Boston Aviation

Delta has announced a minor change on its route from Boston to London-Heathrow. As of March 30, 2019, Delta Air Lines will operate an Airbus A330-200 on the route instead of the Boeing 767-300ER that is currently in use. This will result in a total increase of 8 seats, from 226 to 234 seats, however, more importantly, all of them will be business class seats. This is important because Boston to London is a very premium heavy route and business class seats are the most profitable. The current business class on the route is usually sold out, so Delta thinks the market could benefit from an increase in premium seating. Source:  www.delta.com

With all the recent new route announcements from Delta, I wanted to create one post to highlight the true scale of the airline's and its partners' expansion in the upcoming year from Boston. Amsterdam, Netherlands- KLM launches new service - March 31 London-Heathrow- Additional daylight trip by Virgin Atlantic - April 1 Cleveland-  Delta  launches new 3x daily service - April 1 Pittsburgh-  Delta  increases from 4x to 5x trips - April 2 Seoul-Incheon, South Korea - Korean launches 5x weekly service - April 12 Jacksonville, Fla. -  Delta  increases from 2x to 3x trips - April 14 Nashville, Tenn. -  Delta  increases from 3x to 4x trips - April 15 Edinburgh, Scotland -  Delta  launches seasonal daily service - May 23 Lisbon, Portugal -  Delta  launches seasonal daily service - May 23 Indianapolis -  Delta  increases from 3x to 4x trips - June 8 Philadelphia -  Delta  increases from 4x to 6x trips - June 8 Chicago O’Hare -  Delta  launches new 5x daily service - Sept. 9 Newark, N

United is terminating its route between Boston and Cleveland and Delta is beginning service from Boston to Cleveland. United Airlines will be terminating its 3 times daily service between the two cities as of March 7, 2019. Less than an hour after United's announcement, Delta announced they will be starting service from Boston to Cleveland 3 times daily beginning April 1, 2019. I would not be surprised to learn that Delta had no intention of starting the route yet, but seeing United leave the route, they decided to quickly add the route to not let JetBlue further strengthen its position on the route. Although it is sad to see United remove the route, it's great that there will be a carrier to pick it up. Source:  news.delta.com

Delta Air Lines has been rapidly expanding from Boston Logan Airport, with a goal of growing a large focus city. The airline has announced several new important regional routes from Boston. The routes are as follows, Boston to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington D.C. 6 times daily starting September 8, 2019; Boston to Chicago O'Hare 5 daily flights beginning September 8, 2019; Boston to Newark, New Jersey 4 flights daily starting September 9, 2019; and Boston to Cleveland 3 daily flights from April 1, 2019 (more on that in a separate post). All flights will be serviced by Delta Connection Embraer E170s. That is an increase of 18 daily flights from Boston. These flight addition hold more significance than it seems. All of the markets are major business markets, and markets in which Delta is weaker in than its competitors: United Airlines (in Newark, Chicago, and Cleveland) and American Airlines (in Chicago and Washington D.C.). Delta is adding these flights to str

For a while there has been speculation that Royal Air Maroc, the flag carrier of Morocco, will be joining the OneWorld Airline Alliance. This has been all but confirmed now and is being covered by major aviation news outlets. In a recent article by The Points Guy, he wrote about the future routes to North America by the airline. The airline has announced it will begin flights to Miami as of next year, however, the article has a paragraph about new destinations that says, " Miami will be added next April and Boston in July, according to the airline." That sentence surprised me, because although I have long thought that this is a route that will be served, no official announcement has been made. Royal Air Maroc codeshares with JetBlue, so people could use Boston as a transit airport en route to Morocco. Additionally, this route could be used by people who need to arrive at some other destination in Africa, using the robust African network, a continent that has limited service

American Airlines has announced they will fly an Airbus A321T between Boston and Los Angeles starting April 2, 2019. This is a very premium configured Airbus A321, with First class and Business class featuring lie-flat seats, and only 72 economy seats. This is done on the highly competitive route where United, JetBlue, Delta and now American Airlines featuring lie-flat seats in business class. This is fantastic news and a huge upgrade for business class passengers compared to the non-lie-flat recliner business class offering on American Airlines Boeing 737-800. The catch is that American Airlines operates 7 daily flights between Boston and Los Angeles, however, only two daily frequencies will be flown on the A321T, and other frequencies will continue to be flown by aircraft with no lie-flat seating in premium classes. Source:  onemileatatime.com

Recently I wrote that in the Massport's Board Meeting powerpoint, on a slide about new routes, there was a mention of Norwegian Airlines adding flights to Rome from Boston, hinting at the possibility of the route being announced soon. The official announcement has been made and came with an extra twist. Norwegian Airlines will inaugurate seasonal service to Madrid and Rome from Boston next year. Both routes will be flown on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner,. The route to Rome will be flown four times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, beginning March 31, 2019. Madrid will be serviced three times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, starting May 2, 2019. With these route additions, Norwegian will fly to four transatlantic destinations from Boston. This move also breaks up the monopolies held by Alitalia and Iberia, on their routes to Rome and Madrid respectively. I find the addition of Madrid very surprising, this will be the 3rd carrier to announce their intentio

I love trying to find potential new routes that could come to Boston Logan Airport before they are announced publicly. Recently, while looking through the Massachusetts Port Authority September Board Meeting released online, on slide 10, the slide about "New and Expanded Service at Logan", under "Expanded Service" it listed "Norwegian Airlines-Rome (March 2019)". As of yet there has not been any official announcement from either Massport or the airline, but clearly, Norwegian Airlines is considering adding this route at one point or another. I do not doubt that we will see this route in the future, however, I do doubt that the airline will begin service to Rome in March 2019, considering the route has not been announced yet. Source:  massport.com

