Air news : Air Astana, Alitalia, Aerolinas Argentinas, Air Austral, Flydubai, Volotea, etc

Alitalia organized last night its roadshow « Alialia’s World » at the Motor Village Champs Elysées with an exceptional guest of honour Marco Veratti PSG iconic player.
With more than a hundred guests, Nicola Bonachi (Vice President Leisure & sales), Marco Cefoli (Head of italy & north europe sales) and Aldo D’Elia (Country manager France), Alitalia’s managers, introduced the company’s new uniforms and new destinations: Mauritius, Malé, Havana and Washington.

Aigle Azur continues its development in Europe by strengthening its presence in Russia. One year after the launch of its Paris-Orly route, Aigle Azur announces the addition of 2 new frequencies for the 2018-19 winter season. Previously served by two flights a week, the Russian capital will now be accessible four times a week. The 3rd weekly frequency will be operated from 26 December 2018, a 4th frequency will be added from 4 March 2019.

The company Aerolinas Argentinas is on the verge of bankruptcy. According to Luis Malvido, the president of Aerolineas Argentinas, she is « virtually bankrupt » being obliged to ask for state assistance each month to pay the salaries of employees. Unfortunately for the company, the Argentine Minister of Transport Guillermo Dietrich has just announced that the airline will no longer receive any aid by 2020.

Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s national airline, will offer additional frequencies to Tashkent in Uzbekistan with excellent connection times via its brand new Astana airport from 31 March 2019.
From Paris, Air Astana serves its Astana Hub three times a week. In addition to its connections to other Central Asian countries, it will offer two weekly frequencies to Tashkent.
Flights will leave Paris on Wednesdays and Sundays at 19:20 to arrive in Tashkent at 08:40 the next morning. The return flights from Tashkent will also depart on Wednesdays and Sundays at 10:10 am for an arrival at 6:05 pm on the same day in Paris. Transcontinental flights will be operated by Boeing 757s equipped with the latest in-flight entertainment technologies and generous seat spacing. Regional flights between Astana and Tashkent will be operated in the latest generation Embraer 190.

Icelandair gives up buying Wow Air. « The timing is too tight » explained in substance the president of Icelandair who now leaves the place to a US investment fund: Indigo partners, owner of Wizz Air and Volaris Airlines among others.

The first flight of the partner airlines Air Austral and Air Madagascar to Fort Dauphin and Tulear flew successfully on Monday 3 December 2018. Flight UU651 departed Reunion Island at the scheduled time of 09:15 with 110 passengers on board, including an official delegation, in the presence of the Minister of Finance of Madagascar, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Air Madagascar, the Chief Executive Officer of Air Madagascar and the Chief Executive Officer of Air Austral.
The Fort Dauphin – Tulear – La Reunion route will now be operated jointly by the two airlines’ Boeing 737-8s, with two frequencies per week. On Mondays, in Air Austral’s Boeing 737-8, on the one hand, and on Fridays, by means of Air Madagascar’s 737-8, on the other hand, all flights to be marketed by the two airlines under code-share agreements.

Air France-KLM and China Eastern Airlines have signed an agreement to extend their joint venture. As part of this extended agreement, the three Skyteam alliance airlines (Air France, KLM and China Eastern Airlines) plan to extend their partnership to two additional routes from 1 January 2019: Paris-Wuhan and Paris-Kunming.

Emirates, Etihad, flydubai, Air Arabia and Al Fursan flew off in unison last Sunday to celebrate the United Arab Emirates’ 47th National Day, as well as to commemorate the heritage and values of HH Sheikh Zayed, founding father of the UAE. The purpose of the formation flight was to demonstrate to the country and the rest of the world the success of Emirati aviation. The aircraft were proudly commanded by captains Adrian Smith of flydubai, Nadhem Al Hamad of Air Arabia, Richard Dyson of Etihad Airways and Captain Abbas Shaban of Emirates. The Al Fursan team was led by Lieutenant Colonel Nasser Al Obaidli.

Volotea supports the statement recently published by Airlines for Europe (A4E), Europe’s largest airline association, concerning the alarming increase and harmful impact of ATC strikes: « 2018 : The worst year for delays and flight cancellations in almost a decade due to air traffic control. Airlines for Europe (A4E) reiterates its call for action to the European Union, following the 50% increase in flight delays in October due to air traffic control (ATC) staff and lack of capacity« .

Air Caraïbes is organizing a Grand Jeu photo contest to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its transatlantic flights. On December 12, 2003, Air Caraïbes’ first Airbus took off from Paris-Orly to the West Indies. The company was keen to celebrate this 15th anniversary, a moment of strong sharing, with the greatest number of people. To blow out its 15 candles, Air Caraïbes is launching a great photo contest « No birthday without cake ! ».
It calls on the creativity and culinary talents of the participants by inviting them to make a birthday cake in the company’s colours.
Participants have until 16 December 2018 to send a photo of their homemade gourmet creation to www.aircaraibes.com.
The 5 budding chefs who made the beautiful cake will each win a return flight ticket to Paris or Pointe-à-Pitre or Fort-de-France valid in both directions.

Hong Kong Airlines has developed new partnerships with several airlines, which will allow the company’s customers to travel from Hong Kong to the rest of the world.
With Turkish airlines, the codehare makes it possible to connect Hong Kong to Istanbul as well as to other European cities such as Paris, London and Barcelona. Since September 26, the new code share with TurboJET allows Hong Kong Airlines travellers to fly to Macao.
On September 20th, EL AL and Hong Kong Airlines signed a code share agreement to link Hong Kong to Tel Aviv.

Vueling celebrates the 20 million passengers transported via this airport with a flight paid in kisses. The airline mobilized its Parisian community through a unique social networking contest that encouraged them to share an original kiss under the #VuelingAimeParis hashtag. The couples who won the competition were invited to take a free flight from Paris Orly airport to Barcelona, the airline’s headquarters, yesterday at 6:20 pm. The couples were invited to show their love for Paris by exchanging a kiss as the plane reached its highest altitude. This operation is a way for the company to show its love for its Parisian customers.