USA: Southwest Planes Collide At Nashville International Airport, Nobody Was Hurt

One of the planes has just landed and was taxiing to the parking lot, while the second was preparing for departure.

During the towing, the Southwest Airlines plane preparing for a flight to St. Louis, Missouri, touched the wingtip of an identical airplane that was supposed to depart for Atlanta, Georgia.

Nobody was injured as a result of the incident.

Judging from the picture, which one of the passengers made during the flight to Atlanta, the other aircraft had damaged the upper part of its vertical stabiliser.

After the collision, both aircraft were temporarily grounded for inspection.

Two Southwest Airlines planes have collided on the tarmac of Nashville International Airport.

Airline officials say no injuries were reported in Saturday (July 21) night's collision.

An emailed statement from Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Michelle Agnew says the winglet of the St. Louis-bound Southwest Flight 1555 "came into contact" during pushback with the winglet of Southwest Flight 4580, headed for Atlanta.

A photograph provided by a passenger onboard the flight to Atlanta showed rainy weather and what appeared to be the top of the other plane's fin clipped off.

The airline says both planes returned to the gate "under their own power" and were taken out of service for evaluation. The Southwest flights will continue towards the scheduled destinations using new planes.

A spokeswoman for the airport directed inquiries to Southwest.


Tourism Observer

USA: Engine Trouble Makes Delta Go Into Emergency Landing

A Delta Air Lines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday after a problem with one of the plane's engines.

Flight DL-1425 was carrying 148 passengers from Atlanta to Baltimore when it declared an emergency and made an unscheduled landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport at 2.27 p.m. ET.

The MD-88 elected to divert after receiving an indication of an issue with one of the aircraft’s engines, Delta said in a statement, adding that the flight landed without incident.

One passenger described on Twitter hearing a loud bang and seeing smoke in the cabin, followed by a burning smell.

The vibrations of the roof and the cabin itself was intense, John Leonard, another passenger on the flight, wrote. The experience was beyond scary.

In a video posted by passenger Logan Webb, the plane's right engine is seen glowing red-hot while an engine part is visibly loose.

Residents left stranded as Tropical Storm Barry brings heavy rains, extreme floods

Passengers praised the crew's response, with one woman saying they "did an amazing job in staying and keeping us all calm, while preparing us for an emergency landing."

A Delta spokesperson said that passengers were placed on an alternate aircraft after the incident.

We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this diversion may have caused, she said.


Tourism Observer

USA: Southwest Airlines Passenger Numbers Soar To Over Seven Million

Southwest Airlines launched its first international route from Nashville on 11 November 2017, a weekly service to Cancún in Mexico. Southwest is the largest operator at Nashville, accounting for 54% of the airport’s total traffic.

Since 2013, the airline has reported an average year-on-year increase in traffic from the airport of 7.8%, with the number of passengers it carries from the Tennessee city growing from 5.49 million in 2013 to 7.45 million in 2017.

Southwest Airlines is the largest operator at Nashville Airport, accounting for a 54% share of the airport’s total passenger movements between October 2017 and September 2018, with over 8.05 million customers being transported to/from the airport by the airline during this period.

To give an idea of how dominant Southwest is at Nashville, the airport’s second biggest operator, Delta Air Lines carried a little under 1.65 million passengers within the same period on 12 routes, accounting for 11% of the airport’s total traffic. Southwest presently operates 39 routes from Nashville on either a seasonal or year-round basis.

Southwest Airlines transported 7.45 million passengers from Nashville in 2017, up 7.7% versus the 6.92 million it transported from the airport in 2016.

The result of last year marks a 54% increase in annual passengers for the airline from the airport versus 2008, when it carried 4.83 million people from the Tennessee airport.

During the past decade, Southwest has reported two years where passenger numbers fell, with 2009 seeing a 3.4% drop in passengers carried versus 2008, and 2012 when numbers fell by 1.0% when compared to 2011.

While full year data for 2018 is presently not available, it should be noted that data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has confirmed that 8.05 million passengers were transported in the 12-month period between October 2017 and September 2018.

For the first nine months of this year, Southwest Airlines carried just under 6.14 million passengers from Nashville, up 11% versus the same ninth-month period of last year when 5.52 million people were flown by Southwest to and from the city.