Almost half a year has passed since Delta Air Lines started the seasonal route from Boston to Aruba. The airline has announced the intentions to make this route year-round, not just seasonally, as planned originally. Delta flies the route once a week, on Saturday, on a Boeing 737-900. Although it is great to see Delta switching the service to year-round, I really hope that the airline will add another weekly frequency, because, at the moment, it just seems uncompetitive compared to JetBlue's 12 weekly flights. Source:  www.routesonline.com

A Delta Connection flight from Philadelphia to Boston encountered an "unmanned aircraft" on its approach to Boston. The "unmanned aircraft" turned out to be a drone, but luckily the plane was not hit and landed safely. The FAA and Massachusetts State Police will be investigating this recent incident. Drone strikes are more damaging than birdstrikes to planes, and with the surging popularity of drones, this type of incident is becoming more and more common, unfortunately. Please make sure you abide by all rules when flying a personal drone, so as to not cause any damage to other people. Source:  thepointsguy.com

My new video documenting some plane spotting that I did at Zurich Airport is now available on YouTube . Please go check it out.

Among recent announcements from Delta Air Lines, the airline has quietly announced that they will be upgauging the seasonal Boston to Dublin route. Currently, the route is flown daily on a Boeing 757-200, a single-aisle jet, while as of next year, the airline will use a Boeing 767-300ER, a wide-body jet, on the route. Clearly, the route has been doing well for the airline as the season has been extended this year compared to last year and the route will see a larger aircraft next year. I'm interested if we will eventually see the route go year-round on Delta. Delta is clearly putting up a fight to end Aer Lingus' domination on the route and strengthen its overall position in Boston. Source:  news.delta.com

Although recently Boston has seen a massive influx of new international flights, occasionally there are airlines for which service to Boston does not work out. Unfortunately Aeromexico is one such case and the airline has announced they are terminating their flight to Boston as of January 6, 2019, after the route was deemed unprofitable by the airline. The airline flies a Boeing 737 to Boston on a daily basis. This comes on the heels of JetBlue's entry into the market today. JetBlue launched daily flights from Boston to Mexico City and from the announcement of the flight I questioned whether or not the market was large enough for two airlines. Clearly, it isn't. I do wonder if Aeromexico could have fared better had the route been scheduled at a better time. It  leaves Boston past midnight and arrives in Mexico City at 04:00 AM, resulting in a very rough red-eye flight. JetBlue now offers a day flight to Mexico City, so hopefully the route has better results than Aeromexico,

Delta Air Lines has announced they are adding seasonal daily flights from Boston to Edinburgh, starting May 23, 2019, on a Boeing 757-200. This will be Delta's sixth trans-Atlantic destination from Boston. The flight is scheduled to depart Boston at 22:15 (local time) and arrive in Edinburgh at 09:25 (local time) +1 day. The return flight will depart Edinburgh at 10:55 (local time) and will arrive in Boston at 13:02 (local time). This will be Boston's first ever flight to Scotland. Huge congratulations to Delta and Boston Logan for this new service! Source:  news.delta.com

Delta has announced its first routes for the Airbus A220-100 that it is scheduled to receive soon and Boston has a spot on the list. Source:  news.delta.com

Hainan Airlines has filed some changes for their routes this upcoming winter to reflect decreased passenger count during the winter months. One of the changes is Boston's route to Beijing, which will be decreased from daily flights to 5 times weekly effective October 28, 2018. There are no indications of when or if this flight will return to daily. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Great news from British Airways. Beginning March 31, 2019, the airline will fly their Airbus A380-800 daily, as opposed to 3 times weekly like they do now. I look forward to seeing the giant plane in Boston more frequently. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Minor change, however noteworthy enough to write about it. Lufthansa has changed the aircraft that it will use on the Munich to Boston route from an Airbus A350-900XWB to an Airbus A340-600 effective March 31, 2019. This change means that the route will have first class available again because the A350 does not feature first class. Source:  www.routesonline.com

JetBlue has announced a route shake-up that will affect its operations at Boston. The airline will terminate its multiple daily flights between Boston and Washington-Dulles Airport effective January 7, 2019. This is an interesting move, as it is giving United a complete monopoly between Boston and Washington-Dulles. The airline is, however, going to continue flying between Boston and Washington-National, the secondary airport of Washington D.C. Additionally, JetBlue will add a new daily flight from Boston to Rochester, New York beginning January 8, 2019, on an Embraer E190. With the addition of this destination, JetBlue is ending the monopoly that American Airlines has held on the route. Finally, JetBlue will increase service on nine existing routes between Boston and Aruba; Nassau, The Bahamas; Orlando, Florida; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Santiago, Dominican Republic; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Sarasota, Florida; Tampa Bay, Florida; and West Palm Beach, Florida. Source

Qatar Airways are changing the aircraft they will be using this winter on their route from Doha to Boston from an Airbus A350-900 to a Boeing 777-300ER from December 1, 2018, to January 31, 2019. I do not know the reasoning for an aircraft change, but this is a large increase in capacity from 283 seats currently to 335. I am interested if this will become a regular visitor at Boston and the reasoning behind the switch. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Primera Air has gone bankrupt and ceased operations. Unfortunately, this means none of the announced routes will come to fruition. Primera Air blamed their bankruptcy on late deliveries of aircraft from Airbus and the associated costs of leasing aircraft to make up for the undelivered aircraft. It is a shame that the company didn't make it, I was really excited to see the new markets such as Brussels and Berlin that the company was going to open next summer. Hopefully some airline will decide to try to fill in the markets left open after the demise of Primera. I will miss seeing their gorgeous livery in Boston. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Delta has added daily seasonal flights from Boston to Lisbon. Starting May 23, 2019, the flight will operate daily on the Boeing 757-200. The flight is scheduled to depart Boston at 21:45 (local time) and arrive in Lisbon at 09:15 (local time) +1 day. The return flight is scheduled to depart Lisbon at 10:45 (local time) and arrive in Boston at 13:15 (local time). This will be Delta's fifth scheduled transatlantic route from Boston. Additionally, Delta is ending the monopoly held by TAP Air Portugal on the route. This is part of Delta's broader strategy of growing Boston into a mini-transatlantic hub by expanding its presence in Boston. Also, Delta is also going up against JetBlue, which has a large codeshare partnership with TAP Air Portugal, by competing on the route. They are attracting more customers in the Boston region, an essential part of the airline expanding its presence in Boston. Source:  www.routesonline.com

