Carry on: Emirates expands A380 network, Etihad codeshares with SAS, Lufthansa bidding for premium economy

Emirates’ A380 network expands
Emirates is adding three new new routes to its A380 network next week: Dubait to San Francisco, Milan and Houston. This will bring the total to 33 destinations from Auckland in the East to Los Angeles in the West.

“Emirates now has 55 A380s in its fleet, one third of all A380s currently in the skies,” says Hubert Frach, Emirates divisional senior vice president, commercial operations West. “Having the ability to launch three new A380 destinations in three days is no small feat. It requires careful planning, multi-department coordination, airport preparedness and above all the tenacity to make it happen.”

About 11 new A380 aircraft have joined the Emirates fleet this year. The airline has also launched nine new A380 destinations in the past 12 months with its most recent ones being Mumbai, Frankfurt, Dallas and Kuwait. The superjumbo was also launched for a one-off showcase to cities such as Glasgow, Manila, Tehran and Vienna.

Etihad codeshares with Scandinavia’s SAS
Etihad Airways has announced codeshare operations with Scandinavia's airline SAS. It is Etihad’s 47th airline partnership globally and its 22nd in Europe. For SAS, Etihad is the 23rd codeshare partner and the third with strong presence in the Middle East. Both airlines will also develop and sign a frequent flyer agreement, which will benefit the members of Etihad Airways’ Etihad Guest and SAS’ EuroBonus loyalty programmes.

The deal will see SAS place its SK code on Etihad Airways’ flights between Abu Dhabi and Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Rome, Milan, Zurich, Geneva and London Heathrow. In turn, Etihad Airways will place its EY code on SAS-operated flights from these European destinations, excluding Brussels, onto SAS’ hubs in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm.

Lufthansa opens bidding for premium economy
Lufthansa passengers travelling in economy can now bid for an upgrade to the airline's new premium economy class. The seating product is available on all routes served by Boeing 747-8 aircraft from Frankfurt and Munich: Bangalore, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Beijing, Sao Paolo, Seoul, Tokyo Haneda and Washington, DC.

Qantas injects more into Jetstar Japan
Qantas Airways and Japan Airlines (JAL) will inject $A114 million into Jetstar Japan to bolster its growth as it prepares to start international flights next year. The funding boost will take the form of non-voting shares over two investment tranches and will be equally shared by the two airlines.

"This investment will support Jetstar Japan's growth including the launch of international operations in early 2015, enabling the airline to capitalise on the significant potential of the low-cost carrier market in the world's third-largest economy," Qantas says.