LAN to Colombia, 2013

LAN, originally a Chilean carrier, has now become the dominant airline of all of the Latin America. This web ad markets its Colombian Division, with daily flight to Bogota. Clicking the link takes you to a dedicated section of the website, showing convenient connections from Miami to twenty Colombian cities via Bogota, including Barranquilla, Cali, Medellin, and others:

SAHSA Route Network, 1993

One of the member carriers of Grupo TACA is the International Airline of Honduras, SAHSA, shown here in a lucid advertisement from late in its independent life. There are as many routes out of the Honduran resort of San Pedro Sula and the Belizean cities as there are from the capital, Tegucigalpa. Houston, New Orleans, and Miami are the US gateways, and the airline flew as far south as Panama. Interestingly, there is no service to Mexico City or Cancún, although there was a flight from the Caribbean resort town of La Ceiba to tiny, Anglophone Grand Cayman. This service, along with flights to New Orleans, did not survive the rebranding into TACA.

TACA: The Lima Hub, 2011

No corner of the globe has undergone such a radical re-alignment of aviation interests than Latin America, in which all but a handful of state carriers and private operators (not least including VIASA, VASP, Transbrasil, VARIG, Lloyd Aero Boliviano, Ladeco, Ecuatoriana, Aviateca, NICA, and Sahsa) have disappeared. In addition to the asphyxiatingly ubiquitous LAN Group, and a variety of promising mainline start-ups and a plethora of low-cost ventures, South America is now territory covered by Grupo TACA, through its 1999 merger with Avianca.

That marriage included the rebranding of a unit based at Lima, formerly known as TransAm but now operating as TACA Peru, with Avianca as a 49% shareholder. The division serves ten major cities from Santiago to Santa Cruz to Sao Paulo, and connects northwards to TACA's hubs in Central America as well as Mexico City and Miami.

TACA Airlines Network, 2011

Fast-forward from the previous post, and tiny El Salvador has, through merger and might, grown to one of the largest inter-American airlines and virtually the only international airline between Mexico and Panama, with focus cities in San Jose, Costa Rica and Guatemala City. The Spanish fine print at the bottom of the map mentions the original state carriers, such as LASCA, NICA, Aviateca, and newly-formed national divisions such as TACA Perú, that form the modern airline. The latter is based from a sizable hub at Lima, detailed in the next post.

In North America, the airline runs as far northwest as San Francisco and as far northeast as Toronto, although an earlier route to Boston failed. New Orleans is gone, but Orlando and Dallas have been added, along with highly-prestigious and lucrative routes to Washington and New York. The next few posts looks at the growing airline in detail.

Aviateca Timetable and Route Map, June 1993

Continuing with our posts on service between the US and Latin America, this twenty-year old artifact of Mesoamerican aviation is presented: a full intra-American flight schedule and route map for Guatemalan state carrier Aviateca in its Late Post-Classic phase, just prior to be absorbed into the fold of Grupo TACA of neighboring El Salvador.

The schedule stretches from Chicago to Panama, as does the small map at the lower right, showing a web of routes out of Guatemala City, including an unusual route to New Orleans, which would later be rerouted to Honduras after it taken over by TACA. Unfortunately, like the airline that committed to it, the route has not survived to the present day, and New Orleans' role as a primary gateway from the Midwest to Middle America is a distant memory. But here, there is also some sort of connecting service between Louisiana and Houston, which also links with Merida, in the middle of the Yucatan. Aside from its base of operations at La Aurora, the airline held a mini-hub at Flores, gateway to Tikal in the northern Peten department, links to Cancún and Belize. In a sense, Aviateca was the airline of the Mundo Maya, even in the mid-1990s. Yet the Quetzalcoatl was not to survive as its own fleet, becoming one of the five macaws of Grupo Taca just a few years after the publication of this pamphlet.