If the airline is able to maintain its 11% growth rate for the last quarter of 2018, then it will have flown roughly 8.28 million passengers from Nashville, up 71% versus the same traffic levels encountered in 2008.

Baltimore/Washington and Chicago Midway are Southwest’s top routes from Nashville, with both seeing 35 weekly flights a piece during the week. As stated, the airline operated 39 routes from the airport in 2018, on either a seasonal or year-round basis.

For the airline, last year was a quiet one with regards to adding new destinations, with just two routes being launched from Nashville, namely to Atlanta and Oklahoma City.

However, while the new route count is low, the airline is operating 30 weekly departures to Atlanta, catapulting it into being the airline’s third biggest route from Nashville, while also breaking Delta’s monopoly on the route to the world’s busiest airport.

Looking ahead to 2019, Southwest is already showing that growth is set to continue from Nashville, with the airline already confirmed to add five new routes from the airport this year. The first to launch will be on 7 January when it begins services to New York Newark.

Coincidentally, this route is a relaunch from when the airline closed the airport pair back in April 2016, with this also being the last route that was dropped by the airline from Nashville.

Following on from this, the other four new routes will begin in June, namely Burbank, San Jose, Norfolk and Omaha.

Southwest Airlines operated 39 routes from Nashville in 2018 on either a seasonal or year-round basis, with its two new routes last year being Atlanta and Oklahoma City.

In 2019, the airline has confirmed that it will add five new routes from Nashville, namely New York Newark, Burbank, San Jose, Norfolk and Omaha.


Tourism Observer

HONG KONG: Cathay Pacific Acquires First A350-1000 And Orders Twenty More

Cathay Pacific has taken delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000, making it the variant's second operator after Qatar Airways, which received its initial example in February.

The Hong Kong carrier has ordered 20 A350-1000s and already operates 22 A350-900s, Airbus says. The airline has another six -900s on order and holds four options.

Airbus says Cathay Pacific will from September deploy the A350-1000 on nonstop services to Washington DC, which the airframer describes as the longest flight performed by any airline out of Hong Kong. Flight time will be approximately 17h.

Cathay Pacific chief customer and commercial officer Paul Loo states that the A350-900's introduction to the airline in 2016"enabled us to expand our long-haul network at a near unprecedented rate.

He adds that the larger -1000 variant has an incredible range, is remarkably fuel efficient and quiet, provides customers with an unsurpassed cabin environment, and has extremely attractive operating economics.

The A350 is exclusively powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

The first of 20 A350-1000s for Cathay Pacific has completed its initial test flight from Airbus's Toulouse plant.

Deliveries of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered aircraft to the Hong Kong carrier are scheduled to begin in June. It will become the second operator after launch customer Qatar Airways to receive Airbus's biggest twinjet.

The new twinjets will be operated alongside Cathay's existing fleet of smaller A350-900s, 22 of which are currently in service with six more on order, according to Flight Fleets Analyzer.

Cathay will deploy the A350-1000 on its new route to Washington DC from September. The airline says that at 8,153 miles (7,095nm/13,126km), the new service to Dulles will become the longest in its network.

Airbus's third test-flight A330-900, carrying the colours of launch operator TAP Portugal, has landed in Lisbon after commencing the initial stage of route-proving flights.

For the first state of route-proving, MSN1819 is set to fly on to Brazil, visiting cities including Recife, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Miami.

The Rolls-Royce Trent 7000-powered aircraft took off on 19 June from Toulouse's runway 32R – using a full-thrust departure, rather than a flex setting, on the request of flight-test engineers – for a 1h 30min flight to the Portuguese capital.

MSN1819 had pushed back with just under 20t of fuel, and a weight of 164t, with a projected landing weight of 156.8t. The crew confirmed, after touchdown on Lisbon's on runway 21, that the twinjet had burned 8t of fuel.

The 298-seat aircraft – featuring the airframer's three-class revamped Airspace cabin interior, fitted with Recaro seating – was transporting board members from the carrier and the airframer, as well as government figures and media representatives.

Route-proving will subsequently take the aircraft to Asia, with stops in Kuala Lumpur and other regional hubs, before it returns to Europe via Mauritius. It also fly to Delhi before heading west again, operating through Reykjavik, Chicago and Atlanta.

The exercise is intended to demonstrate the A330neo's readiness for airline service.

