Mexico’s flagship carrier Aeromexico has been showered with many accolades over the year. For Aeromexico, the year 2013 was also no exception. The airline said that its commitment to the customers and services had been acknowledged worldwide. Aeromexico said that it has won the ‘Best Airline in Mexico’ award as well as the ‘2013 Mexico-UK international Leader Award’ towards the end of 2013.

Aeromexico said that it was presented with the ‘Best Airline in Mexico’ award by a reputed travel publication Global Traveler. The airline has been given this award for the fourth consecutive year. The award was given on the basis of a vote in which luxury and business travelers and other international readers of the magazine participated.

The ‘2013 Mexico-UK International Leader Award’ was presented to Aeromexico by the Mexican Chamber of Commerce in UK. The airline was recognized for its contribution to boost bilateral relations between the UK and Mexico.
Apart from these two awards, Aeromexico also won the ‘Nezahualcoyotl Award’ during the 15th anniversary celebrations held by the Mexican-Chilean Integration Chamber in Chile’s capital city of Santiago. The airline was recognized for its support and commitment it had shown to Chile during the recent years. A spokesperson of the Aeromexico said that the various international awards had been a great honor for the airline for its quality product and services it had been providing to the customers worldwide.

American Eagle Airlines, which is being currently operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines Group, will now have a different nomenclature and operate under a new brand. American Airlines Group has recently announced that it has decided to change the name of American Eagle Airlines. The airline will now be named as ‘Envoy’ in spring 2014.

American Airlines Group in a statement said that currently there was confusion among the travelers regarding the name of the company and American Eagle, which has been operating as a regional brand of American Airlines. The company said that by giving a new name to American Eagle Airlines this confusion will be put at rest and the new airline would have its own distinct identity.

Presently, a total of 10 carriers are providing regional flights services for American Airlines and US Airways networks. Now that the two airlines have merged and integrating their operations and services under a new company American Airlines Group, the company wants to integrate the regional service of the two carriers and bring all the 10 carriers under the American Eagle brand, to be known in future as Envoy.

The company said that customers booking flights on American Eagle Airlines or any other American Eagle-branded regional service would not be impacted with the new name Envoy. There will be no change as such, and the gates and ticket counters would continue to be branded American Airlines and American Eagle, and Envoy’s aircraft would be operating utilizing the American Eagle livery and brand.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has made a mark in the international traffic as well as it celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The airport has already been placed at No. 3 among U.S. airports in its passenger traffic on domestic routes. Though, in terms of international traffic this has become more of a dampener considering the investment it has made in the lucrative travel market. The latest outcome was announced by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which released the data recently.

According to the data, the international traffic at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport increased 11.1 percent in 2012. The growth was doubled and was as fast as the airline industry itself. The airport was ranked at No. 10 in international traffic. The data cited a even stronger growth by the airport in the first half of 2013. And, this has continued further.

Media reports said that the month of December 2013 was most beneficial for the airport in terms of global expansion in its history. The reports said that the airport succeeded in adding 25 international destinations as well as 10 carriers that have already started operations or due to start them soon.

According to reports, American Airlines, the dominant airline at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, added its service to Lima, Seoul and Bogota last year. The airline also announced the launch of nonstop flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong starting from next summer. The announcement was made by the airline in October last year.

Australia’s flagship carrier Qantas Airways has emerged at the top of the world’s safest airlines list. A renowned safety and product rating site recently announced its latest findings saying that Qantas Airways has been operating jets for above 60 years now and has never met a fatality ever since the jet era began.

The rating site considered 448 carriers and compared their safety records and safety audits. Accordingly, the rating site prepared its 2013 report. A total of 137 carriers were finally awarded a maximum seven stars. Apart from Qantas Airways, the other international airlines that made it to the top 10 in the world’s safest airline list include Air New Zealand, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways, EVA Air, All Nippon Airways and Royal Jordanian Airlines.

The rating site praised Qantas Airways effusively and lauded its 93-year-old history. The airline was acknowledged for accumulating an extraordinary record of firsts in safety and operations during its entire operational history. On the other hand there were nearly 50 airlines out of the total 448 who were awarded only three stars or less. Most of these carriers failed to come up to the expectations and were unable to complete the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). The control systems and operational management of a carrier are assessed by the IOSA.

Pittsburgh International Airport authorities expect that various airlines that are being approached now would accept the incentives for expanding the service to various cities from Pittsburgh. Media reports recently said that the Pittsburgh International Airport is planning to see the expansion of flight services to different U.S. cities including Jacksonville, New Orleans, Seattle and San Diego. The reports quoted Pittsburgh airport officials as saying that for the nonstop services the airlines will benefit from the waiving of landing fees or would see their marketing support being increased.

According to media reports, the airlines are being offered incentives by the Allegheny County Airport Authority to begin service to several destinations in North America (United States and Canada) as well as to 11 destinations in the Caribbean. The officials said that New Orleans, Seattle, Jacksonville and San Diego continue to remain at the top of the list of targeted cities for the second straight year for the start of nonstop flights services from Pittsburgh.

Southwest Airlines had only last fall started operating flights between Nashville and Pittsburgh. The airport officials welcomed this development amid jubilation. To being the service out of Pittsburgh International Airport, the airport authorities provided a waiver of landing fees to Southwest Airlines and also offered a $70,000 grant in marketing support to being flights to Nashville. The officials said that similar incentives would be provided to other airlines as well if they begin service to various destinations in North America and the Caribbean from Pittsburgh. Apart from Southwest Airlines, another U.S. carrier United Airlines is providing nonstop flights to Houston from Pittsburgh.

