Iberia customers in the United States are now able to stopover for free in Madrid while traveling to or from any of the airline’s 108 European, African and Middle Eastern destinations through their hub in the city.

The “Stopover Hola Madrid” program allows American passengers to stay up to six nights in the Spanish capital and can help travelers plan their visit with discounts for hotels, airport transfers, restaurants, museums and other experiences.

Joining the trend of European airlines allowing complimentary stopovers at their hubs including Icelandair, Swiss International Airlines and TAP Air Portugal, Iberia customers can choose to make the stopover either on the outbound portion or return segments of their itineraries.

One major difference from other European airlines, however, is that Iberia’s program is only available for passengers with itineraries from the U.S.

Moreover, Iberia doesn’t just stop with its country’s capital. The airline is also offering 25 percent discounts on domestic Iberia, Iberia Express or Iberia Regional flights to allow travelers to explore more of Spain. Spain’s national carrier, Iberia serves 32 Spanish destinations.

The program, dubbed Madrid a la carte, will also give a free two-day public transport card to those who sign up.

Customers will also be given a special discount to hire a car from Avis and to stay in a hotel ran by the Meliá chain.

Iberia Plus cardholders will also receive more special benefits.

Special discounts will also be given to Hola Madrid customers on select experiences such as to visit top art museums such as the Prado and Reina Sofia, as well as discounts at the museums’ restaurants.

Viator-arranged sightseeing, dining and flamenco tours are also discounted on the program, as well as longer excursions operated by Alsa.

Icelandair will end service to Kansas City and San Francisco this fall as it aims to shore up its business.

Seasonal Kansas City (MCI) flights ended on Sept. 15 and will not resume next summer, while year-round San Francisco (SFO) flights end on Jan. 5, according to Diio by Cirium schedule data. Icelandair served both cities from Reykjavik (KEF).

Icelandair is ending the routes for commercial reasons, it said in an announcement Monday. The airline continues to review its network to both improve profitability and minimize the impact of the Boeing 737 MAX grounding, it added.

The carrier suspended flights to Tampa (TPA) in June as a result of the grounding.

Icelandair’s move comes just half-a-year after its Reykjavik-based low-cost competition WOW Air shut down. At its peak, WOW served 15 destinations in the U.S., including San Francisco, Diio by Cirium schedule data shows.

Kansas City director of aviation Pat Klein said in a statement that the city was disappointed in Icelandair’s decision to end service. The airline was the first to ever provide a nonstop to Europe from the airport.

Aviation staff will continue to meet with airlines with the intent to grow Kansas City’s international access.

Icelandair continues to serve 12 cities in the U.S., including Denver (DEN), New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) and Washington Dulles (IAD), from Reykjavik, according to Diio schedules.

Tourism Observer

San Francisco will see an influx of new European carriers next year, with LOT Polish Airlines the latest to land in the California city.

The Star Alliance carrier will begin new service between its Warsaw (WAW) base and San Francisco (SFO) on Aug. 5, the airport confirmed Monday.

The new route will operate four days a week — Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday — with a Boeing 787 aircraft.

LOT joins Alitalia in announcing new service to San Francisco in the past week. Last week, the Italian carrier unveiled plans to add service between Rome Fiumicino (FCO) and San Francisco on June 1.

Both announcements followed Icelandair’s disclosure that it will end flights to San Francisco in January. The Icelandic carrier cited commercial reasons, as well as the ongoing impact of the Boeing 737 MAX grounding, for the move.

We are thrilled that LOT Polish Airlines has chosen SFO for their nonstop flights to Warsaw, SFO airport director Ivar Satero said in a statement. This move reinforces SFO as the international gateway of choice for the San Francisco Bay Area.

With LOT’s new route, San Francisco will boast nonstops to 19 cities in Europe next summer, according to Diio by Cirium schedules. United Airlines, which operates a large hub at the Bay Area airport, operates six of those routes.

Tourism Observer

Icelandic budget airline WOW Air ceased operations on Thursday, stranding passengers across two continents.

In a statement on its website the airline, which had earlier suspended all its flights, told passengers there would be no further flights and advised them to check flights with other airlines for ways to reach their destinations.

