Caissa Touristic
, a Chinese-German tour operator that organizes and manages group, individual, theme and business travel to and from China, is scheduled to begin nonstop charter flights from China to Pittsburgh International Airport this year under a three-year partnership agreement announced last week.
As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the start date for the flights and the frequency of the service are still being finalized, said Bob Kerlik, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Airport Authority.
Kerlik did not know whether Caissa will fly into Pittsburgh on a seasonal or year-round basis. Pittsburgh will be the first North American market to be served through the operator, he added. Caissa Touristic is headquartered in Hamburg, with offices in Munich, Frankfurt, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Changchun and Dalian.
—British Airways began flights from London Heathrow to New Orleans on March 27, with a four-times-a- weekly service schedule. The service will increase to five times weekly beginning Oct. 30. This is the 21st U.S. destination served by BA from Heathrow.†
—On March 21st, Hainan Airlines began twice-weekly non-stop flights from Chongqing to Los Angeles. The 7,143-mile sector will be flown using the airline’s 787-8s and departs the Chinese city on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 9:15 p.m. with LAX departures on the following days at 6:30 a.m. (This route was announced just a week after the carrier launched flights from Chengdu to LAX.†
—KLM last week extended its network from Amsterdam by launching flights to four new cities on three different continents. One of them flies to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) in the USA. The 4,152-mile route route to Minneapolis-St. Paul is also flown by Delta Air Lines—both are Sky Team members.†
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—On March 26, Virgin Atlantic Airways began its newest route from London Heathrow to Seattle-Tacoma. Virgin has taken over from partner carrier Delta Air Lines on the 7,699-kilometre route, and will add another 53 seats daily one way on the rotation, yielding another 38,690 seats. Seattle-Tacoma becomes Virgin Atlantic’s ninth US route from Heathrow, with it joining the likes of Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York’s JFK and Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles. The airline also serves Las Vegas and Orlando from London Gatwick and Manchester, along with short seasonal services from Glasgow and Belfast International.†
† Source: anna.aero
