Hawaiian Airlines historically has been conservative with premium cabins, installing outdated products and adding fewer seats than competitors. But the carrier is making a big bet on flat-bed seats for its new Boeing 787s as it emerges from the pandemic, its COO said. Hawaiian is putting 34 flatbed business class suites on its Boeing 787-9 aircraft, the first of which will arrive late next year. That’s almost twice as many as on the airline’s Airbus A330s, the carrier’s current long-haul workhorse. Overall, the 787s will have 301 seats, or 23 more than the A330s. In bulking up, and significantly improving, the business class cabin, Hawaiian is following an industry-wide trend. Once, only business-centric carriers in major hubs installed opulent front-cabin flatbeds. But in recent years, leisure carriers have followed, with airlines like Fiji Airways, Air Europa and Air Tahiti Nui raising their standards. Retirees and honeymooners, among others, have proved willing to pay. The trend is expected to continue in 2022 and beyond. Several US carriers, included United and Delta, have said on recent earnings calls that premium leisure is among their fastest growing segments. Travelers have been cooped up for almost two years, and they’re willing to pay more for space and comfort. Hawaiian is looking for a bigger slice of this segment on its longest routes. <br/>
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US discounter Spirit Airlines is sticking with Pratt & Whitney geared turbofans to power at least another 100 incoming Airbus A320neo-family jets. The Miramar, Florida-based airline chose PW1100Gs for 100 jets on firm order with Airbus, and for another 50 aircraft for which it holds options to purchase, P&W says on 25 October. Those aircraft are scheduled for delivery starting in 2023. Spirit has also agreed to have the engines maintained under the Hartford engine maker’s long-term maintenance programme, called EngineWise Comprehensive, says P&W. Airbus also sells A320neo-family jets with CFM International Leap-1A powerplants. Spirit has been a long-term P&W engine customer. The airline’s all-Airbus-narrowbody fleet includes 120 first-generation A320ceos powered by V2500s, made by International Aero Engines, of which P&W is part owner. <br/>
WestJet Airlines is ramping up its winter schedule, adding new routes as more Canadians get back to travelling. The airline announced Monday that it will be adding new domestic and international routes in December in the wake of increasing travel demand, bringing the total number of destinations it serves to 95. "As Canadians' confidence in travel grows, the return of service to 95 destinations marks a major milestone in rebuilding our network to pre-pandemic levels," said John Weatherill, WestJet's CCO. "We have our sights set on restoring our global network to reach more than 100 destinations and continue to focus on alleviating the current travel barriers in place for our guests." WestJet will see its service out of Toronto expand to 55 destinations, including 26 international routes, 17 domestic and 12 transborder to the United States. The airline will also increase its service to 61 destinations out of Calgary, including 30 domestic routes, 19 transborder and 12 international. It will add non-stop options out of Winnipeg and Edmonton, and bring back its three-times weekly service between Toronto and Kelowna from Dec. 17 to Jan. 5. The service expansion comes shortly after the federal government lifted its global advisory urging Canadians to avoid non-essential travel outside the country. The advisory was put in place at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. The government of Canada's website now advises that travellers should be fully vaccinated at least 14 days before travelling. Weatherill also says it is critical that the government travel policies which were introduced before vaccines became widely available in Canada "are recalibrated to accelerate Canada's economic recovery and to reflect the new fully-vaccinated travel journey." Story lists the new routes WestJet will add to its schedule in December.<br/>
Middle Eastern carrier Emirates is aiming to recruit a further 2,500 personnel over the next six months to ensure it has the resources necessary to maintain its recovery track. It is supplementing a previous drive, unveiled in September, to take 3,000 cabin crew and 500 ground-services staff. Emirates says it will expand it requirement by recruiting 600 pilots, plus 1,200 engineering staff and another 700 ground workers. The Dubai-based carrier says it is bracing for a “surge” in customer demand “sooner than expected”. Emirates has rebuilt about 90% of its network – and aims to have 70% of pre-crisis capacity in place by the end of this year – and the airline is re-introducing higher-capacity aircraft types and increased frequencies. “With the positive signs in the economic recovery and continuous growth of demand, we are hopeful to be back to where we were pre-pandemic, from mid-2022,” says Emirates Group chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum. He says the airline has been “prudently” resuming services as international restrictions lift. Dubai, he adds, is experiencing a “quick recovery” and that this underpins the recruitment drive. The carrier has started redeploying Airbus A380s to ply its more popular routes, supporting its fleet of Boeing 777-300ERs – all of which are in service, either for passenger or cargo services. Emirates will increase the number of A380 destinations from 18 to 27 by the end of November.<br/>
Blue Air's efforts to go public on the London Stock Exchange have suffered a blow after it failed to raise the requisite funds needed to execute a reverse take over of LSE-listed shell company Ridgecrest. "Ridgecrest, an AIM Rule 15 cash shell, has terminated negotiations on its proposed reverse takeover of Blue Air. This is a consequence of Blue Air's inability to raise the pre-RTO funding that was the principal condition of the non-binding heads of agreement between Ridgecrest and Blue Air's vendors [...]," it said. On July 6 this year, Ridgecrest said it had agreed to acquire Airline Invest and its subsidiaries Blue Air Aviation and Blue Air Technic. In return, Ridgecrest would have issued a 95% stake in the enlarged group to Airline Invest's two shareholders, Cristian Rada and his brother. Upon completion, Ridgecrest's name would then have been changed to Blue Air Group. "The Board of Ridgecrest has concluded that it is in the Company's shareholders' best interests to pursue an alternative transaction. The Company anticipates being able to make a further announcement regarding an alternative transaction in the near future," Ridgecrest added. Blue Air was not immediately available for comment.<br/>
Air Calédonie has suspended all commercial scheduled flights until November 7, 2021, as ordered by a government decree in the wake of extended lockdown measures and airport closures in protests over the introduction of a health pass in the French collectivity of New Caledonia. In a statement on its website, the airline said it was operating a restricted flight programme according to authorisations granted. Special rotations would be operated on October 25, 26, and 27 between Nouméa Magenta and Ouvéa; and Nouméa and Île des Pins. All its sales offices were currently closed, but sales teams could be reached telephonically during limited office hours on weekdays, while online reservations remained open. The airline on October 18 had initially cancelled its flights until the end of October after Lifou airport was closed by the local authority in protest against the introduction of a compulsory health pass requirement for domestic flights. Already deployed in France, since October 11 the health pass is also required in New Caledonia to allow for a gradual return to normal life while minimising the risks of spreading the disease, according to a government of New Caledonia statement. <br/>