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Weekly UpdatesAug 16, 2009
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand will launch twice-weekly Rotorua-Sydney service Dec. 12 aboard a 152-seat A320. Aug 12, 2009
Airlines PNG
Airlines PNG DHC-6-300 Twin Otter that is believed to have crashed in Papua New Guinea yesterday, killing all 13 passengers and crew onboard, may have been located by search parties near the remote Kokoda airstrip. Flight CF4684, a charter flight that was en route from Port Moresby to Kokoda, is believed to have gone down near its intended destination. According to press reports, villagers told search parties that the wreckage was located nearby. The passengers were mostly Australians going to trek the Kokoda track, site of a famous land campaign between Australian and Japanese forces during World War II that attracts several thousand visitors each year. The aircraft left Port Moresby at 10:53 a.m. and the last communication was at 11:26 a.m., 6 min. after it was due to arrive at Kokoda. Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said yesterday that seven Australian passengers were missing along with three from PNG and one from Japan plus the two-person crew. He added that the search and rescue operation had been hampered by bad weather, low visibility and rough terrain. The loss, if confirmed, will be the airline's seventh accident since it was formed in 1987 as Milne Bay Air and is the 40th in PNG in the past 20 years. It is also the second loss of a DHC-6 in the region in just one week. On Aug. 2 a Merpati Nusantara Twin Otter with 15 aboard crashed into a mountainside at an elevation of 9,300 ft. near Oksibil in Indonesia. Aug 12, 2009
Airlines PNG
Airlines PNG DH6-300 Twin Otter wreckage from Tuesday's crash was located yesterday at an altitude of 5,500 ft. in the Kokoda area of Papua New Guinea, according to a statement on the carrier's website. All 13 passengers and crewmembers were killed in the accident. Aug 13, 2009
Airlines PNG
A small passenger plane carrying 13 people including nine Australians went missing over Papua New Guinea Tuesday and was feared to have crashed, the airline and Australian officials said. The 20-seater Twin Otter craft disappeared at 10:53 am (0053 GMT) en route to popular tourist destination Kokoda after taking off from the South Pacific nation's capital Port Moresby. Aug 12, 2009
Australia, New Zealand
Down Under Answers, an Australia/New Zealand specialist, is offering a free upgrade to Premium Economy on vacations featuring luxury properties for travel in Australia in August and September. The seven-night vacations are inclusive of roundtrip airfare on V Australia plus domestic flights within Australia on Virgin Blue. Options include four nights at the Shangri-La Hotel Sydney in a Deluxe Grand Harbour View Room inclusive of breakfast each morning, with views of Sydney Harbor, the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. Then choose from a three-night stay at either qualia or Southern Ocean Lodge. Aug 11, 2009
Cathay Pacific
The instant that the fasten seat belts light went out aboard Cathay Pacific's inaugural Delhi-Bangkok flight this summer, a chorus of metallic dongs erupted like a romper roomful of Ritalin-deprived 5-year-olds turned loose on an arsenal of xylophones. The passengers were attacking their call buttons. In seconds, flight attendants were up and running. By the time they began dishing out the special meals, tempers were beginning to fray. Once the world loved to hate the Ugly American N fat, loud-mouthed and blissfully superior in his utter cultural ignorance. But since the economic crisis put the kibosh on American and European travel budgets, there's a new kid in town. India's rampaging outbound travel market has thrown a much-needed lifeline to the tourism industry in Southeast Asia, Europe and farther afield. For those schlepping bags and serving drinks, though, the Ugly Indian can be so demanding that the lifeline sometimes looks like it has a noose at the end of it. Aug 10, 2009
Garuda Indonesia
Garuda Indonesia reinstated thrice-weekly Jakarta service to Sydney, Melbourne and Seoul Incheon aboard A330-200s. Aug 10, 2009
Garuda Indonesia, Citilink
Garuda Indonesia plans to have a competition next year to decide on the future fleet of its low-cost carrier Citilink. It will consider the Airbus A320, Boeing 737-800, Embraer 190 and Bombardier CRJ900, he says, adding that Garuda has had discussions with aircraft-makers but has yet to issue a request for proposals. Aug 13, 2009
Jet Airways
