-Alaska Airlines will suspend its once-weekly winter service to the Russian Far East on 8 October, because the recent circumstances with the Russian economy have made its operations uneconomical, says the airline. Alaska plans to provide connecting services to the region through its marketing partner, Reeve Aleutian Airways, when government approvals are granted.
-Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will launch a three-times a week service between Kuala Lumpur and Manchester via Munich next July with a Boeing 777-200. MAS is also looking to boost its route to London, which could see new services to Gatwick in addition to the 14 flown to Heathrow. Meanwhile, a fourth weekly service is being added to Amsterdam with a 777, under a code-share with KLM.
-Debonair has launched services from London Luton to Cergy-Pontoise Airport near Paris with a British Aerospace 146. The flight is operating twice daily, and will later increase to four times a day.
-Emirates is to launch services from its Dubai base to Lahore and Islamabad from January 1999. Three and four flights a week, respectively, will be operated, all flown by Airbus A310.
-British Airways franchise partner Maersk Air will launch services from Birmingham to Vienna and Geneva from February 1999.
-The UK Civil Aviation Authority has selected Virgin Atlantic over British Midland to introduce services between London Heathrow and Moscow Sheremetyevo later this year. An additional Airbus A320 will be acquired for the service.
-Kenya Airways is adding services from Nairobi to the island of Lumu, off the coast of Kenya, in association with Eagle Aviation, which will fly an ATR 42 on the route. A new service from Nairobi to Kinshasha in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being added, to be operated by a Kenya Airways 737-300.
-Eurowings is launching a service between Dortmund and London Stansted on 26 October, using an ATR 42.
Source: Flight International