The airline, founded by entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen, began operations in 2012 and specialized in ultra-cheap flights between North America and Europe, with flights to airports in cities including Washington, D.C, New York, Paris, London and its Reykjavik hub.

Its bankruptcy comes after six months of turbulent negotiations to sell the low-cost carrier, first to its main rival and flag-ship carrier Icelandair and later to Indigo Partners, an American company operating the airline Wizz.

I will never forgive myself for not acting sooner, Mogensen said in a letter to employees Thursday. WOW was clearly an incredible airline and we were on the path to do amazing things again.

Tourism is Iceland's largest industry and WOW's disappearance is set to have an effect on this summer's high season.

In its early years the airline expanded fast to 37 destinations and reported up to 60 per cent annual growth in passenger numbers. Its revenue per passenger, however, has not kept up and fell by about 20 per cent in 2017, according to the last earnings report.

WOW grounded at least six planes in North America that were set to leave late Wednesday from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, New York and Baltimore.

In Europe, Reykjavik-bound planes from seven cities of Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt and Copenhagen did not take off Thursday morning.


Tourism Observer

As the busy summer season for transatlantic airlines comes to a close, Icelandic low-cost carrier WOW air announced on Wednesday its newest U.S. destination, Orlando, Fla.

The Central Floridian city will be served from the airline’s main hub at Keflavik International Airport, 40 minutes from Iceland’s capital of Reykjavik, on a seasonal basis, and is the first city in Florida to be served by WOW.

The inaugural flight is scheduled for Dec. 18, with the service operating three times weekly during its operational period of December until the end of April.

The route is currently slated to be operated by the airline’s Airbus A321 aircraft and will mark the 14th destination to be served by WOW in the United States.

The outbound to Orlando, WW187, will depart Reykjavik/Keflavik at 4:40 p.m. and is scheduled to arrive into Orlando International Airport at 8:05 p.m operating on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during most weeks.

The return to Iceland, WW188, departs Orlando at 4:20 p.m and arrives in Iceland at 4:45 a.m. the following morning on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays during most weeks.

The aircraft will stay overnight in Florida in order to facilitate onward transfers. According to the airline’s website, some weeks will see some variation in days of operation.

The arrival of the flight into Keflavik will be one of the first of the morning from the United States.

This early arrival will more easily allow passengers to process through what can be an extremely busy international arrivals facility.

As well as give them more time or explore Iceland or Keflavik Airport if they are simply passing through onward to mainland Europe or India once WOW starts flights to New Dehli in December.

Milan, Berlin, Edinburgh, and New Delhi, these are just some of the exciting new destinations that are just one-stop away from Orlando with the arrival of WOW Airlines, said Phil Brown, Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

WOW’s ability as an international low-cost carrier helps open doors for more business and leisure travel between Orlando and the world.

WOW Air will face direct competition from Icelandair who operates its fleet of Boeing 757 on the route.

The Icelandic flag carrier offers the same connection and stopover model as WOW but will be operating daily flights on the route starting Oct. 3.

The two airlines have been embroiled in an expansion war that has seen unprecedented service from Iceland to the U.S. in the past year alone at a lower cost than ever.


Tourism Observer

There’s a new entrant in the U.S.-Hong Kong market; Delta will put a new aircraft on a China route and will beef up transpacifc code-sharing; Cathay Pacific will add another U.S. gateway next year.

United is eliminating first class on many routes and cuts back China service; a Lufthansa affiliate is adding a new business class; LATAM is coming to Las Vegas; San Jose gets more service to Mexico; Copa begins Denver service; an Italian airline plans new U.S. routes.

Alaska ends its relationship with two European partners; and Norwegian revamps its U.S. schedules next summer, adding frequencies from the West Coast.

Hong Kong Airlines, a Hong Kong-based sister company of China’s Hainan Airlines, started service to the U.S. for the first time.

The carrier is using a new Airbus A350-900 on the Los Angeles-Hong Kong route, configured with 33 lie-flat business class seats, 109 premium economy seats with 34-inch pitch, and 193 regular economy seats with 31-32 inch pitch.

