Samoa Airways to lift off, Jetstar splits bills and US-Gulf row heats up

Plans emerge for Samoa Airways
The revival of Samoan government-owned Polynesian Airlines as an international carrier will mean a name change to Samoa Airways. It will also form a partnership with Fiji Airways, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi says. This is to replace the dissolution of Virgin Samoa, a joint venture between Samoan interests and Virgin Australia, on November 12.

However, the new partnership will involve no shareholding or code sharing in terms of airline tickets and routes. Samoa Airways will have its own aircraft and operate commercial flights between Samoa, Australia and New Zealand. News reports say Fiji Airways will upgrade the Nadi-Apia service to Boeing 737-800 aircraft from ATR 72-600s and will fly up to three flights a week on the Apia-Honolulu route. It is also likely to lease aircraft to Samoan Airways.

Meanwhile, Virgin Australia has applied to Australia’s International Air Services Commission for 880 seats of capacity a week between Australia and Samoa. Virgin Australia intends to operate five services a week between Australia and Samoa from November 13 using 176-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Jetstar makes it easier to split the bill
Jetstar says its new FareShare payment option allows groups of travellers to split one bill for up to nine seats. This is available for all domestic and international flights booked from Australia and New Zealand.

“Passengers will be notified via email when their fare is ready to be paid and they will then have 48 hours from the time the booking is made to visit jetstar.com to secure their flights,” Jetstar says. “Once payment has been made, each traveller can tailor their experience by adding extras such as car hire, hotels and insurance.” For terms and conditions, click here.

More free wi-fi on Emirates
Emirates is doubling the amount of free in-flight wi-fi data for economy passengers and non-Skywards members to 20MB. Skywards Platinum and Gold members now get unlimited data usage throughout the flight, regardless of class of travel, while all Skywards members travelling in first and business class also get free usage. The 20MB of free data must be used within the first two hours of logging on; after that charges apply. Details at www.emirates.com/onboardWi-Fi.

Qantas-LATAM Chile codeshare expanded
LATAM Airlines Chile has extended its codeshare agreement with Qantas to include three international flights out of Sydney –to Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore – and 12 domestic destinations from Melbourne. The Melbourne codeshares start in September and the Sydney ones from October 5. LATAM’s new Santiago de Chile-Melbourne route runs three times a week.

Qatar Airways flies to Ukraine
Qatar Airways will launch a new daily direct Doha-Kyiv (Kiev) service on August 28. The capital of Ukraine (pictured) is one of eastern Europe’s oldest cities with a historic and cultural centre. It has stunning architecture and many museums and galleries showcasing art collections that are widely recognised as world treasures. Other planned new Qatar services to Eastern Europe are to Skopje (Macedonia) and Prague (Czech Republic).

Route news of the week
Air New Zealand will operate four flights a week on its Auckland-Buenos Aires Ezeiza route from March 25 to April 30. The extra flight will be on Mondays. Cathay Pacific will expand its Hong Kong-Male service to The Maldives from December 4 to February 27. 

American Airlines knocks back Mid-East rivals
American Airlines has notified its Oneworld partners Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways that it will not extend its codeshare partnerships beyond their expiration dates of March 2018. This is part of a protest by major US carriers against what they call illegal subsidies from the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.  

The dispute dates back to 2015 when American, United and Delta Air Lines called on President Barack Obama to modify or end Open Skies agreements negotiated between 1999 and 2002. Now the airlines and their lobbyists have taken their complaints to the Trump Administration, which they hope will prove more receptive.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, American says Qatar Airways has revised its application seeking clearance to buy up to a 10% stake in the US carrier. Qatar did not seek approval from American about this and it has become another sore point with the US airline.

Emirates ends Angolan agreement
Emirates has terminated a 10-year management concession deal with TAAG Angola Airlines and has cut back a five-times-a-week Dubai Luanda service from five to three times a week. Emirates says this is due to “protracted difficulties” in repatriating ticket revenue from Angola. Like other African countries, Angola has suffered from a shortage of foreign currency following the dip in oil prices over the past two years. Last October, Emirates suspended its four times weekly Dubai-Abuja service for similar financial and currency reasons.

United Airlines quits Venezuela
United Airlines has joined other international carriers, including Air Canada, Alitalia, Lufthansa, LATAM, GOL and Insel Air, in ceasing flights to Venezuela. The final Boeing 737-800 flying Houston-Caracas on June 30 stopped in Aruba for a crew change, as overnighting is considered unsafe. Airlines say Venezuela is financially unviable due to the inability to repatriate funds, chaotic administration by its socialist government and the rise of violence.

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