Hifly buys A380, Dunedin boost, second Scotland choice and more

Hifly gets first A380
Portugual’s Hifly, which is helping out Air New Zealand during its Dreamliner engine crisis, has become just the fourth airline in Europe to operate an Airbus A380. The aircraft was formerly used by Singapore Airlines. Hi Fly is also buying two new A330-200s that will be delivered in June and July.

President and chief executive Paulo Mirpuri says the new aircraft will be equipped with a two-class cabin configuration with 18 business class and 256 economy seats. Hifly joins British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France as the only other European operators of A380s.

Meanwhile, Hifly will temporarily take over Air New Zealand’s Auckland-Honolulu service from May 22 to June 10 using a four-engined, two-class A340-313X. Air New Zealand is reported to be arranging the lease of a B777-200ER to resume its own operation to Hawaii after June 10.

Hifly specialises in fiulling in gaps when other airlines run short of aircraft due to engine and other breakdowns. It is also helping Norwegian Air on transatlantic flights. This airline operates Dreamliners hit by the engine crisis.

Boost for Dunedin-Auckland route
Air New Zealand may have turned its back on Dunedin as an international airport – the only transtasman operator is Virgin Australia – it is boosting business-friendly services to Auckland. Five weekly flights will be added on October 29, The services will operate on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday-Saturday with an early-bird departure from Dunedin at 6am. The last flights will leave Auckland on those days at 8pm.

Air New Zealand says the extra flights will ass 70,000 seats annually to the route – an increase of nearly 25%. “The new flights are timed to help Dunedin business travellers get more out of their day in Auckland, as well as enable connections via Auckland to Air New Zealand’s international destinations including Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Nadi,” the airline says.

More choice for Scotland
Emirates is giving New Zealanders a second direct air connection with Scotland with a daily service to Edinburgh from October 1. The Dubai-based airline already flies to Glasgow and this new route will the eighth to the UK after a daily service to London Stansted starts in June.

The Edinburgh service will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER in a three class cabin configuration, with eight private suites in first class, 42 lie-flat seats in business and 304 in economy.

Emirates’ says the Edinburgh flights will connect with the daily services from both Auckland and Christchurch, allowing for a short stopover. Flight EK023 will depart Dubai daily at 9.55am and arrive in Edinburgh at 2.50pm, while the return flight, EK024, will depart Edinburgh at 8.15pm and arrive in Dubai at 6.40am the next day.

American Airlines seals Bombardier deal
American Airlines has signed a firm order for 15 new CRJ900 regional jets, pictured, from Canada’s Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. The purchase agreement also includes options on an additional 15 CRJ900 aircraft. Based on the list price, the firm order is valued at approximately $US719 million.

American says the 15 jets will be operated by PSA Airlines to in a dual-class configuration with 76 seats, including 12 first class seats. Delivery of the first aircraft with a new interior design will be in the second quarter of 2019.

Boeing made an unsuccessful move to impose a levy on the Canadian-made aircraft in an earlier deal with Delta Airlines. But it created enough financial uncertainty about Bombardier’s future for Airbus to form a partnership and back the CRJ900s as a viable aircraft. 

Lufthansa buys more B777s
Germany’s Lufthansa Group has completed an order for four more Boeing 777s, valued at $US1.4b at list prices, for its freight operation and subsidiary Swiss International Air Lines. Swiss will get two B777-3000ERs, adding to the 10 it already operates on its long-haul routes, while Lufthansa Cargo will put two more B777 freighters on its network of nearly 300 destinations.

Route news of the week
United Airlines will make it easier for New Zealanders to travel to Cuba with a new daily Houston-Havana service from July 20. This is a boost from a Saturday-only flight. Air New Zealand flies to Houston under a codeshare with United. A Mesa Airlines Embraer E175 aircraft will be used on the route. AirAsia X is offering a new route to India for New Zealanders from Auckland. The four times a week Kuala Lumpur-Amritsar service will start on August 16 using an Airbus A330-300.