JetBlue has added seasonal Airbus A320-200 flights from Boston to Palm Springs, California. The flight will be operated twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays with the plane departing Boston at 17:01 (local time) and arriving in Palm Springs at 20:31 (local time). The return flight will be a red-eye flight with the plane departing Palm Springs at 21:26 (local time) and arrive in Boston at 05:30 (local time) +1 day. The flights will operate from February 14, 2019, until April 30, 2019. Hopefully, this new route does well. Source:  thepointsguy.com

My trip report from Dubrovnik to Zurich is now up on YouTube. Go check it out!

Copa Airlines, the flag carrier of Panama, which flies the route from Boston to Panama City, has announced that beginning December 21, 2018 the airline will be utilizing its new 737 MAX 9 on occasion on its route to Boston. For business class passengers this is a huge upgrade as the seats will be fully lie-flat on their new aircraft, compared to recliner seats on the other aircraft. Unfortunately for economy passengers, the new aircraft will not have in-flight entertainment screens at every seat like their other aircraft do, and will instead require passengers to use their own device. All passengers will benefit from the larger carry on baggage storage and quieter engines that the 737 MAX utilizes to enjoy the flight more. Source:  www.routesonline.com

After all the new destinations in the last month this addition seems almost insignificant, but I still decided to write about it. Delta is adding seasonal service from Boston to Sarasota, Florida, beginning March 2, 2019, to April 27, 2019, flying once weekly on Saturdays on a Skywest Embraer E175. This addition, although a welcome one, confuses me. It seems almost insignificant because they are using a small plane to fly the route once weekly. JetBlue, on the other hand, is operating the route also seasonally but daily and utilizing a much larger Airbus A320 for the route. I really think Delta should've added a few more weekly frequencies, because many will likely choose JetBlue over Delta, because of the frequency with which it serves the market. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Boston is getting another long-haul route... and it's not Primera Air... and it's a domestic flight. Hawaiian Airlines has announced that they will begin flights to Boston from Honolulu, starting April 4, 2019 and flying 5 times weekly, all days except Tuesdays and Wednesdays, on an Airbus A330-200 with 276 seats. The route is scheduled to depart Honolulu 13:45 (local time) and arrive in Boston at 06:00 +1 day (local time). The return flight will depart Boston at 08:55 (local time) and will arrive in Honolulu at 14:35 (local time). The flight into Boston will last 10 hours 15 minutes, while the flight from Boston will last 11 hours 40 minutes. Hawaiian Airlines states that more than 500 people travel from Boston Logan to Hawaii every day, so clearly there is demand for the flight. Additionally, Hawaiian codeshares with JetBlue Airways which could provide connection opportunities. In honor of the announcement, Hawaiian is selling $617 (not a coincidence that it is the area code

Primera Air isn't slowing down- for the fourth consecutive week the airline is announcing a new route to Boston, this time from Madrid. Again, I will question the long-term viability of this route, similarly to the airline's Frankfurt addition. The airline is planning to add a seasonal route to Madrid from Boston on a Boeing 737 MAX 9, starting August 17, flying 3 times weekly, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The flight is scheduled to leave Madrid at 19:00 (local time) and arrive in Boston at 21:05 (local time). The return flight is scheduled to depart Boston at 22:35 (local time) and will arrive in Madrid at 11:20 +1 day (local time). This is a great addition for Boston, as it adds competition to a route where Iberia maintains a monopoly after Air Europa's departure from Boston, but I really do wonder if Primera Air will manage to succeed where Air Europa, a much larger company, failed. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Primera Air has been on a roll with two new routes from Boston in the past two weeks. The airline is continuing their additions by adding another new destination from Boston- Frankfurt. Beginning July 17, 2019, the airline will inaugurate the route a Boeing 737 MAX 9 flying the route 4 times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The flight is scheduled to leave Frankfurt at 18:00 (local time) and land in Boston at 20:35 (local time). The return flight is scheduled to leave Boston at 22:05 (local time) and will land in Frankfurt at 11:20 +1 day (local time). This new route intrigues me because, put simply, this is not a market that I expected Primera Air to enter. Frankfurt is primarily a business destination and a connecting hub for Lufthansa. There aren't too many people who travel between Boston and Frankfurt as leisure travelers. I say this because low-cost carriers are usually targeting vacationers. I'm not really confident that Primera Air will be successfu

After an unsuccessful winter where we saw record low yields on SAS' Airbus A330-300 this year, SAS announced they would be switching this route to be flown seasonally. Luckily, it seems like they are doing a lot better during the summer months, because the airline has announced that they intend to fly the route daily during the summer of 2019, as opposed to the current four weekly flights. I am really glad to see that SAS is doing well during the summer months, hopefully, with time, they will chose to reinstate winter flights. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Interesting news today from Primera Air, which is continuing its expansion from Boston. Starting June 9th, 2019, Primera Air will fly 4 times weekly between Boston and Berlin-Tegel Airport for the summer season, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays on a Boeing 737 MAX 9. The flight will depart Berlin at 18:15 (local time) and arrive in Boston at 21:05 (local time). The return flight will depart Boston at 22:35 (local time) and arrive in Berlin at 12:05 (+1 day) local time. This is great news, as it fills in another unserved European destination (the list of which keeps on shrinking). This flight also allows Boston to return to 3 German destinations with direct flights, filling a gap which was left after the demise of AirBerlin. I really think this is the right carrier for the route from Boston, as they will use a small fuel-efficient plane, which is great considering the demand to Berlin from Boston isn't as big as other European cities. Additionally, this is a low-cost a

My new video on my flight between Toronto and Zagreb on Air Canada Rouge's Boeing 767-300ER is now released. Please consider checking it out on my YouTube Channel.

