Eye on America
Hawaiian launches New York flights
Hawaiian Airlines has commenced a new direct daily service between Honolulu and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The new flights depart Hawaii every day at 1505, arriving in New York at 0655 the following morning. This will enable passengers from Sydney to connect to the service with a four-hour stopover. The route will be operated using Hawaiian’s new Airbus A330-200 aircraft, seating 294 passengers – 18 in first class and 276 in economy.
W Hotels plans major US renovations
Starwood’s W Hotels brand has announced plans to renovate a series of its hotels across the US. The projects will vary by hotel, but will generally include upgrades to public spaces, the addition of new bar and restaurant concepts and the refurbishment of guestrooms. Properties undertaking the upgrades will include the W Seattle, W San Francisco, W Chicago, W New Orleans French Quarter, W San Diego, W Los Angeles and W Dallas. The brand’s three New York properties will also be renovated.
Washington DC achieves record visitor numbers
Washington DC welcomed a record 17.9 million visitors in 2011. Newly-released data shows the US capital received a total of 1.8 million overseas visitors in 2011, up 4.1% year-on-year, along with 16.1 million domestic visits. The total spent by all visitors to Washington DC in 2011 was US$6 billion, up 6.2% compared to 2010. The UK was the largest source of overseas visits, followed by Germany Australia, China and France.
United launches Washington-Dublin flights
United Airlines has launched a new daily direct service between Washington DC and the Irish capital, Dublin. The new route will be operated using a Boeing 757-200 aircraft featuring 169 seats, including 16 flat-bed seats in United’s BusinessFirst cabin and 45 premium economy seats. The launch marks the latest phase in United’s expansion from Washington DC following the start of flights to Doha and Manchester earlier this year, and the start of a new Washington DC-Honolulu service last week.
Alaska Airlines adds self-service bag-tagging
Alaska Airlines has introduced a self-service bag-tagging option. Initially being rolled out on services from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the new service enables passengers to print and attach their own luggage tags from a self-service kiosk in the airport lobby. The airline is planning to expand the service to all airports across its network. Passengers from the Asia Pacific region can connect with Alaska Airlines in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hawaii.