLM plans to increase its Amsterdam-San Francisco schedule from seven flights a week to nine, using 787-9 Dreamliners for the two extra flights. The others will continue to use a 747-400.

Southwest Airlines will change its Mexico City operations on March 16, according to Airlineroute.net. The carrier plans to discontinue its daily service between San Antonio-Mexico City and to add a second daily roundtrip between Houston Hobby and Mexico City.

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Alaska expands mileage options

July 23, 2015

Don’t miss: Cute? Or creepy?

Mileage Plan members are getting more mile-earning options. (Image: Jim Glab)

Members of Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan are getting more ways to earn miles, including a new foreign partner carrier in the program — China’s Hainan Airlines.

Effective immediately, Mileage Plan members can earn elite-qualifying miles for flights on Hainan, which has service from Alaska‘s Seattle hub to both Beijing and Shanghai, and recently started San Jose-Beijing operations. Hainan also flies beyond those gateways to a number of cities in China.

From now through October 31, Alaska Mileage Plan members will earn double miles on Hainan flights, if they register for the promotion on Alaska’s website (www.alaskaair.com) by September 30. Members of Hainan’s Fortune Wings Club can also earn miles for flying on Alaska.

Hainan Air arrives at SJC with 787 nonstops to Beijing (Photo: SJC)

Later this year, Alaska said, Mileage Plan members will be able to redeem miles for flights on Hainan, and elite members of both programs will be able to obtain elite benefits on the other carrier.

Meanwhile, the bloggers at onemileatatime note that Mileage Plan members will get more options for earning and spending miles on October 17. That’s the date when American Airlines is planning to merge its reservations system with that of US Airways, transitioning all flights to a single airline — American. And American has a mileage partnership with Alaska.

Although flights currently operated by US Airways do not qualify for mileage earning or redemption in Alaska’s Mileage Plan, the bloggers note, that will no longer be true after October 17, when those operations will become American Airlines flights — even if the livery on the aircraft still says US Airways.

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Delta trims London schedule, new China options, and more

June 26, 2015

EVA's "Hello Kitty" 777-300ER now flies between Houton and Taipei. (Image: EVA)

EVA’s “Hello Kitty” 777-300ER now flies between Houston and Taipei. (Image: EVA)

In international route news this week, Delta is cutting its London schedules from LAX and Newark; three airlines kick off new U.S. routes to China and Taipei; El Al comes to Boston; Ethiopian begins LAX service; and an unusual plan by a Scandinavian airline to fly from the U.S. to the Caribbean.

According to airlineroute.net, which tracks schedule changes, Delta plans to discontinue its Newark-London Heathrow service October 15, and also to drop its daily Los Angeles-LHR flight — although that will be replaced by a second daily LAX-London flight by Delta’s joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic.

Three Asian carriers have new U.S. service. China Southern has kicked off non-stop 777 flights between New York JFK and Guangzhou, operating 10 times a week this summer. SFO-Guangzhou started this week, too. Hainan Airlines — which started service earlier this month between San Jose and Beijing — has now started flying three days a week between Boston and Shanghai Pudong, using a two-cabin 787; and between Seattle-Shanghai Pudong service four times a week, with an A330. And Taiwan’s EVA Air has started flying three times a week (increasing to four on July 2) from Houston Bush Intercontinental to Taipei with a 777-300ER (painted in ‘Hello Kitty’ livery!).

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June 28 is the launch date for new El Al non-stop service between Boston and Tel Aviv, operating three times a week with a two-class 767-300. And Ethiopian Airlines has kicked off its new 787 service from Los Angeles to Addis Ababa three times a week via a stop in Dublin, Ireland.

Here’s an unusual plan: Norwegian, the European ultra-low-cost carrier that has been slowly building up a network of flights to the U.S. from Scandinavia and London Gatwick, now says it will begin flying between the U.S. and the Caribbean. Specifically, it will launch service three times a week December 3 from New York JFK to Martinique and Guadeloupe; and twice a week to both islands from Boston and Baltimore/Washington. How can this be? Norwegian has long taken advantage of Open Skies rules that allow it to operate between the U.S. and any point in the E.U. — like London Gatwick. And it turns out that also applies to Martinique and Guadeloupe, which are departments of France — and thus technically part of the E.U.

