American Airlines has begun selling cheaper "basic economy" fares as it battles discount airlines for the most budget-conscious travellers. American announced Tuesday that it began selling the new fares for flights starting March 1 on 10 different routes from its hub airports in Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia and Charlotte, North Carolina. With a basic-economy fare on American you can't pick your seat when you buy the ticket, you're in the last group to board the plane, and you can only carry a small item that fits under the seat. You'll pay extra to check a wheeled bag. The savings over a regular economy ticket appear to range from about US$24 to $40 for a round-trip ticket. American said it will eventually add basic-economy fares on other routes. <br/>
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American Airlines got something to crow about this week as airline data provider OAG released its January on-time arrival numbers. After lagging in third or fourth place among the 4 largest domestic carriers, the airline moved into second place in on-time arrival performance behind Delta Air Lines. American ended January with 76.4% of its flights arriving on time, behind first-place Delta's 77.5% on-time arrival result. Despite the new spirit that United's upbeat CE Oscar Munoz has been promoting at the airline, United sank to fourth and last place in January in on-time arrivals among the 4 largest US airlines. United ended the month with 73.3% of flights arriving on time. United is still being negatively affected by several regional carrier operators that have struggled to consistently get regional United Express flights to the gate on time. <br/>
Speculation is growing that Cathay Pacific will announce a seasonal service between Hong Kong and Christchurch. The airline has a joint venture with Air NZ and flies from its Hong Kong base to Auckland but has been under pressure to extend its operations to the southern city. CAPA says the airlines backed away from Hong Kong to Christchurch flights following the approval of the alliance that dates back to 2012. But Air NZs joint venture with SIA resulted in SIA growing its presence in Christchurch. ''Cathay has been more frugal, and the New Zealand govt determined that although the joint venture reduced competition, there was no prospective third competitor, so no harm done. But now that Hong Kong Airlines has entered Auckland, and then expanded, the Cathay-Air NZ JV faces disbanding,'' CAPA says. <br/>
Cathay Pacific is rolling out what it says is the world's first hand-crafted bottled beer brewed designed especially for high altitudes. The airline said that cabin pressure at 35,000 feet affected taste buds but by using science and traditional brewing methods along with the Hong Kong Beer Co it has created a brew with the necessary ingredients, aroma, and carbonation to taste great both in the air and on the ground. Betsy Beer - named in honour of the airline's first plane - has among its ingredients a lychee-like fruit and Hong Kong honey. Betsy Beer will be first served to first and business class passengers on board flights between Hong Kong and destinations in Britain in March and April. Betsy Beer will be available at ground level at the airline's lounges in Hong Kong and Heathrow as well as a select restaurants in Hong Kong. <br/>
Qantas says it has achieved encouraging results from its first passenger internet Wi-Fi trial as the clock ticks down to the official start of the service for customers. The airline said Tuesday the 140 passengers on board the flight achieved “typical download speeds” of between 7 and 12 megabits per second to each connected device, noting the minimum required to stream movies on most handheld devices was 1.5Mbps. “We gathered a huge amount of user data from this test flight, and we’re now working to make final adjustments ahead of inviting customers to test, then use the system,” Qantas said. “We expect that will happen in the next few weeks.” One of the airline’s Boeing 737-800s, VH-XZB, had a satellite antenna, multiple wireless access points in the cabin and other hardware installed in Nov 2016. <br/>