This summer marks the fourth summer since Japan and the Republic of China (Taiwan) signed an Open Skies agreement. At the time it was hailed by tourism bodies and academics as a breakthrough agreement. Three years on, aviation intelligence provider OAG has highlighted how has it has changed the options for flying between the two countries.
The aircraft will be introduced on the Auckland - Nadi route between November 2015 and March 2016. The 787-9 will initially operate two new services per week building to five during the peak mid-December to late January period. In addition to this, there will also be an extra weekly A320 service added to the summer schedule to meet passenger demand.
The airline made its debut in Taiwan in September 2012 and has already boosted its operations on the highly competitive route between Singapore and Taipei to ten times weekly. It currently competes with China Airlines, EVA Air, low-cost carriers Jetstar Asia, Tiger Airways and Tiger Airways Taiwan and complements the full service activities of its parent Singapore Airlines.
From June 26, 2015, the airline will operate five-weekly services between Perth and Singapore, with Boeing 737 aircraft, offering a total of almost 1,700 seats between the two cities.
The carrier will be the first airline in the world to operate the A350 on scheduled services to China, as Shanghai will be served daily by the next-generation Airbus aircraft from October 25, 2015. Beijing will follow with daily A350 services to commence from November 21, 2015.
The airline, part of the Volga-Dnepr Group, introduced a twice weekly connection to Nội Bài International Airport in Hanoi from its base at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport from April 1, 2015. The flights from Vietnam operate via Hong Kong and connect in the Russian capital to AirBridgeCargo’s wider network into Europe and the United States.
China Southern has previously revealed its intent to serve the European market with the 506-seat airliner but has faced opposition flying the jet out of Beijing due to regulatory procedures that prevent China’s big three state-owned carriers from competing with one another directly.
The airline had originally planned to introduce the daily rotation from May 16, 2015 but is now seeking to delay the start of the new service until July 15, 2015.
March has seen a number of start-up carriers beginning to take shape across the world, including Malaysian carrier Flymojo, and restart-up Greenland Express which is to resume operations in May.
The new route brings choice and competition to the town after Alice Springs was left without a second carrier when the low-cost airline, Tigerair pulled out in July last year. It also brings additional international connection options through Darwin and the operations of Virgin Australia’s partner carrier SilkAir via Singapore’s Changi International Airport.
As per the US-Japan bilateral agreement, US airlines may only operate a total of four daily round-trip flights at Haneda Airport. Currently that service is provided by Delta Air Lines from Los Angeles and Seattle, Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu, and United Airlines from San Francisco.
Cathay Pacific introduced the link between Hong Kong International Airport and Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport in July 2010 and operated a three times weekly rotation using an Airbus A340-300.
According to Ding Shaoxiang, vice governor of Yunnan province government, the route successes of China Eastern Airlines linking Kunming to Paris Charles De Gaulle last year and Vancouver International Airport from this year should be followed by a new direct link to Australia in 2016 serving either Melbourne or Sydney.
In its nine years of operation as a HNA Aviation group subsidiary, Lucky Air has developed its network to cover more than 40 destinations across 21 Chinese provinces with a fleet of approaching 25 aircraft. It now serves 61 routes and handled 5.67 million passengers last year.
With nearly 80 per cent of the Chinese population and economy within a range circle of about 2,000 km across Central and Eastern regions, congestion will remain a major talking point in China and an issue that will not be easily resolved. Meanwhile, domestic air travel will remain very important for China’s aviation development.
The Philippines is currently modernising and expanding its premier gateway and secondary airports to sustain its international market growth and improve the arrival and departure experience. Increased investment in these airports will drive international tourists and passengers to visit the Philippines.
Hungary is a fast growing tourism market for China, with last year showing a 19 per cent increase of Chinese visitors travelling to Budapest. In fact, estimates suggest a Chinese diaspora of over 40,000 in Hungary and demand or around 90,000 bi-directional passengers per annum.
The airline has already introduced a new cabin uniform, but will now extend this revised look to the livery on its fleet of aircraft, at the same time replacing its long-standing Bird logo with a new symbol highlighting its Chinese origin.
With almost ten years of experience in the aviation business, the carrier, part of the HNA Group and a sister operation to Hainan Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines, has been reinvented to better meet the demands of the local market and enable the group to better compete in the emerging low-cost sector in Hong Kong, a market served by 17 other low-cost carriers.
