US discounter Breeze Airways plans to boost air service to the underutilised West Virginia International Yeager airport in Charleston by connecting it to at least five cities over the next two years. Breeze will start rolling out the new routes on 31 May with nonstop flights to Charleston International airport in South Carolina and Florida’s Orlando International airport. At least three more destinations – including New York City – will be added within the next 24 months, the West Virginia Department of Tourism said on 28 March. “This innovative partnership comes after years of decline in available destinations from smaller airports around the country, including West Virginia International Yeager airport,” the tourism department notes. “The flights announced today will more than double air connectivity to West Virginia’s capital.” “I’ve said over and over that our airports in West Virginia are our lifeblood,” says Jim Justice, governor of West Virginia. “They fuel our economy, bring in tourism and their ripple effects are off the charts.” Launched in 2021 by David Neeleman – founder of WestJet, JetBlue Airways and Brazil’s Azul – Breeze operates a fleet of Airbus A220s and Embraer E-jets, competing for a slice of the crowded North American discount market. Initially, the ultra-low-cost carrier focused on growing its network in the Southeast USA and has since expanded westward to cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Utah-based Breeze’s point-to-point network now include 36 cities and remains concentrated on the East Coast of the USA. Breeze has 11 new A220-300s in service and one in storage, and has orders for 68 more of the type on the books with Airbus, according to Cirium fleets data. <br/>
unaligned
Flair Airlines said this week that it has reimbursed almost all 1,900 passengers whose flights were cancelled after the seizure of four of the carrier's planes earlier this month, but some customers say they are owed more money -- while others say no refunds have come through at all. Bailiffs repossessed Boeing 737 jets on which the discount carrier had overdue payments at airports in Toronto, Edmonton and Waterloo, Ont., in the early morning hours of March 11. The seizures meant multiple flights that day had to be cancelled, sending customers scrambling to rebook on other airlines, or to give up entirely. Carrie Kennedy was at the gate with two friends for a Toronto-Halifax flight -- all three had booked time off work for a March break getaway -- when the cancellation was announced. "It was supposed to be her first plane ride," the Barrie, Ont., resident said of her friend's six-year-old daughter. "She was bawling her eyes out. 'Why can't I go see grandma? I want to see grandma.' "She was heartbroken," Kennedy added. The group has tried and failed to receive any refunds for the cancelled trip, she said. The airline had rebooked them on a flight five days later than scheduled, with a return flight one day after that, which they declined. After The Canadian Press asked Flair about reimbursements Monday morning, the airline replied that evening that hundreds more refunds had been paid that day, with only eight remaining. "We do not want any customer to feel frustrated and so our teams have been working hard to get the reimbursements paid," the airline said. "In most cases, it required manual tabulation by our customer service team. Any remaining amounts outstanding to customers should be paid out within the next 48 hours."<br/>
UK regional carrier Loganair has reiterated its call for slots at London Heathrow Airport to be made permanently available for domestic connectivity after announcing it will expand its fledgling operation at the congested hub by leasing more slots. Loganair began flying the Heathrow-Isle of Man-Heathrow route in late 2021, using slots temporarily vacated at the London airport during the pandemic, later securing those slots permanently. It has now secured access to 30 additional weekly slot-pairs at Heathrow under a lease arrangement with British Airways, which takes effect in May. It says the slots will enable it to ”develop regional connectivity from UK domestic destinations” to Heathrow. The new slots will enable Loganair to operate up to six daily weekday services. Route details will be announced “in the coming days”, it says. Loganair chief executive Jonathan Hinkles says: ”We’re delighted to be growing our operations at Heathrow. Having taken these important first steps ourselves to provide new connectivity to and from the UK regions under this arrangement, it’s now essential for the UK government to initiate the process needed to reform competition remedies to provide access to Heathrow for the UK regions.” Hinkles cites the changes to Heathrow’s tariffs for regional aircraft operating on UK domestic routes, which took effect this year, as critical to the viability of Loganair’s plans at the airport.<br/>
Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, yesterday celebrated the launch of its newest destination, Goa. The airline held a celebration on this occasion at Bahrain International Airport, which was attended by Piyush Srivastava, the Ambassador of India to Bahrain; Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Captain Waleed Al Alawi; Bahrain Airport Company Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Al Binfalah, and members the airline’s executive management. Captain Al Alawi said: “Goa is our latest beach destination, and we are already witnessing strong returns of this favourite route. Our 9th Indian destination represents a qualitative addition to tourism, business and trade exchange between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Republic of India, and we trust that it will become one of our most popular destinations in no time." For their part, guests expressed their congratulations on the launch of Goa, as the Indian destination will contribute to the expansion of Gulf Air’s network around the world. The celebration included cutting of a celebratory cake and guests enjoyed a specially designed Goan menu at Gulf Air’s Falcon Gold Lounge at Bahrain International Airport.<br/>
The shareholders of Jazeera Airways have approved the Board of Directors’ recommendation to distribute cash dividends of 50% of its capital which is 50 fils per share, a total of KD11m ($35.8m) for H2 2022. This was announced at the Company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held at its headquarters in Kuwait earlier today. For the first half of 2022, interim cash dividends of 30 fils per share were distributed bringing the total cash dividends distribution for full year 2022 to an unprecedented 80 fils per share. The EGM also approved an amendment to the Article of Association allowing the AGM to delegate the Board of Directors to declare and distribute interim dividends, which facilitates the process of dividend distribution. In February 2023, Jazeera Airways announced record profits of KD20.1m for the financial year 2022. In the last 10 years, Jazeera has returned a total of KD 107.6m in cash to shareholders, which is equivalent to five times its paid-up capital.<br/>
Ryanair Holdings has appointed former Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan and former Austrian MEP Elisabeth Kostinger to join its board from 1 April as non-executive directors. Brennan served as director general of Eurocontrol for five years until the end of 2022. Prior to that, he was chief executive of the Irish Aviation Authority. Kostinger is a former Austrian politician who served as a member of the European Parliament between 2009 and 2017, before becoming Austria’s minister for agriculture, sustainability and tourism. She retired from politics in 2022 to become CE of Austria-based financial technology firm Mountain View Data. “Elisabeth brings significant political, environmental and business experience, and is our first continental European board member since 2013,” says Ryanair chairman Stan McCarthy. “We look forward to both Elisabeth and Eamonn making a significant contribution to our board, as we develop our strategy for growth of low-fare services across Europe for the next decade.”<br/>
Cebu Pacific remained loss-making in 2022, as the impact from “unprecedented” economic challenges outweighed a passenger revenue recovery during the year. The low-cost operator posted an operating loss of Ps11.4b ($210m) for the year ended 31 December 2022, narrowing from the year-ago period. Cebu Pacific blamed the challenging economic environment for its loss, noting that jet fuel prices spiked in the year, while the Philippine Peso depreciated against the dollar. In the full-year, the airline saw a three-fold jump in revenue, to Ps57b. The passenger travel segment led the “steep recovery”, with revenues increasing five-fold year on year, to Ps35b. Cebu Pacific saw the strongest rebound in the quarter ended 31 December 2022, with operating losses cut significantly on the back of a two-fold jump in revenue. Airline chief Mike Szucs says: “Cebu Pacific is ready to move forward with optimism and confidence as we transition from recovery to growth mode. We remain committed to enabling everyone to fly and look forward to welcoming even more passengers onboard in the coming months.” The airline is expected to reach pre-pandemic capacity by end-March and will exceed it by June. It has also forecast a return to profitability in the Janaury-March quarter, ending the loss-making period driven by the pandemic.<br/>
Cambodia Airways has launched its first direct flight between Phnom Penh and Beijing, aiming to meet rising travel demand between the two destinations, the airline operator said in a press release on Tuesday. An inaugural flight KR991 landed at Beijing Daxing International Airport on Monday, the press release said, adding that the first flight KR991, operated by an Airbus-A320 aircraft, departed from Phnom Penh International Airport in the morning and landed at Beijing Daxing International Airport in the afternoon. On the same day, the return flight KR992 departed from Beijing in the afternoon and arrived in Phnom Penh in the evening, it added. "Prior to the departure, Cambodia Airways was determined to make the trip memorable for our passengers by preparing some special souvenirs to be distributed at the boarding gate," the press release said. Cambodia Airways is offering a three-times-a-week service, scheduled regularly every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the press release said. "The opening of this new route is expected to strengthen trade, investment, culture and tourism ties between the two cities," Simon Xu, commercial director of Cambodia Airways, told Xinhua.<br/>