Ryanair is furious at being excluded from the Air Berlin carve-up – but many Germans think it only has itself to blame. Unlike EasyJet, Ryanair has earned itself a poor reputation in Germany as a loud bully that is no stranger to the courts. There was a long legal battle over flights to “Frankfurt-Hahn” airport, 130km from Frankfurt, and raids over claims it was skimping on social contributions with pseudo self-employed pilots. And while German passengers love a bargain more than most, there is a growing awareness that budget travel can often come at a cost. So when Ryanair joined a campaign to retain Berlin’s second airport, which it doesn’t service, mayor Michael Müller savaged them for pushing an “aggressive” business model, at the cost of local authorities, that was “not based on sustainability”. <br/>
unaligned
Spring Airlines increased capacity by 30.7% in the first half of the year, as it added 7 Airbus A320s to its fleet. The majority of the added capacity went to its domestic network, which saw ASKs rise 43.6%. Capacity on services to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau meanwhile climbed 16.1%, while international capacity received a 10.9% boost. In its first half financials, the carrier says that the majority of its domestic capacity increase went to its second tier bases at Shenyang, Shijiazhuang and Yangzhou. This is since there are slot constraints at its main bases of Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao International airports, as well as in Shenzhen. Spring added that it stopped poor-yield domestic services out of some second and third tier cities during the period. RPKs on its domestic services rose 41.9% during the 6 months. <br/>
Hawaiian Airlines will introduce Airbus A330-200s on its Honolulu-Sapporo New Chitose Airport route Feb 1, 2018, the airline announced Thursday. Hawaiian said its A330-200 service will feature a three-tiered seating configuration, including a premium cabin equipped with full-flat seating and a premium economy section, in addition to the main cabin. “Chitose will join Tokyo’s two major airports, Haneda and Narita, as well as Osaka’s Kansai gateway in offering guests our … A330 service, underscoring our commitment to the Japanese market,” Hawaiian Airlines Japan country director Takaya Shishido said. Hawaiian began Sapporo service in Oct 2012 with 3X-weekly flights, utilising Boeing 767-300ERs. The route will continue to be a 3X-weekly service as the A330-200s are introduced. <br/>
El Al is preparing to take delivery of its first Boeing 787, which will include ViaSat Wi-Fi, a new premium-economy cabin and lie-flat business-class seats supplied by Recaro. The carrier is acquiring 16 787s, which will start arriving in August. The aircraft will enter commercial service on routes to Europe in September, before being deployed on long-haul routes to the US and Far East. El Al CE David Maimon said the airline was rolling out a “massive investment” in advanced seats and upgraded IFE with the 787 arrival, after 18 months of preparations. The aircraft will feature a new service class, a 28-seats premium-economy cabin, as well as a 32-seat business-class equipped with Recaro lie-flat seats. The economy cabin will be configured with 222 seats. <br/>