Boston Logan's European flight map just keeps on expanding. This time it is the addition of Brussels on Primera Air. The airline has announced its plan to start the route June 4, 2019, flying four times weekly on a Boeing 737 MAX 9. In my opinion, this is a very good plan for the airline, as unlike Paris and London, the other destinations serviced by Primera Air from Boston, the airline will face no direct competition from any other airline. I wish the airline good luck with the route, it is nice to see a direct flight between Boston and Brussels. Source:  www.routesonline.com

With the recent announcement of Virgin Atlantic increasing service from Manchester, England to Boston, they seem to have scared Thomas Cook Airlines out of the market. Thomas Cook Airlines currently operates seasonal flights between Boston and Manchester, England three times weekly. Unfortunately, the airline has announced that they will not be returning to Boston next season and will be ending the route. This one surprised me because last year Thomas Cook had much better yields on their flights between Boston and Manchester than Virgin Atlantic, making the cut unexpected, but hopefully, this will help improve the yields on Virgin Atlantic due to a lack of competition on the route. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Today Avianca El Salvador officially began its route from San Salvador to Boston, returning the link between the two cities, as well as adding another connection between Boston and Central America. The inaugural flight was flown by an Airbus A320Neo, with the registration N769AV. The flight time between the cities is 4 hours 50 minutes. This new flight represents a chance for Boston planespotters to catch the gorgeous Avianca livery, because the Avianca flight from Bogota only operates during the night, making it impossible to photograph.

Today, Thomas Glynn, CEO of Massport, which operates Boston Logan International Airport along with various other ports and airports in Massachusetts, announced his resignation from his position. Thomas Glynn has achieved a lot for Boston Logan Airport during his 6-year tenure. During his time as CEO 20 new international routes have been launched or announced, which has resulted in an increase of 65% in international passengers. He has done a lot to make Boston Logan Airport the airport it is today. John Pranckevicius, Massport's chief financial officer, will be interim CEO when Glynn leaves this November.

The day has finally come!!! Korean Air has announced that it will fly from Seoul-Incheon to Boston Logan Airport beginning April 12, 2019. The flight will depart Seoul 09:30 AM and arrive in Boston at 10:30 AM. The return flight will depart Boston at 01:30 PM and will arrive in Seoul at 04:50 PM the following day. The route will operate 5 times a week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday on a Boeing 787-9 with 269 seats. Now, time for a brief history lesson about the flight. Korean Air was actually the first Asian airline to operate flights to Boston. It started the route on a Boeing 747 and flew a route from Seoul to Boston to Washington DC to Seoul. The plane was a large plane with 4 engines and the triangle routing was inefficient, and as a result, soon after its launch, Korean Air dropped it in February 2001 and Boston was left with no flights to Asia. More than a decade passed with no Asian flights, but finally in 2012 Japan Airlines announced service to Tokyo from

The new KLM flight to Boston announced this week will have the flight number 617. This is interesting because 617 is the area code for phones near Boston. I love how original airlines are about things like this sometimes.

Another day and another new route is announced to Boston. KLM has announced they will begin service to Boston during the summer season of 2019. KLM will operate its Airbus A330-300 with 292 seats for the flight. Beginning March 31, 2019, the airline will offer 3 weekly flights and starting July 1, 2019, the airline will offer 4 weekly flights from Boston. Skyteam Alliance partner Delta operates 2 daily flights from Boston to Amsterdam during the summer, and these new flights are not replacing any flights, but are instead an addition to the flights already offered. The flights will operate year round. This is an amazing expansion for Boston, Terminal E will be very colorful next year with the large amount of new international airlines. Source:  www.usatoday.com

Today, July 1, 2018, has finally arrived. This means that LATAM Brasil is finally launching direct flights between Sao Paulo and Boston on a Boeing 767-300ER. This flight will last 10 hours and 15 minutes. This will be Boston's southernmost flight, as well as Boston Logan's first flight south of the equator. Massport has been trying to get a direct route to Brazil for a very long time, so it is great to see Massport achieve its goal. This flight will connect the large Brazilian diaspora around Boston as well as numerous businesses between the two cities. The flight will arrive in Boston on July 2, 2018.

Virgin Atlantic has a seasonal flight from Manchester, England to Boston Logan Airport. Currently, the airline flies twice weekly. The only other airline that flies this route is Thomas Cook Airlines, three times a week. Today, the airline has announced that they intend to fly the route three times weekly next year, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Interestingly, these are the same days that Thomas Cook operates its flights.

A United Airlines Boeing 737-700 coming in for landing in Boston. The plane has the registration N15710 and is 19.9 years old. The plane used to fly for Continental Airlines until the airline merged with United.

This Saturday, June 23, 2018, Emirates will fly the Airbus A380 to Boston on the flight's regular schedule. For a while, it has been rumored that Emirates is considering increasing capacity on the flight by increasing capacity on the route by either adding a second daily flight or by changing the plane to an A380. Currently this is just a test to see how the plane would operate in Boston Logan, but hopefully, this could lead to Boston seeing the A380 on a regular basis. For passengers, this is a huge win, the A380 is much more spacious than the Boeing 777 the airline currently uses.  I really hope they add the A380 flights on a permanent basis. It would be nice to see the gates that Massport built exclusively for the A380, (it has 2 doors vertically, not horizontally so it can only be used for the A380) be used more, because now they feel slightly useless, considering Boston only gets seasonal 3x weekly service from British Airways, while having 3 gates for A380s.

