Air Canada may be the official carrier of Team Canada, but that didn't stop the Paris Olympics from hobbling its summer sales. Despite Canadians' continued thirst for Mediterranean getaways, the airline's transatlantic ticket proceeds suffered in its latest quarter as travellers from France and Germany opted to stay on the Continent to soak up the Olympic Games as well as Euro 2024. "Core Europe, markets like France, Germany, where there's a significant point-of-sale Europe component, that was quite weak," said Mark Galardo, Air Canada's head of revenue and network planning. "The Olympics and a bit of the Euro soccer tournament all contributed to some of those declines." The distracting athletics along with a glut of Atlantic flights from competitors helped prompt Air Canada to cut its capacity for trips across the pond, Galardo said. While the Olympics are typically a tourism boon, many vacationers opted to steer clear of the City of Light, with parts of central Paris closed off for the duration of the games. "A number of travellers have decided to try to avoid France during the Olympics," said analyst Chris Murray of ATB Capital Markets. The weaker demand contributed to Air Canada's 51% year-over-year dive in profit last quarter — even while revenues rose. "Our second-quarter results were solid, although they did not achieve our internal expectations," CEO Michael Rousseau told analysts on a conference call Wednesday.<br/>
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Copa Airlines has once again claimed the title of “Favorite Airline in South/Central America” at the 2024 Trazee Travel Awards. This marks the second year in a row that Copa has earned this prestigious recognition. The latest accolade furthers its position as a leader in the region’s aviation industry. The 10th annual Trazees will celebrate winners at an elegant evening reception on August 12, 2024. This year’s event will be held at The Joseph Nashville in Tennessee. This annual event highlights a decade of recognizing excellence in the travel industry. With this and other recent awards, South American carrier Copa Airlines has consistently demonstrated its commitment to superior service and customer satisfaction.<br/>
Today, Croatia Airlines marked its 35th anniversary with the first international commercial flight of its new Airbus A220-300 on the Zagreb to Frankfurt route. This flight symbolically commemorated the founding of the Croatian airline on this date in 1989. The first international passengers on the new A220 flew the same route on which Croatia Airlines conducted its first international flight in 1992, marking the beginning of the company’s regular passenger service connecting Croatia with the world. Exactly three and a half decades ago, on 7 August 1989, Zagreb Airlines d.d. (Zagal) was registered in Zagreb as an air transport company, beginning operations in December of the same year with postal delivery services. About a year later, on 23 July 1990, Zagal changed its name to Croatia Airlines d.d., becoming the national airline for passenger, cargo, and mail transport. Croatia Airlines’ first passenger flight took place on 5 May 1991 on the Zagreb to Split route, establishing regular passenger traffic within Croatia. <br/>
Asiana Airlines' cargo unit will be sold to South Korean cargo carrier Air Incheon for 470b won ($342m), Korean Air Lines said on Wednesday. The EU competition regulator in June approved Air Incheon as the preferred bidder to buy Asiana's cargo business, as a condition of approval for Asiana to merge with Korean Air. The purchase will likely make Air Incheon, a small cargo-only airline, South Korea's second-biggest freight carrier. A sale agreement was signed on Wednesday, according to a Korean Air filing. The purchase would transfer Asiana's fleet, staff, customers and traffic rights to Air Incheon, which is based at Incheon airport, South Korea's main international gateway and the world's fifth-busiest cargo airport. Korean Air, South Korea's biggest carrier, is set to buy nearly two-thirds of Asiana for about $1.4b, but anti-trust authorities in the European Union want Asiana's cargo business sold before they give full approval. Korean Air had obtained a green light from 13 of 14 competition authorities for the Asiana deal and CEO Walter Cho has said he anticipates the final US decision by the end of October.<br/>
Singapore Airlines will close its popular Sydney SilverKris Lounge from Saturday August 10 to give the space a modern a make-over. Both the business class and first class wings will be shuttered “until the end of the month”, an SQ spokesperson tells Executive Traveller. During that time, all lounge-worthy passengers – including first class and business class travellers booked one one of the four daily SQ flights to Singapore, along with PPS Club, KrisFlyer Elite Gold and Star Alliance Gold members – will be directed to the adjacent Air New Zealand Lounge. As we’ve previously reported, AirNZ’s lounge is a solid offering, thanks especially to the live cooking station and tended bar. So what will be happening behind the hoardings at the Singapore Airlines lounge? Expect to see a proper bar with a dedicated barista counter spring forth, while the carpet and furniture is all being replaced “to align with the latest lounge products,” according to SQ. Singapore Airlines’ Sydney SilverKris Lounge first opened in December 2013 and marked the debut of a new residential-themed design which saw various aspects of the lounge modelled after the elements of a home. “Our customers frequently tell us that they have a feeling of ‘home’ as soon as they board our aircraft and our aim is to extend this experience to the ground,” the airline said at the time. That fresh look was later refined for the airline’s flagship lounges at Singapore Changi T3 and more recently brought the same refined contemporary look to the all-new Perth SilverKris business class lounge.<br/>