The Airline News You May Have Missed in October 2024

October has been a month of big news in the airline and points and miles world, from the big changes to Alaska Airlines’ loyalty program to the possible return of the merger between Frontier and Spirit. But a lot more than that has happened in the past month.

Here’s a roundup of everything you need to know from October, beyond the stories we covered individually this month.

Avianca Expands Narrow-Body Business Class in the Americas

South American carrier Avianca is bringing back business class to more cities in the Americas after reversing its 2022 decision to get rid of it altogether. The Colombia-based airline said that beginning in December, Airbus A320s equipped with a business section will serve 23 more destinations. They’d already reintroduced business class to 11 destinations across the Americas region in July.

The reconfigured single-aisle A320s have 3 rows of business class at the front and an unusual seating arrangement. The middle seat is blocked, creating an effective 4-abreast layout, similar to what European airlines do for business class on single-aisle jets. Unlike the Europeans, however, Avianca has installed a fixed divider between the seats, which are wider than other single-aisle business seats. There is no physical separation between business class and economy behind it. 

Business passengers will get complimentary meals and beverages and lounge access. 

The new routes to be added in December are: 

• San Salvador (SSA) to Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), New York (JFK), Washington, D.C. (IAD), Mexico City (MEX), Panama City (PTY), Medellín (MDE), Bogotá (BOG), and Lima (LIM).
• Medellín (MDE) to New York (JFK), Lima (LIM), São Paulo (GRU), Buenos Aires’ Ministro Pistarini International Airport (EZE), and Santiago de Chile (SCL).
• Bogotá (BOG) to Montreal (YUL), Chicago (ORD), Orlando (MCO), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Panama City (PTY), Lima (LIM), Georgetown (GEO), Asunción (ASU), and Buenos Aires’
  Aeroparque Internacional Jorge Newbery (AEP).

Since July, the new seats have been flying from Bogotá (BOG) to Boston (BOS), Toronto (YYZ), New York (JFK), Washington, D.C. (IAD), Miami (MIA), Mexico City (MEX), São Paulo (GRU), Rio de Janeiro (GIG), Montevideo (MVD), Santiago de Chile (SCL), and Buenos Aires’ Ministro Pistarini International Airport (EZE).

Aeromexico Launches Route From Phoenix to Mexico City

Aeromexico will launch its 25th destination in the U.S. with a flight between Mexico City (MEX) and Phoenix (PHX) beginning in March 2025.  

Using the Boeing 737 MAX, the flight will leave Mexico City every day at 9:55 a.m. and land in Phoenix at 12:55 p.m. The return flight will leave Phoenix at 1:51 p.m. and arrive in Mexico City at 6 p.m.    

The expansion is part of Aeromexico’s close partnership with Delta Air Lines. According to a statement from the companies, by the end of 2024, Aeromexico and Delta will operate 80 routes with 135 flights daily.

For U.S. flyers, connecting through Mexico City on Aeromexico opens up a wealth of destinations in Central and South America. Aeromexico’s loyalty program, Aeromexico Rewards, offers interesting possibilities for earning and redeeming points. 

JetBlue Starts Flying From Long Island

Islip, New York, is getting a new airline. MacArthur Airport (ISP) is a good alternative to New York City’s Kennedy and LaGuardia (LGA) airports for people who live on Long Island. It has long been a fiefdom of Southwest and Frontier, which each have about half of the passenger traffic. Breeze Airways has a 5% share. 

Enter JetBlue, with 3 flights from MacArthur Airport (ISP) to Orlando (MCO), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), and West Pam Beach (PBI). Florida is the top destination from ISP, so it makes sense for JetBlue to try and muscle in. 

The airline began flying in October to Orlando with daily service, and 4 times a week to West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Flights to West Palm operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Flights to Fort Lauderdale operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. All of the routes fly on Airbus A320s.  

Spirit Is in Trouble but Opening New Routes

Airlines on the verge of bankruptcy usually don’t open new routes, but that’s exactly what Spirit Airlines is doing. The troubled ultra-low-cost carrier wants to start new flights from Atlanta (ATL) to Columbus (CMH), Indianapolis (IND), and San Antonio (SAT).

Simple Flying reported that the flights to Columbus and San Antonio will begin on April 9, 2025, while Indianapolis begins on May 7, 2025. All 3 routes will operate daily. 

The new routes are not quite an expansion, though, since Spirit has been cutting flights and selling airplanes to cope with financial distress. And by the time the new flights are scheduled to begin next year, Spirit may have been bought by rival Frontier.  

PLAY To Scale Back in the U.S., Change Business Model

Icelandic airline PLAY is a low-cost carrier that has been expanding in the U.S. by betting on passengers connecting via Iceland between Europe and North America.

Now the airline says it has decided to focus on point-to-point flights from Iceland to Southern Europe and decrease the number of North American destinations. PLAY says it’s putting its airplanes where the money is, essentially. That may be a smart decision, since the winter brings less traffic between Europe and North America. The airline also says that the change will have “no or minimal effect” on passengers who are already booked.    