More information has been released about Sichuan Airlines planned flight from Chengdu to Boston. The airline filed its plans for the twice-weekly flight with the U. S. Department of Transportation. The airline plans to start flights December 17, 2018, flying a 331 seat Airbus A350-900. The proposed schedule is to depart Chengdu on Mondays and Fridays at 21:00 and arrive in Boston at 00:15 (+1 Day). The flight will depart Boston at 02:15 on Tuesdays and Saturdays and arrive in Chengdu at 06:35(+1 day). The flight distance is 7,400 miles. The flight isn't on sale yet, but I do not see any reason why the US DoT would not approve the flight. When I first heard rumors about the possibility of this flight, I questioned if it was an empty promise, but by this point, it is clear that the airline is planning to start this service. I do question how this flight will do in the long run, because the demand to Chengdu is not very large. I could see this route being used by people connecting fr

A smoky landing in Boston by a Delta Boeing 767-300ER after its flight from Paris

In 2015, El Al (the flag carrier of Israel) announced direct flights from Tel Aviv- Ben Gurion Airport to Boston Logan on a Boeing 767-300ER. The flight operates 3 times a week, but the 767s that the airlines are old, very old. The average age of one in their fleet is 22.5 years old and unlike other airlines that operate the 767, notably the 3 US legacy carriers, the airline has not retrofitted them with new seats. The aircraft is a blast from the past, with no personal video/IFE screens and no power ports, a rare sight in today's world, especially on a 10.5-hour flight. The airline is planning to retire the aircraft from service by 2020, this is resulting in the flight being changed to a Boeing 777-200ER this October 28, 2018. This is a huge improvement over the old 767s as there will be power ports at each seat and personal IFE screens. This also represents a large capacity increase as well, although the number of flights operated by the airline won't increase. The 767 carri

Today June 9, 2018, Delta Air Lines has inaugurated its new seasonal route from Boston to Aruba. The airline will fly a Boeing 737-900ER with 180 seats. The airline plans to operate the route weekly on Saturdays, until August 25, 2018. Then the airline will restart the flights in January. The flights are scheduled to last 4 hours and 38 minutes. It is good that Delta is starting this route, as it will increase its presence in Boston, and end JetBlue's monopoly on the Boston to Aruba route. Sources:  www.caribjournal.com

A Southwest Boeing 737-800 taxiing to takeoff in Boston Logan Airport. The plane has the registration N8631A and is 4.1 years old.

Virgin Atlantic will be adding a second daily flight from Boston to London- Heathrow. Beginning March 31, 2019, the airline will operate a second flight from Boston on an Airbus A330-300. The interesting thing about the new flight is that it will be a day flight, departing Boston in the morning and arriving in London in the evening and returning late at night and staying at the airport overnight, as opposed to the majority of flights that leave Boston in the evening and arrive in Europe in the morning. There are very few routes from North America that operate on such a schedule. British Airways is the only other airline that operates morning flights from Boston. It is great to see Virgin Atlantic increasing its presence in Boston without adding service at the peak time for departures to Europe when Terminal E is cramped. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Delta has announced another route from Boston. Starting October 1st, 2018, Delta Air Lines will fly four daily flights from Boston to Philadelphia on a CRJ900 aircraft of Endeavor Air. These flights will operate for Delta Connection. Delta will become the third airline to operate the route along with JetBlue Airways and American Airlines. Philadelphia is an American Airlines hub so I can imagine that American is not too happy with this addition as this will increase competition dramatically. For Delta, this is a great addition as they are adding their own planes onto a very competitive route from Boston. Delta has been trying to grow its presence in Boston because although Delta considers Boston a hub/ focus city, American Airlines transports more passengers from Boston because of its use of larger planes. Additions such as these, onto routes dominated by American, will help Delta become the larger carrier at Boston of the two. Source:  www.routesonline.com

I have posted a new video on my YouTube channel, reviewing my flight on JetBlue from Houston- Hobby to Boston Logan. Feel free to like the video and subscribe to my channel. Additionally, I have created an Instagram account feel free to follow it for different pictures and videos from flights. YouTube Channel:  www.youtube.com/channel Instagram tag: @nickolayav

An American Airlines 737-800 coming in for landing in Boston.

JetBlue is continuing its aggressive expansion efforts from Boston Logan Airport with newly announced flights to Havana and Mexico City. JetBlue Airways will begin operating weekly flights on Saturdays on an Airbus A320-200 starting November 10, 2018. Additionally, starting October 25, 2018, JetBlue will launch daily flights on an Airbus A320-200 to Mexico City. This route really surprised me, Boston to Mexico City is served daily by Aeromexico on a Boeing 737-800 and it is not a huge market from Boston. I am interested how both carriers load factors will be on this route. Sources:  www.flightglobal.com

Today, May 18, 2018, Primera Air is launching its flight from London-Gatwick to Boston Logan Airport. The flights will be operated by an A321neo on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, departing from London at 17:00 and arriving in Boston at 20:10, both local times. The return flights will depart Boston at 21:40 and arrive in London at 09:30 the next day, both local times. Primera Air will become the fourth low-cost transatlantic carrier that operates flights to Boston, with the other ones being Norwegian, WOW Air, and Level. Additionally, this will be the third airport in London that Boston has direct flights to, with the other ones being at Heathrow and Gatwick. Finally, Primera Air has announced some changes to the planes operating the flights. The previously planned Boeing 757 flights have been changed back to the A321neo. The carrier is still planning to launch its service to Paris- Charles de Gaulle on June 21, 2018. I hope Primera Air does well with its flights to Boston!

