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European Parliament and the European Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen, via their official Twitter accounts, confirmed (01-Jan-2025) Bulgaria and Romania became full members of the Schengen area on 01-Jan-2025, enabling the removal of checks when travelling across land borders between Bulgaria or Romania and any Schengen member country. Border checks for air and sea travel in the two countries were lifted in Mar-2024.

China Eastern Airlines, via its official Twitter account, announced (01-Jan-2025) it deployed COMAC C919 equipment on its Shanghai-Hong Kong service, making the carrier the first airline to use C919 equipment for scheduled commercial operations to Hong Kong. As previously reported by CAPA, this marks the first scheduled international service to be operated using the aircraft type.

Emirates Airline announced (01-Jan-2025) plans to bring forward the deployment of A350 equipment on the following frequencies from 08-Jan-2025:

• Dubai-Bahrain: Twice daily;
• Dubai-Kuwait: Daily.

This expands the carrier's A350 network to three destinations. The aircraft features 312 seats: 32 lie-flat business class seats, 21 premium economy and 259 economy class. According to OAG, flydubai also operates each route, while Jazeera Airways and Kuwait Airways also operate the Dubai-Kuwait route. Gulf Air also serves Dubai from Bahrain. [more - original PR]

Dublin Airport reported (30-Dec-2024) a record year in 2024, with each of the first 11 months seeing record passenger numbers, including over 171 days with more than 100,000 passengers. Retail figures show passengers at the airport consumed a full Irish breakfast every minute on average, while cafes served over 2.5 million cups of tea and coffee. The bars sold more than 1.5 million pints of Guinness, and popular products included 500,000 packets of Tayto crisps and 72 tonnes of Toblerone. The airport also reported a high volume of lost property, with nearly 19,000 items turned in, of which 56% were returned to the owner. Media relations manager Graeme McQueen highlighted improvements in terminal services, such as new food outlets and parking options, have contributed to high passenger satisfaction ratings, with further upgrades planned for 2025. [more - original PR]

British Airways announced (30-Dec-2024) changes to its loyalty programme, rebranding it as 'The British Airways Club' and introducing new ways for members to earn Tier Points. The updates aim to provide more flexibility and benefits across various spending categories. Key changes include:

• From 01-Apr-2025:
  • Tier Points will be earned based on the cost of flights and, for the first time, on ancillary spending such as seat selection and excess baggage. Members will earn one Tier Point per GBP1 of eligible spend. Tier thresholds will be recalculated to reflect the new earning model;
  • Members will be able to earn Tier Points and collect Avios by purchasing a contribution to SAF, earning up to 1000 Tier Points annually. Avios will also be able to be used as a form of payment, through a dedicated landing page;
  • British Airways Holidays will offer a permanent Tier Points earning proposition. Members will earn Tier Points based on the total price of their holiday packages, with no earning cap, enabling members to achieve elite status in fewer trips;
• Later in 2025:
  • BA American Express Premium Plus cardmembers will be able to earn up to 2500 Tier Points by spending on their card;
  • New milestone benefits will be introduced between Tiers, enabling members to unlock rewards before reaching the next level.

The rebrand follows previous changes to award customers Avios based on their spend, which has seen 70% of customers collecting the same or more Avios as they did under the previous model. [more - original PR]

JEJU air confirmed (29-Dec-2024) the crash of a Boeing 737-800 aircraft upon landing at Muan International Airport on 29-Dec-2024. The aircraft was operating from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Muan carrying 175 passengers and six crew members, of which 179 passed away in the incident. The aircraft's flight data recorder and one cockpit voice recorder have been recovered from the wreckage. Jeju Air CEO Kim Lee-bae stated: "Jeju Air will do everything it can to quickly recover from the accident and support the families of the passengers. We will also do our best to determine the cause of the accident together with the government". South Korea Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) reported the aircraft declared a bird strike emergency approximately four minutes prior to landing. MOLIT stated it will establish a local accident response headquarters at the scene to support response crews and bereaved families, to be led by the Busan Regional Aviation Administration. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - MOLIT - Korean] [more - original PR - MOLIT - Korean - II] [more - original PR - MOLIT - Korean - III] [more - original PR - MOLIT - Korean - IV] [more - original PR - MOLIT - Korean - V] [more - original PR - MOLIT - Korean - VI]