The new LAX-Hong Kong flights operate four times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday), with a 10:45 a.m. departure from LAX. Hong Kong Airlines plans to add San Francisco service in late March, and New York flights later next year.

So far, all of Delta’s Airbus A350-900s have been scheduled for routes out of Detroit or Atlanta, but now the airline is planning to operate one of the new planes out of Los Angeles.

Delta plans to start flying the new plane from LAX to Shanghai Pudong on July 2, alternating days with a 777-200LR until July 18, when the A350 went onto a daily schedule.

Delta’s A350s – which feature the airline’s new Delta One suites and new international premium economy section – are already used on flights from Detroit to Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon, and are slated to start Detroit-Beijing service January 17.

Detroit-Amsterdam and Atlanta-Seoul March 24; and Detroit-Shanghai April 19.

Meanwhile, Delta will expand code-sharing with its transpacific partner Korean Air on January 10, putting the DL code onto Korean’s flights to Seoul Incheon from Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

In other transpacific news, Cathay Pacific has unveiled plans to add another East Coast gateway in mid-September 2018, when it will start flying from Hong Kong to Washington Dulles.

The carrier already serves Boston, New York JFK and Newark. Cathay reportedly plans to fly the route – which will be the longest in its system – four days a week with a brand-new Airbus A350-1000.

A couple of months ago, we reported on United’s plans to reconfigure its international long-haul 777-200s, putting in new lie-flat Polaris business class seats, taking out first class, and going from nine-across to 10-across seating in economy.

The reconfigured 777s will be deployed, based on the elimination of first class from seating availability. It shows the elimination of 777 first class in late April from San Francisco to London, and from Washington Dulles to Brussels, Frankfurt and Tokyo Narita.

At the end of August from Chicago O’Hare to Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo Narita, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt and Munich.

Meanwhile, United’s seasonal summer route from San Francisco to Xi’An, China, which had previously been scheduled for three 787 flights a week from May 6 through September 4, has been eliminated for 2018.

Las Vegas is due to get its first non-stop service to South America next summer.

LATAM Airlines Brasil has filed plans to operate a 767 three times a week between Las Vegas and Sao Paulo from June 21 through August 31.

Lufthansa’s lower-cost leisure affiliate Eurowings plans to launch new transatlantic routes in 2018, including JFK-Dusseldorf starting April 28, Dusseldorf-Miami as of May 4, and Dusseldorf-Ft. Myers beginning May 3.

Now it appears that the airline will try to entice business travelers onto those flights by adding a new business class cabin.

The new Eurowings cabin, simply called Bizclass, will feature seats that recline fully and will include upgraded meals and other special amenities. Details of Eurowings’ new Bizclass were introduced in March at the big ITB Travel Fair in Berlin.

Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris, which already had service out of San Jose to Guadalajara, has now added two more routes.

Volaris has started twice-weekly flights from SJC to Morelia on Fridays and Sundays, as well as twice-weekly service from SJC to Zacatecas on Mondays and Thursdays. Next summer, Aeromexico is due to begin SJC-Mexico City flights.

Panama’s Copa Airlines, a member of United’s Star Alliance family, has added Denver as its 13th U.S. gateway.

The carrier has kicked off new non-stop service four days a week from Denver to Panama City, with Denver departures on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10:16 p.m. Copa offers onward connections in Panama to 55 Latin American destinations.

Italian carrier Meridiana plans to add two U.S. routes next summer. On June 1, it will begin daily service from Milan Malpensa to New York JFK, followed up on June 8 by four flights a week from Malpensa to Miami.

The airline will use a 247-passenger, two-class Airbus A330 on both routes.

On April 30, 2018, Alaska Airlines ended its Mileage Plan partnership with Air France-KLM – not really a surprise considering that the European duo has a joint venture partnership with Alaska’s arch-rival Delta.

Alaska and Delta ended their own mileage partnership last spring. The Alaskan carrier notes that it still has partnership agreements to Europe in place with British Airways, Finnair, Icelandair and Condor.

The latest schedule updates from Norwegian show the low-cost carrier plans to boost service on several U.S. routes in late March, increasing its weekly Barcelona frequencies from three to four out of Los Angeles, from three to five out of Oakland, and from four to six out of Newark.

