Air Astana is introducing a new Premium Economy Class on all flights operated by its popular   Embraer 190-E2 aircraft.  Premium Economy Class occupies seat rows from one to 12 and delivers the same award-winning levels of service and comfort of the Business Class it replaces, albeit at 35% lower fares.   The new product made its […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has partnered with information technology company SITA, to trial the use of facial biometrics in order to check in cabin crew at the airlines Crew Briefing Centre at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The trial will use facial recognition technology to identify and authenticate crew members, […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The mystical Seychelles Islands remains a fantasy escape for travelers across the globe and, although the vicious pandemic has dwindled travel, the destination maintains its allure. On the path to a slow yet steady recovery, the tropical paradise has seen the arrival of 98,894 up to November 15, 2020. Based on data provided by the […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced leadership changes approved by the 76th IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM).  Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue is now the Chair of the IATA Board of Governors (BoG), succeeding Carsten Spohr, Chair IATA BoG (2019-2020) and CEO of Lufthansa. Hayes will serve a term commencing immediately and ending at […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Deutsche Lufthansa AG today successfully issued an unsecured Eurobond with a total volume of 1 billion euros. The bond with a term of 5.5 years was oversubscribed by about 4 times after successful investor meetings the day before. The bonds with a denomination of 100,000 euros bear interest of 3.0 percent per year and mature on […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) 76th Annual General Meeting (AGM) unanimously resolved to urgently call on governments to re-open borders to travel. IATA is proposing systematic testing of international travelers which would permit the lifting of border restrictions and provide an alternative to current quarantine rules. Quarantines essentially kill demand for air travel and governments […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that JetBlue Airways will host the 77th IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Boston, Massachusetts, on 27-29 June 2021. This will be the sixth time the preeminent global gathering of aviation’s leaders has taken place in the United States and the first time it […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) 76th Annual General Meeting (AGM) unanimously approved a resolution re-confirming the airlines’ unwavering commitment to safely and sustainably re-connect the planet. ​​​The resolution called on governments to:    Ensure the industry’s viability with continued financial and regulatory support,  Aid the industry in reaching its 2050 goal of cutting emissions to half […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has cut the number of Qmiles required to book award flights by up to 49% in a major development in its transformation to provide more and better rewards to its loyal members. Privilege Club’s Qmiles requirements will be reduced for award flight for all members travelling with Qatar Airways on connecting […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced a revised outlook for airline industry performance in 2020 and 2021. Deep industry losses will continue into 2021, even though performance is expected to improve over the period of the forecast.   A net loss of $118.5 billion is expected for 2020 (deeper than the $84.3 billion forecast in […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomes the publication of the Manual on Testing and Cross Border Risk Management Measures by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This document provides governments a risk-based assessment tool for using testing programs that could alleviate quarantine requirements.  It is a critical output produced by the ICAO Collaborative Arrangement […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Qantas Airways Chief Executive Officer has announced that the Australian flag carrier is planning to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for all international travelers boarding their flights. In an interview with Australian television news program, Alan Joyce said that a coronavirus shot may not be necessary for domestic flights, but that it would be a “necessity” for international […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Hawaiian Airlines today announced it is offering drive-through and walk-up COVID-19 pre-flight tests for its guests traveling to the islands from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Portland and Seattle. Guests who test within 72 hours of their flight and receive a negative result prior to departure will be exempt from the state of Hawai‘i quarantine. Hawaiian’s […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that it is in the final development phase of the IATA Travel Pass, a digital health pass that will support the safe reopening of borders.   Governments are beginning to use testing as a means of limiting the risks of COVID-19 importation when re-opening their borders to travelers […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO will step down from his role at the Association effective 31 March 2021.  De Juniac made known his intention to step down from the Association several months ago which enabled a search process to facilitate a smooth leadership transition. The […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Air traffic between Russia and Venezuela resumes on November 23, the civil aviation service of the Latin American country announced. Bolivia, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Iran, Turkey and Panama were also added to the opening directions. On the website of the state airline of the country Conviasa, Moscow is already displayed in the search, but no […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

United Airlines announced today it is expanding its customer COVID-19 testing efforts to include flights out of Houston to select destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Starting for flights departing on December 7, customers originating from George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) will have the option to take a self-collected, mail-in test that meets local entry […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

As the holiday travel season approaches, travel experts and consumer advocates are repeating their calls for Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to protect travelers by adopting mandatory COVID-19 safety standards for airlines and airports. While the DOT issued safety guidance over the summer for air travel, these recommendations are strictly voluntary and compliance has varied […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

