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JetBlue & Westjet get Heathrow slots
JetBlue had previously secured Gatwick slots and Stansted but has now managed to get 270 slots at Heathrow from Terminal 2 due to the downturn. It is still evaluating its options for serving London during summer, but it is expected to start flying from Heathrow this summer from around August time. The slots are expected to be services to New York JFK and Boston with 60%+ of the seats being New York.
JetBlue said in a statement: “We won’t comment on our specific plans until we have made a final decision on our initial London airport.
“We have always said that we have a viable path into more than one London airport and that over the long term we expect to serve multiple airports in London – just as we do in New York, Los Angeles, South Florida and Washington D.C.”
A number of other airlines are also slated to start this summer from Heathrow – Canada’s WestJet, Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways, and Rwandair.
WestJet has good fares and a decent business class, so it will interesting to see what the fares will be like when they launch to Toronto and Vancouver from Heathrow.
Hilton offers special Formula One treat with points
Many of the hotel loyalty schemes offer some amazing money-can’t-buy treats to spend your points on. Hilton have launched one that is perfect for Formula 1 fans.
Formula One fans will have the chance to race against British driver Lando Norris virtually. Hilton and McLaren are giving fans the chance to redeem points and test their driving skills in a virtual race against Lando and other Hilton Honors members. As well as taking to the track against the 21-year old, who is Britain’s youngest ever Formula One driver, participants will be able to interact with Lando himself during the 60-minute race.
Qatar Airways to restart more destinations
Qatar Airways has announced that it is ramping up its range of destinations for summer 2021. Currently, you can’t fly to Qatar, so you can’t use Qatar Airways from the UK. Personally, I am pretty sure that both the UAE and Qatar are on the red list due to the global connections through their airports rather than the threat of variants in the country. Both countries have been making good progress with vaccinations. Hopefully, the countries will be back on at least the amber list soon as otherwise, it will give BA a very uncompetitive advantage from the UK.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said:
“We are proud to lead the recovery of international aviation, implementing the highest standards of bio-safety and hygiene and investing in the latest innovations to simplify travel and restore passenger confidence during the most challenging period in aviation’s history.
“Having never stopped flying throughout the pandemic, we have used our unrivalled experience and modern, fuel-efficient fleet to operate a sustainable and reliable network our passengers, trade partners and corporate customers can rely on. We also continue to offer the largest international network, including launching seven new destinations, to provide the connectivity our passengers and cargo customers need.
By the middle of summer 2021, Qatar Airways plans to rebuild its network to more than 140 destinations including 23 in Africa, 14 in the Americas, 43 in Asia-Pacific, 43 in Europe, and 19 in the Middle East.
Qatar has launched some decent sale prices this week, so I will take a look at those on Tuesday.
Qatar Airways destinations operating by the peak of IATA Summer Season 2021*:
Africa
Abuja(ABV),Accra (ACC), Addis Ababa (ADD), Alexandria (HBE), Algiers (ALG), Cairo(CAI), Cape Town (CPT), Casablanca (CMN), Dar Es Salaam (DAR), Djibouti (JIB), Durban (DUR), Entebbe (EBB), Johannesburg (JNB), Kigali (KGL), Kilimanjaro (JRO), Lagos (LOS), Luanda (LAD), Maputo (MPM), Mogadishu (MGQ), Nairobi (NBO), Seychelles (SEZ), Tunis (TUN), Zanzibar (ZNZ)
Americas
Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami(MIA), Montreal (YUL), New York (JFK), Philadelphia (PHL), San Francisco (SFO), Sao Paulo (GRU), Seattle(SEA), Washington D.C. (IAD)
Asia-Pacific
Adelaide (ADL), Ahmedabad (AMD), Amritsar (ATQ), Auckland (AKL), Bali (DPS), Bangalore (BLR), Bangkok (BKK), Brisbane (BNE), Calicut (CCJ), Cebu (CEB), Chennai (MAA), Clark (CRK), Colombo (CMB), Dhaka (DAC), Goa (GOI), Guangzhou (CAN), Hangzhou (HGH), Hanoi (HAN), Ho Chi Minh City (SGN), Hong Kong (HKG), Hyderabad (HYD), Islamabad (ISB), Jakarta (CGK), Karachi (KHI), Kathmandu (KTM), Kochi (COK), Kolkata (CCU), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Lahore (LHE), Male (MLE), Manila (MNL), Melbourne (MEL), Mumbai (BOM), New Delhi (DEL), Perth (PER), Peshawar (PEW), Phuket (HKT), Seoul (ICN), Singapore (SIN), Sialkot (SKT), Sydney (SYD), Tokyo Narita (NRT), Trivandrum (TRV)
Europe
Adana (ADA), Amsterdam (AMS), Antalya(AYT), Ankara (ESB), Athens (ATH), Baku (GYD), Barcelona (BCN), Belgrade (BEG), Berlin (BER), Bodrum (BJV), Brussels (BRU), Bucharest (OTP), Budapest (BUD), Copenhagen (CPH), Dublin (DUB), Edinburgh (EDI), Frankfurt (FRA), Helsinki (HEL), Istanbul (IST), Istanbul Sabiha (SAW), Izmir (ADB), Kiev (KBP), Larnaca (LCA), London (LHR), London Gatwick (LGW), Madrid (MAD), Manchester (MAN), Milan (MXP), Moscow (DME), Munich (MUC), Mykonos (JMK), Oslo (OSL), Paris (CDG), Prague (PRG), Rome (FCO), Sofia (SOF), Stockholm (ARN), Tbilisi (TBS), Vienna (VIE), Warsaw (WAW), Yerevan (EVN), Zagreb (ZAG), Zurich (ZRH)
Middle East
Abu Dhabi (AUH), Amman (AMM), Baghdad (BGW), Basra (BSR), Beirut (BEY), Dammam (DMM), Dubai (DXB), Erbil (EBL), Isfahan (IFN), Jeddah (JED), Kuwait (KWI), Mashhad (MHD), Muscat (MCT), Najaf (NJF), Riyadh (RUH), Salalah (SLL), Shiraz (SYZ), Sulaymaniyah (ISU), Tehran (IKA)
