Frontier Airlines doesn’t want to let student loans stop you from traveling. The airline is running a sweepstakes to give winners the value of their loans in miles, up to 100,000 points. “Amid the end of a US moratorium on student loan payments, Frontier is launching a promotion that will award 100 lucky winners with a sum of promotional miles equal to their current student loan balance,” the airline said in a statement. “The larger the debt, the bigger the promotional mile payout, which can be used for free flights!” According to Frontier, entrants have to be enrolled in the Frontier Miles program, and must fill out an online form, which you can access by clicking here, by Aug. 27. “We’re thrilled to spread a little joy among education borrowers and offer an opportunity to win free flights through this special mileage giveaway,” Tyri Squyres, Frontier’s vice president of marketing said in a statement. “With flights available for as little as 10,000 miles, FRONTIER Miles are a great way to take advantage of Frontier’s expansive network and enjoy a getaway to explore someplace new or visit family and friends.”<br/>
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Southwest Airlines is changing its unusual boarding system by limiting the opportunity to pay an extra fee and jump ahead of other passengers in the race for the best seats. The airline said Wednesday that it has not dropped “EarlyBird” entirely from any flights, but it is “limiting the number of spots available for purchase on certain flights, routes, or days, as we work on product enhancements.” As a result, the airline said in a statement, the service “is unavailable for some customers looking to purchase it.” The perk starts at $15 but can be higher, depending on the length of the flight and demand for seats. Limiting the number of EarlyBird spots could push Southwest passengers into other options for moving up in the boarding line, including buying the highest-priced fare, called “Business Select,” which comes with a top-15 spot in line. The limits on EarlyBird took effect Aug. 15. A spokeswoman for the Dallas-based airline declined to say how many early-boarding spots will be cut, calling that “privileged” information. Unlike other major US airlines, Southwest does not assign passengers to specific seats ahead of time. Instead, passengers board in the order that they checked in for the flight and pick seats once they are on the plane. EarlyBird buyers can avoid the rat race and secure a prime spot in the boarding line by checking in before the normal check-in process starts, which is 24 hours before departure. EarlyBird has proven popular among passengers who want a window or aisle seat near the front — and just as importantly, room for their bag in the overhead bins.<br/>
US start-up carrier Northern Pacific Airways has stopped selling tickets on its only route after the end of this month, leading to questions about the young carrier’s future. The Anchorage-based airline operates one Boeing 757 and one scheduled route – between Los Angeles-area Ontario International airport and Las Vegas, thrice weekly. It launched that route last month. However, the company’s website is no longer accepting reservations for flights after 31 August. The website does say the airline offers charter flights. Asked to comment, the airline on 23 August says it is “finalising [its] fall schedule” and will publish an update “within 48hrs”. The start-up carrier had previously aimed to begin commercial flights earlier this year but suffered delays due to incomplete regulatory approvals. The Federal Aviation Administration issued Northern Pacific an air carrier certificate in early July, clearing the way for it to begin passenger flights. Its initial scheduled flights were between Ontario, about 50nm (93km) northeast of Los Angeles’ primary airport, Los Angeles International, and Las Vegas. The schedule appeared to cater to customers from the Los Angeles metropolitan area looking to spend a weekend in Las Vegas. The distance between the two airports is listed as 197nm. By car that one-way journey can take 4-5h. The route was to be a precursor to a trans-Pacific schedule that aimed at bringing passengers from North America to Asia with stopovers in Anchorage, Alaska. CE Rob McKinney’s plans for the fledgling airline included replicating across the Pacific Ocean what Reykjavik-headquartered Icelandair does across the Atlantic. For years, the Icelandic carrier used its island base about midway between North America and Europe to offer low-fare flights between the continents, with the option for stopovers. Northern Pacific has said it intends to fly from Anchorage to South Korea and Japan. <br/>
North American ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) Canada Jetlines plans to add two new warm-weather destinations to its early-stage network – Orlando and Montego Bay, Jamaica. The start-up carrier said on 23 August that it will launch flights from Toronto to Orlando on 30 October and begin flying from Toronto to Montego Bay on 5 November, almost doubling the size of its network. Roughly a year since entering the market, the Toronto-based ULCC operates scheduled flights to Cancun and Las Vegas. Now, it will attempt to get a greater slice of Canada’s hotly contested “snowbird” market, focusing on transporting leisure travellers to warmer climes during the country’s winter months. Canada Jetlines reported on 14 August that it lost C$940,000 ($698,000) during the second quarter of 2023 – compared with a C$3.6m loss last year – as it expands its scheduled and charter operations. Company executives acknowledge that the start-up needs to raise additional capital in order to fund its expansion plans. The carrier recently took delivery of its third leased Airbus A320 and plans to add two more of the type in the second half of the year. Canada Jetlines’ expansion comes as more established North American ULCCs step up planned warm-weather flying for the upcoming winter travel season, with Denver-based Frontier Airlines recently rolling out new and returning seasonal flights from the Midwest and East Coast of the USA to destinations in Florida and the Caribbean.<br/>
