Ethiopian Airlines will commence Boeing 787 Dreamliner service to Brazil from July.

The fairly complex service will route Addis Ababa – Lome – Rio de Janeiro – Sao Paulo

This will be the first Dreamliner service to Brazil, and operates 3x weekly from 1st July.

Southwest Airlines has converted an order for Boeing 737NG aircraft into an order for 30 737MAX 7 aircraft.

This shows Southwest’s ongoing commitment to the 737, which is the sole aircraft type in its fleet (split across classic and NG models), and also makes the airline the launch customer for the MAX 7 variant.

Southwest also exercised options to add five more Next-Generation 737-800s to its fleet. These airplanes, along with the 737 MAX 7s, are part of Southwest’s ongoing effort to improve fuel efficiency and profitability. The 737 MAX 7 supports Southwest’s expanding fleet modernization effort. Southwest is expected to take its first 737 MAX 7 delivery in 2019.

Given that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is now back in the air, I thought it best to update you on the routes airlines operating the type are flying/planning to fly.

Therefore I’ve updated the Boeing 787 Routes page with the latest information available from the airlines through a number of excellent routes websites.

You can find out the latest planned routes and dates at this link: Boeing 787 Routes page

Qatar Airways has announced it will commence flights from its Doha base to Philadelphia, Addis Ababa, and Clark in the Philippines.

The link to Philadelphia will be flown by a Boeing 777-300 aircraft, and comes after previous rumours suggested Atlanta, Boston or Detroit would be the next US destination. The route is expected to start in summer 2014.

The route to Clark – an alternative to Manila Airport in the Philippines – is in competition with Emirates who operate a daily service from Dubai.

Thomson Airways has confirmed that their new Boeing 787 Dreamliner will begin commercial flights on 8 July.

Their first aircraft, G-TUIA, has recently been spotted test flying at Everett Paine Field prior to its delivery some time in June.

The inaugural Thomson services with the airline will be from Manchester and London Gatwick to Cancun and Orlando, FL.

Ryanair has announced it will begin serving Montenegro from June – its 29th country.

Flights will launch 4x weekly from Brussels Charleroi to Podgorica from 20th June using Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

It is unknown at the moment whether further routes will be added to the country from other Ryanair bases.

IAG, the owner of British Airways and Iberia, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to purchase 18 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, plus 18 options.

This move comes after speculation over whether an order for future long-haul aircraft to equip British Airways would go with Boeing or Airbus.

In the same deal, IAG agreed terms and slots that would allow it to also equip Iberia with A350s – a decision it will make when Iberia’s profitability has improved.

The A350 will operate alongside the Airbus A380 in British Airways‘ long haul fleet, in addition to the Boeing 747-400 and 787.

VietJetAir is set to become the first airline in Vietnam to operate the Airbus A320 with sharklets.

The carrier has agreed to lease three new A320s from AWAS.

Sharklets offer operators the flexibility of either adding a range of 100 nautical miles or an increased payload capability of up to 450 kilograms. These new Sharklet-equipped A320 aircraft will assist VietJetAir with their plans to expand into ASEAN and northern Asia to regional destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, Busan, Seoul, Singapore and Taipei.

Lufthansa will introduce its Airbus A380 to one of its flights from Frankfurt to Shanghai Pudong Airport from September.

The aircraft will operate on Mondays and Wednesdays (Tuesdays and Thursdays from Shanghai) from 26 September.

From the winter season the Boeing 747-400 will replace the Airbus A340-600 on Lufthansa‘s daily departure to Shanghai. The A380 operates in addition to this daily service.

FlyNonstop is a new Norwegian carrier which is set to begin flights on 25 April from its Kristiansand base.

The airline’s first aircraft – an Embraer 190 leased from CIT Aerospace, and operated by Denim Air crews – was delivered recently, and is resplendent in a really striking purple colour scheme.

FlyNonstop will link Kristiansand with Barcelona, Berlin, Dubrovnik, London City, Nice, Palma, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Parma.