The carrier will also boost LAX-Copenhagen service from three flights a week to four.

At Boston, Norwegian plans to increase London Gatwick service from four flights a week to seven starting June 12, but it will discontinue its seasonal Boston-Oslo and Boston-Copenhagen flights.


Tourism Observer

Five hours. Nonstop. From Toronto. That’s all it takes to get to the beautiful islands of the Azores with Azores Airlines year-round nonstop service from Toronto, and seasonal service from Montreal.

The oldest airline in Portugal has just become the newest, following the recent rebranding of SATA International as Azores Airlines, and the airline hosted a VIP dinner for agents and media at Toronto’s Old Mill Wednesday night to get agents reacquainted with the brand.

As Portuguese music duo, Sounds of Portugal, strummed traditional Portuguese music, the crowd mingled before sitting down to dinner and updates from Portugal Tourism and Azores Airlines.

Willie Delgado, country manager for Portugal Tourism, based in Toronto, welcomed guests before introducing Azores Airlines chief commercial officer, Gavin Eccles, who updated guests on Azores Airlines and their plans in Canada, including a new winter schedule and generous stopover programme.

At 76 years old, the airline has grown the number of seats they offer in Canada by 63%, offering year round service from Toronto to Ponta Delgada with five weekly nonstop this summer, and four weekly flights for the winter 2018/2019 period.

Onward connections are available to other destinations in Portugal such as Lisbon, Porto, and Madeira, as well as Gran Canaria, Cape Verde, London and Frankfurt.

They also offer seasonal summer service with one weekly flight from Montreal to Ponta Delgada, and one weekly flight from Toronto to Terceira Island.

We also believe in supporting those who work with us said Eccles as he spoke of Azores Airlines six percent at-source commission rate.

We believe passionately in upfront commission. You are our sales force. You are selling me. Why would I not want to reward you?

With Azores Airlines’ stopover programme, travellers can visit two destinations for the price of one, with stopovers available on the outbound or the return, staying as little as a few hours, or for as long as seven days. There’s no additional cost and no complex booking process.

We are offering our clients the ability to discover a part of the world that they may not normally think about going to.

Eccles again said It’s something that Iceland has done. And I stand here and say that what Iceland did for Icelandair is what I'm trying to do for Azores and Azores Airlines.

Portugal has been doing spectacularly well in the Canadian market and obviously I’m biased but it’s a great destination said Tourism Portugal’s country manager, Willie Delgado.

What we're doing here today is promoting another part of Portugal which may not be that well known, and that’s the Azores, a spectacular nine-island archipelago right smack in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

Delgado continued. It's an island of tremendous beauty, unique culture, great food and great history. And although the Azores is focused a lot on diaspora, we're working with Azores Airlines hand-in-hand to further broaden our market and I think that's what we did today.

Influenced by their location and by the Gulf Stream, temperatures in the Azores are mild year round, and while its winter temperatures may not make it a direct competitor to the Caribbean, the temperature averages 22°C in summer and 17°C in winter, making it ideal for nautical sports all year round.

But in closing, I had to ask Delgado whether, given its short flight time, the Azores is competing with the Caribbean this winter.

As a winter destination, it's wonderful. Temperate weather and a five hour flight from Toronto Delgado said.

There’s all kinds of wonderful experiences with nature, with the geothermal parks, with whale watching, the great food with the local culture and the local wines, so it's something to think about for sure.

It's a different experience but we're convinced that Canadians, once they learn about it, they'll take to it.


Tourism Observer

United Airlines launched two transatlantic routes on 23 May, with it now serving Reykjavik/Keflavik (KEF) from New York Newark (EWR), while Edinburgh (EDI) has greeted its third route with the Star Alliance member, this time from Washington Dulles (IAD).

This fantastic addition to Edinburgh Airport will link our two capital cities for the first time and strengthen the already strong links between Scotland and America.

This was a comment by Gordon Dewar, CEO, Edinburgh Airport on the Star Alliance member’s connection between the capitals of Scotland and the US.

The 4,175-kilometre link from New York and 5,578-kilometre sector from Washington will both be flown daily this summer on the carrier’s fleet of 757-200s.

