Aer Lingus Regional will boost flights from Cork with a new year-round route to Glasgow and extra services to Bristol. Operated by Emerald Airlines, Aer Lingus Regional flies mostly between Ireland and Britain, providing links between local airports and tying into the main carrier’s network. Cork Airport confirmed on Tuesday that Aer Lingus Regional will begin flying four times a week from there to Glasgow from October 27th in what will be a new year-round service. It also plans to boost the six times a-week Cork-Bristol service to nine times a week, putting an extra 20,000 seats on the route on sale. Glasgow is Scotland’s biggest city, with a population of around 1.8m in its hinterland. It has strong connections with this country and is a popular city break destination for Irish people. Aer Lingus Regional began flying Cork-Bristol in response to calls from local groups. Emerald noted on Tuesday that it was responding to growing demand by launching extra flights on the route.<br/>
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A business leader has called for change and expressed his "profound frustration" with Guernsey airline Aurigny after a series of cancellations and delays disrupted services since Thursday. Mort Mirghavameddin, the chief relationship officer at financial group Rulewise, questioned the States-owned airline's "capacity to maintain essential routes". He said disruption had affected both business and tourism. Deputy Peter Roffey said he understood the concerns raised and was working with Aurigny. The airline said it understood the importance of maintaining Guernsey and Alderney’s reputation. Mirghavameddin described his concerns on social media and on BBC Radio Guernsey after days of disruption which included a delayed flight that had to return to its destination on Sunday. He said the airline's service, pricing, and routes had all been a "disaster". "I have very little faith in the States doing anything. He added that the airline's CEO Nico Bezuidenhout and board of directors needed to be "held accountable".<br/>
Travel services operator Alhind Group based in Kerala’s Kozhikode has received the Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)’s initial approval to start an airline. Alhind aims to commence operations of Alhind Air by the end of 2024. According to reports, the company is planning an initial investment between INR 2-5b ($24-60m) with three ATR-72 turboprop planes. The airline’s initial focus is expected to be in South India: Kochi, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai, after which it will become eligible to operate flights between Kerala and West Asia. Last month, low-cost airline Air Kerala also received the no-objection certificate (NOC) from India’s ministry of civil aviation. Run by Dubai-based businessmen Afi Ahmed and Ayub Kallada, Air Kerala hopes to commence operations by next year and connect Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities using ATR 72-600 aircraft. It is eventually hoping to branch out into international operations. Air Kerala is set to become the first regional airline from Kerala, unless Alhind Air begins operations earlier.<br/>
Greater Bay Airlines will launch direct flights between Hong Kong and a lesser-known Japanese city, with tourism experts saying it may become a popular destination for residents who visit the country frequently and are getting bored with its traditional attractions. The airline announced on Monday that the scheduled flights to Yonago in Tottori Prefecture, located on the western coast of Honshu island, would launch on October 27, expanding its network in Japan to three destinations, after Tokyo and Osaka. The new service between Hong Kong and Yonago Kitaro Airport will run three times a week, with the airline saying it currently operated charter flights to meet demand during the summer holiday. Tourism industry representatives said they expected demand for the new route to be high, since Greater Bay Airlines would be the only local carrier offering it. Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said Hongkongers who visited Japan frequently were “getting bored” with some first-tier cities such as Tokyo and Osaka and could be keen to explore sightseeing spots in the new destination.<br/>
Thai AirAsia X is to restart flights between Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport and Sydney, its first network announcement amid a relocation of operations to the new Thai hub. The resumption of operations to the Australian city – which commence on 2 December – will also see three additional weekly flights added, bringing the total frequency to six weekly flights, Thai AirAsia X says. The medium-haul, low-cost carrier currently flies out of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, the city’s main international gateway. That has made connecting passengers with short-haul sister unit Thai AirAsia a challenge, as the latter has most of its operations at Don Mueang. It announced in July plans to move to Don Mueang from 1 October, calling the relocation a “homecoming” and a “strategic move… in creating more opportunities for connections to the larger AirAsia networks”. Thai AirAsia X has scheduled services to Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo and Nagoya in Japan, as well as Seoul and Shanghai. It had operated between Bangkok and Sydney thrice weekly until 31 July, but suspended it through 30 November. “Thai AirAsia X operating out of Don Mueang airport enables travellers to connect to many more Thai AirAsia destinations throughout Thailand and internationally, in particular, the Indian market that is in high demand,” says airline chief Tassapon Bijleveld. The airline has a fleet of eight Airbus A330-300s, and expects to add three more aircraft by the end of this year.<br/>
A class action has been filed against Jetstar, seeking refunds and compensation for customers whose payments were “unlawfully retained” during the global pandemic. Plaintiff firm Echo Law has lodged proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia on behalf of “hundreds of thousands” of Jetstar customers whose flights were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the action alleging that the airline failed to refund customers’ payments for those flights, despite being legally obliged to do so. The claim was served upon Jetstar on Wednesday morning, 21 August. Echo Law partner Andrew Paull said: “Jetstar promotes itself as a values-driven, low fare airline committed to helping ‘more people fly, more often’, yet it’s a highly profitable part of the Qantas Group, and when COVID caused widespread flight cancellations it put those profits ahead of its customers’ interests. “Jetstar customers were pushed into holding hundreds of millions of dollars in restricted travel credits, even though this wasn’t what those customers had agreed to as part of the airline’s terms and conditions. The right thing for Jetstar to do when it cancelled all those flights was to return its customers’ money without delay.” The claim alleges, among other things, that the pandemic-inspired travel restrictions “frustrated” Jetstar travel contracts, causing these contracts to be automatically terminated and giving customers a right to automatically recover money paid under those contracts.<br/>