CH Aviation has reported that two aircraft types are to be retired from the fleets of two airlines in the USA.

American Airlines will retire its last Boeing 767-200 on 7 May, after flying the type for over 30 years.

Then, on 18 August this year, US Airways is to retire its last Boeing 737-400 as it further aligns its operations with parent American Airlines.

Find out more about the history of some of America’s most significant airlines in our new book, Airlines of the USA. Available on Amazon here

Ryanair has announced it is to open new bases in Cologne/Bonn, Gdansk, and Warsaw-Modlin from Winter 2014.

The new bases will each see aircraft being based at the airports, and new routes being opened to a variety of destinations.

“Ryanair is delighted to announce that we will be opening a new base at Cologne this winter, offering 8 exciting routes, including 5 new routes to Dublin, London Stansted, Madrid, Riga and Rome Ciampino, which will deliver over 700,000 passengers annually”

“Ryanair is[also] delighted to announce that we will be opening a new base at Gdansk this winter, offering 10 exciting routes, including 3 new winter routes to Birmingham, Leeds Bradford and Warsaw Modlin”

And finally: “Ryanair is delighted to announce that we will be opening a new base at Warsaw Modlin this winter, offering 20 exciting routes, including 4 new winter routes to Gdansk, Madrid, Shannon and Wroclaw, which will deliver some 1.9m passengers annually”

Two of the new stretched Boeing 787-9 aircraft have been unveiled in their airline colours at Seattle in the past week.

Air New Zealand’s first aircraft was unveiled on 6 April wearing a smart all black livery (similar to that seen on the airline’s Airbus A320s).

Air New Zealand Chief Flight Operations and Safety Officer Captain David Morgan, who was in Seattle for the unveiling, says it’s exciting to see the 787-9 in Air New Zealand colours for the first time.

“It’s great to see the Koru and the beautiful New Zealand fern emblazoned on this aircraft. This will soon be the first 787-9 aircraft anywhere in the world to operate commercially and I think it will instil a sense of pride in Kiwis and turn heads when it touches down at airports throughout Asia and the Pacific.”

Then, yesterday United Airlines’ first 787-9 was rolled out of the hanger fully painted.

Over the next several months, the aircraft will move to the next phase of completion, which includes final cabin configuration and painting. United’s 787-9 will be configured with 252 seats. United’s first 787-9 will also be one of five aircraft used by Boeing in a flight test program to certify the aircraft.

Delta will add Boeing 717 service to a number of destinations not previously served by the type.

From Atlanta, destinations include:
Abilene (commenced)
Augusta (commenced)
Dallas Love Field (from 31 October)
Fayetteville (commenced)
Gainesville (commenced)
Grand Rapids (commenced)
Houston Intercontinental (commenced)
Lexington (commenced)
Memphis (commenced)
Mobile (commenced)
Myrtle Beach (commenced)
Tri Cities (from 5 June)
Wichita (from 7 June)

From Detroit Wayne, destinations include:
Austin (from 2 May)
Buffalo (from 5 June)
Chicago Midway (commenced)
Green Bay (from 8 April)
Houston Intercontinental (from 9 April)
Indianapolis (from 5 June)
Kansas City (commenced)
Nashville (from 5 June)
New York JFK (from 2 September)
New York LaGuardia (from 2 September)
Philadelphia (from 8 April)
Traverse City (from 2 May)

From New York JFK, destinations include:
Boston (from 2 September)
Tampa (from 2 September)

From New York LaGuardia, destinations include:
Miami (from 2 September)
Tampa (from 2 September)

From Los Angeles, the only destination is:
Austin (from 6 June)

Credit to worldairlinenews.com

Kenya Airways has taken delivery of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

The aircraft, 5Y-KZA , departed Paine Field in Everett for a 7,800 nautical mile (14,456 km) nonstop flight to Kenya Airways’ home base in Nairobi at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The 787 will form the backbone of the airline’s future long-haul fleet, providing greater range, improved efficiencies and outstanding passenger comfort.

“The delivery of our first ever 787 Dreamliner not only opens a new chapter for our airline, but also for Kenya,” said Dr. Titus Naikuni, chief executive officer, Kenya Airways. “The 787 will enable Kenya Airways to explore new markets, improve its economic performance, provide passengers with revolutionary comfort, while continuing to contribute towards the sustainable development of Africa.”

Kenya Airways’ first 787 is scheduled to begin flying regionally within Africa in the coming weeks, before beginning long-haul service to Paris in early June. Currently the “Pride of Africa” serves destinations across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.  To date, more than 130 Dreamliners have been delivered to 17 customers worldwide.

See our Boeing 787 Routes Page for more information on where Kenya Airways will fly its Dreamliners.

It’s not one that’s on many peoples’ radars, but a short domestic route in South Korea is actually the world’s busiest passenger route, and is the subject of this Greatest Flights.

The route is Seoul to Jeju, and island to the south of the country. It is operated by no fewer than seven airlines, namely Air Busan, Asiana Airlines, Eastar Jet, Jeju Air, Jin Air, Korean Air, and T’way.

Flights take off between Seoul’s Gimpo Airport and Jeju as often as every five minutes during the day, with over 69,000 flights between the two every year.

Whilst most flights are operated by regular Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 medium haul jets, the 280 mile trip is sometimes flown by Boeing 747-400 and 767-300s at peak times.

Previous Greatest Flights:
World’s Shortest Route – Westray to Papa Westray
World’s Longest Route – Sydney to Dallas Ft Worth
DC-3 Scheduled Flight – Yellowknife to Hay River
Singapore to Sydney in an A380
Winair to St Barths

Belavia EMB175, (c) Magic Aviation.

Belavia will introduce the Embraer 195 aircraft in May, alongside its existing EMB 175, CRJ, and Boeing 737 aircraft.

The airline has announced that the 195 will operate on the following routes from 6 May:

Minsk – Amsterdam (from 16 May)
Minsk – Batumi (from July)
Minsk – Moscow Domodedovo
Minsk – Prague
Minsk – St Petersburg

Norwegian will again fly its Boeing 787 aircraft into Gatwick this summer.

The aircraft will operate daily from Stockholm Arlanda to London Gatwick, with two flights per day on weekdays.

The flights will operate from 6th May to 24th July 2014.

Credit AirlineRoute.net

TAAG Angola Airlines is planning to turn its Luanda Airport base into a hub to link Central Africa with worldwide destinations in association with Emirates Airline.

TAAG is currently on the EU banned airline list, but it is hoped it will emerge soon and begin expanding its connections to Europe, including Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, London Heathrow, Paris CDG, and Rome Fiumicino.

Luanda will also be linked through Dubai via Emirates, who will also take on TAAG’s links to Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo.

A new airport is being built at Luanda which will be able to handle this increased traffic, and match modern standards expected at airports.

Asiana’s first Airbus A380 has emerged from the paint shop in Hamburg in full colours of the South Korean airline.

Asiana Airlines has firm orders for six A380s and will operate the aircraft from Seoul initially on regional services in Asia followed by long-haul routes to the US.

Click to see a larger image.