As part of Air Canada’s commitment to operating in a sustainable and responsible manner, the airline recently undertook a rigorous certification process with the International Air Transport Association to receive an industry-leading environmental certification, IEnvA Stage 2. The IATA Environmental Assessment program (or IEnvA) is an Environmental Management System specifically developed for the airline sector, […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

AELF FlightService, which recently entered the widebody charter market, signed a 14-month contract to fly charter flights for Windrose Airlines.  Beginning this week, the company will fly freight for the Ukrainian carrier on routes that include Kiev to New York and Kiev to Hong Kong. The routes will be serviced on A330-200 MSN 700 in partnership […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Delta Air Lines‘ inaugural nonstop flight offering daily roundtrip service between Boise, Idaho and Atlanta, GA began today, Friday, November 20, 2020. To celebrate the inaugural flight to the country’s busiest passenger airport in the world, several Delta executives were present, airport personnel, as well as Boise Metro Chamber CEO and President, Bill Connors. “Recruiting […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Despite recent US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval of the troubled Boeing 737 MAX’s return to commercial service, China has not changed its stand on the aircraft’s safety and has not allowed the plane to take to the skies. Last year, China became the first country to ground Boeing 737 MAX jets after the second […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Brazil’s average daily flights fell from original 2,500 to about 200 during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period. In the months with the highest surge of COVID-19 cases, Brazilian airlines reduced their operations by 99 percent. But now, Brazil’s civil aviation sector appears to have bounced back from the strong impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Qatar Airways, Official Partner and the Official Airline of FIFA, today unveiled a specially-branded Boeing 777 aircraft painted in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 livery, to mark two years to go until the tournament kicks off on 21 November 2022. The bespoke aircraft, which features distinctive FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 branding was hand-painted to commemorate the […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services, the Largest Cargo Network Operator in Africa, has launched Trans-Pacific routes, extending from Incheon to Atlanta via Anchorage effective 09 Nov 2020. Ethiopian operates B777-200F, one of the most technologically advanced aircraft on the route, offering a remarkable freight service to our cargo forwarding customers worldwide with reduced flight hour, […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Air Astana will begin operations to the Maldives twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays from December 5, and additionally on Mondays from December 21, 2020. Flights will be operated by state-of-the-art Airbus A321LR aircraft which are configured with 16 Business class seats and 150 Economy class seats. The lie-flat business class seats are equipped […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Japanese and Canadians are in the process to select Hawaii again as a holiday destination. Visitors from Taiwan and South Korea may be welcomed back to Hawaii beaches, but fellow Americans are left behind – and there is a sad reason for this. Getting an appointment for a COVID-19 test in California for a Hawaii […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Sunny Seychelles draws closer to its Israeli market with the resumption of Air Seychelles flights on Wednesday, November 18, 2020. A resounding success, as flight HM022, operated by the destination’s national carrier from Ben Gurion Airport on the evening of Tuesday, November 17, 2020, landed at Seychelles International Airport at 0745hrs. The resumption of these […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

With rising concerns over climate change and increasing commitment from travel companies to become carbon neutral in the future, cleaner aviation is needed. It is vital that airlines adapt to this emerging demand and harness technology to create new, greener ways of flying. According to the latest COVID-19 Recovery Consumer Survey (October, 7-11), 43% of […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

With tens of millions of Americans expected to travel for Thanksgiving next week despite spiking COVID-19 infection numbers nationwide, the U.S. Travel Association on Thursday released an update to its guidance for healthy and safe travel—along with a plea for everyone to closely heed recommended best practices if traveling. At a Thursday press conference, U.S. […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Ukraine International Airlines announced the possibility of resuming flights to Yerevan (Armenia) from December 4, 2020. The restart after a long pause became possible due to the stabilization of the situation in the region. UIA plans to operate flights to “Zvartnots” airport and return flights to Kyiv twice a week. UIA is closely monitoring the […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Qatar Airways announced that it will operate three weekly flights to Abuja, Nigeria via Lagos from 27 November 2020 becoming the sixth new destination announced by the national carrier of the State of Qatar since the start of the pandemic. The Abuja service will be operated by the airline’s state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner featuring 22 […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