As part of the testing the aircraft will undertake extended twin-engined operations flights, approaches to alternate airports, and tests with ground-handling systems.

Airbus head of A330 marketing Crawford Hamilton, speaking during the event, said the route-proving effort would involve about 150h of flights, spanning 18 days, and taking in 16 cities. The exercise is set to run to 7 July.

Hamilton says the A330neo test-flight campaign, which involves three aircraft including MSN1819, is around 80% complete. The fleet has logged around 1,000h in 267 flights.

Performance is in line with predictions, he adds.

Certification is still on track for summer this year, with subsequent entry into service with TAP.


Tourism Observer

USA: Delta Air Lines Plane Skids Off Runway At Blue Grass Airport, No One Injured

A passenger jet ran off the runway Saturday afternoon at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington. No injuries were reported.

The incident happened around 1:30 p.m. Delta officials confirm the plane is a Bombardier CRJ-900 that seats 76 people.

Officials say 73 passengers were on board along with four crew members. Airport administrators say no one was hurt, and witness pictures indicate little to no visible damage to the exterior of the plane.

Blue Grass Airport officials tell WKYT Delta Flight 3359 heading from Atlanta to Lexington went off the side of the runway into the grass. Officials say all passengers are accounted for, safe and taken to Terminal B.

Delta Airlines issued a statement about the incident:

Upon landing in Lexington, KY., Endeavor Air flight 3359 from Atlanta, operating as Delta Connection, turned off the active runway and came to a stop in the grassy area between taxiways A2 and A1.

Endeavor crew members made the decision to deplane customers through the main cabin door into the grass where buses took all on board to the terminal. We apologize to our customers impacted by this incident.

Airport officials say Blue Grass Airport is open, but no flights were coming or going from the airport for most of the afternoon.

Officials say air traffic came to a halt because they had to move the plane from its current location.

Heavy rain and low visibility may very well be a factor, said WKYT Chief Meteorologist Chris Bailey.

It was raining hard there from 1 to 1:30 p.m. Blue Grass Airport reported torrential rains around the time the plane skidded off the runway. More than one inch of rain fell in under an hour.

Photos on social media show passengers from Delta flight 3359 from Atlanta to Lexington leaving the plane through its doorway.

According to the airport's flight status page, three outgoing flights have been canceled, and at least one arrival has been canceled. Several more flights were delayed.

I was waiting for my friend. She's heading out to Florida, and I saw all the police heading down the runway, and she called me and told me that her flight was canceled, said Cindy Kenney, who was at the airport shortly after the mishap.

One traveler, Jason McKinney, was set to fly home to Charlotte just before the incident, but his flight became one of the canceled departures.

We were getting ready to board and then all of a sudden the incoming flight got diverted.

You hear the sirens and you see everything going on, and it was pretty scary, he said.

McKinney was supposed to perform in a dinner show Saturday evening, but instead spent hours searching for an understudy since he was stranded in Lexington.

Very frustrating and the weather was really horrible earlier but now I’m kind of thinking it’s a little over reaction, said another traveler Chappell Traynham, who was heading home to Atlanta.

Traynham says Delta payed for hotel accommodations Saturday evening due to a cancelled flight.

Airport officials say as of Sunday at noon, most flights are operating on schedule.


Tourism Observer

USA: Passenger Kicked Of Flight From Atlanta To Milwaukee For Visiting The Toilet Before Take Off !

Kima Hamilton was shocked when Delta asked him to get off the plane.

A Delta Air Lines passenger was kicked off a flight after he went to the toilet while the plane was delayed on the runway.

‘DJ and poet’ Kima Hamilton asked crew if he could use the toilet while the plane, which was due to travel from Atlanta to Milwaukee, was held on the tarmac for 30 minutes.

The 39-year-old said: "We weren't taking off. We were still. The plane isn't moving."

However the flight attendants refused to allow him his request and he returned to his seat.

The delay continued, and Mr Hamilton quickly popped to the bathroom.

After that he said the situation “escalated fast”.

Mr Hamilton spoke to a Delta official after he was asked to get off the plane.

He said: "The pilot came on and said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry for the inconvenience but we have to return to the gate and remove a passenger’.“

In video footage of what happened next, posted on YouTube by passenger Krista Rosolino, Mr Hamlilton is seen talking calmly to two Delta officials.

