Carry on: China Airlines scales back Auckland, ChCh; more to Americas

China Airlines drops Auckland, Christchurch flights
Taiwan-based China Airlines is dropping flights to Auckland and Christchurch via Sydney in favour of using only Brisbane and Melbourne as stopovers. The Taipei Taoyuan-Sydney-Christchurch service will end on October 30. This is operated three times a week using an Airbus A330-300. However, the Taipei-Sydney leg will continue. China Airlines will continue flights to Christchurch via Melbourne. This also runs three times a week.

The Taipei Taoyuan-Sydney-Auckland service, which runs four times weekly, will be cancelled from December 1. Instead, the Taipei Taoyuan-Brisbane-Auckland route will be boosted from four times weekly to daily. One of the two daily A330 Taipei-Sydney services will be upgraded to an A350 from December 1.

Air New Zealand to expand Americas capacity
Air New Zealand will add more services on its Auckland-Buenos Aires route by the end of of the year and upgrade the Dreamliner on the Auckland-Houston route.

The Buenos Aires service will increase from three times weekly to five during peak periods from November, while Houston route will get a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner year round, with up to seven services per week during the peak season. The new Dreamliner aircraft will have more more business premier and premium economy seats available.

United boost flights from SFO
Passengers from Auckland to San Francisco on either Air New Zealand or United will be able to take advantage of many more domestic flights in the US. From August 1, United flights to Seattle will increase from nine to 10 daily. Albuquerque, Baltimore/Washington, Indianapolis and Nashville will double from one to two flights from August 15. Kansas City and Philadelphia will increase from two to three times daily, while Portland (Oregon) will increase from eight to nine daily, also from August 15.

Jetstar flies back to Vietnam
Jetstar International has relaunched direct non-stop flights from Australia to Vietnam to capitalise on a surge in tourism interest. Melbourne-Ho Chi Minh City will operate three times weekly and Sydney-Ho Chi Minh City four times a week, using Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Basic one-way fares without baggage start at $A199 from Sydney and at $A249 from Melbourne. Previously, Jetstar flew to Ho Chi Minh City, previously known as Saigon, direct from Sydney between 2006 and 2008 and via Darwin until 2012.

Jetstar pilots for Napier
In New Zealand, Jetstar’s regional network will move nine pilots – four captains and five first officers – from Auckland to Napier from October. They will join the existing nine ground jobs at Hawke's Bay Airport. Jetstar says it has no immediate plans to expand its network and will continue to build on the existing routes.

Air India delays flights to Israel
Air India has delayed the launch of its direct flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan have denied it overflight permission. Flying over West Asia is the shortest route between India and Israel. A plan to fly over Europe was dropped as it would have increased the flying time and skewed the economics of the flight. Cathay Pacific’s new Hong Kong-Tel Aviv service flies over China and Turkey to get around this Muslim-imposed travel ban.

Reports say laptop ban to expand
Unconfirmed media reports say the US laptop ban from certain Middle East countries is “likely” to be extended to include some in not all countries in Europe. Reuters is reporting that the US Department of Homeland Security is expected to make an announcement on expanding the ban soon. It remains unclear which European countries could be included in the expanded laptop ban, though The New York Times says the ban could be extended to all flights to the US from Europe.

A sticking point is whether carrying all the large electronic devices and cameras in the cargo hold poses a danger of lithium batteries catching fire. The ban has reduced bookings from the Middle East and forced airlines such as Emirates to scale back non-stop flights from Dubai to the US, while boosting those going though European stopovers.