Boston Aviation

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