Most of the carriers in North Asia have announced that they would be operating more flights in Q1 2014. Media reports said that nearly all of the 13 major airlines in North Asia, except Korean Air, would be increasing their flight services in the first quarter of this year as compared to the same period in 2013. However, a majority of the airlines would not increase their seat and available seats per kilometer (ASK) capacity.

Media reports indicated that on average seats would be increased by 3.7 percent and ASKs 3.4 percent complementing 4.5 percent growth in frequencies. The reports said that for some of the airlines the frequency growth would be much faster than seat/ASK growth allowing the aircrafts to tap new short-haul markets.

Media reports said that prominent North Asian carriers like Hong Kong Airlines, China Southern Airlines, EVA Air and TransAsia are on their way to become the largest growth carriers in the region. According to the reports, carriers in Greater China would be introducing more seats and ASK growth above their frequency growth because of the nature of trunk routes and limited slots. Similar growth profile is also being shown by China Airlines and EVA Air. Travel experts in North Asia have indicated that most of the carriers in the region want to close the gap as much possible, while the incumbent carriers are seeking sustainability.

Whether you travel by United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Virgin America or other U.S. carriers, business class flights are set to become costlier from July 2014. Media reports recently said that the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has assessed the airline security fee on each airline passenger and concluded that the travelers booking business class tickets would now be required to pay increased fee, which will now be more than double than the existing rate. The reports said that the airline security fee will now be $5.60 per segment from the existing $2.50.

Media reports said that the new change will be effective from July this year. The increased user fees would be beneficial in covering 43 percent of the costs required by the Transportation Security Administration. The user fees previously used to cover 30 percent of the costs of TSA. The new fees would also help the government to save more than $12 billion over the next decade. The airlines see the new regulations as worrisome as the increased fee is likely to impact the business and dissuade the travelers from booking business class tickets. But, the current security situation has made the airlines to take the new regulations in their stride.

Media reports said that the air travelers are also quite mindful of the present security situation and won’t grudge in footing the Transportation Security Administration’s bill so as to avoid another shutdown and keep the country’s economy stable.

With more and more domestic airlines increasing their capacities, the passengers are finding themselves quite a happier lot these days. However, the increased capacities are giving them more choices than before, but the biggest question in the U.S. domestic markets remain whether this will bring lower fares as well.

A recent study quoting a travel expert has said that greater capacity certainly makes the passengers happier with far more travel options than before, but this does not necessarily translate to lower fares. The travel expert at the same time said that even though airfares aren’t low, but the increased capacity isn’t going to hurt the passengers.

The tourism industry’s peak season has now entered into a significant phase and many domestic airlines in the U.S. are giving a boost in the capacity. One such airline is South Florida International which has increased the total number of seats for the key tourism months of January through March this year.

This has also been widely welcomed by the hospitality and tourism industry in the region. The capacity increase is providing passengers opportunity to broaden their choices for vacations, but the fares are not much cheaper. And, this isn’t hurting them in any way. The travel experts said that with greater choices available now the customers are feeling more than happy as they will now be able to spend their vacations in newer destinations. According to travel experts, the new or returning service and bigger aircrafts are playing a major role in the local capacity increase.

The Asia-Pacific region has now got seven new ‘green’ aviation routes. The new routes have been introduced under the Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE) efforts. The IATA has certified the daily routes and validated them as ASPIRE-Daily City Pairs. The routes were certified for reducing environmental impact and using the best practice procedures towards this.

Airways New Zealand, the air navigation services provider based in New Zealand, have developed these routes owing to its international commitment to significantly lower the environmental footprint in the region. The new ‘green’ routes are San Francisco-Auckland, Los Angeles-Auckland, Christchurch-Singapore and Auckland-Singapore. The first ASPIRE-Daily City Pair to be introduced was Auckland-San Francisco in February 2011.
 
Ed Sims, CEO of Airways New Zealand, said that Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines, the two airline partners of Airways New Zealand, played quite an important role in developing these new ‘green’ routes. He said that it is a matter of great privilege and pride that the environmental best practices have been applied on these routes taking into account fuel savings, emissions reduction and air traffic control. Regarding Airways New Zealand, he said that being a founding member of ASPIRE the Airways works in close association with airlines and its other partners to significantly reduce the environmental impact of a flight. He said that the IATA has awarded a four-star rating to five of the seven new city pairs.

Air Seychelles has now become the first and only 4-star airline in the Indian Ocean. The prestigious 4-star airline ranking was awarded to Air Seychelles recently by Skytrax, an airline review organization. The ranking is awarded every year. Media reports said that Air Seychelles was among the 36 airlines in the world that conformed to the stringent quality criteria required for 4-star airline ranking. The airlines star ranking provided by Skytrax is recognized worldwide as a credible and independent measure of the service quality of an airline. Even the airline industry considers the rankings awarded by Skytrax as authoritative as well as dependable.

Skytrax conducted a rigorous auditing exercise in recent months after which it awarded Air Seychelles the 4-star rating. Air Seychelles made a tremendous progress by advancing to 56 from 133rd position worldwide in June 2013 to join the most improved airlines rank. The airline was also adjudged as the second best airline in Africa.

Joel Morgan, Air Seychelles’ Chairman and Minister for Home Affairs and Transport, said that this has been a remarkable success and recognition for a relatively small airline like Air Seychelles. He said that this is a proud moment for Air Seychelles as it represents the national carrier. He said that the airline had initiated a turnaround program two years ago which is now showing positive results in many areas.