China Eastern ends A340-600 revenue operations

Air France-KLM and China Eastern Airlines (MU, Shanghai Hongqiao) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) to include the British carrier in an existing joint-venture on services between China and Europe.

"Scheduled to enter into force in spring 2020, the cooperation will offer customers an increased number of flights and itineraries between Europe and China, further facilitated by mutual code-sharing, as well as competitive joint commercial propositions," the Franco-Dutch holding said in a press release.

The expanded JV will add London Heathrow and London Gatwick to the list of European destinations covered by the partnership. Specifically, Virgin Atlantic's daily flights from Heathrow to Shanghai Pudong (operated with B787-9s) and China Eastern's daily flights from Pudong to Heathrow (operated with B777-300(ER)s) and 3x weekly to Gatwick (A330-200s) will be included in the scope of the JV.

Currently, the JV covers the following routes:

• operated by Air France from Paris CDG to Shanghai (2x daily) and Wuhan...

Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) announced on September 26 that it would acquire a 20% stake in Chile-based LATAM Airlines Group for USD1.9 billion, abruptly creating a major new airline partnership.

Delta said it would exit its 9% stake in Brazil's GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (G3, São Paulo Congonhas) as a result of the deal, and it also ends what had been a deepening alliance between LATAM and American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth).

Delta will gain a much larger footprint in the growing South American market, as its new Chilean partner is by far the largest airline group in Latin America by passengers carried, with subsidiaries in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru.

The deal with LATAM is Delta’s biggest since it merged with Northwest Airlines in 2009, Reuters reported.

The strategic partnership “will unlock new growth opportunities, building on Delta’s and LATAM’s global footprint and joint ventures worldwide, including Delta’s existing partnership with AeroMéxico,” a joint Delta-LATAM statement said.

With their complementary...

Beijing Daxing Int'l Airport has opened to commercial passenger traffic with its inaugural revenue service - China Southern Airlines flight CZ3001 Beijing Daxing-Guangzhou - having taken off at 1620L on Wednesday, September 25.

The sprawling new aerodrome will compliment the more centrally located Beijing Capital Airport and provide for additional growth in China's aviation market which is expected to become the world's largest domestic aviation market in terms of new passengers in the next three to six years, IATA predicts.

Daxing currently features four concrete runways, ranging in length between 3,400 and 3,800 metres, and will be capable of handling 75 million passengers per annum by 2025. Thus far, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Juneyao Air, Capital Airlines (China), Hebei Airlines, Donghai Airlines, Spring Airlines, China Postal Airlines, and Okay Airways have already signalled plans to open bases at Daxing.

International airlines planning to serve Daxing include British Airways (BA, London Heathrow), Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa), Himalaya Airlines...