Business Travel News: January 2023

Air updates

Air France debuts boeing777-300ER cabin

Air France debuts its new long-haul cabins. The Boeing 777-300ER fully equipped with the latest cabins took off from Paris-Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK. Named “Fontainebleau”, this aircraft will eventually service Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Dakar in Senegal. Read more

British Airways adds service to London Gatwick short-haul network

British Airways’ Gatwick-based subsidiary BA Euroflyer has added Montpellier, Corfu, Mykonos and Innsbruck to its short-haul route network, in addition to a new summer Salzburg service. Read more

Emirates resumes A380 services to Birmingham, Glasgow and Nice

From 1 May 2023, the airline has announced it will resume its second daily service to Stansted, operating on its wide-body Boeing 777-300ER aircraft fitted with its renowned ‘Game Changer’ First Class product. The airline will also ramp up its operations to London with 11 daily flights including six times daily to London Heathrow and three times daily to Gatwick. Read more

jetBlue enhances transatlantic flight schedule from New York to London

From 25 March 2023, jetBlue has announced the introduction of its new morning departure from New York JFK to London Heathrow. To accommodate this operation, the airline will adjust service between New York JFK and London Gatwick airport, offering travellers one daily flight instead of two. In total jetBlue will maintain three daily flights between New York and London. Read more

easyJet adds service to Amsterdam from Southend airport

From 24 May 2023, easyJet adds a four-times-weekly service with Amsterdam becoming the fourth easyJet destination from Southend, alongside Malaga, Majorca and Faro. The airline also added additional flights to Faro from Southend up to four times weekly, with additional flight increases across the UK. Read more

Etihad Airways announces new routes to Copenhagen and Düsseldorf

Etihad Airways will be introducing two routes this year, connecting Abu Dhabi to Copenhagen, Denmark and Düsseldorf, Germany. Launching 1 October, the flights will provide travellers in the UAE to these key European cities with convenient travel options to and from Abu Dhabi. with four weekly flights to Copenhagen and three weekly flights to Düsseldorf. The flights will be operated using state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, offering one of the most comfortable experiences in the sky with 28 seats in Business and 262 in Economy. Read now

American Airlines to add daily Charlotte – Heathrow service

American Airlines has announced plans to expand its route between Charlotte Douglas International and London Heathrow this summer. From 15 April 2023, a third-daily frequency will depart from Charlotte. In addition, the airline will also add a third-daily flight between LA and Heathrow for summer 2023

Etihad Airways to introduce double daily flights to Jakarta

From 1 October 2023, Etihad Airways will increase its flights between Abu Dhabi and Jakarta to a double-daily service. The flights will be operated using Etihad’s fleet of Boeing B787 and B777 aircraft. The airline will operate 14 weekly nonstop flights between Abu Dhabi and Jakarta. Read now

Finnair adds summer flights to Ljubljana, Bodo and Milan Linate

Finnair expands its short-haul European network for summer 2023, adding new destinations and increasing its frequencies to several European capitals. The airline will operate three times weekly to Bodo during the high season and resume flights to Ljubljana lastly will launch flights to Milan’s Linate airport.

Delta to open two new Club lounges at New York JFK’s T4

Delta has announced plans for two new lounge facilities at New York JFK’s T4. This summer Delta will open 14,000 square feet by Sky Club on Concourse A with seating for 200 guests, joining the airline’s existing Sky Club at Concourse B and the carrier will open its first Delta One Club lounge at JFK exclusively for the use of its business class customers.

Hotel updates

Accor launches midscale Handwritten Collection

Accor has launched its latest collection brand, aimed at independent hotels in the midscale segment. A total of 12 hotels have been signed up at launch, which will either open or rebrand throughout 2023, and the group plans to open 110 Handwritten properties totalling more than 11,500 rooms with the aim of growing the brand to 250 hotels by 2030.

Hilton unveils new premium economy brand – Spark

Hilton has announced a new brand aimed at the “premium economy” market. Spark by Hilton is the group’s 19^th brand, with Hilton stating that it will fill an open save in the industry lodging to meet the needs of even more guests and owners seeking “value, quality and consistency”. The hotel chain is looking to open its first properties across the US.

Ground updates

LNER unveils new menus for first class

LNER has revised its onboard first-class catering with three new complimentary menus. The ‘Dine’ service includes the full LNER or Full Veggie LNER cooked breakfast, which is freshly prepared onboard.