He tells the officials that he did nothing hostile and asks them to help him “understand why” he is being thrown off the plane.

Mr Hamilton said at one point he apologised to a man sitting next to him for the inconvenience, to which the man replied: "You did nothing wrong".

The whole plane was eventually forced to disembark and reboard while he was interviewed by police and Delta personnel in the airport.

Ms Rosolino, who was sitting across the aisle from Mr Hamilton, said his treatment as "outrageous".

In an open letter to the airline, she wrote: "Not only did your staff truly harm and humiliate one person who was forced to pay hundreds of dollars for a new same-day flight, but you forced the rest of us passengers to endure a 2 hour saga of watching a man being targeted for having a bathroom emergency."

Delta said in a statement: "Our flight crews are extensively trained to ensure the safety and security of all customers.

It is imperative that passengers comply with crew instructions during all phases of flight, especially at the critical points of takeoff and landing.

USA: Delta Air Lines Domestic Planes Stop Due To A Systems Outage

Delta Air Lines domestic planes were taking to the skies again early Monday but a nationwide ground stop due to a systems outage caused departure delays and at least 150 cancellations overnight, the airline said.

Delta's website and mobile app as well as airport information screens and computers at the airline's reservation desks were still down as of midnight ET, barring travelers from obtaining information about their flight statuses.

Delta's website was down early Monday after a systems outage forced the airline to ground its domestic fleet, causing delays and at least 150 flight cancellations.

"I want to apologize to all of our customers who have been impacted by this frustrating situation," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement. "This type of disruption is not acceptable to the Delta family who prides itself on reliability and customer service.

"I also want to thank our employees who are working tirelessly to accommodate our customers," he added.

More cancellations were expected because of the outage, the airline said in a statement, especially at Delta hub airports like Atlanta, Memphis and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Delta said in the statement that it would not fly unaccompanied minors through noon ET on Monday.

International flights and flights in the air Sunday night were not affected by the stoppage, the airline said in a statement at 8 p.m. ET.

Jeremy Webb said his flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Maui, Hawaii, was held on the tarmac for an hour and a half.

Virgin Atlantic, Delta, Jet Airways To Expand Codeshare Cooperation

Delta Air Lines and joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic will expand the airlines’ existing cooperation agreement with India’s Jet Airways, the carriers announced Oct. 31.

Beginning Nov. 2, Delta and Virgin Atlantic passengers flying from the US into London Heathrow (LHR) will be able to make connecting flights to Mumbai and Delhi on Jet Airways.

Simultaneously, Jet Airways passengers will be able to connect through London Heathrow onto Delta routes to nine US cities: Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Salt Lake City and Seattle.

The new London-Mumbai/Delhi connections complement Delta and Jet Airways codeshare agreements already offered out of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport.

“With up to 11,000 people flying daily between India and North America, and with trade and tourism flows increasing between the US, UK and India, we are giving our customers more … options between North America and India,” Delta SVP-Europe, Middle East, Africa and India Nat Pieper said. “Customers will be able to hold a single Delta ticket from North America through London to India.”

Virgin Atlantic already has a codeshare agreement with Jet Airways on flights between five Indian cities and London Heathrow via Delhi. In 2017, subject to government approval, the airlines plan to expand their codeshare agreement when Virgin Atlantic places Jet Airways’ marketing code on flights from London Heathrow to 10 North American cities.

Delta Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Engine Cover Falls Off

A Delta flight from Atlanta to Chicago made an emergency landing at the Nashville International Airport following an engine-related issue, an airline spokesman said.

Flight 765, carrying 109 passengers and a crew, landed in Nashville after one of the Boeing 717’s two engine’s outermost covering, or cowling, fell off on the aircraft’s starboard side during turbulence, airline authorities said.

The aircraft landed safely and taxied to the gate normally, said Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant. The customers on board were fed in the terminal before boarding another aircraft to continue their travel to Chicago Midway International Airport on Sunday evening.

In a statement issued Sunday, Delta said it would fully investigate the incident as the safety and security of the airline’s customers and employees is its top priority.

QATAR: Qatar Airways Adds Boston Flights

Qatar Airways, which in East Africa flies to six airports in three of the East African Community countries, earlier in the week launched flights from Doha to Boston, adding yet another US city to their growing list of international destinations.

