LATAM Airlines Group is looking to increase its connectivity to one of its most unique destinations, Rapa Nui’s Mataveri International Airport, in the Pacific. Starting August 1, the Chilean-based airline will operate six weekly flights to the island, employing its Boeing 787 fleet. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rapa Nui lost most of its connectivity to Chile’s mainland. Using data from Cirium, there are currently only four weekly flights between Santiago de Chile’s Arturo Merino Benítez International and Mataveri International. In July 2019, the Rapa Nui airport had 12 weekly flights from Santiago de Chile and an additional one from Papeete. All flights were and are operated by LATAM Airlines. In fact, all flights to Rapa Nui were suspended until August 2022, when LATAM began flying to IPC once more. The distance between Santiago de Chile and Rapa Nui is 2,336 miles (3,759 kilometers), which could theoretically be covered by either JetSMART or Sky Airline’s Airbus A320-based fleet. Still, none of these two ultra-low-cost carriers have signaled interest in flying to Easter Island.<br/>
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Ryanair flew a record 17.4m passengers in June, its highest for a single month and a 9% increase from a year earlier, the low-cost carrier said on Tuesday. The previous traffic record of 17m was set in May. The Irish airline, Europe's largest by passengers carried, cancelled more than 900 flights, affecting some 160,000 customers, mainly due to air traffic control strikes last month. Flights were on average 95% full in June, unchanged on a year earlier.<br/>
About 160,000 passengers were impacted after Ryanair cancelled more than 900 flights last month amid disruption from air traffic control strikes across France, the low cost carrier has said. French air traffic controllers staged a series of strikes last month, with the latest – a 34-hour walkout ending on June 30 – marking their 60th day of strike action this year. The Dublin-based airline was among the most heavily impacted by the industrial action, with flights cancelled across a number of airports and other routes also disrupted by aircraft or crew in the wrong locations. It said it operated more than 96,250 flights last month but that “regrettably” more than 900 flights were cancelled, “mainly due to ATC (air traffic control) strikes”. The last French strikes in June were in response to President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the country’s pension age from 62 to 64 and come as part of industrial action across a raft of sectors that has crippled the country since the start of the year. The former boss of British Airways, Willie Walsh, recently called for a change in the rules to allow flights over France during air traffic control strikes. He said their action was threatening to wreak havoc for British holidaymakers and impact travel to other European countries. The law in France dictates that domestic flights must be able to continue during industrial action, but international flights are banned from flying over the country while air traffic controllers are on strike.<br/>
Saudi Arabia has again threatened to halt flights operated by PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) unless the airline pays USD48 million in accumulated fees, jeopardising the carriage of tens of thousands of Pakistanis heading to Saudi Arabia for Hajj. Four years ago, Saudi authorities halted PIA during the busy pilgrimage period after the majority state-owned airline failed to meet its payment obligations. PIA is reported to have approximately 50,000 passengers booked on upcoming pilgrimage flights to either Madinah and Jeddah. The airline has hundreds of Hajj flights scheduled between now and the start of August, when the pilgrimage season ends. During an economic coordination meeting last week, Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar reportedly disclosed the fresh Saudi warning. The Pakistani government also issued yet another reform edict for its flag carrier, saying any loss of access to Saudi Arabia would be inconvenient for passengers and cause PIA further reputational damage. The latest reform attempt is led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who reportedly attended last week's meeting and constituted a committee headed by Ishaq Dar to develop reform proposals and present them to the federal cabinet. Both Sharif and Dar blamed the previous government for PIA's current challenges.<br/>