United Airlines continues to expand its flight offering, with the best network of any American carrier across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. In March, the carrier will increase its flights from Newark to Rome to twice daily. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, United has rapidly expanded its network, like its recent route launch from San Francisco to Christchurch, New Zealand, and new aircraft orders. Currently, the airline has more than 700 aircraft on order and is adding several Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to its fleet every week. The growth of its fleet, paired with demand in several markets, has enabled United to expand rapidly. In April, United will begin flying twice daily from Newark Liberty International Airport to Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome, one month earlier than initially planned and two months earlier than in 2023. United serves Newark-Rome year-round, but in peak summer months, the carrier connects the two twice daily. As of last week, operations were set to double from May 2, 2024, but that will now happen from March 30.<br/>
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Lufthansa will not be able to expand its flight plan as much as planned as it struggles to crank up capacity amid unplanned engine overhauls and delivery delays, CEO Carsten Spohr told a German paper. Some 20 of Lufthansa's 450 Airbus A320 will be grounded in 2024 due to engine overhauls, Spohr told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. "We will slightly adjust the flight plan for 2024 and slightly reduce the originally planned growth," he said. Lufthansa had said at the start of November the offer should reach 91% of pre-pandemic levels in the final quarter, and 95% next year. Spohr said it would take several years for supply chains to work as before the coronavirus pandemic and Lufthansa to be able to put its ordered airplanes to use. The CEO said Lufthansa was investing more than ever, including more than E3b each year just for new airplanes, in a bid to crank up capacity. "So far, 200 planes have been ordered and we are currently negotiating a further big contract for 80 short-haul airplanes," he said. Spohr said he was against the German government's plans to introduce a tax on kerosene fuel for domestic flights, saying Lufthansa was already dealing with too many new charges which was dampening air travel and putting it at a competitive disadvantage. Air travel was at just 80% of pre-pandemic levels, whereas it was as high or even higher than them in other European countries like France, Spain and Italy, he said.<br/>
The federal government insists approving a massive expansion in air rights for Turkish Airlines despite rejecting a similar proposal by Qatar was a "routine" decision, and would open a new market for Australia.<br/>Catherine King quietly approved a proposal for Türkiye's airline capacity to expand from seven weekly flights to 35 by the middle of 2025, including rights to operate routes between Australia and countries other than Türkiye. The move has reignited a debate that began when Ms King earlier this year rejected a similar proposal by Qatar to add 21 weekly flights out of Australia's major airports — which the competition watchdog said would have helped make flights cheaper. The government faced accusations it was protecting the profits of Qantas by limiting additional capacity — Ms King consistently rejected that claim, instead suggesting that the aviation sector was still stabilising after flights were grounded in the COVID-19 pandemic. She also cited a 2020 incident in which women were strip-searched at Doha Airport as a factor in her decision. In a statement, a spokeswoman for Ms King acknowledged the sector was still in recovery, but said that the Turkish Airlines expansion would open a new market for Australia.<br/>
National carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) will begin its first direct flights to and from London’s Gatwick airport from June 2024. The non-stop flights will operate five times a week, the airline announced on Dec 18. Prices are not yet available, but tickets will go on sale from Dec 19. The service will use the long-haul variant of the 253-seat Airbus A350-900 aircraft, which has 42 business class seats, 24 in premium economy, and 187 in economy. The inaugural flight from Singapore will depart on June 21, and will operate on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The estimated flight time is around 13hrs 30mins. The return flight will take off from Gatwick on June 22, and will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This leg is estimated to take 13hr 5min. Gatwick Airport in West Sussex – 47.5km from Central London – is the second-busiest airport in Britain after London’s Heathrow Airport.<br/>Currently, SIA flies to Heathrow four times a day. The addition of the new route will bring the total number of flights to the British capital to 33 weekly services, up from the current 28. SIA also operates flights five times a week to Manchester Airport.<br/>