Alan Joyce, Chief Executive Officer, Qantas has highlighted in a article has written in the Business Section of the Herald Times this week that while there’s no doubt that the switch from construction to production in the resources sector, and the big drop in commodity prices, represents a major shift for Australia's economy, he believes it provides a great opportunity for its tourism industry.
United currently has 22 787s in its fleet and will receive three more before the end of this year. These include a mix of 787-8 and larger 787-9 variants which allow the carrier to fit the right-sized aircraft to its existing and new markets. The aircraft is being used at San Francisco International Airport to support the growth of United hub operation from where it provides nearly 280 daily flights to more than 90 destinations in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia/Pacific.
China Southern announced in August that it would commence a three times weekly link between Guangzhou and Christchurch from December 15, 2015 operated using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. This was originally displaying just for the winter schedule, but last month reservations were opened for the route to continue through the summer 2016 schedule.
Optimised for non-stop flights to the US, the aircraft, designated A350-900ULR (Ultra-Long Range), will include a modified fuel system to increase the fuel carrying capacity, an increase in Maximum Take-Off Weight, plus aerodynamic improvements, enabling service to the US West Coast, as well as to New York.
The new Adelaide route will be flown using Qatar Airways’ new Airbus A350-900 and will boost its Australian capacity to 28 flights a week. The airline’s Gulf rival, Emirates Airline already serves Adelaide from Dubai International Airport with flights since November 2012; now operating daily using a Boeing 777-300ER.
The airline has confirmed it will add two further long-haul destinations to its network from spring 2016 with a three times weekly offering to Fukuoka in Japan and a four times weekly link to Guangzhou in China from its Helsinki Airport hub.
The Star Alliance member will launch a four times weekly link between Chengdu’s Shuangliu International Airport and Charles de Gaulle Airport in the French city from December 12, 2015. It had previously planned to introduce the route from January 28, 2016 and initially scheduled to operate just three weekly frequencies.
The new business will operate from a base at Chubu Centrair International Airport in Aichi prefecture to Shin-Chitose Airport in Sapporo, Sendai Airport in Sendai as well as to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei. Alongside its previous experiences at the facility, AirAsia Group currently serves the airport with its AirAsia X long-haul business from Kuala Lumpur.
In recent years China has overtaken both USA and Germany to become the largest outbound market in the world with Chinese travellers now the top source of tourism cash with an annual spend estimated at $165 billion last year.
The new route will complement the carrier’s existing US network of Newark Liberty, New York JFK and Chicago O’Hare and will be its longest non-stop service at a distance of around 7,670 miles and a 16 hour flight time. It will be served by a Boeing 777-200LR and will operate on a three times weekly basis from December 2, 2015.
The Qatari and Australian governments this month announced they had expanded the current bilaterals between the countries, allowing 50 per cent more flights on the Australia-Qatar route with immediate effect. The agreement will allow for up to 21 flights each week, each way, for airlines of both countries to the major gateways of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
The new service will build on the national carrier’s existing weekly Honiara - Nadi service which operates via Port Vila, Vanuatu, on Saturdays and returns to Honiara, again via Port Vila, on Sundays and continues a recent growth of Solomon Airlines’ international network in recent months, which saw a direct Sydney-Honiara service introduced in June.
Speaking to Routesonline on the sidelines of the World Routes network development forum in Durban, South Africa, Lim Ching Kiat, Changi’s senior vice president of market development said the airport will celebrate the nation’s 50th anniversary of independence in a strong position with growth levels returning to good levels over the past couple of months.
The aircraft will now enter the final production phase including further ground checks and flight tests before being officially handed-over to the Nordic carrier. Finnair has acquired a total of 19 A350 XWBs and will operate its fleet on premium long haul routes to Asia, beginning with services between Helsinki and Shanghai.
To understand first-hand how Australia aligns their tourism and aviation strategies and specifically Tourism Australia’s involvement with the route development aviation community, Routesonline spoke to Tim Jones, Tourism Australia’s General Manager Asian Markets and Strategic Partnerships, before he left for Durban to learn more about its strategy and the role World Routes plays in helping it achieve its goals.
Ahead of this year's World Routes forum, Routesonline is providing another look at our series of articles on the leading airlines and airports and most used aircraft types across regions of the world last year. Here we look closely at the airlines of South Asia and highlight the region's top performers.
Ahead of this year's World Routes forum, Routesonline is providing another look at our series of articles on the leading airlines and airports and most used aircraft types across regions of the world last year. Here we look closely at the airlines of North East Asia and highlight the region's top performers.
Ahead of this year's World Routes forum, Routesonline is providing another look at our series of articles on the leading airlines and airports and most used aircraft types across regions of the world last year. Here we look closely at the airlines of the Southwest Pacific and highlight the region's top performers.
Although not formally confirmed by the airline, Cathay Pacific plans to offer a four times weekly link between Hong Kong International Airport and Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez-Barajas Airport from June 2, 2016 and will be flown using a three-class Boeing 777-300ER.
Under the terms of the deal, which will run for an “at least five year” period, Small Planet will initially base four Airbus 320s in Cambodia between November 2015 and March 2016 to fly tourists into Siem Reap from China and South Korea. Last winter the Eastern European ACMI provider had placed two of its aircraft with Sky Angkor in a pre-cursor to this long-term partnership.
Ahead of this year's World Routes forum, Routesonline is providing another look at our series of articles on the leading airlines and airports and most used aircraft types across regions of the world last year. Here we look closely at the airports of South Asia and highlight the region's top performers.
The return to Shanghai highlights the continued importance of the Chinese market to the leading European carriers and the high value attached to its outbound market in particular. The airline previously served the Chinese city between April 2004 and January 2007 but stopped the flight as part of the redimensioning of the airline’s long-haul fleet and the decommissioning of its Airbus A330 and A340 long-haul fleets.
AirBridgeCargo’s new link to Singapore establishes the first dedicated freight link between Changi International Airport and the Russian capital and will further strengthen the Asian gateway’s connectivity to Russia and beyond. The airline is offering a twice weekly service on the Moscow – Singapore – Hong Kong – Moscow routing using a Boeing 747-8F.
According to its latest schedule update, Saudia will place the 787-9 into passenger operation from February 1, 2016 with its first scheduled flight due to operate as ‘SV1020’ between Jeddah and Riyadh. The type will be used on various frequencies on this route as well as between Jeddah and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, while links from both Jeddah (daily on the SV588/589 rotation until February 29, 2016) and Riyadh (various frequencies) to Dubai will commence the same day.
Under the alliance Air New Zealand will continue to operate daily between Auckland and Shanghai, while Air China will operate this new service between Auckland and Beijing from December 10, 2015, bossting air capacity between Auckland and Mainland China by more than 25 per cent year round.
