Norwegian to upgrade Trent 1000s on 21 B787s

Arkia Israeli Airlines (IZ, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion) will become the launch operator for the A321neo(LR) variant following the collapse of Primera Air Scandinavia (PF, Billund), which was previously due to become the type's first user, FlightGlobal has reported.

Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) has reportedly not firmed the date of the first delivery yet, although it is likely to happen before the end of 2018.

Primera Air, a leisure focused airline turned transatlantic scheduled low-cost carrier, ceased operations on October 2. It was due to source its A321neo(LR)s via AerCap. At the time of its collapse, Primera blamed the delayed deliveries of the type as one of the reasons for its financial woes.

Arkia has three A321neo on order directly with Airbus, of which at least two have already been confirmed as the LR variant. The carrier will most likely use the twinjets to replace its last remaining B757-300. Arkia also operates two EMB-190s, and three EMB-195s, and has two A330-900s on order. It also wet-leases...

Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) has joined the "Worldwide by easyJet" connecting platform, becoming the first legacy long-haul carrier focused on transatlantic services to partner with the European LCC.

The carriers will allow passengers to book connecting flights via London Gatwick, combining easyJet's short-haul service and Virgin's long-haul flights on a single itinerary.

"A large number of different airlines as well as airports have been asking to work with easyJet for some time and we expect to announce more partners in the coming months," CEO Johan Lundgren said.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, easyJet currently offers 1263 weekly departures out of Gatwick to 100 destinations, while Virgin Atlantic operates 35 weekly flights to eight destinations in the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico.

Norwegian (DY, Oslo Gardermoen), WestJet (WS, Calgary), Thomas Cook Airlines UK (MT, Manchester Int'l), Corsair (SS, Paris Orly), Neos (NO, Milan Malpensa), La Compagnie (B0, Paris Orly), Aurigny Air Services (GR, Guernsey), and Loganair...