Medway Travel enewsletter January 2010

Airline News

Air France to fly from Paris to Abu Dhabi 

Air France will commence a five-times weekly service from Paris to Abu Dhabi in May 2010, flying the route with A330 aircraft.

Services will depart Paris daily except Wednesday and Friday at 1345, arriving into Abu Dhabi at 2225, with the return leg departing daily except Thursday and Saturday at 0030, landing back into Paris at 0545.

Air France will operate the route with A330 aircraft configured with 40 business class seats and 179 economy seats, aiming eventually to introduce the new Premium Voyageur cabin.

The Paris-Abu Dhabi route is already served by Etihad, but the Air France service will be welcomed by members of the Skyteam alliance, who will be able to connect in Paris to and from transatlantic services and European destinations.  

Finnair launches fully-flat bed 

Finnair has launched its first fully-flat bed in business class, with an innovative layout, meaning a third of passengers will enjoy a seat by itself, with no passenger either side.

The new Contour Vantage seat has been fitted to the carrier’s fifth Airbus A330, and is a departure from the Recaro angled lie-flat offering available on Finnair’s first four A330s (along with its A340 fleet).
The unusual layout means that 90 per cent of seats have direct aisle access, and one third of the seats have been positioned so that there is no seat next to them, which will undoubtdely be sought after by business travellers looking for in-flight privacy.

The configuration also means that Finnair has actually been able to slightly increase the number of seats in business class, from 42 to 45 seats, while at the same time moving to a fully-flat offering.

Finnair uses its A330 aircraft on routes including New York, Delhi, Seoul and Nagoya.

 

Brussels Airlines joins Star Alliance

December saw the welcome of Brussels Airlines to the Star Alliance network, with the carrier becoming the 26th member.

The airline emerged in 2001 as SN Brussels, concentrating on European and African routes, before merging with Virgin Express in 2006 and becoming Brussels Airlines. Founder Star Alliance member Lufthansa later took a 45 per cent shareholding in the carrier, leading the way for Brussels Airlines to join the alliance last month.

With this news, the airline has also announced increased frequencies from Bristol and Newcastle to Brussels from 10th January to 3 x daily flights, up from the previous twice and once daily.

With the first Newcastle departure at 0625, and Bristol at 0630, and both offering evening return flights, the schedules are ideal for day-return business trips to Brussels, as well as giving excellent connections to a large number of destinations on their European and African network.

In addition, following the cessation of BMI services on the Heathrow to Brussels route, Brussels airlines will be launching a 4x daily service on the same route.

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