Sky news : Ana, Air Senegal, Japan Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Lion Air, Oman Air, etc

The airline Japan Airlines (JAL) apologized Thursday for the delay on Sunday on a London-Tokyo flight due to the blood alcohol level check of a co-pilot whose blood alcohol level was nearly ten times higher than the maximum allowed, according to British police.
This apology comes in the aftermath of the revelation by another Japanese airline, All Nippon Airways, that the hangover of one of its pilots had caused delays on several flights.
JAL’s plane left London on Sunday an hour and 9 minutes late. « The company sincerely apologizes to passengers and all those affected by the actions of this employee, » says JAL in a statement.

Charleston, South Carolina, will be connected twice a week by a direct flight from London Heathrow to British Airways from April 2019. The flight will depart London Heathrow at 17:20 and arrive in Charleston at 21:20. The return flight will leave Charleston at 22:50 and land in London the next day at 11:50.

Air Senegal announces the launch of the Paris-Dakar route in February 2019 with its first Airbus A330 NEO. Senegalese President Macky Sall visited the Airbus plant in Toulouse on 29 October to follow the smooth assembly of the aircraft.

Emirates Skywards launches its own on-demand ground transportation reservation application, Emirates Skywards Cabforce, in partnership with CarTrawler, a world first. The application allows Skywards members to book private taxis, luxury cars and minibuses in 27 countries and 117 cities around the world. Skywards members will also earn Miles on each journey booked through the Emirates Skywards Cabforce application.

The Finnish airline, Finnair, announces the opening of a brand new direct line in France between Bordeaux and Helsinki from 11 May 2019 for the next summer season.
The Bordeaux-Helsinki route will operate until 14 September 2019 with up to two weekly flights, a great opportunity for Bordeaux residents to travel to Helsinki. The Finnish capital offers a multitude of activities for young and old in all seasons, ideal for a nature and city getaway at 3h30 flight from Bordeaux. In summer, the city hosts festivals and many activities with the possibility of discovering the surrounding region for a breath of fresh air.

Seats, wheels, fuselage parts…. Indonesian authorities continued on Friday to recover debris from the flight of Lion Air which crashed at sea last Monday with 189 people on board, hoping also to make one of its black boxes talk. The research teams are probing the seabed of the Java Sea, where the low-cost company’s Boeing 737 MAX 8, which went into service only a few months ago, dived. Shortly before the accident, the crew had asked air traffic control for permission to return to Jakarta, from where they had taken off about ten minutes earlier. Its destination was Pangkal Pingang, a transit town for tourists wishing to enjoy the beaches of the neighbouring island of Belitung.

Air Canada has just announced EBITDA1 (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, impairment and aircraft leasing) of $1.265 billion for the third quarter of 2018, compared to EBITDA of $1.360 billion in the third quarter of 2017. Air Canada reported operating income of $840 million, compared to operating income of $976 million in the third quarter last year. The Company reported adjusted pre-tax income(1) of $793 million in the third quarter of 2018 compared to adjusted pre-tax income of $922 million in the same period last year. For the third quarter of 2018, Air Canada posted a
GAAP pre-tax income of $876 million, compared to pre-tax income of $965 million in the third quarter of 2017.

Following the official opening of Istanbul Airport on 29 October 2018, Turkish Airlines currently operates a limited number of domestic and international routes from the new airport. Thus, all existing operations and flight schedule will normally take place from Istanbul Atatürk Airport. New additional flights will be operated from the new Istanbul airport in Ankara, Antalya, Izmir, Azerbaijan (Baku) and TRNC (Ercan) until 30 December. In accordance with current planning, on 31 December, all operations will be transferred from Istanbul Atatürk Airport, after which all flights will be operated from the new Istanbul Airport.

Following the rise in oil prices, Oman Air is forced to adjust its fuel surcharge on all its fares as from 1 December 2018. That is 230 euros for return trips in economy class and 270 euros for return trips in business class.
All applications booked before December 1, 2018 may be issued at current amounts. After this date, no derogation will be granted.

Royal Air Maroc is launching three new routes from Casablanca to three major capitals, namely Amman (Jordan), Abuja (Nigeria) and Vienna (Austria), starting next April.
These three routes will be operated three times a week throughout the year for the three destinations and will be operated by Boeing 737 NG aircraft. Thus, departures to Vienna are scheduled every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11:00 am (GMT time), for an arrival at 2:40 pm (GMT). Return flights are scheduled on the same days with a departure from Vienna at 15:40 (GMT) and an arrival in Casablanca at 19:30 (GMT).
The company is also strengthening its network in Africa by opening the Casablanca-Abuja air route. Rotations are scheduled from Casablanca on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, with a departure at 22:00 (GMT) and an arrival in Abuja at 02:30 GMT (+1 day). Return flights are scheduled from Abuja every Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 04:50 (GMT) to Casablanca at 09:30 (GMT).
Flights to Amman will be scheduled from Casablanca on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 20:10 GMT for arrival in Amman at 01:50 GMT (+1 day). Return flights will be scheduled from Amman every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 02:50 GMT to land in Casablanca at 09:05 (GMT).

Aer Lingus has announced the opening of two new lines for summer 2019 to Cork. In addition to Dubrovnik, in southern Croatia, the Irish national airline is restarting its direct Nice-Cork flight as of 1 May 2019. This service will be operated twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, on single-class Airbus A320 aircraft with 174 seats in Economy Class. This addition reinforces Aer Lingus’ activity at Cork Airport, which celebrated the inauguration of a new flight to Lisbon on Friday 26 October 2018. In total, the airline will offer more than one million seats from Cork to 23 destinations for the coming summer season, representing a 4% increase in capacity compared to summer 2018.

From 31 October, easyJet will serve Essaouira with 2 weekly flights (Wednesday and Saturday), until 1 September 2019, starting at €36.
Bordeaux residents will also be able to fly to Manchester twice a week (Monday and Friday), from 2 November 2018 until 1 September 2019, starting at €26*.
easyJet expects its capacity in Bordeaux to grow by 23.1% in the winter of 2018-2019, with 160,000 new seats. The orange airline offers a wide choice of leisure destinations with « sun in winter » destinations such as Faro or Essaouira, ideal for a long weekend or a sunny holiday; city destinations for a city break such as Manchester; and destinations popular with business travellers such as Tel Aviv or Luxembourg.

The Bordeaux Airport celebrates the first flights between Bordeaux-Valencia (2 flights per week, on Wednesday and Saturday) with Ryanair and Bordeaux-Essaouira (2 flights per week, on Wednesday and Saturday) with easyJet, from the simplified services terminal, billi. These 2 new flights launch the new offer for the 2018-2019 Winter season. « This line reinforces the offer of flights to Morocco from Bordeaux, which has 5 winter services (Fez, Marrakech, Casablanca, Agadir, Essaouira) and 2 new services from April 2019 (Ouarzazate and Tangier) » says the press release.

Air Malta is growing strongly in Germany with twice as many flights to Munich, five weekly flights to Frankfurt, two more to Düsseldorf and a total of 50 flights per week to and from the six main airports on the Rhine. In addition to its many international flights (Casablanca, Kiev, Malaga, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Palermo, Paris, Rome, Tel Aviv, Tunis, Vienna and Zurich), the airline will also continue to operate flights between Catania – Vienna and Catania – London-Southend.