This week in air travel South African Airways (SAA) and Air Seychelles announced a new code share agreement for customers traveling between New York and the Seychelles. Air Seychelles will add its HM code on SAA’s nonstop flights between New York City’s JFK Airport and Johannesburg, South Africa, and connecting flights between Johannesburg and Mahe, Seychelles, will display the SA code. The code share flights will open for booking October 15 for travel starting November 1.
In other new flight news, American Airlines expanded its service to South America out of Miami and added a new, nonstop service between Boston and London. On April 7, 2020, the airline will increase its service to Lima, Peru, from twice per day to three times per day on a Boeing 757 year-round. Next winter, the airline will add an additional flight to Santiago, Chile, as well as a third flight to São Paulo, Brazil. Both services will be operated on a 777-200.
Starting March 29, 2020, the airline will launch a new daily service from Boston to London Heathrow. American is also extending seasonal flying dates on some of the most popular routes including service between New York (JFK) and Rome (FCO); Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Dublin (DUB); and Chicago (ORD) and Barcelona (BCN). These routes will now operate a month longer than their current schedule.
In technology news, KLM and Microsoft signed a letter of intent to explore cooperation focused on sustainable air travel. The agreement includes a commitment to purchase sustainable aviation fuel, which the airline said has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions up to 80 percent. Building on KLM’s corporate biofuel program, Microsoft will purchase an amount of sustainable aviation fuel equivalent to all flights taken by Microsoft employees between the United States and the Netherlands (and vice versa) on KLM and Delta. Additionally, the two companies intend to explore areas of cooperation that would further improve sustainability and reduce emissions associated with air travel.
Finally, in aircraft news, Virgin Atlantic unveiled its new plane inspired by Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The plane will transport travelers from London Gatwick to Orlando.
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