PLAY currently serves 4 airports in the U.S. from its base in Reykjavik (KEF): Baltimore (BWI), Boston (BOS), New York Stewart International Airport(SWF), and Washington, D.C. (IAD). It also flies to Toronto’s John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport (YHM) in Canada. The airline hasn’t said which of these would be cut. 

Finnair Grows in North America 

Finnair, on the other hand, is growing in the U.S. by adding flights to some of its existing destinations. Next year, the Finnish airline said, it will fly more to Chicago (ORD), Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW), Seattle (SEA), and Los Angeles (LAX). Those are airports where its partners in the Oneworld alliance, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines, have a strong presence, offering many opportunities for connecting passengers. 

Finnair will fly to Chicago daily next summer and to Dallas up to 11 times per week compared to 6 in the summer of this year. Both Seattle and Los Angeles will get 2 additional weekly frequencies.  

Every flight to the U.S. features Finnair’s new and highly praised business class. 

Tunisair Wants To Fly to the U.S. 

Another airline that wants to fly to the U.S. is Tunisia’s state-owned carrier Tunisair, which may start flying from Tunis (TUN) to New York and Washington, D.C. in 2028. That’s according to Simple Flying, which quoted an interview with the airline’s director of safety management, Saber Al-Dhawadi, published in African Manager. 

Tunisair currently flies to Montreal (YUL), its only destination in North America, using an Airbus A330-200. The catch is that the airline currently does not have enough long-haul airplanes to start more transatlantic flights. Before serving more destinations in the Americas, it would have to order or lease more long-haul jets. 

Lufthansa’s New Allegris Business Class Expansion 

Lufthansa‘s long-delayed new business class product is appearing on flights to more destinations after its rollout earlier this year. The cabin, which Lufthansa calls Allegris, will fly soon to Bengaluru (BLR) and Mumbai (BOM) and will appear on flights to the U.S. too. That’s big news for Lufthansa flyers because the airline currently has the worst seat layout in business class among major European and U.S. airlines. Allegris is instead a modern, attractive product. 

According to the Lufthansa site, the schedule of flights on Airbus A350s equipped with Allegris is as follows:  

• Munich (MUC) – Shanghai (PVG)
• Munich – San Francisco (SFO)
• Munich – Cape Town (CPT)
• Munich – Bengaluru (BLR), begins November 9 
• Munich – Mumbai (BOM), begins November 15 

Lufthansa said routes from Munich to Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), and Beijing (PEK) will see Allegris at various times during the 2024-2025 winter schedule. 

The airline also warns that Airbus A350s that do not have Allegris yet — and are still flying with the dated business class in a 2-2-2 layout — will also be used on those routes. Check the seat map to see if your airplane has the Allegris layout.

Lufthansa May Buy a Stake in airBaltic 

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reports that Lufthansa is close to buying a 10% stake in Latvia-based airBaltic. AirBaltic flies dozens of Airbus A220s in Eastern and Central Europe, often to holiday destinations. 

The deal is still tentative and may not be finalized, but if it does happen, Lufthansa would add another airline to its orbit after getting 49% of Italy’s ITA Airways. Unlike ITA, airBaltic is a relatively small player without an intercontinental network, but it does have an important asset: a lot of new, fuel-efficient airplanes that Lufthansa could put to good use. 

In fact, the Lufthansa Group is already leasing some A220s from airBaltic, complete with crews, to cover routes in its own network. This deal could lead to more of that and is another step in the consolidation of European airlines.          

Goodbye Vistara, Hello New Air India!

There’s about to be a new player in international aviation, as Air India and Vistara fully merge on November 12, 2024. According to the Indian Express, all Vistara flights from that day will operate as Air India flights but will keep the same cabins and crews. This is important for passengers since Vistara has a far better onboard product than most of Air India’s fleet. 

Flights on Vistara planes will be identified with 4-digit Air India flight numbers beginning with 2, like AI2935, for example.

Also importantly for passengers, the 2 airlines’ loyalty programs will be merged into a single program, to be called Maharaja Club. It’s not clear when the existing programs — Club Vistara and Flying Returns — will begin operating as 1.    

According to the Indian Express, Singapore Airlines will also have a 25.1% stake in the new Air India because it currently holds 49% of Vistara. Air India and Singapore are already cooperating closely; Simple Flying reported that they now operate 56 codeshare flights.  

Cathay Pacific Reopens The Bridge Lounge

Executive Traveller reports that Cathay Pacific will reopen The Bridge Lounge at its home base, Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), “around the middle of 2025.” It had been closed since the 2020 pandemic. 

The reopening will add lounge capacity while another Cathay lounge at HKG, The Wing, undergoes renovation. 

The third Cathay lounge at the airport, called The Pier, will remain open throughout. Both The Wing and The Pier are divided into first class and business class sections.  

