Aviation

Airlines for America (A4A) urged Senators to oppose the unreleased Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee effort to increase the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) tax. While the Committee has not made the bill language public, airport sources indicate that the Subcommittee voted today to increase and nearly double the PFC tax from $4.50 to $8.50 which would result in a massive $3.2 billion tax hike on every air traveler who takes to the skies. 

Airports Council International announced that global passenger traffic rose a robust 6.2% in May year over year, in line with the year to date growth of 6.5%. The main growth driver remained international passenger traffic, which reached 8.1% year over year.

easyJet, Europe’s leading airline, will recruit more than 1200 new permanent and fixed term cabin crew positions as the airline continues its growth. easyJet currently employs over 6,900 cabin crew who are at the forefront of the airline’s operations, ensuring the highest safety standards are met and providing friendly service for easyJet’s 70million passengers every year.

Following the merger announcement between Scoot and Tiger air, as of today, all previous Tigerair flights will be operated under the Scoot brand and Scoot flights will operate under the TR flight designator code. Moreover, Scoot announces 5 new international destinations.

Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe and Bulgaria’s leading carrier, on July 21 celebrates the major milestone of opening its 28 base in Varna, Bulgaria.

Scoot and Tigerair (Singapore) have now merged into one airline, Scoot, and for savvy travelers this means great savings with a celebratory sale, greater efficiency across the combined network of 60 destinations across 17 countries, and better connections as the airline utilizes its fleet of larger 787s and smaller Airbus A320s to optimise connection times in Singapore.

Delta Air Lines has taken delivery of its first A350-900, and will be the first U.S. airline to operate the newest member of Airbus’ leading widebody family. The A350 XWB will bring unrivalled eco-efficiency and a superior passenger experience to primarily transpacific routes starting in October.

Britain’s best-loved personalities including Gordon Ramsay, Rob Brydon, Sir Ian McKellen and Thandie Newton make appearances in British Airways’ entertaining new pre-flight safety video, which launches in September.

Already flying from Detroit, Seattle and Los Angeles, Delta Air Lines announced its 4^th route to Shanghai, China from the United States.

ATR and Taiwan’s Mandarin Airlines, a regional subsidiary of Taiwan’s flag carrier China Airlines, today signed a contract for the purchase of six ATR 72-600s, valued at some US$ 160 million.

The first Qatar Airways non-stop flight from Doha to Skopje touched down on Monday, July 17, 2017 at Alexander the Great Airport. The new route to the capital of the Republic of Macedonia will be served four times per week with an Airbus A320 aircraft, featuring 12 seats in Business Class and 120 seats in Economy Class.

Thai Airways will launch flights between Bangkok and Vienna. The new schedule flights from Thai capital to Austria’s capital will start from November 16, 2017. The Thai airline will operate four weekly flights on this route, deploying a Boeing B777-200ER aircraft.

In Finland, Finavia’s airports have attracted a record number of passengers this year. In the first half of 2017, there were in total of 10,958,075 passengers. This represents a 7.9% growth when compared to the previous year.

According to a new report on 2017 luxury travelers in China, travelers have visited an average of 18 countries, and take an average of 3.3 overseas trips annually, amounting to 27 days, of which tourism accounts for 69%. Continue reading for their popular destinations and airline preference for travel.