An Air France 777-200 ER coming in for landing at Boston Logan Airport after its flight from Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

Level, a low-cost subsidiary of Iberia, launched seasonal flights March 28, 2018, from Barcelona, Spain to Boston on Airbus A330-200. The flights were planned to operate until October 27, 2018, when it would be terminated until next season. Recently, Level has decided to make this flight operate year-round instead of seasonally. This is a huge surprise for me as it is pretty rare to see a route go from seasonal to year-round in such a short span of time. I guess the route has been doing pretty well for the airline so far. This year Boston will see a lot more capacity to Spain than previous years, with year-round flights to Barcelona and Madrid, and daily flights to Madrid in the summer, as opposed to last year where Boston did not have flights to Barcelona and only seasonal non-daily flights to Madrid. Hopefully, the load factors on all these flights to Spain will be good despite the large increase in the number of seats available.

Recently, I wrote about how PenAir will have to terminate Plattsburgh, Presque Isle and its seasonal flight to Bar Harbor because of the Essential Air Service contract ending. Unfortunately, the flights to Plattsburgh and Presque Isle have been moved to Washington-Dulles and Newark Liberty Airport on United Airlines, respectively, therefore, Boston will no longer have flights to those destinations. The good news is that the seasonal service Essential Air Service contract for flights to Bar Harbor has been awarded to Silver Airways which will operate the route twice daily starting July 1, 2018, on Saab 340. Therefore, Boston will not lose the seasonal flight to Bar Harbor under the Essential Air Service contracts. This will be Silver Airways' only destination from Boston. Additionally, Boutique Air has announced that it will operate three flights daily from Massena, New York to Boston. Massena is located just south of the Canadian border. The airline will utilize the Pilatus PC-12.

Boston Logan Airport has been expanding rapidly recently with constant announcements of new services, routes, and airlines. Unfortunately, not all airlines are doing so well in the market. SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) inaugurated daily flights from Copenhagen to Boston on a leased Boeing 737 from PrivatAir in early 2016 with 88 seats. When the lease on the plane ended, the airline decided to switch to its own Airbus A330-300 and A340-300 on the route while decreasing to three or four weekly flights. Unfortunately, the airline has not been selling so many seats on a much larger plane. Some planes during the winter had as few as 40 passengers on a plane with 240-260 seats. SAS had decent load factors throughout the summer, but their load factors throughout the winter have been terrible. The goal of the route is two connect the cities which are both centers for pharmaceutical companies and tourism. As a result of such abysmal load factors, the airline has decided to change the rout

A Spirit Airlines Airbus A320-200 coming in for landing in Boston Logan Airport.

WestJet has announced they will be terminating their Montreal-Trudeau to Boston route on June 27, 2018. Currently, the airline operates the flight twice daily on a Bombardier Dash 8- Q400. The flight is operated by WestJet Encore, the regional subsidiary of WestJet. This route is also operated by Air Canada Express. From Boston, WestJet Encore also flies to Halifax and Toronto-Pearson. It is unfortunate that this route will be terminated as it will give Air Canada a full monopoly on the route. Sources:  www.routesonline.com

A United Airlines Boeing 777-200 blasts out of Logan Airport en route to San Francisco International Airport as the sun sets over Boston. Also, the colorful assortment of tails of different airlines that operate from Terminal E can be seen in the background.

Another day, another new route from Boston Logan. Today, May 3, 2018, JetBlue Airways inaugurated its flights from Boston Logan Airport to Minneapolis- St. Paul International Airport. JetBlue will fly the route three times daily on an Airbus A320-200. JetBlue will become the fourth carrier that will fly the route with the others being Delta Air Lines, Sun Country Airlines, and Spirit Airlines. This will add increased competition on a route dominated by Delta, because of its hub location in Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. Hopefully, JetBlue does well on its new route. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Today, May 2, 2018, Norwegian Air Shuttle has launched another route to Boston Logan Airport from Paris- Charles de Gaulle. This is the second destination that Norwegian serves from Boston. Boston to Paris-Charles de Gaulle is also operated by Delta Air Lines and Air France in addition to Norwegian's new route. Primera Air is also going to start flying the route this summer, meaning there will be four airlines operating the route this summer. Although Boston to Paris is a large market, I really question if four airlines are too many. Hopefully Norwegian does well with the route. Source: www.routesonline.com

The airport awards by Skytrax were released. Skytrax is a company that rates, reviews, and ranks airlines. By many, its considered the official reviewer and ranker for airports and airlines. Recently the company released their ranking Top 100 Airports Worldwide for 2018. Unsurprisingly, Singapore Changi placed first again. Boston Logan was in 89th place, same place as in 2017, situated behind 11 other US airports. Hopefully, Boston is able to move up in the rankings next year. Read the article for more information: www.worldairportawards.com

Iberia has announced that they will operate the Madrid to Boston route year-round, as opposed to seasonally. Iberia has not operated the route during January and February previously, but will now begin to do so. This is a route that I always thought could operate year-round with reasonable loads, looks like Iberia believes the same. Source:  www.lavanguardia.com

This is a British Airways Boeing 747-400 a.k.a. The Queen of the Skies, landing in Boston after its flight from London-Heathrow Airport.

Lots of news from Boston Logan Airport today. An announcement came from JetBlue about two new routes and an increased service. Boston will receive a new daily service from Boston to Hollywood Burbank Airport on an Airbus A320-200 starting September 5, 2018. The airport is located 12 miles north of Downtown Los Angeles. Additionally, JetBlue will add a seasonal twice-weekly flight to Yampa Valley Airport in Hayden, Colorado on an Airbus A320-200 beginning December 15, 2018. This route is clearly aimed at people traveling to ski/snowboard resorts. Also, JetBlue will add a second daily flight on an Airbus A320-200 from Boston to Long Beach, a JetBlue focus city. I really hope these flights do well from Boston! Another really interesting announcement came from Massport. The company, which runs Logan, will invest $15 million to study the possibility of an Automated People Mover for Boston Logan Airport. The goal of the project is to increase the number of people using public transport to g