While the new service to Edinburgh faces no direct competition, the route between Newark and Reykjavik/Keflavik is already well served, with WOW air (13 weekly flights) and Icelandair (daily) providing a robust schedule between the two airports.

Iceland becomes United’s 13th European country market.

Although United’s inaugural flight from San Francisco to Munich departed California on 24 May the return flight departed Bavaria the following day. In Munich there was a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the event.

United already serves Munich with daily flights from Chicago, Houston, Newark and Washington.

United Airlines has launched daily flights between San Francisco (SFO) and Munich (MUC). The 9,432-kilometre route will be flown using the airline’s 787-8s.

Star Alliance partner Lufthansa already operates a daily service between the two cities. For United this becomes its fifth route to the Bavarian capital as it already flies daily from Chicago, Houston, Newark and Washington.

This new seasonal service will operate until 4 September. United now serves 87 destinations non-stop from San Francisco, of which 25 are outside of the US. Apart from Munich, United also serves Frankfurt in Germany with double-daily flights this summer.

Singapore Airport baked an impressive cake to welcome the arrival of United Airlines’ non-stop service from Los Angeles.

The carrier will operate the 14,096-kilometre link from the Californian hub daily on its 787-9s. By launching flights to Singapore, this becomes the airline’s longest route from Los Angeles.

United Airlines launched its longest route from Los Angeles (LAX) on 27 October, a 14,096-kilometre link to Singapore (SIN), beating the airline’s current route to Melbourne from the Californian hub which has a sector length of 12,751 kilometres.

Flown on the Star Alliance member’s 787-9s with a daily rotation, this becomes United’s second non-stop route to Singapore from the US after San Francisco.

Another long-haul sector launched by United this week is the 8,541-kilometre link from New York Newark (EWR) to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE), a route that will be served by carrier’s fleet of 767-400s when referring to OAG schedules.

Launched on 28 October, the daily connection from Newark down to Argentina will face no direct competition, with the airline’s new US-Asia service also not facing any incumbents.

It should be noted that United already offers daily flights to Ezeiza from Houston Intercontinental on its 777-200s.

Scottsbluff Airport baked a cake to greet United Airlines’ inaugural service from Denver on 30 January. The Star Alliance member will operate a twice-daily service on the 241-kilometre sector using its CRJ 200s.

United Airlines has debuted two Nebraska routes from Denver (DEN) this week, with the Star Alliance member commencing services from its Colorado hub to North Platte (LBF) and Scottsbluff (BFF).

The latter was the first to launch, with the 241-kilometre route being inaugurated on 30 January, while the 364-kilometre link to North Platte commenced two days latter.

Both sectors will be flown twice-daily using the carrier’s CRJ 200s, with no direct competition being provided. See how Scottsbluff Airport’s FTWA compares to others from around the world.


United Airlines inaugurated its new non-stop seasonal service between its New York Newark hub and Porto. The outbound flight, UA144, departs New York daily at 21:45, landing in Portugal at 09:45 the following day.

United flight UA145 departs Porto at 12:35, arriving in Newark at 15:35 on the same day all times local.

United Airlines has initiated two new city pairs this week, one domestic and one international. On 1 May, the Star Alliance carrier began the 452-kilometre route from Denver (DEN) to Moab (CNY) in Utah.

The 12 times weekly CRJ 200-operated sector will encounter no direct competition. Three days later, United commenced a link from its New York Newark (EWR) gateway to Porto (OPO).

The daily 757-200-operated service will face incumbent TAP Air Portugal, which flies the same airport pair twice-weekly.


Tourism Observer

Bucking the trend of some rather anticlimactic airline launches recently, Icelandair announced the arrival of its first new Boeing 737 MAX 8 last week in a really smart and memorable way.

The airline also invited a group of its executives to join them on a special route overlooking some of the country’s most dramatic landmarks and, Iceland being Iceland, that’s pretty dramatic.