Subsequently did Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Mr. Akbar Al Baker host a press conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, to report on the recently-inaugurated service from Boston Logan International Airport to the airline’s hub in Doha, Qatar.

Qatar Airways’ service to Boston is operated non-stop daily with the state-of-the-art Airbus A350. The airline was the global launch customer of the aircraft and operates the A350 to Munich, Philadelphia, Singapore, and will start operating to Adelaide in Australia from next month. There are currently eight Airbus A350s in the fleet, with a further 72 to be delivered.

Mr. Al Baker remarked: 'We have introduced the world’s newest aircraft to Boston and look forward to providing all of our passengers on this route with a memorable journey that provides a superior inflight experience. Boston is a key city for business and leisure travellers and total comfort and hospitality is point of focus, in particular as the US market means that our passengers are travelling long- and ultra-long haul. Our entire customer experience is focused on the details, on all aircraft types. Qatar Airways has the youngest international fleet in the world, averaging just five years old, and our experience is second to none'.

Ed Freni, Massport’s Director of Aviation responded: 'We are pleased Qatar Airways, recognised by Skytrax as 2015’s Airline of the Year, is coming to Boston. This is yet another affirmation of the importance of the regional economy to the global economy. People from around the world come here for education, for health care, for business and for fun and we are proud that Logan Airport is New England’s gateway to the world'.

Qatar Airways, the world’s third largest cargo operator, has also commenced a daily cargo service between Logan International Airport (BOS) in Boston and its global cargo network of more than 150 destinations. Currently the airline operates six cargo destinations to the United States: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles.

USA: United Airlines Reduces Non-Stop Flights From Cleveland Hopkins International Airport

United Airlines, the world’s largest airline when measured by number of destinations served, is eliminating two more non-stop destinations from Cleveland Hopkins, Las Vegas and St. Louis, starting in early May.

The reductions will leave United airlines with just 15 non-stop destinations from Cleveland, down from 58 just two years ago, when the airline still operated a hub at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE).

United Airlines spokesman Jonathan Guerin said:

“We continually review supply and demand for service in all of our markets. We made the difficult decision to end service between Cleveland and our St. Louis and Las Vegas routes because they didn’t meet our expectations and are no longer sustainable.”

The last day for both routes will be May 4. Cleveland travelers, however, have, or will soon have, alternatives to both destinations. Frontier, Spirit and Southwest airlines all fly non-stop between Cleveland and Las Vegas.

United airlines is currently the only carrier flying from Cleveland to St. Louis, offering twice daily flights on 50-seat Embraer jets.

Southwest Airlines, however, announced in December a new daily flight to St. Louis, which begins June 5.

These most recent cuts leave United Airlines with a fraction of the service it had two years ago, when Cleveland was still one of the airline’s eight hubs. Since the airline’s downsizing announcement in February 2014, United Airlines has cut more than 40 nonstop destinations from Cleveland, including Baltimore, Atlanta, Kansas City, New Orleans, Phoenix and many others.

United Airlines spokesman Jonathan Guerin said Cleveland was not the only United Airlines market to experience cuts in the airline’s latest round of schedule adjustments.

QATAR: Qatar Airways With 168 Aircraft And 330 Jets On Order, Lands Its Newest Plane To America

Qatar Airways is ramping up its expansion into the United States regardless of whatever concerns American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines may have.

This week, Qatar Airways announced plans to commence service between its home base in Doha, Qatar, and the US using its new fleet of Airbus A350 jets.

A350 service in the US kicks off January 1 on the airline's Doha-to-Philadelphia route.

"We are proud to be the first commercial airline to land the Airbus A350 in the United States," Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said in a statement.

"As the global launch customer of this new-generation aircraft, we are excited to introduce it to the American market."

Qatar Airways currently flies to 152 destinations around the world, including New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, Houston, and Washington, D.C.

The airline plans to open routes from Doha to Los Angeles in January, Boston in March, and Atlanta in June.

The Persian Gulf-based airline has grown rapidly over the past decade and now boasts a fleet of 168 aircraft with another 330 jets on order, which are valued at more than $70 billion.

In June, Qatar Airways was named Airline of the Year for 2015 by the leading aviation consumer organization Skytrax. It's a prize the airline also took home in 2011 and 2012.