EL AL Israel Airlines, the national airline of Israel, and Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, are set to explore deeper cooperation following the signing of a virtual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The wide-ranging MOU covers scope to introduce joint codeshare services between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv, as well as […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Moscow Domodedovo Airport reported that it welcomed 1.5 million passengers in October 2020. Domestic passenger traffic at Domodedovo amounted to 1.3 million. Sochi, Simferopol, Krasnodar, Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad were the most popular destinations. In October, passenger traffic on the mentioned routes reached 537 thousand people, an 18.2 % year-over-year rise. Domodedovo served 223 thousand international […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The State of Hawaii re-introduced tourism on October 15 by allowing fellow Americans from the US mainland to arrive in the Aloha State without having to go through a 14-day quarantine before they could enjoy white sandy empty beaches, do some shopping, and enjoy so many popular restaurants without any lines. Earlier this month, Japanese […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Jost Lammers, CEO of Munich Airport, has been re-elected President of the Airport Council International (ACI). Lammers has led the umbrella organization of European airports in this position since July 2019 and will continue to represent the interests of over 500 airports in 45 European countries for another year. In his keynote speech at the […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Emirates announced plans to operate its popular Airbus A380 aircraft four times a day to London Heathrow from 27 November and six times a week to Manchester from 2 December, and to deploy additional A380 services to Moscow from the current two-a-week, to a daily service from 25 November. Emirates will also increase flights to […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Qatar Airways is pleased to announce it has finalized a codeshare agreement with Air Canada applicable for travel between Doha and Toronto. Sales have started with the first codeshare flight to operate from 15 December 2020. The agreement reinforces Qatar Airways’ long-term commitment to Canadian passengers, and to boosting Canada’s global connectivity to support the […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Dieter Vranckx (47), currently CEO of Brussels Airlines, was today appointed CEO of the Swiss airline by the SWISS Board of Directors. Dieter Vranckx will assume his new duties on January 1, 2021, succeeding Thomas Klühr, who will leave the company as planned at the end of the year. Dieter Vranckx has held several senior […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The aviation industry is in deep crisis as the COVID-19 pandemic forced airline companies to suspend all flights due to muted travel demand. Airline operators have been reporting consecutive quarterly losses since the first quarter (Q1) of 2020 and Southwest Airlines Co (Southwest) is not an exception. This led to a staggering 200% rise in […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Some 224 visitors from Germany and its surroundings disembarked in Seychelles as Condor airlines made a special return to paradise Seychelles, on Saturday, November 14, 2020.  The airline operated a special charter in collaboration with DER Touristik, a German tour operator and the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) in the aim to ignite the spark for […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

In the near future, Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines will be offering g their customers a new range of services in Economy Class. Starting in spring 2021, passengers on short and medium-haul routes will be able to purchase a broad selection of high-quality foods and beverages on board to suit their needs. High quality standards […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The latest edition of the Quarterly Barometer reveals that Europe’s most resilient destinations in the face of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic are leisure hotspots. As at 27th October, total inbound flight bookings for the EU and the UK, for the fourth quarter of 2020, were 85.6% behind where they were at the equivalent moment last […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance, has completed development of an interoperable biometric identity and identification platform that will significantly improve the travel experience for frequent flyer program customers of Star Alliance member airlines.  The Star Alliance Biometrics platform advances the vision of Star Alliance member airlines of delivering a seamless customer journey, while […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

United Airlines free COVID-19 testing was provided today to every passenger over 2 years old and all crew members on board flight 14 from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to London Heathrow (LHR). These passengers and crew were the first to experience the airlines free rapid testing transatlantic COVID-19 testing program guaranteeing everyone* onboard tested […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) today reported the following consolidated airline ticketing volume variances, compared to the same period in 2019. These totals represent sales generated by U.S. travel agencies and processed through the ARC settlement system. Data figures are for the seven days ending November 15, 2020. More in-depth, custom data is available from ARC […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Sydney has commemorated Qantas Airways‘ 100-year anniversary by lighting up its iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge as a larger-than-life birthday cake complete with illuminated candles that were blown out by a Qantas 787 as it did a low level overfly at 1,500 feet. More than 1,300 LED tubes, 126 LED fixtures and 38 searchlights lit up […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Phenix Jet has welcomed its first Bombardier Global 7500 aircraft into the management fleet. This beautiful Global 7500 business jet is a first for the management company and it joins a growing number of Global 7500 aircraft in the Asia Pacific region. Since its delivery in March, notwithstanding the global pandemic COVID-19, our Global 7500 […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), in collaboration with Expedia.com, today released the 2021 Travel Trends Report, which analyzes extensive travel data from Expedia and ARC to uncover key search and booking trends for travelers. Top insights in the report include money-saving strategies for purchasing travel, evolving traveler priorities, and trending destinations in key global markets. Average […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released guidance to ensure that the air cargo industry is ready to support the large-scale handling, transport and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine. IATA’s Guidance for Vaccine and Pharmaceutical Logistics and Distribution provides recommendations for governments and the logistics supply chain in preparation for what will be the largest […] - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News Online