From the air: Lot Polish Airlines, Finnair, Air Transat, Transavia, Swiss, easyJet, Azul, Vueling, etc.

Swiss International Air Lines carried a total of 1,284,640 passengers in November, increasing its ridership by 4.7% year-on-year. The number of flights operated at the same time increased by 5.1% to 11,227 routes, details a brief report from the Lufthansa subsidiary on Tuesday. On a network-wide basis and over a one-year period, the number of seat-kilometres offered increased by 3.2% while the number of seat-kilometres actually sold jumped by 6.1%. The aircraft occupancy rate reached 79.3%, compared to 77.2% in November 2017.

Lot Polish Airlines will increase its transatlantic frequencies for next summer. Starting in June, flights to Toronto will increase from nine to twelve per week, flights to Los Angeles from six to seven and flights to New York/Newark from four to five per week. This growth is made possible by the entry into service of new Boeing 787s. In a press release, the company states that these flights have connections from eight German airports, Vienna, Geneva, Zurich, Luxembourg or Denmark.

With its new flight from Lyon airport, Finnair is expanding on the French market and now operates 2 weekly flights (Tuesdays and Saturdays) between Lyon-Saint Exupéry and Helsinki throughout the winter season. This new route is operated in the Embraer E-190 configured in two classes: 12 business class seats and 88 economy class seats. The flight lasts about 3 hours and 10 minutes.

Delta Air Lines is strengthening its menus with a selection of fresh seasonal products and expanding its meal pre-selection program to allow Delta One customers, Delta’s business class, to choose regionally inspired meals in advance, designed by local chefs. Customers will receive an email from Delta three days before the flight, inviting them to select the meal of their choice. Participation in the program only requires a valid email address, which is included in the customer’s SkyMiles account or in the booking document.

As of June 3, 2019, the company Azul will operate a second direct flight to Europe from its hub in Campinas, Brazil. Three weekly flights are scheduled to Oporto, bringing the number of weekly frequencies to Portugal to seventeen, namely Poto and Lisbon.

ASL Airlines France announces the doubling of its air link to the Algerian city of Oran from Bordeaux Airport. From July 3 to September 5, 2019, ASL Airlines France will serve Oran from Bordeaux Airport with two weekly flights on Wednesday and Thursday: departure from Bordeaux at 09:00 am – arrival in Oran at 09:50 am (1:50 am flight) and departure from Oran at 4:10 pm – arrival in Bordeaux at 7:00 pm (1:50 am flight).

Mondial Tourisme had launched itself on the destination Egypt in 2014 with a small production of cruises on the Nile and seaside stays on the shores of the Red Sea. Faced with the restart of the destination on the French market, Mondial Tourisme is intensifying its programming in 2019 with the launch of a weekly air service Paris/Hurghada/Paris and the opening of a Mondi Club on Hurghada. This major investment should enable it to reach 10,000 customers in 2019 (3,000 in 2018). Thus, for the first time, Mondial Tourisme is chartering a special direct flight from Paris to Hurghada. This flight will operate once a week every Friday on Boeing 737-800 (189 seats). Departures from the provinces will continue to be operated via Istanbul for this season.

Cathay Pacific extends its network in Japan with the opening of a new road between Hong Kong and Ishikawa Prefecture in April 2019. Flights will be operated by Airbus A330-300 on Wednesdays and Saturdays from April 3 to October 26, 2019. 2 Travel Classes will be available: Business Class and Economy Class… For the last two years, Cathay Pacific has operated charter flights to Komatsu during peak traffic periods in high season. The introduction of this new scheduled service underlines the company’s commitment to Japan, which represents a priority market. Cathay Pacific and its regional subsidiary, Cathay Dragon, will then serve nine airports in eight Japanese cities, including Tokushima, which will open on December 19.

Royal Air Maroc launches its Promo for an « extra piece » between Europe & Africa, « Travel from 1 to 31 March 2019 and enjoy a 3rd bag of 23 kg offered« . Sales period: from 12 to 22 December 2018. Transport period: from 15 January to 31 March 2019.

Twin Jet becomes the first European airline for aircraft with less than 50 seats to equip itself with a professional flight simulator. It will make it possible to effectively train future pilots in situations that are difficult or even impossible to achieve on aircraft. This FNPTII-MCC-FTD2 simulator was recently approved by the Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile and implemented through Air Qualifications (www.airqualifications.fr) which obtained for the occasion, an approval as a professional simulator operator.

The first non-stop flight of Qatar Airways between Doha and Mombasa, Kenya, landed last Sunday at Moi International Airport. This is the Qatari company’s second destination in Kenya. Qatar Airways is the first airline in the Middle East to operate direct flights to Mombasa. Qatar Airways will also launch direct flights this month to Gothenburg in Sweden and Da Nang in Vietnam.

WOW air has been launching a flash sale over the next five days since yesterday and offers a 50% discount on all its destinations. The WOWXMAS code will allow travellers booking a return flight on www.wowair.fr for a travel period between 12 December 2018 and 31 March 2019 to benefit from a 50% discount on their reservation. The code is active until Sunday, December 16, 2018.

oneworld® has just received its sixth award of the year as the « Best Air Alliance », twice as many as the competing air alliances combined. This new award was presented at the World Travel Awards, which named oneworld the « First World Air Alliance » for the 16th consecutive year.

Air Transat launches the TGV AIR service, a train/aircraft combination that enhances its offer to Canada all year round. Connected to an Air Transat flight from Paris, the AIR HST service allows the air carrier’s passengers to use the HST network from 18 French cities and Brussels to complete their journey.

Vueling allows its customers to save their boarding passes in Google Pay. This Android device application works like a digital wallet. Not only can you pay in thousands of stores, websites or applications, but you can also check in your tickets or boarding passes.

After announcing this winter the increase in its domestic frequencies (to Nice, Toulouse, Lyon) and to Switzerland (Geneva and Basel-Mulhouse); the company easyjet announces 8 new lines from Nantes, bringing the number of lines served from the metropolis to 21. These new lines will be on sale today, December 13.

After developing its chatbot to facilitate interactions with its passengers, Transavia – the group’s low-cost company Air France-KLM – is the first French airline to launch its voice assistant on Google Home. This experimental interface allows Transavia to offer its customers a unique and innovative experience, to support them both in the organization of their trips, but also to inspire their next destinations!