As all Icelandair planes are named after Icelandic volcanoes or areas of natural beauty, the new Boeing 737 MAX 8, dubbed Jokulsarlon in honour of the famous glacial lagoon, bordering the Vatnajokull National Park took a scenic flight route to the north of the country, to take in Akureyri the town where Icelandair was first established, in 1937, the Mountains of Trollaskagi, Eyjafjord in Akureyri, Reykjavik and the Hvalfjord highlands.

Hosted by Icelandic landscape photographer, Pall Jokull, guests on board the inaugural flight were given an in-air tutorial in order to make the most of this rare opportunity and snap the best images possible.

Then, armed with Jokull’s expert advice the passengers were able to line up their lenses, lit by the aircraft’s new LED lighting system, to capture a vivid memento of the extraordinary flight.

Praising the redesigned windows of the aircraft, Jokull extolled their photographic virtues.

Capturing a good photo from the Boeing 737 MAX is a combination of the light available and the composition of what you see out there, landscape/sky, and will be made easier with the new redesigned windows.

The new aircraft has been extensively remodelled by Icelandair and the enhanced cabin incorporating a Boeing Sky Interior combined with large overhead storage space.

The aforementioned LED lighting and panoramic windows are the result of years of research by the airline into how to maximise passengers’ flight experience.

Pall Jokull shares tips for taking the perfect picture at 22,000 feet.

Play with colours, lights and shadows to add depth to your photo. Clouds can make an interesting pattern on the ground. In Iceland, the contrasts of a snow-covered landscape against rivers or lakes can make a good photo.

The black sand beaches or a rocky coastline against the surf and the waves of the blue Atlantic.

As the ground is slowly changing colour from the brown and yellow autumn and winter tones you might find green colours popping out, for example on moss covered lava.

Use the rule of thirds: carefully balance the space between the sky and the ground: 1/3 sky versus 2/3 ground works well.

When you are in the air and can only see the sky and/or clouds, you can use the wing and engine as a prominent part of the photo.

Including part of the aircraft wing in the shot can make the landscape really stand out.

The window of the aircraft also nicely frames the landscape. When you are photographing the landscape below, the wing will automatically point diagonally upwards in the photo, creating a connection between the plane and the ground.

When taking a photo of a beautiful sunset/sunrise from the plane you should use aperture priority or manual to get the best results. If it’s getting dark then adjust your ISO setting to 800-1200.

The golden hour before and after sunset or sunrise can be rather long in Iceland, especially in the winter because of the low angle of the sun.

The sunset light can linger, providing up to two hours of beautiful golden, pink, red and purple colours until the dark blue colour of the night takes over.

To reduce glare on your picture from the window of the plane, hold the camera lens close to the window or even covering it with your other hand so the reflection does not reach into the lens.

Take full advantage of the new Boeing 737 MAX LED light settings to help shooting at dark by waiting until the cabin lights are set to night mode.

Photographing northern lights from a window of a plane requires the use of a tripod, as you would use on the ground.

By setting the camera to ISO 2500-4000 and using f/2.8 or lower with 5-10 second shutter speed you should be able to capture some northern lights.

Try to set the camera lens up to the window to minimalise glare reflecting the light of the window.

In general, it is better to sit on the left side of the plane if you plan to photograph through the window. It is easier for your posture and for framing the shot so you don‘t have to twist your body to get the shot.

Bjorgulfur Johannsson, president and CEO at Icelandair said: Welcoming 16 new aircraft into Icelandair’s fleet over the next four years marks our commitment towards continually improving our customer experience.

The Boeing 737 MAX family will enable us to continue to strengthen our route network and offer our customers choice and flexibility in this highly competitive environment.

In early summer 2018, the airline will start five new North American routes in addition to commencing flights between Dublin and Reykjavik.

Icelandair has also recently simplified its onboard product to offer two travel classes: Saga Premium and Economy to best suit their customers’ travel needs.

In addition to investing in its product in the air and strengthening its network, the customer online experience has been updated too with a newly launched website that’s available in 16 new languages and easier than ever to navigate.



