More southern polar flights, Virgin restores Australia-London link and more

More southern polar routes beckon
Norwegian’s plans to introduce a southern polar circle route between Buenos Aires and Perth has raised speculation about other spectacular trips over the frozen continent – an Auckland-Cape Town trip direct flight, for example, would also go over the middle of Antarctica. Great Circle Mapper says this direct route of 6356 nautical miles (11,770km) is some 2700km shorter than the world’s longest, Qatar Airways’ Auckland-Doha service. Auckland-Cape Town is 1400km longer than Air New Zealand’s sub-polar Auckland-Buenos Aires route of 5580nm (10,335km). Of course, the absence of suitable diversion airports on transantarctic routes would pose regulatory problems for even the most modern long-range, twin-engined such as the B777, B787s and A350s.

Virgin Atlantic returns to Australia
Virgin Atlantic is to offer flights to Australia again, four years after it scrapped its route to Sydney. Chief executive Craig Kreeger says the Richard Branson-founded airline will fly from London to Melbourne and Sydney via Hong Kong or Los Angeles, thanks to a code-sharing agreement with its sister airline, Virgin Australia. Last week, Virgin Atlantic unveiled plans to offer three different types of economy fares as part of a £300 million investment, which will also see it rebrand Premium Economy as Premium. Later in the year, passengers will be able to fly in Economy Delight, which will offer three inches more of legroom compared with the standard 31in, as well as priority boarding and advance seat assignment. Virgin will also offer Economy Light, a low-cost fare that does not allow checked-in luggage or seat choice.

Turkish Airlines builds on biggest network
Turkish Airlines is backing its claim to having the world’s most destinations. It signed this week’s biggest aircraft deal with Airbus to buy 25 A350-900 aircraft plus five options, Chairman Ilker Ayci says the order underlines the airline’s strong confidence in the global market’s dynamism and growth. “Turkish Airlines serves more destinations than any other airline [and this order] will develop our international route network from our Istanbul and Ankara hubs,” he says. Turkish Airlines operates an Airbus fleet of 167 aircraft with a further 92 A321neos on orders.

Qatar continues expansion
Qatar Airways continues to outstrip its Gulf rivals with a nearly 50% increase in capacity over the past four years. Among its latest announcements is the first direct service from the Gulf to Luxembourg. Other destinations to be launched this year are London Gatwick; Cardiff; Lisbon; Tallinn; Valletta (Malta); Cebu and Davao (Philippines); Langkawi (Malaysia); Da Nang (Vietnam); Bodrum, Antalya and Hatay (Turkey); Mykonos and Thessaloniki (Greece); and Málaga (Spain). In addition, services to Warsaw, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Prague and Kyiv (Ukraine) will increase to a double daily frequency, while services to Madrid, Barcelona and the Maldives will increase to three daily.

B737 sets new Guinness record
Thousands of Boeing employees gathered at the Renton, Washington state factory to celebrate the 10,000th 737 to come off the production line. This breaks Boeing’s Guinness World Records title for the most produced commercial jet aircraft model. That was set n 2006 when the 737 reached the 5000th mark. The picture shows a 737 MAX 8 for Southwest Airlines,

China stopover in Dublin, Edinburgh
Hainan Airlines will launch the first nonstop flights between mainland China and the Irish and Scottish capitals. The four times weekly service will see flights flying Beijing-Dublin-Edinburgh-Beijing on Thursdays and Sundays, and Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin-Beijing on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The flights will be operated by an Airbus A330-300 from June 12, a few days after Cathay Pacific is set to start flights between Hong Kong and Dublin. Hainan operates an Auckland-Beijing service via Shenzhen-Auckland while Air China has a non-stop Auckland-Beijing flights.

Route news of the week
Hawaiian Airlines will expand its Auckland-Honolulu schedule from three to five services a week from March 21. The airline has reached its fifth anniversary on the route. Reports in the Spanish media indicate Emirates has been awarded fifth freedom traffic rights to carry passengers between Barcelona and Mexico City on a new Dubai-Mexico City service. Emirates already has two daily Dubai-Barcelona flights. The third service will continue from Barcelona to Mexico City, giving Emirates its first connection to Mexico.

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