Ryanair has tried to appease angry customers by publishing lists of all flights to be cancelled until Wednesday, after 82 failed to take off on Sunday, with the airline admitting it had mismanaged the planning of pilot holidays. However, this will do little to calm nerves as travellers are demanding to know which flights will be cancelled over the next six weeks when Ryanair has said there would be up to 2,000 cancellations. Up to 400,000 passengers could be affected. Ryanair is cancelling about 55 flights a day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said: “We will cancel 40 to 50 flights daily for the next six weeks, less than 2% of our schedule, with a slightly higher number initially, as we begin to implement these cancellations. “Flights are operating as scheduled unless an email confirming a cancellation has been received. Cancellation notices for flights cancelled up to and including Wednesday 20 September have been sent to affected customers and posted on the Ryanair.com website. We will continue to send regular updates and post flight information on our website, with the next set of cancellations to be issued on Monday. We apologise sincerely to all affected customers for these cancellations.” Martin Callanan, the aviation minister, said: “I am very concerned to see all of these reports of stranded Ryanair passengers. We expect all airlines to fulfil their obligations to their customers and do everything possible to notify them well in advance of any disruption to their journey. In the event of any disruption or cancellation, airlines must ensure customers are fully compensated and every effort is made to provide alternative travel arrangements.”<br/>
unaligned
The US DoT said Friday it fined Frontier Airlines $1.5m for keeping passengers stuck on a dozen aircraft on the Denver airport tarmac for more than three hours amid a snowstorm last December. But the department said it will forgive $900,000 of that because of compensation the airline paid to the passengers. The delays came after a storm dropped 8 inches of snow at Denver International Airport on Dec. 16-17. Passengers were held aboard 12 planes sitting on the tarmac for more than the three-hour limit set by law, the Transportation Department said. The department said Frontier did not have enough staff and did not delay or divert enough flights to alleviate congestion at airport gates. On one occasion, the airline used an open gate to load passengers on a departing flight instead of unloading a waiting plane that had already arrived, the department said. A Frontier spokesman said the airline revised its winter weather procedures and worked with the Denver airport on a system to get passengers off planes more quickly. The airline told the Transportation Department that the snowstorm was worse than predicted and that it had taken steps to relieve the delays. The airline said it was fully staffed and called in extra workers from its Denver headquarters to help at the airport.<br/>
Two weeks ago, no airlines offered non-stop flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and Iceland. Now, there are two. The latest is Icelandair, which said on Tuesday that it will begin flying between DFW and Reykjavik, Iceland. The year-round service will launch May 30, with the carrier offering four flights a week on 183-seat Boeing 757-200 aircraft. Connections to about three-dozen cities will be available via the carrier’s hub at Keflavik Airport near Reykjavik. Icelandair’s announcement comes only a week after Icelandic rival WOW Air announced its own nonstop service between DFW and Reykjavik. WOW plans to offer seasonal service on the route starting May 24, flying three times a week on its Airbus A330 jets that seat between 338 and 343 passengers. Icelandair made no mention of WOW in its announcement for DFW, which becomes the company’s 20th destination in the US. "We had been researching DFW for awhile; it was a coincidence that the announcements came so close together," an Icelandair spokesman said. "We are excited to be entering our first gateway in the southern United States and see a very promising future for Dallas."<br/>
Hawaiian Airlines is expanding its New Zealand service with up to five nonstop flights weekly between Auckland and Honolulu starting in March. The state’s largest carrier had been flying three times a week since beginning service between the two cities in 2013. It has transported more than 260,000 passengers on the route since that time. “Our growth in New Zealand underpins our decision to offer Kiwis unmatched value on their Hawaii vacation,” said Russell Williss, Hawaiian Airlines country director for New Zealand. Under the expanded schedule that starts March 21, flights will depart Auckland at 11:55 p.m. five times weekly, Wednesday through Sunday, arriving in Honolulu at 9:45 a.m. on the same day. Flights from Honolulu to Auckland will depart at 2:05 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, arriving at 10 p.m. the following day. Hawaiian’s Airbus A330 aircraft offers three seating options on the flight, including lie-flat seating in business class, as well as extra comfort premium economy and the main cabin.<br/>
Patee Sarasin stepped down as CE of Nok Air on 14 September, and has been succeeded by NokScoot chief Piya Yodmani. Sarasin, who has led the carrier since its establishment in 2004, will remain on Nok's board and has been appointed as vice-chairman. It is unclear if he will remain as chairman of NokScoot. In recent months, local media reports said that major shareholder Thai Airways International was unhappy with Sarasin's management of the loss-making budget carrier, and had been seeking to remove him. The flag carrier also declined to participate in Nok's fund raising exercise in May, which saw its shareholding dilute to 21.6%.<br/>