Miyuru Sandaruwan: August 2012 Archives

United Airlines today announced its initial Boeing 787 routes, the first international route of which is to begin on 4th December, 2012.

 Houston will become the first 787 crew base for United, with several other stations likely to follow.

 United's 787-8s are configured in a 36 BusinessFirst, 72 Economy Plus and 111 Economy class seats (36C/ 72W/ 111Y) and the first of these had its first flight on 20th August.

Routes

• Houston - Amsterdam. Begins on 4th December 2012, and operates daily. However will only operate temporarily till end of the Winter season.
• Los Angeles - Tokyo Narita. Launches on 3rd January 2013, as the first year-round 787 service. Will operate daily.Houston - Lagos. Operating five times per week effective 7th January 2013.
• Houston - London Heathrow. Launches on 4th February 2013, and operating temporarily till end of the Winter season. Daily service.
• Los Angeles - Shanghai Pu Dong. Daily year-round service launching on 30th March 2013.
• Denver - Tokyo Narita. Daily year-round service starting on 31st March 2013.

Out of these routes, Houston - Lagos, was one of the first 787 routes to be announced by then Continental Airlines in 2010, along with the proposed Houston - Auckland route. The Denver - Tokyo route was originally announced by United in May, 2012.

Lufthansa has announced its third route to be upgraded to 747-8i equipment, and the selection is Bangalore, India. The city, known as the IT business centre of India, will receive daily 747-8i service effective 13th September.

Schedule:
LH754 FRA BLR 1215 0030+1
74H D
LH755 BLR FRA 0230 0825
74H D

Lufthansa's 747-8i aircraft are configured with 100 premium seats, which is the same as on its larger Airbus A380 aircraft. The airline has often mentioned that it will hence use the 747-8i to destinations where there is high premium demand but insufficient demand to fill the A380's larger Economy cabin.
LH's choice to utilize the A380 to Bangalore underlines that, as well as the much rumouerd and discussed lack of permission from the Indian authorities to operate A380 aircraft into India.
Bangalore is Lufthansa's second 747-8i destination in India, after Delhi.

According to a report on the Belgian local newspaper, De Standaard, American Airlines may stop its Brussels services from this November.
The report, while unconfirmed by the airline, suggests poor performance of its New York JFK - Brussels route as the cause for the cancellation.
As of this writing, AA's daily JFK - Brussels flight is not available for reservation from 6th November onwards.

Italian low cost carrier Wind Jet yesterday suspended operations, stranding thousands of passengers.
The carrier was rumoured to suspend operations since its merger talks with Alitalia fell off last week.
The carrier was operating a route network mainly connecting Sicily with Italy, but also operated a base at Rimini. The airline has now suspended all operations and ticket sales - and has also shut down its website.
The Italian aviation regulator, ENAC, has warned that the airline risks its AOC being withdrawn. ENAC has also arranged some rescue flights for the affected passengers. It has been reported that lessors have begun repossesing its aircraft.

Emirates Airline, effective 10th December will be starting service to its second destination in Thailand - Phuket.
The airline will launch daily flights to the Thai holiday city, on board Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

Schedule:
EK 378 DXB HKT 1245 2155 D 332
EK 379 HKT DXB 0035 0435 D 332

Note that this flight presently has an out-of-ordinary high connecting time with the Emirates' inbound European connections bank, and is not yet opened for sale.