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New routes for United, Alaska, Delta, AA and more

June 9, 2015

American plans to phase in Airbus A321s on its Hawaii routes. (Image: American)

In route news, United expands its China presence, Alaska adds several new markets, Delta tacks on a new Boston route, American changes its Hawaii fleet, and Hainan and Aeromexico begin new U.S. services.

United has added 10 new connecting routes to cities in China through its code-sharing partnership with Air China. United’s code is now on Air China flights from Beijing to Mianyang, Taiyuan, Sanya, Shanghai Hongqiao, Yinchuan, Xining, Liuzhou, Haikou and Lanzhou, and from Shanghai Pudong to Yinchuan. Air China’s code went onto a dozen more United domestic routes from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington Dulles and Houston. In other news, United has started daily seasonal service to Dublin, Ireland from Chicago O’Hare, continuing through August 18; and added a second daily seasonal Newark-Dublin flight, continuing through September 24; both use 757-200s.

Alaska Airlines said it will add a pair of new non-hub routes this fall. November 5 is the start date for Alaska/Skywest service linking Portland and Austin, with a 76-seat Embraer 175; and for new Horizon Air San Jose-Eugene, Ore. flights, using a 76-seat Q400.

Delta has kicked off new daily service between Boston and Milwaukee.

Aeromexico jets load up a Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport (Chris McGinnis)

Boston also got new service this month from Aeromexico, which has started flying six days a week (not Tuesdays) between Boston and Mexico City, using a two-class 737-700. It’s Aeromexico’s 16th U.S. gateway.

American Airlines reportedly plans to make some changes to its Hawaii service, phasing out 757-200s from some routes to the islands and replacing them with two-class Airbus A321s. The changeover will include all flights from Los Angeles to Hawaii by the end of this year. American has also added two new routes from its Miami International hub — daily service to Barranquilla, Colombia, and six flights a week to Monterrey, Mexico. Both routes use Airbus A319s.

We’ve mentioned it before, but just as a reminder: China’s Hainan Airlines will begin its new transpacific route between San Jose and Beijing on June 15, using a 787 Dreamliner. This is San Jose’s second transpac flight in addition to its Tokyo nonstop.

South African Airways will change its Washington Dulles-Johannesburg flight on August 3, adding a stopover in Accra, Ghana four days a week (the only non-stops between the U.S. and Ghana), and reducing its IAD-Dakar-Johannesburg routing to three days a week.

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Lots of new airline routes rolling out

May 28, 2015

A Hainan Airlines 787 like this one is coming to San Jose. (Image: Simon Auger/Flickr)

In route news, both San Jose and Houston will get new transpacific routes in the next few weeks; JetBlue blows into Lake Tahoe; United kicks off a new U.K. service from Newark; and Orlando and New Orleans will see new Latin American routes.

China’s Hainan Airlines is set to launch its newest U.S. route on June 15 when it begins new 787 Dreamliner service between Beijing and San Jose. The airport is converting Gates 17/18 in Terminal B to accommodate the new international service.

JetBlue is adding summer and holiday season nonstops between New York JFK and Reno/Tahoe, the carrier’s 89th destination. Daily service will operate between June 18, 2015 and September 11, 2015, as well as between November 25, 2015 and January 4, 2016.

June 12 is the launch date for All Nippon Airways’ new route from Houston Bush Intercontinental to Tokyo Narita. ANA, a partner in the global Star Alliance with United — which has a hub at Houston — will use a 777-300ER for the daily flights.

The city of Newcastle in northeastern England has its first-ever non-stop air service to the U.S. following United’s launch of service this week between Newcastle and Newark. The seasonal service will operate five times a week until September. Newcastle is about five hours north of London on the road to Edinburgh.

Panama’s Copa Airlines set a June 24 start for new service linking New Orleans with its hub at Panama City. The flights will operate four days a week.

Azul Brazilian Airlines plans to expand its route network to the U.S. on November 16, when it will start service between Orlando and Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The flights will operate five days a week through December 13, then increase to daily frequency.

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