SWISS has resumed its flagship service between Geneva and New York. Operated by an Airbus A330-300, the flights will initially run on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, with plans for daily flights by the northern 2022 summer. SWISS hit the pause button on its Geneva – New York flights in 2020. In September 2021, the airline said flights would resume before Christmas. The Geneva – New York flights will operate in addition to the existing Zurich – New York flights. Departing Geneva’s Cointrin Airport at 11:30 on the selected days, LX22 will take around eight and a half hours to complete the flight to New York, landing at 14:30 on the same day. In the opposite direction, LX23 pushes back from JFK at 19:40 on the same day to fly through the night and touch down in Geneva at 09:15 the following day. LX22 and the return LX23 service are operated by Airbus A330-300 aircraft. The A330s can fly 236 passengers in three cabin classes, including 183 passengers in economy class, 45 passengers in business class, and eight passengers in first class.<br/>
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As of June 2, 2022, LOT Polish Airlines will resume intercontinental operations from Budapest with non-stop flights to New York (JFK) with three weekly frequencies. They will be operated on 252-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. The Polish flag carrier suspended its long-haul services to the Hungarian capital in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. "Budapest Airport’s focus remains on rebuilding long-haul flights as soon as possible, helping to revitalize the country’s tourism industry. Our airline development team and the Hungarian Tourism Agency are working to ensure that long-haul flights return to the airport as soon as possible» said Balázs Bogáts," Head of Airline Development at Budapest Airport. Story has flight details.<br/>
EgyptAir announced a discount of 25% on economy- and business-class tickets for travelers from Cairo to New York, Washington, and Canada’s Toronto. The move coincides with New Year celebrations. The discount applies to tickets purchased for the three destinations until January 31, 2022. Passengers can benefit from the discount for flights dated till February 28 to Toronto, March 31 to New York, and April 13 to Washington.<br/>
Industry officials said Thursday that the country's top anti-trust regulator's decision to grant a conditional approval for Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana Airlines could have some adverse effects and weaken the competitiveness of Korea's hub airport, Incheon International Airport. Daishin Securities Analyst Yang Ji-whan told clients that the Korea Fair Trade Commission's (KFTC) position to grant a conditional OK for Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana Airlines raised concerns that the two airlines will forfeit some popular destination flight slots and transportation rights that currently overlap between the two airlines in order to ease monopoly concerns. A final decision regarding the merger will follow sometime next month. But the analyst also anticipated that because of the following reasons ― the absence of a larger domestic carrier having a mid- or large-sized fleet, the outstanding risk of greater benefits for foreign carriers and increased efficacy from the consumer standpoint ― there will be no visible changes in terms of the redistribution of flight slots. Under the law, flight rights are obtained through government-to-government negotiation and can only be distributed to local carriers. However, the flight time slots at the airport can be redistributed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which industry officials believe will mostly benefit foreign airlines, as low-cost carriers do not have long-distance operable aircrafts. Story has more details.<br/>
Singapore Airlines (SIA) will operate daily flights between Singapore and Beijing from Jan 21 to Mar 16 next year, for officials and athletes who are attending the Winter Olympics. "The flights are for both Singapore and foreign Olympic officials and athletes," SIA said on Thursday. This comes after an annual top-level bilateral meeting between Singapore and China on Wednesday, when Transport Minister S Iswaran said that the airline will operate chartered flights to support the Games. "While air connectivity between our countries remains below 3% of pre-COVID levels, the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022 will be a good opportunity for us to enhance people-to-people exchanges as Singapore Airlines will be operating chartered flights through Changi Airport as a connecting hub for the region," Iswaran wrote later in a Facebook post. "We will also continue bilateral discussions on mutual recognition of COVID-19 health certificates, which is a key enabler for safe travel." It will rely on chartered and temporary flights to bring in athletes and other attendees, with commercial flights as a supplement, Games official Zhang Liang had said during a briefing on Dec 10. Athletes and other attendees will have to arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport before entering a closed loop, strictly separated from other areas of China, where they will remain for their entire stay before leaving. Chinese and foreign airlines will participate in organising these temporary flights from cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris and Tokyo, said Mr Zhang. "During the peak periods of arrivals and departures to Beijing, an average of at least 15 inbound flights and 13 outbound flights can be provided every day," he added.<br/>