USAirways: Charlotte to Sao Paulo, June 2013

COPA's service from Boston to Panama is not the only new Latin American service launching from the Eastern US this summer. USAirways, which will never be known for bold, globe-trotting expansion, surprised many in 2009 when its strategy to capture the ever-increasing opportunities on international flights was to inaugurate service from its North Carolina hub at Charlotte Douglas to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

That service is now accompanied by a parallel sub-equatorial route, with a nightly flight from Charlotte to Sao Paulo, the country's and continent's largest city and most important business hub. The rather drab notice was posted on the airline's website, which notes that an old B767 will be rerouted to run the long inter-American leg. As uninspiring as the dull skyline picture used on the announcement page.

COPA: Non-stop from Boston to Panama City, Summer 2013

Latin America is possible starting this month from Boston Logan Airport, as Panamanian carrier COPA lands in New England for the first time. In the build-up to the launch, the airline has been blanketing local media with its adverts, such as the glossy, full-color spread in a recent issue of Boston Magazine, showing the glowing panorama of Medellin, Colombia, or the less vivid, but no less eye-catching view towards Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro. Apparently, the airline sees their home hub of Panama as more of a transit point than a destination.

This is the first Latin American airline to service Boston Logan since the unsuccessful attempts in the previous decade by TACA to serve San Salvador, and Aeromexico to offer a non-stop to Mexico City.

Emirates: from Birmingham to Dubai, to the World.

Surely the pride of Birmingham aviation, even more so than Turkish Airlines, is Emirates, dutifully touching down every day with a respectable B777, non-stop from Dubai. Equally reliable is its blanketing of advertisements, such as this eye-level glossy, one of a series that adorns each column of the terminal forecourt. A family of indistinguishable origin glides joyfully in front of the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm. All that Birmingham could possible hope for is to have the route permanently upgraded to a superjumbo.

Turkish Airlines: From Birmingham Ten Times A Week, May 2013

Continuing from yesterday's post: the Hermes Road circus, a confusing roundabout connecting the forecourt of the Birmingham airport with a weave of motorways, features several billboard advertisements customized for the Brummie air transport consumer.

This bright-red advert catches the eye before the turn-off for the terminals, boasting of Turkish Airlines 10x weekly non-stops to Istanbul, from whence the rapidly expanding carrier, following a Gulf super carrier model, links to hundreds of other destinations. Turkish provides one of the few services outside of Europe to Birmingham, one of the few non-European carriers touching down in the West Midlands. However the long wide body A330 gliding across the ad is not seen at BHX. Instead, Turkish uses a much smaller Boeing 737.

BMI Regional: Brand-new destinations from Birmingham, May 2013

A lazy snap of a billboard at an airport roundabout; that peculiar zone of travelers and their company, heading to and from the aerodrome. Surely the intended audience already has their passage arranged? Maybe next time.

In this case, Birmingham International, whose glory days of flag carriers and intercontinental widebodies are distant, but which still hosts a variety of carriers to points across Europe, and a few beyond.

Here, BMI Regional, that remnant rump of the erstwhile international carrier, British Midland, is actually expanding, even as its long-range flagships have been absorbed into the fleet of British Airways, which no longer flies to Birmingham at all. Britain's great industrial metropolis is now linked to a rather random foursome of short-haul hops to Scandinavia and France: Billund, Denmark, Gothenburg, Sweden, and Lyon and Toulouse in southern France. Brazilian regional jets do the journeys.

Finnair to Asia, March 2013

Few carriers in the world have turned their geographic lemons into lemonade as Finnair, whose dominant strategy in the last 10-15 years has been to look beyond its own tiny home market to become a dominant carrier between Europe and the distant destinations of Asia. This began in the late 1990s with succesful runs to major mixed business/leisure hubs from Tokyo to Hong Kong to Bangkok and Singapore. Today, this includes a daring strategy to link second-tier mainland Chinese cities, such as Chongqing and Xi'an, with little Vantaa Airport in Helsinki, spanning Eurasia by linking European business centers with emerging megacapitals of the Far East, which later this year will include Ho Chi Minh City but was curiously unsuccessful in reaching Guangzhou.

The map above, an eye-catching global map from a web banner ad, shows 13 long-haul non stops. Also helpfully, and perhaps a little hopefully, the map shows the link to New York, suggesting a JFK to Japan journey via Scandinavia.