Today, April 24, 2018, Virgin America ceases to exist, therefore it is their last departure from Boston. The company has undergone a merger with Alaska Airlines and on April 25 all flights will be operated by Alaska Airlines and the Virgin America brand will no longer exist. Virgin America operated flights to Boston from San Francisco and Los Angeles, both flights will continue to be operated by Alaska Airlines. Luckily, the Virgin America livery will be seen for quite some time because of the long process of repainting all planes into their new livery. Source:  www.travelandleisure.com

Huge news from Avianca today! For a while now a flight from Boston to San Salvador has been expected to begin this year by Avianca El Salvador. TACA Airlines used to fly the route before the merger with Avianca occurred and the route was canceled. Today, the route was announced by Avianca and may now be booked. The route will begin August 17, 2018, and will be operated four times weekly on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Mondays and Fridays, the route will be operated on an Airbus A319-100 with capacity for 120 passengers and on Sundays and Wednesdays, the route will be operated on an Airbus A320-200 with capacity for 150 passengers. The flight from Boston is scheduled to be 5 hours and 13 minutes and the flight to Boston is scheduled to be 4 hours and 50 minutes. When flying from Boston to San Salvador expect to depart  at 16:05 local time and arrive in San Salvador at 19:18 local time. The return flight from San Salvador to Boston will depart San Salvador at 08:00 loca

This is an American Airlines A321-200 coming in for landing after its quick flight from New York- JFK Airport. The plane has the registration N580UW and is 3.9 years old. This is one of many flights between New York and Boston daily.

This is the video I posted on my YouTube channel, it is the landing in Boston on Icelandair's Boeing 757-200 after the flight from Keflavik Airport in Iceland. I will occasionally post videos on my YouTube channel with landings, takeoffs and flight reviews. Please subscribe if you are interested! To subscribe:  www.youtube.com

An interesting bit of news was released by the Boston Globe today. In  an article it stated that on Friday, April 13, 2018, a record number of passengers had flown out of Boston Logan on that day. 75,620 passengers and crew flew out of Boston on that day breaking the previous record from Columbus Day 2017 by over 6,000. This number was only passengers flying out of Boston, therefore people arriving in Boston didn't count. The large number of travelers was due to the travel rush for April Vacation occurring in schools in Massachusetts this week.

This is TAP Air Portugal Airbus A330-200 coming in for landing in Boston after its flight from Lisbon. The plane has the registration CS-TON, is called João XXI and is 10.2 years old. Boston is one of four destinations in the U.S. for TAP Air Portugal, which also flies to Newark Airport, J.F.K Airport, and Miami Airport. The airline has a codeshare agreement with JetBlue Airways, which offers connections through Boston.

Primera Air- the small airline is planning to launch low-cost flights to London-Stansted in May and Paris-Charles de Gaulle in June. The airline was planning to start the route using the A321neo and A321LR, but due to delays with the aircraft production the airline will not be able to launch the route using the A321neo, as a result, the airline will wet-lease Boeing 757s to operate the route instead, until the A321neos are delivered and launch service with the carrier. The route will be flown with the Boeing 757 from May 18, 2018, on the inaugural flight until May 28, 2018, when the airline plans to transition to the A321neo. I cannot wait to see the airline in Boston! Sources: airlinegeeks.com routesonline.com

This is Azores Airlines Airbus A340-300 coming in for landing after its flight from Ponta Delgada. The plane is being leased from HiFly, a Portuguese company that leases out planes to other companies. The plane has the registration CS-TQZ and is 20.4 years old. The plane has operated for many airlines, including Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

A couple of years ago, after the improving relations between America and Cuba, airlines were allowed to launch flights between the US and Cuba. Many airlines bid for slots to fly the route between the countries, including one from Boston by JetBlue, but due to limited slots Boston did not get the route. Recently, Alaska Airlines, Spirit, and Frontier all terminated their flights to Cuba, which has opened space for 34 weekly flights. Recently, the US Department of Transportation has allocated those slots to different airlines after the bidding process. Most of the slots went to airlines to increase frequencies from already served destinations, but JetBlue was awarded a tentative frequency for a single weekly flight from Boston to Cuba. The decision for the frequencies is still pending final approval from the Departement of Transportation when they will give the final decision on April 23, but they should follow this allocation of the slots. Hopefully, the Department of Transportation w

This is a JetBlue Airbus A320-200 in the I Love New York livery coming in for landing in Boston Logan Airport after its short flight from New York- John F. Kennedy. The plane has the registration N586JB and 14.2 years old.

Today, March 27, 2018, LEVEL, a wholly owned subsidiary of the International Airlines Group (IAG), the same company that owns British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, inaugurated its seasonal route from Barcelona-El Prat Airport to Boston. LEVEL will operate the route twice weekly on an Airbus A330-200 on Wednesdays and Saturdays until August 6, 2018, when the route will be operated three times weekly on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The route will be operated seasonally until October 27, 2018. LEVEL will be one of 3 airlines to offer low-cost transatlantic flights along with WOW air and Norwegian Airlines, but soon will be joined by Primera Air. Flights on LEVEL are currently operated by Iberia, but the airline plans to become an independent subsidiary of the IAG.This will further increase destinations available to travelers this summer and will offer a great, cheap way to hop the pond. Source:  www.routesonline.com

Another day and another airline switch to its summer schedule. Last year, British Airways became the first airline to fly a regularly scheduled Airbus A380 to Boston (Emirates did a one-off A380 flight to Boston before British Airways). Today, British Airways is bringing back its A380 to Boston for the summer season. The airline will fly the giant plane to Boston on Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays.The airport constructed special gates in Terminal E for the A380 to use, so it is nice seeing those gates used for the plane they were constructed for.