Qatar's success has not come without pitfalls. American, United, and Delta Air Lines have accused Qatar along with Etihad Airways and Emirates of fueling its palatial terminals, luxury service, and massive fleets with $42 billion in government subsidies.

Qatar, Emirates, and Etihad deny these accusations. The coalition of US airlines has petitioned the US State Department to reevaluate the "Open Skies" agreements between the US and the Gulf states that allow airlines to fly freely between the countries.

Al Baker said that whatever money his airline had received from the Qatari government had been in the form of investment in exchange for equity.

Etihad CEO James Hogan echoed Baker's sentiments, telling Business Insider: "At the end of the day. We have a shareholder who placed equity in the airline who gave us loans to be repaid. That's what people do when they invest in the business."

"We've done nothing improper," Hogan continued. "We've created a great airline, with great service, created value, and the accounts are audited by one of the top accounting firms in the world."

Qatar is the launch partner for the Airbus A350-900 twin-engine long-range airliner. The airline expects to have eight of the jets in its fleet by the end of the year, with 72 more on order.

The A350 is powered by two powerful and efficient Rolls-Royce Trent turbofan engines. The jet can carry as many as 325 passengers in three different classes, with a fuel range of about 8,700 miles.

NIGERIA: Arik Air

Arik Air Boeing 737–800

Arik Air is a Nigerian airline operating a domestic, regional and international flight network. It operates mainly from two hubs at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Arik Air's head office is the Arik Air Aviation Center on the grounds of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State.

On 3 April 2006, Arik Air took over the former Nigeria Airways facilities in Lagos,some three years after its liquidation, and began reconstruction work. On 14 June 2006, Arik took delivery of 2 new Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft to fly domestic routes throughout Nigeria and, within the African continent from Summer 2006, 2 ex-United Airlines Boeing 737–300s and 3 50 seat Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft.

In August 2006, the Federal Ministry of Aviation granted Arik Air authorisation to fly to Trinidad and Tobago and Amsterdam, London, Madrid in Europe. Furthermore, the airline then planned to fly to Atlanta, Miami, and Houston in the United States and Birmingham in the United Kingdom. On 30 October 2006, Arik began scheduled passenger flights with four flights between Lagos and Abuja using CRJ 900 aircraft. Flight operations began to Calabar on 15 November 2006 and services to Benin City and Enugu started on 7 January 2007.The airline is wholly owned by Ojemai Investments.

The Nigerian government set a deadline of 30 April 2007 for all airlines operating in the country to re-capitalise or be grounded in an effort to ensure better services and safety. The airline satisfied the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)’s criteria in terms of re-capitalisation and was re-registered for operation.

On 4 April 2008, Arik Air was given permission to fly to the United States by the US Department of Transportation.Arik Air started international operations to London-Heathrow on 15 December 2008, using an Airbus A340-500 aircraft damp-leased from Hi Fly.It added Johannesburg on 1 June 2009,New York JFK on 30 November 2009,and Dubai on 28 July 2014.

Subsidiary airline Arik Niger (IATA code: Q9) commenced operations in April 2009, but was shut down in February 2010.

Arik Air transported its 5 millionth passenger on 6 August 2010 and it transported its 10 millionth passenger on 18 September 2012, both on flights beteween Johannesburg and Lagos.

On 20 September 2012, the airline cancelled all its domestic operations after aviation officials raided the airline's office in Lagos, Nigeria.Flights resumed on 23 September.

Arik Air had placed an order for five Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which was cancelled in 2011.Rumours have spread that Arik Air converted an order for two Boeing 747-8I aircraft back into an order for two 777-300ERs in 2013, however, no such cancellation has materialised, nor was the order of two 777-300ER aircraft confirmed by Boeing. The order for 2 747-8I aircraft still stands and is still listed by the Boeing company.

FLEET
Airbus A330-200 2
Boeing 737-700 9
Boeing 737-800 4
Boeing 747-8I Deliveries start in 2016
Boeing 787-9 Deliveries start in 2016
Bombardier CRJ900 4
Bombardier CRJ1000 1
Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 4
Total 26

Delta To Add Seattle/Tacoma – Edmonton Flight

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) continues to build up its Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) hub. The carrier will add daily Delta Connection Bombardier CRJ700 jet service from SEA to Edmonton, Alberta per Airline Route.