TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
The full-service airlines may need to start keeping an eye on the European low cost carriers (LCCs) because it looks like they’re coming after their lunch.
WOW Air and Norwegian are probably the two best know LCCs that have broken the mould and launched successful routes between Europe and the US using the low cost model – and now Eurowings is joining them.
Eurowings Confirms Flights To The US
Eurowings (formerly Germanwings) is a European LCC which is fully owned by Lufthansa. Although the airline is headquartered in Düsseldorf its recently confirmed routes to the US will fly out of Cologne.
From 1 May 2016 Eurowings will operate flights between Cologne and Miami with flights to Boston and Las Vegas following on 4 May 2016. All routes will be served using Eurowings’ recently acquired Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
Cologne – Miami
EW182 CGN 11:40 – 16:10 MIA (Tue, Thur, Sun)
EW183 MIA 17:55 – 09:15+1 day CGN (Tue, Thur, Sun)
Cologne – Boston
EW186 CGN 13:40 – 15:45 BOS (Wed, Fri, Sun)
EW187 BOS 17:30 – 06:55+1 day CGN (Wed, Fri, Sun)
Cologne – Las Vegas
EW174 CGN 11:15 – 14:00 LAS 332 (Wed, Sat)
EW175 LAS 15:45 – 11:30+1 day CGN (Wed, Sat)
Based on this seat map from SeatPlans.com it looks as if the Eurowings A330 cabins will come with 3 choices of seat comfort – so passengers will have a degree of choice when it comes to just how low-cost they want to go.
Reservations for all three new routes are open but the Eurowings/Germanwings website doesn’t appear to have been updated for the new destinations. For the time being these routes can be booked via Lufthansa’s website (Lufthansa codeshares on these routes) but, as the codeshare prices aren’t looking particularly attractive right now, I’d recommend waiting until the Eurowings site has been updated.
(HT: airlineroute.net)
Qantas Considering Non-Stop Flights Between Sydney & New York
Qantas is looking at the option of using the planned Boeing 777-8X aircraft to launch a non-stop service between Sydney and New York.
Before anyone gets too excited about this news, I should point out that the aircraft Qantas is planning to use on the route won’t be available for at least 5 years….and that’s assuming it doesn’t have the teething problems that plagued the 787 Dreamliner.
Image courtesy of Boeing
The news of Qantas’ plans comes from their CEO, Alan Joyce, who used a media event in Sydney to suggest that the idea of a non-stop service to NYC is very much in the airline’s mind. Australian Business Traveler quotes Joyce as saying:
Once the technology happens we would go there straight away.
We’re looking at the new 777-8X that would potentially have the range to do it, but that doesn’t come until [the early] 2020s.
Should this route ever come to fruition (my thoughts on that in a moment) it would become the world’s longest flight with an estimated time of around 19 hours.
So, will this happen? I have my doubts. Airline executives love to paint their airlines as looking to the latest technology and being at the forefront of development but every now and again they need a reality check.
First and foremost I don’t believe most people will want to travel 19 hours in Economy Class – 11 hours in a 10-across 777-300ER is bad enough – and you’re not going to run a long-haul route with a 350+ seat aircraft just for premium cabin passengers.
Secondly, it never ceases to amaze me how airline executives never temper any of their comments with a tip of the hat to fuel prices. Sure, aircraft are getting more economical but fuel prices have only one direction to go from here and that’s up. As soon as the price of JetA starts to climb just watch how quickly talk of these ultra-long routes is stopped. More to the point, just watch how many existing routes will be dropped, you can forget any new ones.
Air New Zealand Adds Dreamliners To Hawaii Routes
Air New Zealand is to replace the Boeing 767 aircraft that currently fly its Auckland – Hawaii routes with the latest Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 – Image courtesy of Wikimedia
From 10 May 2016 Air New Zealand passengers will have access to Premium Economy seating as well as Air New Zealand’s Economy Skycouch product on their flights between Auckland and Hawaii.
In addition to the change in aircraft (all 767s on this route are being replaced) Air New Zealand is also re-timing its four weekly Auckland – Honolulu return services.
From 29 March, moving from a current morning departure out of Auckland to an evening departure, allowing for better connections in both directions.
In addition, Air New Zealand is moving its Sunday service to Friday.
New Route timings from 29 March 2016 with 787-9 service from 10 May 2016:
NZ010 AKL 20:55 – 07:30 HNL (Tue, Thur, Fri, Sat)
NZ009 HNL 09:40 – 16:35+1 day AKL (Tue, Thur, Fri)
NZ009 HNL 10:00 – 16:55+1 day AKL (Sat)
Qantas Cancels Daily 747 Service Between Sydney & Los Angeles & Reduces A380 Service Too
As I touched on earlier in the week (Will American Airlines’ Flights To Sydney & Auckland Yield Lower Prices?) Qantas has confirmed that it intends to cancel its daily 747 service between Sydney and Los Angeles. But, in addition to this, we’re now also hearing that capacity on the route will be further reduced when Qantas swaps out an A380 for a 747 one day of the week (Tuesdays).
Currently Qantas uses its 747 aircraft to provide a daily service between Sydney and Los Angeles (QF 17/18) but, from 18 December, the frequency will be reduced to 5 times a week (Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun) and then reduced even further to just 3 times a week (Tue, Sat, Sun) from 23 January.
Finally, from 25 April 2016, QF 17/18 will disappear from the schedules to allow Qantas to reposition its aircraft for service between Sydney and San Francisco.
Qantas 747 – Image courtesy of Colin Brown via Flickr
From 25 April 2016 the new Qantas schedule between Sydney and Los Angeles will look like this:
QF011 SYD 09:45 – 06:25 LAX (A380 service on all days bar Tuesdays when a 747 will be used)
QF012 LAX 22:30 – 06:40+2 days SYD (A380 service on all days bar Tuesdays when a 747 will be used)
These service reductions aren’t exactly surprising. Had Qantas not cancelled its 747 service the introduction of its routes from San Francisco and American Airline’s entry into the LAX-Sydney market would have seen OneWorld capacity, between the US West Coast and Australia, rise by nearly 25% – and that was never going to be sustainable.
American Airlines Announces New CRJ Routes From Phoenix
Phoenix was the home airport of US Airways so it’s not that surprising to see the “New American” adding routes, albeit limited, from the airport.
From 3 March 2016 American Airlines will commence daily service between Phoenix and Lubbock, Memphis, Midland and Roswell using CRJ-900 and CRJ-200 aircraft.
Phoenix – Lubbock (CRJ-900)
AA5624 PHX 08:50 – 12:20 LBB
AA5624 LBB 12:55 – 12:40 PHX
Phoenix – Memphis(CRJ-900)
AA5640 PHX 1850 – 2342 MEM
AA5641 MEM 0730 – 0909 PHX
Phoenix – Midland (CRJ-900)
AA5625 PHX 0845 – 1215 MAF
AA5625 MAF 1300 – 1245 PHX
Phoenix – Roswell (CRJ-200)
AA2971 PHX 1510 – 1745 ROW
AA2971 ROW 1815 – 1905 PHX
Featured image: Damian Moore via Flickr
[…] will be getting the extra 747 aircraft thanks to a reduction in their service between Sydney and Los Angeles following the expansion of their joint venture agreement with American […]