Low-cost carrier Volaris' El Salvador operation will expand its flights to the United States, adding three new routes out of the San Salvador airport, the company said Thursday. Flights from El Salvador's capital airport will fly direct to Houston, Texas, and Oakland, California, four times a week, along with a thrice-weekly flight to Miami, Florida with a layover in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Volaris said. The routes are scheduled to begin in March 2023 and will double Volaris El Salvador's current offerings, the company said. The expansion comes as Mexico, where Volaris is based, is prohibited from launching new routes to the United States as it lacks the U.S.' Category 1 aviation safety rating. Volaris said in October it was budgeting for Mexico to regain the rating by the second half of 2023.<br/>
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Ryanair’s recent run of sharp traffic growth slowed a little in November as it carried 11.2m passengers. While the figure was still 10% more than in November last year, it was only 2% higher than the 11m Ryanair flew during the same month in 2019. The Irish budget carrier has, over a bumper summer season for demand, been outpacing 2019 passenger numbers by double-digit percentage levels. In October for example it flew almost 2 million more passengers than in 2019. Ryanair’s load factor climbed five points on November last year to 92%. The Irish carrier is, alongside budget rival Wizz Air, the first European airline to report passenger numbers for November. Both have been among the most aggressive European carriers in restoring and expanding capacity since the pandemic. Wizz carried 3.7m passengers in November – 23% more than it flew in November 2019 and almost 70% higher than the same month last year. Load factor stood at 88%, 12 percentage points higher than last November.<br/>
Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines is to commence flights to Tokyo in January, its third destination since commencing operations in July. The launch of daily flights to Tokyo Narita – operated by Boeing 737-800s – comes weeks after the airline announced it would be flying to Taipei. The two cities were picked for their popularity with Hong Kong visitors, says Greater Bay Airlines. It notes that traveller numbers to Tokyo significantly picked up after Japan eased border measures in October. As for Taipei, Greater Bay Airlines says it is also a popular holiday destination, and that Taiwan’s decision to permit organised group tours “is expected to boost the demand of leisure travellers for visiting Taiwan” from Hong Kong. The network expansion also comes after Hong Kong eased its coronavirus travel restrictions in October, eliminating quarantine requirements for arriving passengers. Before it launched, Greater Bay Airlines had applied to operate more than 100 routes across Asia-Pacific, with the majority of them to Mainland China. Other countries include Japan, Thailand, and South Korea. In October 2021, it outlined plans to fly from Hong Kong to Singapore, Bangkok and Phuket in its initial destinations at launch. Hong Kong’s Covid-19 restrictions – now removed – had clouded the airline’s launch in July this year, with only dozens of travellers reportedly on its first flight to Bangkok. Greater Bay Airlines was previously headed by former Cathay Dragon chief Algernon Yau, though Yau left the airline to join the Hong Kong government. The carrier in late-June appointed Stanley Hui, another former Cathay veteran, as its new CEO.<br/>
Myanmar National Airlines has announced it will start flying from Yangon to Chiang Mai every Friday and Sunday from Dec 9 onwards. The airline is also offering special discounts for the New Year period on its Yangon-Bangkok flights, with one-way trips costing US$40 (1,390 baht) and round trips costing US$74. “The flight to Bangkok, which is popular among Myanmar nationals, is being offered at a special price as a New Year’s Eve present,” an airline official said. The airline flies to Bangkok daily and round-trip tickets generally cost $135. Passengers are also eligible for a 15% discount on specific products at all King Power outlets. The promotion runs until Dec 31.<br/>
Air Niugini was forced to cancel its domestic flights on December 1 due to a fuel shortage caused by an ongoing dispute between fuel supplier Puma Energy and the Bank of Papua New Guinea. As a result of the dispute, Puma Energy decided to restrict the supply of Jet A1 fuel to Port Moresby and all other airports in PNG from December 1, 2022. “Unfortunately, there is no alternative supplier of aviation fuel in most airports, including Port Moresby, ” the airline said. Consequently, Air Niugini had cancelled remaining domestic flights for December 1, was axing half its domestic schedule for December 2 and would have to continue cutting flights daily until Puma Energy lifted the fuel restriction. Fellow domestic carrier PNG Air made no announcement and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. International flights into PNG are unaffected. “Puma Energy has advised that they will continue to refuel international flights as normal,” Air Niugini advised. This means that international flights by Qantas from Australia and Philippine Airlines into Port Moresby were unaffected.<br/>