star

Air Canada will add new daily direct flights from both coasts to the United States in a push to meet travel demand and strengthen its trans-border partnership with United Airlines. The airline announced Monday that year-round routes between Halifax and Newark, N.J., and Vancouver and Houston, will begin Dec. 16. “These routes will give customers in Atlantic and Western Canada more convenient options for flying to the U.S.,” senior vice-president Mark Galardo said. Galardo said the flights will provide Western Canada customers with more options for reaching destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean through United Airlines’ Houston hub, as well as reinforce links between Atlantic Canada and New York. He said these will also facilitate many new one-stop connections from the US to Air Canada’s domestic and global network. The carrier said with the new routes, its U.S. network will expand to six per cent above its pre-pandemic capacity for summer 2023. It serves 51 US airports.<br/>

Southern Africa’s airline market continues to shift as the region emerges from the pandemic. Regional Airlink has inked a deal for Namibia’s only domestic airline, while long struggling South African Airways is on the defensive amid questions over its future. Airlink will buy 40% of FlyNamibia, Namibia’s only operating scheduled domestic airline, under a deal unveiled at the end of September that aims to expand air service both within and to the Southern Africa country. The deal will bring the two carriers closer together with all FlyNamibia flights transitioning to using Airlink’s IATA code — 4Z — in an effort to boost sales and improve international connectivity, particularly with Airlink’s expansive list of global partners. The value of the deal was not disclosed. In the past two years, Airlink has signed new codeshares with global giants Emirates, Qatar Airways, and United Airlines. These deals feed passengers onto the South African airline’s flights, as well as extend three global carriers’ networks deeper across Southern Africa. The expansion comes as the questions mount over the future of South Africa’s flag carrier, South African Airways. On September 29, South African Airways released a statement saying it was not at risk of losing key international air route rights despite many being dormant since it suspended operations early in the pandemic. The carrier has only flown nine routes — six within its home country, and three regionally — since it resumed flights in September 2021. South African Airways will resume two more routes that it flew prior to the pandemic in November: Johannesburg to Victoria Falls, and Windhoek, according to Diio by Cirium schedules. “SAA management assures that there is a variety of resources within the company and the global aviation industry that can be innovatively exploited for the future success of SAA. We assure our customers and all our stakeholders and partners that there are no plans, nor an intention to see South African Airways liquidated,” South African Airways Executive Chairman John Lamola said earlier in September in response to questions over the airlines’ long-term viability.<br/>