IATA schedules, Jet2 arrive at London Gatwick, and a Relax! Its the new United Airlines seating option...

United Airlines has announced a new “Relax Row” product with an economy sleeper seat launching on their new B787’s from 2027. It’s a bit like the Air New Zealand product and will certainly be popular on those horrible overnight transatlantic sectors, although pricing has yet to be finalised. Will this be the new space for all those corporate travellers looking to grab some sleep but denied access to the "turn left” rows of the aircraft?

Jet2.com and Jet2holidays have launched their much-awaited Gatwick operation, which will put a bit more competition into the market for easyJet, who’ve had the market to themselves in recent years. It’s a big investment in the airport and is a missing part of the UK network for the airline, so where next for hashtag#Jet2 and its outstanding order for 93 aircraft - European bases perhaps?

Its Summer! So the International Air Transport Association (IATA) schedules have launched with new routes being added by airlines around the globe. Virgin Atlantic finally starts services to Seoul, while at the other end of the market, hashtag#Ryanair and Wizz Air are launching services to places many of us have never even heard of...😀

It’s a strange world sometimes. Airlines are carefully dropping frequencies in Asia as a precautionary step to fuel supplies, especially in domestic markets and across the LCC sector, while at the same time, Qantas is adding frequencies to Paris and Rome as they seek to benefit from traffic avoiding the uncertainty of a Middle East stopover.

Lots of speculation about how the big three hubs in the hashtag#MiddleEast will recover and if current events will, in the long-term, damage their businesses. It seems like those who are speculating don’t understand the power of those hubs, the marketing and special offers that will be coming at some point to entice stopover traffic back. All three of the major hubs are too big not to recover.