Tourism Observer

A spokesperson for the Airport said: "Birmingham Airport is disappointed by American Airlines’ decision to suspend its daily New York JFK - Birmingham service"

American Airlines have announced that they will cease operating their daily service from New York JFK to Birmingham Airport on Friday 6 January 2017

"We appreciate that transatlantic air services are particularly competitive, however we are optimistic that another carrier will fill this gap shortly. There remains a strong demand from both the Midlands and North American market wanting to access these
important regions and cities"

"Birmingham Airport reminds travellers that a daily non-stop New York Newark service continues to serve Birmingham with United Airlines, and regular connections to North America are also available with several other carriers, including Aer Lingus,Air France,KLM,Lufthansa and Icelandair"

"Passengers booked on American - "AA" - flights after the 6 January 2017 will be contacted by American Airlines to make alternative arrangements or arrange a refund"

American began operations from Birmingham to New York on the Friday 8 May 2015

Rossiya Airlines JSC , sometimes branded as Rossiya - Russian Airlines is a Russian airline headquartered in Saint Petersburg with its hub at Pulkovo Airport. It is predominantly owned by Aeroflot and serves domestic and some European destinations and additionally operates the aircraft fleet for the Government of Russia.

The airline was established in 1992 and is wholly owned by the Russian government. In 2006 the Russian government merged Rossiya Airlines with Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise and on October 29 the new airline started flying under the name Rossiya. The merger process began in December 2004. In November 2006 it was announced that the merger had been completed and Rossiya Airlines was registered in Saint Petersburg on 9 October 2006 and has a branch in Moscow and 54 offices in Russia and abroad.

In February 2010, the Russian government announced that all regional airlines owned by the state through the holding company 'Rostechnologii' would be consolidated with the national carrier Aeroflot in order to increase the airlines' financial viability.[6] The airline has operated flights under Aeroflot's "SU" since 30 March 2014.

Arising from the merger with Pulkovo Airlines, the bulk of the scheduled service operation is from Russia's second-largest city, St Petersburg, where Pulkovo was the dominant airline, and Rossiya continues to be. Operations based in Moscow are predominantly non-scheduled ones for state organisations, or flights operated on behalf of Aeroflot; Rossiya continues Pulkovo's lead role on the Moscow-St Petersburg route.

Rossiya has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

- Aeroflot (SkyTeam)
- Air Astana
- Air France (SkyTeam)
- Air Moldova
- airBaltic
- Austrian Airlines (Star Alliance)
- Belavia
- Czech Airlines (SkyTeam)
- Finnair (Oneworld)
- Hainan Airlines
- Iberia (Oneworld)
- Icelandair
- KLM (SkyTeam)
- Korean Air (SkyTeam)
- LOT Polish Airlines (Star Alliance)
- Norwegian Air Shuttle
- Scandinavian Airlines (Star Alliance)
- Swiss International Air Lines (Star Alliance)

Icelandair signs a codeshare agreement with Alaska Airlines providing more connections between Europe and US.

Customers with Alaska Airlines and Icelandair will allow customers to enjoy reservations and ticketing, one-stop check-in and baggage checked in to its final destination.

Icelandair operates from 16 cities in North America to Iceland to over 20 destinations within Europe including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London and Paris.

Customers with elite-level membership of each airlines' frequent flier program will also receive reciprocal club lounge benefits.

Icelandair will begin a scheduled service from Reykjavik to Montreal, Canada in May 2016 with easy connections from all six UK airports Icelandair fly from.

Montreal will be Icelandair’s fifth gateway in Canada and 16th in North America.

Flights will be operated four times weekly until November 2016, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

“We believe Montreal fits well with the Icelandair route network and will strengthen our business.

“We can offer a refreshing and affordable way for tourists and business community between the destination and major European cities,” said Birkir Holm Gudnason, chief executive of Icelandair.

Icelandair destinations in Canada have increased in the last few years, with Edmonton and Vancouver starting last year and complimenting the already established service to Toronto and Halifax.

The Montreal flights will connect with all 6 UK Icelandair serviced gateways; London Heathrow and Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and newly announced Aberdeen.

Montreal is the second largest city in Canada and the largest city in the Quebec province, with around four million inhabitants.

The city is the centre of business, culture and arts for French-speaking Canadians, and considered more European in comparison to other cities in North America.

It is named after the mountain Mt. Royal which is located in the middle of the city.

Flights between Iceland and Montreal take about five hours.