Addis Ababa Bole Airport Departures 23 April 2013, #2

The second screen of Addis Ababa's Bole Airport evening departures show many more options on Ethiopian Airlines near and far, from Muscat to Washington, Tel-Aviv to Stockholm, reflecting the breadth of the ancient country's modern connections both in terms of trade and diaspora communities.

Addis Ababa Bole Airport Departures, 23 April 2013 #1

The mid-night bank of flights from Addis Ababa's Bole Airport shows the busy base of East Africa's biggest carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, working through the late hours. The terminal screens flip from Latin script to electronic Amharic, showing long-haul departures to London, Guangzhou, and Beijing, as well as medium-haul flights to Saudi Arabia and nearby Nairobi (home of arch-rival Kenya Airways). Two flights offer one-stop services: the first to Milan via Rome, the second a new extension of the Bangkok service to Kuala Lumpur.

Only TK677 on sister Star Alliance carrier Turkish Airlines to Istanbul is not on Ethiopian metal, although the screen's airline logos flip through the fellow alliance members, from Lufthansa to SAS to Air China.

Departures from Abidjan Port-Bouet Airport, 23 April 2013

The daily block of departures from Abidjan's Felix Houphouët-Boigny/Port Bouet International Airport on 23 April 2013 reveals a slate of recent developments in tropical African aviation. Especially new local entrant Air Côte D'Ivoire, recently risen from the ashes of the older Air Ivoire, providing three flights across the francophone region. Its first flight were in December 2012 and this post marks its first appearance on Timetablist.

Another is the young Senegal Airlines, similarly a quick replacement for defunct Air Senegal International, which in this case is heading eastward to other French-speaking centers in Togo and Cameroon. Lastly, Mauritania Airlines International, set up in 2010 to replace defunct Mauritania Airways (which was itself a second-try at the failed Air Mauritanie), is heading back to its capital, Nouakchott, via Bamako, Mali.

Regional growth carrier ASKY has two flights: to its hub at Lomé and to Conakry, while Air Burkina, one of the few West African airlines that has lasted more than a few years, links Burkina Faso's secondary city, Bobo Dioulasso.

Non-regional airlines make an appearance, providing the only links with non-French-speaking cities: Emirates offers the only wide-body on the day's schedule, its quad-engined A340s hopping next door to Accra before heading home to Dubai; Ethiopian Airlines ET916 is a next-gen B737 that stops in Cotonou before returning to its base at Addis Ababa's Bole Airport after a long journey from one side of the continent to the other.

Austrian Airlines: Vienna to Chicago, May 2013

One last in this week's series of new international carriers coming to Chicago, particularly those that are a resumption of previous intercontinental flights: The rather strange homepage graphic is from the website of Austrian Airlines, which this month is due to return to Chicago. The move has long been prudent, to feed into the massive mid-continental links of Star Alliance partner United Air Lines.

But the image above rather clumsily suggests connections not via the Midwest but Mittel-Europa; it has always been Austrian Airlines dream to have Vienna serve as a switch-station to points further east, such as here faraway Delhi or nearby Moscow or Kiev. There probably won't be too many US passengers for Minsk, and why anyone would connect from North America to London or Barcelona via Vienna is curious; better off trying the new-nonstop on PIA for Catalonia, for instance.

Pakistan International Airlines: Chicago-Barcelona-Karachi, June 2013

A final post a news out of Chicago, especially concerning new service to O'Hare featuring the exotic liveries of southwest Asian airlines and unusual fifth-freedom routes. The very nice site boardingarea.com has a feature on Pakistan International Airlines new Chicago-Barcelona service. Flight PK794 then continues on to both Islamabad and Karachi, although Boardingarea.com's post focuses on the extremely reasonable business-class fares to Spain.

The route is actually a resumption of long-standing service from Pakistan to the prairie which was temporarily cut in 2012. The older route included a Lahore stop, which is not in PIA's present plans for 2013.

A special thanks to boardingarea.com for the original reporting and use of the above images. 

