AirAsia X is planning to add Auckland, the largest and most populous urban area in New Zealand, as a tag on its existing daily Kuala Lumpur – Gold Coast service and is expected to open reservations this week. It previously served Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand but closed the route after just 15 months of operation.
The airline will introduce an additional two weekly flights, growing its offering to 21 return services per week. However, notably the two services will result in a Virgin Australia Embraer 190 night-stopping in Newcastle for two nights each week and the introduction of a later evening departure from Brisbane and new early morning flight from Newcastle.
This SuperJumbo commitment is understood to be linked to ANA Holdings’ successful sponsorship of a rescue bid for fellow Japanese carrier Skymark Airlines. The latter had an outstanding commitment for the A380 and Airbus was among its largest creditors with a sizeable voice in deciding a rescue package for the airline.
Emirates has opened reservations for a new daily flight linking its Dubai International Airport hub with both Mactan–Cebu International Airport and Clark International Airport (formerly the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport) from the end of March 2016. The flight will operate on a triangular basis and will be flown using a two-class Boeing 777-300ER
Fiji Airways, Fiji’s National Airline, has announced plans to commence seasonal twice-weekly direct services from Nadi to San Francisco starting June 2016. The flights, operating in June, July, August, December 2016 and January 2017, will depart from Nadi International Airport to San Francisco International Airport on Thursdays and Sundays.
In a move that will boost capacity in all three markets, the A380s will replace Boeing 777-300ERs during the first half of next year. Emirates will use a two-class A380 on one of its three daily flights between Dubai and Birmingham (EK039/040), while three-class examples will be deployed on its routes from Dubai to Prague and Taipei from May 1, 2016.
Etihad currently operates five 787-9s serving the markets of Brisbane, Washington, Singapore and Zurich from its Abu Dhabi International Airport hub. The type will become the UAE national carrier’s flagship long-haul aircraft in the coming years with a further 66 aircraft due to be delivered.
Emirates has confirmed it will introduce a four times weekly link between its Dubai International Airport hub and Yinchuan’s Hedong International Airport from May 3, 2016, with an additional onward leg to Zhengzhou’s Xinzheng International Airport. The flight will be operated by a 266-seat Boeing 777-200LR and will bring its offering mainland China to five points, adding to existing flights to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.
The new services will increase capacity between the two cities by almost 2,500 seats per week enabling Etihad to better serve the market in the UAE and the Philippines for point-to-point travel as well as supporting behind and beyond demand via its Abu Dhabi International Airport hub.
According to information released by aviation regulator, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), China’s national carrier, Air China has requested rights to introduce a daily service from Chengdu to Sydney from June 2016. The route, subject to final approval, will be operated using Airbus A330 equipment.
The revised Amsterdam operation and agreement with KLM will enable Jet Airways to increase its coverage of the European market, albeit on a codeshare basis. Alongside its existing Brussels services the carrier currently only serves two other European points: London Heathrow (daily from Delhi and twice daily from Mumbai) and Paris Charles De Gaulle (daily from Mumbai).
South African low-cost carrier Mango will help launch a new Connecting Partner Model from global airline grouping Star Alliance as it seeks to further expand its network reach. The South African Airways (SAA) subsidiary will be the first ‘low-cost’ or ‘hybrid’ carrier to introduce its network into that of the wider grouping.
Cathay Pacific is already the largest operator in the Hong Kong – London market by capacity, according to data from schedules provider, OAG. The airline has a 58.7 per cent share of the available non-stop capacity in this market ahead of British Airways (29.9 per cent share) and Virgin Atlantic Airways (11.4 per cent share).
Under development for 12 years, the first production 90-seat ARJ21 airliner has now been officially delivered to launch customer, Chengdu Airlines, arriving at the carrier’s Shuangliu International Airport base on November 29, 2015 following a 2 hour 48 minute delivery flight from the COMAC facility in Shanghai.
Although this will not immediately impact international air services from Thailand as Thai Airways International recently closed its flight between Bangkok and
IATA projects that passenger numbers are expected to reach seven billion by 2034 with a 3.8 per cent average annual growth in demand (2014 baseline year). That is more than double the 3.3 billion who flew in 2014 and exactly twice as many as the 3.5 billion expected in 2015.
The airline first introduced non-stop flights into Japan in November 2010 when it launched its daily link between Honolulu International Airport and Tokyo Haneda and it also currently provides links into Osaka in July 2011 and Sapporo in October 2012. The new daily Tokyo Narita service will commence from July 22, 2016 and will be flown using a 294 seat Airbus A330-200 with 18 Business Class, 40 Extra Comfort and 236 Economy seats.
The Japanese flag carrier previously served Dallas up until late 2001 when it ended its previous operation from Tokyo. This was flown using a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 trijet, but the current link is being flown by a more efficient twin-engined Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which is understood to have played a key role in the resurrection of this link.
MIDT data from Sabre shows an estimated market of around 135,000 O&D passengers a year between Manchester and China, although the real market size will be notably higher when you include ground leakage to London for the existing non-stop flights to the Chinese cities of Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai. When you add the obvious stimulation a new direct flight can add then you could realistically see a market of around 200,000 passengers, which will grow year-on-year.
This expansion will see Cebu Pacific Air offering its trademark low fares to the sizeable Filipino community in Guam, which currently comprises about 26 per cent of the island's population, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency World Fact Book.
Based on the analyst modelling, the economic study, commissioned by the Qantas Group suggests the estimated total economic contribution of the Qantas Group to Australia in 2014/15 is $11.4 billion ($5.9 billion direct and $5.4 billion indirect) while facilitating an additional $9.5 billion of tourism expenditure across Australia.
Under its revised schedule, Oman Air will introduce second daily rotations between Muscat and Bangalore and Kochi; will boost weekly frequencies between Muscat and Lucknow from seven to eleven; will increase flights between Muscat and Jaipur to ten weekly from the current daily offering; and will add one additional weekly flight on the Muscat – Goa route to offer a daily schedule.
Under the terms of the revised agreement, designated Australian and UAE airlines will be able to operate an extra 14 weekly frequencies between the two countries from October 2016, up from the seven offered as part of a previous deal. Alongside the fast-expanding UAE national entities, this will permit Qantas and Virgin Australia to also boost its flights to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, markets its currently serves in partnership with the two Gulf carriers.
Subject to final approval and the green light from North Korean authorities, Spring Airlines will be one of only a handful of carriers to provide international flights into the North Korean market. This market has been mainly served by national carrier Air Koryo, although the likes of Air China, China Southern Airlines have offered scheduled programmes into the country with Air China currently linking Pyongyang to Beijing.
Garuda’s plans to introduce non-stop flights to Europe have been restricted by limited runway capacity at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, with the pavement classification number (PCN) of the runways and apron at Soekarno-Hatta Airport not meeting the required level of strength that is typically needed for the operation of a full capacity, heavy duty commercial airliner such as the Boeing 777-300ER.
