Carry on: Level takes off, Expedia's Air NZ deal, Cuba flights flop and more

IAG goes on the Level with new budget carrrier
International Airlines Group’s new long haul low-cost carrier will be called Level and will operate four initial routes to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) and Buenos Aires from Barcelona’s El Prat Airport. It will become IAG’s fifth airline, together with Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling.

The first flight to Los Angeles will be on June 1, to San Francisco (Oakland) on June 2, Punta Cana on June 10 and Buenos Aires on June 17. The Level fleet will be initially comprised of two Airbus A330-200s, to be crewed by Iberia. The airplanes will be arranged in a two-class configuration, with 21 seats in Premium Economy and 293 seats in Economy Class. Fares will be as low as $US149 for a one-way trip between Spain and the US West Coast.

Air China codeshare expands
Air New Zealand has expanded its codeshare partnership with Air China to include seven routes within China. They are Beijing to Lanzhou,Taiyuan and Yantai; and
Shanghai Pu Dong to Changchun,
Harbin,
Lanzhou and Xi’An. This takes effect on February 27.

Air New Zealand, Expedia join forces
Air New Zealand and online booking site Expedia are offering a selection of hotels at discounted rates when travellers book their flight and room together on the airline’s website. Airpoints members will also earn triple Airpoints Dollars until April 21. In a similar deal, Jetstar has announced a joint booking deal with Airbnb in Australia.

Singapore adds Christchurch services
Singapore Airlines will again add extra services to and from Christchurch for the 2017/18 summer season. An additional 30 flights will operate from November 30 through to February 16, 2018. The 10 round-trip flights per week will add 8130 seats and will also cover Chinese New Year on Friday, February 15, 2018.

Canberrans avoid Capital Express
Meanwhile, an ABC Online report in Australia says authorities are worried not enough people in the Capital Territory are supporting Singapore Airlines’ Singapore-Canberra-Wellington route, known as the Capital Express. Most of the passengers are travelling straight through, denying Canberra the tourism boost it was expecting. Singapore Airlines says the route is exceeding expectations and it remains committed to the service.

Virgin Australia confirms Hong Kong launch
Virgin Australia’s new Melbourne-Hong Kong route will launch on July 5 with five return services a week using Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Virgin Australia’s proposed alliance with HNA Aviation and Hong Kong Airlines will provide connections through Hong Kong to 13 destinations in mainland China. It will also allow passengers using Hainan Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Capital Airlines and Tianjin Airlines to connect on to Virgin Australia’s domestic and transtasman network. 

US carriers end Cuba flights
Two small American carriers, Silver Airways and Frontier Airlines, are cancelling their routes to Cuba, citing a weaker demand than expected. Fort Lauderdale-based Silver Airways stop its flights on April 22. It had originally planned to serve nine Cuban cities outside Havana. It is using 34-seat Saab 340B aircraft on its Cuba routes. Denver-based Frontier says its Miami-Havana service will cease on June 4.

Route news of the week
Air New Zealand is expanding its service to South America for the next summer season with an additional fourth weekly flight on the Auckland-Buenos Aires Ezeiza route from November 6. This was originally scheduled for December 11. A fifth weekly rotation is also scheduled to commence on December 9. Korean Air will launch its three-times-weekly Seoul Incheon-Barcelona route from April 28. Boeing 787-9s will replace Boeing 777-200ER on the Seoul Incheon-Vancouver, Seoul Incheon-Madrid 
and Seoul Incheon-Toronto routes from next March 25. Air Mauritius has scheduled its first Airbus A350-900 service for November 18 on its Mauritius-Johannesburg. Mauritius-London Heathrow will follow on December 2 and Mauritius-Paris CDG from December 16.