Jet Airways launched daily Mumbai-Jeddah flights using a 737-800. It now operates to seven cities in the Gulf region including Kuwait City, Bahrain, Muscat, Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. On Aug. 16 it will start daily service to Dubai from Hyderabad and add a second daily flight to its Mumbai-Bangkok route. Aug 14, 2009
Jet Airways
IndiaOs Jet Airways will launch a new daily flight on the Hyderabad-Dubai sector, aboard a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, effective Aug. 16, 2009. The new Hyderabad-Dubai flight will be Jet AirwaysO first international service from Hyderabad, and its second daily service to Dubai from South India. The airline currently flies twice daily to Dubai from Mumbai, and daily from Delhi and Chennai. Effective Aug. 16, 2009 to Oct. 24, 2009, flight 550 will depart Hyderabad at 9:35 a.m., arriving in Dubai at 11:50 a.m.. Flight 549 will then depart Dubai at 12:50 p.m., arriving in Hyderabad at 6:05 a.m. Aug 13, 2009
Jet Airways
Indian carrier Jet Airways will launch twice weekly services on the Varanasi-Gaya-Bangkok route. The new service will launch on 6 October, says Jet Airways. "These flights will allow people from the south Asian region to visit famed Buddhist pilgrimage sites," it says. The Indian cities of Varanasi and Gaya have important Buddhist temples and Thailand is predominantly Buddhist. Jet Airways operates 83 aircraft: ten Boeing 777-300ERs, 12 Airbus A330-200s, 47 737s and 14 ATR 72-500 aircraft, it adds. Aug 11, 2009
Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines will start daily Kolkata-Bangkok service Aug. 14 aboard an A320 family aircraft. Aug 12, 2009
Merpati Nusantara Airlines, Bombardier
All 15 passengers and crew on board a Merpati Nusantara de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (PK-NVC) died when the turboprop crashed in west Papua on 2 August. The aircraft came down 43km (23nm) north of the town of Oksibil. Aug 11, 2009
Pacific Wings, Boeing
Australia's Pacific Wings has received approval from the Australian government to fly New Caledonia. The carrier is authorized to operate two Boeing 737-300 services per week on the route, says Australia's International Air Services Commission. Aug 11, 2009
Qantas Airways
Qantas Airways relaunched www.qantas.com as a one-stop travel website, with a new-look and a host of service enhancements. Wally Mariani, QantasO senior executive vice president, The Americas and Pacific, said qantas.com was now an advanced interactive travel site offering customers the ability to research and manage their travel arrangements. ONow 10 years old, qantas.com attracts an average 7.5 million global visits every month,O he said. OIt has grown from a site purely to book flights to one where customers can quickly and easily plan, book and manage all their leisure or business travel requirements online.O Aug 11, 2009
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines Vacations, the U.S.-based tour brand for Singapore Airlines, has expanded with a new slate of vacation deals to Singapore, Bangkok and Phuket. The new packages combine luxury hotel accommodations with airfare, tour and airport transfer-inclusive vacations priced from USD 1,145 per person. Singapore & Bangkok, five nights from USD 1,145, includes roundtrip Economy Class airfare on Singapore Airlines; two nights in Singapore at the top-rated Regent Hotel or Pan Pacific Hotel (standard room); 50 percent discount on food at a specified restaurant in your selected Singapore hotel; three nights in Bangkok at the five-star Millennium Hilton (deluxe room); daily breakfast in Bangkok; complimentary city tour in Singapore; city and temple tour in Bangkok; free Hop-on Bus pass in Singapore; and airport/hotel transfers in Singapore and Bangkok. The packages must be purchased by Oct. 31. Aug 12, 2009
Strategic Airlines, Airbus
Australia's Strategic Airlines has received a French air operators certificate (AOC) and is in negotiations for a third Airbus A320. The AOC was awarded by France's Direction Generale de l'Aviation Civil, says the carrier. Strategic operates two A320s and two A330s. Both A330s operate in Australia. Aug 13, 2009
US Airways
A request by US Airways to postpone the launch of flights between Philadelphia and Beijing to March 2011 has been denied by the US Department of Transportation (DOT). The carrier was awarded final rights to serve Beijing in January 2008 for an original launch date of March 2009, but was granted a first waiver to postpone the introduction of flights to March 2010 after the unprecedented run-up in fuel prices in July of 2008. In June of this year the carrier sought the second waiver, explaining the global economic recession that immediately followed record fuel costs made the launch of its new service to China unfeasible for the near-term. Aug 10, 2009
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