Poland’s flag carrier, LOT Polish Airlines, has decided to lease three new Embraer E195-E2 jets from lessor Azorra. The first of the trio will join the carrier’s fleet by July end, while others should get into action within Q3 of 2024. LOT says the transition of flight crews from E1 to E2 aircraft won’t take more than a few days.

The Embraer E192-E2, a single-aisle jet, can seat a maximum of 146 passengers. However, LOT Polish Airlines has chosen a relatively comfortable layout of 136 seats in a single class. The airline’s fleet presently comprises 43 Embraer E-Jets, making it one of the largest operators of the said aircraft family in Europe.

Dubai-based airline Emirates is currently conducting an aircraft retrofitting programme. Per the original plan, 120 widebody jets—67 Airbus A380s and 53 Boeing 777s—were supposed to receive complete interior refurbishment. Now, the carrier has added 71 aircraft—43 A380s and 28 777s—to the tally, bumping the total to 191.

To date, Emirates has completed the refurbishment process of 22 A380s. In July 2024, the first 777 will be put through an interior upgrade journey, which will take approximately two weeks to complete. Once upgraded, every Boeing 777 will boast a four-class layout, comprising eight First Class suites, 40 Business Class seats (debut of 1-2-1 configuration), 24 Premium Economy seats and 260 Economy seats. Put together, there will be 332 seats aboard every refurbished 777. 50 Economy seats will be removed to accommodate the Premium Economy section.

Emirates says that by the time the refurbishment programme comes to a close, it will have fitted 8,104 Premium Economy seats, 1,894 refreshed First Class suites, 11,182 upgraded Business Class seats and 21,814 Economy seats. Presently, Emirates offers its new addition of Premium Economy seats on its Airbus A380 services to New York JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, London Heathrow, Sydney, Auckland, Christchurch, Melbourne, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangalore, Sao Paulo and Dubai. Early next month, Osaka will join that list. By February 2025, the list will expand to 42 cities as more refurbished aircraft and the new Airbus A350 on order start joining the airline’s fleet.

Also Read: Emirates Confirms Where It’ll Fly Its New A350 First

Adding to its ever-expanding network of international destinations, Air India has confirmed that from June 16, 2024, it will start non-stop flights between Delhi, India, and Zurich, Switzerland. Once live, it will bump the carrier’s destination count in mainland Europe to seven.

On the newly announced route, Air India will operate a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft will boast a two-class layout. The outbound flight – AI151 – will depart Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 14:05 and arrive in Zurich at 19:15. The return leg – AI152 – will leave Zurich Airport at 20:50 and land in India’s capital at 08:05 the next day (all times mentioned are local). This service will operate four times weekly, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Presently, Air India operates 60 weekly flights to and from six cities across mainland Europe – Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Milan, Paris and Vienna. Bookings for the Delhi-Zurich route will open progressively across all channels.

Also Read: Air India Confirms Additional Daily Flight To Phuket

The national carrier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Etihad Airways, has introduced reciprocal interline partnerships with five airlines: Kam Air in Afghanistan, Sky Express in Greece, Rex Airlines in Australia, Jeju Air in Korea, and Myanmar Airways International.

The agreement will benefit travellers on all carriers mentioned above. They can book an entire journey on a single ticket and have their baggage checked in to their destination. For instance, passengers from Etihad’s hub—Zayed International Airport, Abu Dhabi—can connect to the Kam Air flight to Kabul without having to claim or recheck-in their luggage.

Similarly, travellers aboard any of the two daily Etihad flights to Athens can use Sky Express’s network of 28 destinations in Greece. Rex Airlines, which serves 22 destinations across Australia, including Hobart, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, will serve passengers from Etihad’s links in Sydney and Melbourne.

Jeju Air provides similar access from Seoul to 27 destinations across seven Northeast Asian countries. Myanmar Airways International can connect passengers to Yangon and Mandalay through Etihad’s gateways in South Asia.

With the new interline partnerships active, Etihad Airways has boosted its list of global codeshare, interline and strategic partnerships with carriers to 123.

Also Read: Etihad To Fly An A380 To Paris

From June 1, 2024, Air India will begin operating a second daily service between Delhi and Phuket, Thailand. The outbound flight – AI376 – will depart Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 11:00 and land in Phuket at 17:15. The return leg – AI377 – will leave Phuket at 18:15 and arrive in India’s capital at 21:20 (all times mentioned are local). This flight will operate on all days except Wednesdays.

The current daily service between Delhi and Phuket runs all seven days. Flight AI378 departs Delhi and lands in Phuket at 02:05 and 08:10, respectively. The inbound flight – AI379 – leaves Phuket at 09:15 and arrives in Delhi at 12:20.

Once the new additional flight service goes live, Air India will have 34 weekly flights to Thailand from Delhi and Mumbai combined.

Also Read: Air India And All Nippon Airways Sign Codeshare Agreement

Earlier this month, airBaltic announced more pop-up flights for the summer of 2024 and launched direct flights between Riga and Ljubljana. The Latvian airline has now announced a direct service between Tampere, Finland, and Palma de Mallorca, Spain. It will operate twice weekly, Mondays and Fridays, until October 2024.

One-way Economy ticket prices start at EUR 129. Those who like to be pampered more can opt for a Business Class seat, fares for which start at EUR 359. For the record, airBaltic offers a full-service fare package for Business Class passengers. They benefit from priority check-in and boarding, an extra seat for extra privacy, a three-course gourmet meal, unlimited beverages and priority disembarking at arrival.

Presently, airBaltic operates eight direct flights from Tampere to European destinations. However, the airline plans to add 17 new routes from all its bases this year. Before 2024 comes to a close, the carrier will connect Finland with direct services to ten destinations and offer one-stop connections to over 70 locations in its network.

To bolster its China network, Korean Air has confirmed that from July 1, 2024, it will operate a new daily flight between Seoul Incheon and Macau. The outbound service – flight KE169 – will depart the South Korean capital at 21:15 and land at Macau International Airport at 23:55. The return leg – flight KE170 – will leave Macau and land in Seoul the next day at 01:10 and 06:00, respectively. The flight time will be approximately 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Macau, a popular tourist destination, is close to Hong Kong. Travellers can access the latter within an hour via a ferry or bus. Korean Air already operates four daily services between Seoul Incheon and Hong Kong. The carrier resumed three weekly flights between Seoul Incheon and Zhangjiajie and four weekly services linking Seoul Incheon and Zhengzhou from April 23 and April 24, respectively.

Also Read: Korean Air and WestJet Expand Codeshare Partnership

NOTE: Image has been sourced from Boeing Mediaroom