Kuwait Airways to Chicago, 1997-2005

Following yesterday's post seems an opportune moment to look at the relationship between a fourth Gulf airline and Chicago O'Hare: Kuwait Airways, which once offered twice-weekly A340 flights from the tiny Emirate to the Windy City, initially via Amsterdam then later offering the only non-stop service from Illinois to Lake Geneva (the original body in Switzerland), with 5th-freedom rights to carry passengers between Europe and the Midwest.  The service ended in November 2005, just as the mighty Emirates and other Mid-east mega-carriers began a massive expansion, with Kuwait Airways and Gulf Air being just two legacy carriers to retreat.

Qatar Airways to Chicago, April 2013

Qatar Airways, continuing its rapid, worldwide expansion by adding a fourth destination in the United States last month: Chicago O'Hare. The ultra-long range B777-300ER will ply the 13-hour route just three time per week until June, when the service will become daily, in time for the scorching season in both places. The move comes well-ahead, but presumably related to, Qatar's admission to the OneWorld alliance, which will involve greater coordination with American Airlines, which of course has a huge hub at ORD.

Qatar joins Etihad Airways as the second of the three fast-growing Gulf super-carrier to land at O'Hare. Now also a daily service, Etihad's extended range A340-500s have been descending over Lake Michigan since September 2009. Interestingly, this leaves Emirates, the mack-daddy of Middle Eastern mega-airlines, as the only one of the three rivals to not service the midwestern metropolis, despite serving smaller, secondary US hubs such as Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle for several years.

Saudia: Seasonal Service to Orlando, 1994

Reprint of: "Saudi Airline Plans Seasonal Flights To Orlando International"
published on June 21, 1994, written by Jerry Jackson for the Orlando Sentinel:


Saudia Airlines, the flagship airline of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, will begin flying into Orlando via New York on July 4, Orlando International Airport officials said Monday.

Flights using Boeing 747-300 aircraft will operate twice a week from Jeddah and Riyadh, to Orlando International Airport with a brief stop at New York's Kennedy International Airport.

Saudia's flights initially are scheduled to operate through September, primarily for the summer tourism season in Florida. But airport officials said they hope the route will be successful and that service will be extended.

''Saudia is the flagship carrier for Saudia Arabia and the only airline offering nonstop service from the U.S. to the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia,'' said Keith Phildius, senior vice president for international development and marketing for Orlando International.

It is the second airline from the Mideast to announce seasonal service to Orlando in the past six months. In January, El Al Israel Airline launched twice weekly service to Orlando International through Feb. 20 and the end of the pilgrimage season to the Holy Land.

Also this year, Aeroflot Russian International Airlines began regularly scheduled service between Moscow and Orlando on a test basis.

''I think it says a lot that within a two or three-month period of time, two of the world's renowned airlines - Aeroflot and Saudia - are coming to Orlando. It's good news,'' Phildius said.

More than a dozen airlines provide regularly scheduled international service to 20 destinations from Orlando. Another 40 charter airlines fly frequently between scores of other foreign cities and Orlando.

Airport officials said the decision by Saudia Airlines to fly to Orlando, shuttling tourists and business travelers to Central Florida, helps Orlando stretch its vision as an international center.

''This goes beyond our traditional markets of Latin America and Europe,'' said Carolyn Fennell, a spokeswoman for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

A representative of Saudia Airlines could not be reached Monday, and Orlando airport officials had no further details about the service.

TWA: London to St. Louis Daily

Long-gone are the days when Trans World Airlines even existed, or that there was a sizeable airline hub at Lambert Airport in St. Louis, or that there was intercontinental service from the airport. But in the golden years of the 1980s and 1990s, St Louis acted as a mid-American cross-roads, linking the plains states with the coasts, in addition to a highly-prestigious cluster of cross-pond services to London and Paris. The London services peaked at a double-daily operation in the summer of 1997.

The simple symbolism of the above advertisement is clever, graphically rearranging the elements of the famous London underground logo to look both like the Gateway Arch and link the arc of an airplane flight, taking off and landing on two different continents.

Regretfully, any international service at St. Louis today stretches only as far as Toronto or Cancún. American Airlines picked over the remnants of bankrupt TWA in 2001, ending trans-atlantic services soon after the takeover, and shutting down the hub operations in St. Louis over the next decade.