Southwest is responding to several concerns and complaints on social media regarding flights being grounded nationwide. According to the flight-tracking website Flight Radar 24 more than a dozen flights that were set to take off Monday evening have not left and are delayed. In responses to customers through social media, the airline wrote they are currently experiencing a system error and are working on getting things resolved. The airline said it's a system that provides weather info to flight crews prior to takeoff.<br/>
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WestJet will introduce seasonal service to Amsterdam, and resume service to London’s Gatwick airport as the global pandemic wanes and Canada looks set to ease travel restrictions. The Calgary-headquartered airline says on 14 June it will launch twice-weekly flights from Calgary to Amsterdam beginning on 5 August, increasing to thrice-weekly in September. The flights will run until 1 November. Also from July, the airline will resume flights from Calgary and Toronto to London’s Gatwick airport, two-times and three-times weekly, respectively. All of the flights between Canada and Europe will be operated on the airline’s Boeing 787 Dreamliners. “We are committed to putting international investments in place, as leaders of the travel and tourism industry, to support a safe restart to international travel and further Canada’s economic recovery,” says WestJet’s chief commercial officer John Weatherill.<br/>
As the launch of a successor to Alitalia drags on, budget carriers Ryanair and Wizz are bulking up on Italy’s domestic routes, grabbing market share from the new carrier before it even takes flight. Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) is the name of the new state-owned airline independent of bankrupt Alitalia which Rome plans to start, but talks with the EC have pushed that back to August at the earliest. Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline, is expanding to more than 100 domestic routes this summer from 60 before the pandemic. It could move ahead of Alitalia on its home turf in Q2, according to consulting firm AlixPartners. AlixPartners expects Ryanair’s slice of domestic seats offered to rise to 35% from 32% before the pandemic while Alitalia shrinks to 32% from 41% in the quarter to June 30. Budget players including easyJet could account for up to 67% of domestic flight capacity in the second quarter, AlixPartners said. That’s up from 54% before the pandemic, already well above the European average of around 40%.<br/>
Belgian regional carrier Air Antwerp has ceased operations. In a Twitter post published on 11 June, the airline thanked its customers, suppliers, airports and colleagues for their support over the past two years before adding: “It was an honour to serve you. Farewell.” Air Antwerp had launched in August 2019 with a single Fokker 50 leased from Largus Aviation. It flew between Antwerp and London City – a route previously operated by VLM before that carrier entered liquidation in 2018. Irish regional operator CityJet and Dutch flag carrier KLM formed Air Antwerp through a joint investment. CityJet took a 75% stake and KLM 25%.<br/>