Cathay told Executive Traveller that The Wing’s first class section will reopen by mid-2026 and the business class section a year later.  

Czech Airlines Folds, Absorbed by Smartwings

One of the oldest airlines in the world has just disappeared. Czech Airlines, founded in 1923, officially went out of business on October 26, 2024. It has been folded into Smartwings, an airline also based in Prague that already owned a large stake in Czech Airlines. 

Its famous OK flight code is also gone, while the brand itself will live on under Smartwings, which will use it on some of its airplanes, FlightGlobal reported. Until the early 2000s, Czech also flew to New York nonstop before entering a crisis that ultimately led to bankruptcy and the folding into Smartwings.

The SkyTeam alliance also lost a member, but Czech was reduced to a microscopic player, down to just 1 aircraft. Although its disappearance as a company may be sad for the history of aviation, it is unlikely to cause problems for its allies in SkyTeam or for the Czech public, which is well served by Smartwings and many other airlines.    

Virgin Australia Guts Its Loyalty Program and May Quit Etihad

AwardWallet reported that changes are coming for Virgin Australia’s loyalty program, Velocity Frequent Flyer — and they’re largely bad news for flyers. In particular, partner awards will cost more beginning on January 21, 2025.

As explained on the Virgin Australia site, Virgin Australia award seat pricing will increase, and so will the prices in miles of seats on partner airlines. This means that it will be more expensive in some classes to use Virgin Australia points for award seats on Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Etihad, ANA, Air Canada, Hawaiian Airlines, South African Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and United Airlines. 

Virgin Australia uses an award chart, which now reflects the updated (and higher) costs in miles for partner flights.   

In other news affecting Virgin Australia, Executive Traveller reported that the partnership between the airline and Etihad Airways, as well as with Singapore Airlines, might end as a consequence of an investment in Virgin Australia by Qatar Airways. 

Qatar Airways wants to buy 25% of Virgin Australia, which would lead the 2 carriers to cooperate closely and to the resumption of long-haul flights using airplanes leased from Qatar. The application to Australian authorities for approval of the deal includes language that would end Virgin Australia’s partnerships with other airlines, meaning travelers could not accrue points or use lounges with carriers other than Qatar Airways. 

Air Canada Starts Calgary-to-Delhi Flights, With a Twist

Air Canada has started an interesting new daily flight, the second longest in its entire network, from Calgary (YYC) to Delhi (DEL) via London Heathrow (LHR). 

Meant to serve the large and growing Indian community in Alberta, this is also a fifth-freedom flight —meaning that an airline can transport passengers between 2 countries other than its home country. So you can now fly Air Canada from the U.K. to India. And Air Canada can fly passengers who just want to go to London and pick up new ones there who are bound for India. 

According to data cited by Simple Flying, more than 130,000 people flew between the 2 cities up to July 2024. That means 178 passengers daily each way. The Boeing 787-9 Air Canada flies on this route has 298 seats, which makes the fifth-freedom setup ideal: Around 180 people bound for Delhi will board the plane on average in Calgary. The other 120 seats can go to passengers going to London and from London to Delhi.

More Flights to Nuuk, Greenland: SAS Will Start Copenhagen Link

It isn’t just United Airlines starting flights next year to Nuuk, Greenland (GOH). Scandinavian carrier SAS will fly to Nuuk from Copenhagen (CPH) 3 times a week starting June 27, 2025. This underscores how the Nuuk airport expansion, which will be inaugurated next month, is acting as a magnet for more traffic to the world’s largest island. 

United is also going to serve Nuuk from Newark (EWR) twice a week beginning June 14, 2025.

While United will use a 737 MAX for the relatively short 4-hour flight, SAS did not say if it plans to use a single-aisle jet or one of its larger, intercontinental Airbus A330s and A350s. The route from Copenhagen to Nuuk is a little over 2,200 miles, well within the range of even the single-aisle Airbus A320neo that SAS operates.

As air traffic to the Arctic is expected to rise sharply, airlines are getting ready. Icelandair, Air Greenland, and Atlantic Airways — the airline of the Faroe Islands — have signed a cooperation agreement. The 3 carriers will codeshare on flights beginning in 2025. This means, they said, easier connections between Greenland and the Faroe Islands, and North America and Europe, with 1 ticket through Iceland.

Final Thoughts

October has been an exciting month for airline news. Among other developments, Air India and Vistara announced that their upcoming merger will result in a new loyalty program that may offer exciting possibilities. And as a new airline is born, another dies: Czech Airlines, the fifth oldest carrier in the world, has stopped flying.

U.S.-based flyers will soon be able to choose from more flights with the most unusual short-haul business class seat in the world, which Avianca is flying to Central and South America. And the 2 most intriguing long-haul business seats — Finnair’s no-recline flat bed and Lufthansa’s new Allegris concept — will also appear more frequently in the U.S.