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A first Emirates flight between Dubai and Britain’s Stansted Airport touched down on Friday, making it the first scheduled long-haul airline to fly to London’s third busiest airport as the city’s two bigger hubs are almost full. The UK government wants to expand Heathrow but a new runway won’t be ready until 2026, which Stansted said will give it an opportunity to grow its connections to the rest of the world. London’s No.2 Gatwick is also full at the busiest times of the day. Emirates, which already operates nine daily flights between London and Dubai from Heathrow Gatwick, said that it was also attracted to Stansted because of the travel demand it expects from the 25 multinational companies, such as AstraZeneca and GSK that have bases on the Stansted side of London. Stansted is situated 40 miles north east of London and 30 miles from Cambridge, an area with fast growing tech and pharma industries, giving the airport the potential to develop into more than just the short-haul, leisure hub which it has been up until now. Stansted CEO Ken O’Toole said that looking at travel patterns within the airport’s catchment area, there was the potential to add 25 to 30 more long-haul routes and he was in talks with dozens of airlines wanting to fly from Stansted.<br/>

EU antitrust regulators will decide by July 12 whether to wave through Irish budget airline Ryanair’s bid for a 75% stake in the rebranded former Niki airline Laudamotion, a filing on the EC site showed Friday. Europe’s largest budget airline formally sought approval for the deal on Thursday as it moves to consolidate its foothold in Austria, a fast-growing hub for eastern European destinations. The EU competition enforcer can clear the deal with or without conditions or it can open a four-month investigation if it has serious concerns the deal may hurt competition.<br/>

Hainan Airlines plans to acquire aviation assets valued at 10.48b yuan ($1.64b) in five firms to boost its route network and competitive edge, it said Friday. The carrier, affiliated with embattled HNA Group, said it would issue shares to up to 10 investors, including Singapore’s Temasek Fullerton Alpha Pte Ltd, to raise up to 7b yuan to fund aircraft purchases and six other projects, such as engine maintenance and pilot training. Hainan Airlines hopes to upgrade its flight network and develop its aviation expertise with the acquisitions. “With the acquisitions, the airline will be able to expand the routes, strengthen development in aviation maintenance, flight training and other services,” the airline said in a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange. Hainan Airlines said the acquisition would result in an ownership change in the company, which is now controlled by a Chinese provincial regulator.<br/>

Southwest is going after its rivals’ best customers by matching the elite-flyer status of some passengers on other US carriers. Members of Southwest’s Rapid Rewards loyalty program who prove upper-tier standing at other airlines will be upgraded to the carrier’s “A-List” for 90 days. Those who qualify can earn an additional 12 months on the list by making three round-trip or six one-way flights within the 90-day period, Southwest spokeswoman Thais Hanson said Friday. “This promotion is an opportunity to showcase the benefits of A-List status to our customers, especially those who may be tired of not being recognized as part of other airline loyalty programs.” Hanson said. The program began Friday with offers to Rapid Rewards members in Washington, Atlanta and San Diego. The airline will add more cities “as necessary” as it evaluates the success of the offer, Hanson said. A-List benefits include priority boarding, check-in and security-lane access, as well as free same-day standby.<br/>

EasyJet Europe has become Austria’s largest airline after registering more than 100 aircraft in Austria since the launch of the Vienna-based LCC in July 2017. Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines operates 83 aircraft. In preparation for Brexit in March 2019 easyJet is transferring 130 of its UK-registered Airbus A319s/A320s to its easyJet Europe unit. By securing an EU air operator’s certificate in Austria, easyJet Europe will safeguard the LCC’s network should the UK and EU fail to agree on a new air transport accord before the Brexit deadline. EasyJet has 28 bases spread across 33 European countries. However, there are no plans to turn Vienna into a base, easyJet Europe MD Thomas Haagensen said in May. “When we open a new base, we begin with a minimum of three or four aircraft. Our goal is to be the number one carrier in big cities or at least a strong number two.”<br/>

Would you want to fly eight hours or more on a airplane with no windows? That could be the future of flying, says Emirates airlines president Tim Clark. Instead of real windows on the outside of the plane, passengers may instead look at images streamed onto a virtual window that’s only on the inside of the cabin. “Imagine now a fuselage as you're boarding with no windows, but when you get inside, there are windows," Clark said. "Now you have one fuselage which has no structural weaknesses because of windows. The aircraft are lighter, the aircraft could fly faster, they'll burn far less fuel and fly higher." It may sound far-fetched, but a limited version of the concept is already flying on the Dubai-based airline’s new Boeing 777-300ER jets. Emirates has already installed a type of virtual window on its suites occupying the middle section of the 777-300ER's first-class cabin; the suites in the middle would not ordinarily have a window since they’re not adjacent to the cabin wall. Emirates' suites along the sides of the cabin have normal windows.<br/>

Hawaiian Airlines boss Peter Ingram says the US state is open for business and volcanic activity on the big island of Hawaii is affecting only a fraction of its land area. There was a misconception from some travellers that spectacular activity at Kilauea Volcano could affect their travel plans, Ingram said. The airline, which flies to Hilo on Hawaii as part of its island network, had not been affected by the month-long eruption of the volcano, which has destroyed scores of houses and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents. "For those who have been evacuated from their homes it's an absolutely tragic event. Operationally it's had nil impact - we haven't cancelled a flight or taken a delay because of the volcano," he said. Only about 25sqkm was affected directly by the eruption in a corner of the Big Island that covers about 10,400sqkm, he said. Long, tall flows of lava, have marched from the volcano to the sea. "I think there is sufficiently poor knowledge of Hawaiian geography around the world. Some people are concerned about what impact it might have on their vacation plans - we've been assuring them that the vast majority of the tourism infrastructure in the state is elsewhere."<br/>