Today, March 24, 2018, Delta has returned to offering two daily flights from Boston to Amsterdam. Throughout the summer Delta Air Lines flies two daily flights, compared to the winter's single daily flight. The only difference is that this year, instead of seeing two daily Airbus A330-300s on the route, Delta will use a Boeing 767-300ER and one Airbus A330-300. This means that all of Delta's year-round routes to Europe from Boston (London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and Amsterdam-Schiphol) will now have Boeing 767-300ERs on their route. The Boston to Amsterdam route has a codeshare with SkyTeam Alliance partner KLM, which is why KLM doesn't fly to Boston. In the coming months, there will be a lot of seasonal route resumptions and increased service that will occur to cope with the increased travel demand during the summer and this is just one of many adjustments. Source:  www.routesonline.com

This is a Boeing 767-300ER of Delta Air Lines coming for landing at Boston after its flight from London-Heathrow Airport. The plane is 18.9 years old. This is one of three transatlantic routes Delta operates from Boston.

PenAir is a small company that operates regional flights to and from Boston. The airline considers Boston Logan Airport a hub and operates flights to Plattsburgh, NY, Presque Isle, ME and Bar Harbor, ME on Saab 340's with 33 seats. Since 2012 the airline has been providing service to the small communities under Essential Air Service, a federal subsidy for an airline to serve a route with low demand in order to connect the rural communities to larger cities. Unfortunately, PenAir's contract is coming to an end soon, therefore a new round of bidding for the subsidies has occurred. Unfortunately, United won the subsidy to serve both Presque Isle, ME to Newark Airport and Plattsburgh, New York to Washington Dulles Airport from the US Department of Transportation due to its lower subsidy need. Therefore, June 30, 2018, PenAir will operate its final flights between the cities before the service goes to United Airlines. The subsidy for the Bar Harbor route will be decided April 5, 20

Delta Air Lines has announced its plans to begin service between Boston and Las Vegas. The airline plans to operate the route daily on a Boeing 737-800 with 160 seats begining October 1, 2018. Delta will compete with JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines on the route. This will be Delta's fiftieth destination from Boston Logan when counting both Delta and Delta Connection. Delta is continuing to show its commitment to expanding Boston as a focus city for the airline, with the goal of reaching 150 daily departures from Boston. Sources: www.usatoday.com www.eturbonews.com

More information about the rumored Boston to Chengdu route has been released by the  Boston Business Journal.  Interestingly, the article states that the route is gaining approval for the route for the spring of 2019, not 2018. This doesn't surprise me as it seems like a much more reasonable time frame to launch such a route. I can't imagine leaving this little time between the announcement and launch of the route, but no official announcement has been made from the airline.

This is an Alitalia A330-200 coming in for landing at Boston Logan Airport after its flight from Rome-Fiumicino Airport. The aircraft has the registration EI-EJG and is 7.9 years old. The plane is named Raffaello Sanzio.

For quite some time now, JetBlue has expressed interest in starting transatlantic flights from Boston Logan and New York- John F. Kennedy Airport. The airline has ordered 60 A321Neos and has the option to change some of the A321Neos to the A321LR. Recently, JetBlue confirmed that it was interested in the A321LR as opposed to the rumored Boeing 797 middle of the market plane.The A321LR would have enough range to reach many destinations in Europe from Boston. I think JetBlue could definitely start some very profitable transatlantic routes from Boston with the new A321LR, hopefully, it happens! Sources:  www.flightglobal.com                 onemileatatime.boardingarea.com

Today, March 12, 2018, Alitalia is resuming its seasonal service to Boston from Rome-Fiumicino Airport. The Italian carrier briefly stops service to Boston for the months of January and February. The route will be operated on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on an Airbus A330-200. This will be an interesting year for Alitalia as its financial woes continue because of recent developments with Air Italy. Qatar Airways, acquired a 49% stake in Meridiana, a privately owned Italian airline, and rebranded the airline as Air Italy. The airline will grow rapidly, by receiving many ex-Qatar Airways A330-200s and later Boeing 787-8s. Its hub will be in Milan-Malpensa Airport to reduce competition with Alitalia's in Rome-Fiumicino. Air Italy hopes to tap into the more profitable business market of Milan compared to Rome, which relies more on tourists. By doing this, the airline hopes to push Alitalia completely bankrupt and become the flag carrier of Italy. A possible route for

This is Swiss International Air Lines Airbus A340-300 getting ready for its flight back to Zurich. The plane has the registration HB-JMI and is named Schaffhausen, a municipality in northern Switzerland. The plane is 13.9 years old. Behind the Swiss plane, there is the JetBlue "retro" livery on their Airbus A320. JetBlue has only been around since 2000, therefore the airline never actually had this livery on all their jets, but instead created a livery that was in the style of the 1960 airplane liveries.

I previously wrote about how Sichuan Airlines expressed interest in beginning flights from Chengdu to Boston, among other cities in 2018. Apparently, all of the routes from Chengdu the airline has applied for received regulatory approval to begin flights in May. The routes are Chengdu to Zurich, Copenhagen, Boston, Cairo and Tel Aviv. This shows that the airline clearly has intentions to begin the route and wasn't just claiming they would begin the route and not follow through, as other airlines have done. They intend to fly the Chengdu to Boston route three times a week, but there still has not been any official announcement from either the airline or Massport and no tickets are for sale. This is surprising because if the airline plans to fly the route in May, this leaves them very little time to announce the route and start selling seats, but then again this is the airline that started flying a route a week after its announcement. Sources: www.gochengdu.cn atwonline.com

Recently I talked about how Lufthansa revealed their new livery. So far the only long haul aircraft repainted into the new livery is a Boeing 747-8i with the registration D-ABYA. Today, March 6, 2018, Boston will receive the airplane with the new livery. This will be the first time a Lufthansa plane with the new livery will show up in Boston. Sidenote: Found this interesting article,  www.businesstraveller.com . Apparently, Lufthansa isn't entirely happy with the new livery because the blue is too dark in gloomy weather, so they will redesign the blue color.