Ryanair is to resurrect its base at Copenhagen airport, several years after an abortive attempt to establish a presence at the Danish capital. Ryanair is to station two aircraft at Copenhagen from December this year, and offer 24 routes from the city for the winter season – including four new connections, to Paris, Warsaw, Dusseldorf and Faro. The airline had disclosed in 2014 that it would open a Copenhagen base in March 2015, with up to four jets. But the venture was short-lived. The airline chose to close the base, just a few months after opening, after a Danish labour court ruled in favour of local unions in regard to negotiations over terms and conditions. Ryanair’s revival of the Copenhagen plan will give the airline a second Danish base after Billund, where it stations two aircraft. It says pay and conditions at the Billund base are covered by a collective labour agreement with the union Dansk Metal. Ryanair, through its Malta Air subsidiary, reached a labour agreement with Dansk Metal for Billund crews earlier this year, and the carrier states that the new jobs at Copenhagen will be created under the same pact. The airline says the new Copenhagen base “complies fully with Danish employment law”, adding: “These high-paid jobs will all pay their taxes in Denmark.” Ryanair already operates 20 routes at the Danish capital, and says the base will enable it to offer earlier and later flights. The airline adds that it will probably serve Copenhagen routes from its specially-branded low-cost pier. Ryanair operates a fleet of Boeing 737-800s and 737 Max 8-200s.<br/>
An unlikely bid to revive the Monarch Airlines brand could see a new iteration of the carrier operational by the middle of 2024 using a small fleet of Airbus A320-family jets under plans disclosed by the company’s newly-appointed chair. However, much about the revival plan remains unclear; in particular there is, as yet, no detail on who is bankrolling the attempt to bring back a name absent from the UK market since the collapse of the original Monarch Airlines in 2017. Leading the effort is Daniel Ellingham, who was appointed as the sole director, effectively the board chair, of both Monarch Airlines and sister company Monarch Holidays on 18 August. Ellingham, whose LinkedIn profile lists previous board advisory roles at Austrian Airlines and defunct Swissair, says he has been involved in the revival attempt since January but “did not take up a formal position until July.” He is hopeful the revived airline could be back in little under a year: “We would like to see Monarch flying by mid-2024, however I do accept that this is very optimistic.” His deeper involvement in the would-be operator coincides with the sale of Monarch Airlines and Monarch Holidays, by their former owner for a “a minimal fee of £1”. The companies’ previous ownership is convoluted but they appear to have been controlled by founder Jake Johnson, or other companies owned by him. In January this year, Johnson incorporated both Monarch Airlines and Monarch Holidays, holding their entire share capital. Ellingham was also appointed as a director of another Johnson-controlled business, Flymonarch, in January, resigning on 18 August. The company never traded and is currently in the process of being dissolved. He says the directorship of Flymonarch “was solely for nominal purposes” and he “never had any involvement” in its running. How Ellingham was recruited in the first place, and by whom, is unclear but when Johnson announced he was dissolving his companies, Ellingham evidently decided to take the plunge. Ellingham declines to reveal the identity of Monarch’s backers but says this “should become clear in the coming weeks and months”.<br/>
Emirates Airline has flown more than 14m passengers between June and August, marking one of its busiest-ever summer seasons, the official news agency WAM reported Wednesday. During the period, Emirates has operated nearly 50,000 flights to and from 140 cities, with an average seat load factor of more than 80% across its global network, said the report. Inbound visitors carried by the airline primarily came from Britain, India, Germany, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt and Kuwait, it added. According to the report, more than 35% of visitors to Dubai traveling by Emirates were families, with an average stay of more than two weeks. It noted that the city had received more than 8.5m inbound visitors in the first half of 2023, up by more than 1m compared to the same period last year. Travel demand across the airline's global network has been strong and resilient despite rising cost-of-living pressures in many countries, the WAM quoted Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates Adnan Kazim as saying.<br/>