Melbourne was the original home for Qatar Airways in Australia, with the airline subsequently adding services to Perth, Sydney and Adelaide. With the growth from the original 777-200LR to the A380, the airline has actually doubled its daily capacity since the start of the route while retaining just the single flight rotation.
Around two million passengers a year fly between Australia and the UK (O&D demand for 12 months to October 2016) and the famous Kangaroo Route has been one of the most competitive air corridors in aviation history with tens of airlines competing for traffic via various points across Asia and more recently the Middle East.
The connecting passenger flows at either end of the route will be key to the success of this route. The local demand between Santiago and Melbourne is around 16,000 bi-directional O&D passengers per year, but when you expand to Chile to Australia that grows five-fold to around 100,000 passengers and up to 585,000 passengers when you consider the whole of Central and South America and the Pacific region.
The landmark partnership continues a recent relaxation of rights between the two countries and is expected to lead to an immediate growth in flights between the two countries, including many new routes from China’s emerging second and third tier cities into Australia.
Following the announcement that World Routes 2019 will take place in Adelaide, Australia, hosted by South Australian Tourism Commission, Tourism Australia and Adelaide Airport, Routesonline takes a closer look at its aviation sector.
The capital city of South Australia has been named as the host of the World Routes forum in 2019. Hosting the event gives the city the opportunity to not only boost air connectivity, but to show thousands of delegates what they have to offer potential visitors.
China is Australia’s most valuable market, with Chinese visitors spending more than $7.7 billion annually. Spend has increased by more than 400 percent in the past 10 years, from $1.5 billion in 2005 to $7.7 billion in 2015. Year-on-year spending grew 43 per cent in 2015 – double the previous 12 month’s growth rate.
A mix of existing and new airline partners officially signed-up to serve the fast-expanding Chinese gateway during a behind closed doors meeting on the opening day of business at World Routes and it is our understanding that there is more news to follow, with at least one other airline set to announce its expansion into Chengdu in the coming days.
The new Virgin Australia service between Perth and Abu Dhabi will also open additional connection options for passengers travelling to and from the capital of Western Australia, with direct connections to 23 European, 15 Middle East and 10 African destinations.
As we approach this year's World Routes forum, we take a closer look at the main O&D markets from Chengdu, including a number of international destinations not currently served directly from the fast-growing city.
Scoot said the commencement of the service to Europe is part of the Singapore Airlines Group’s strategic move to “stimulate passenger traffic between Asia Pacific and Europe, as well as to boost connectivity through the Singapore hub”. It will be the only non-stop connection into the Asia Pacific region from Athens.
The grouping brings together many of the smaller low-cost operators across the Asia Pacific region and the partnership will allow them to better compete with some of the largest budget carriers like IndiGo in India, AirAsia across multiple countries and Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Airways across both the Asia and Pacific markets.
The link will be operated using a 180-seat Airbus A320 and is being launched to meet growing demand for holidays to the region. It marks the carrier’s return to a market it previously served between March 2006 and July 2008, according to schedules data from OAG.
Last night’s Networking Evening at this year’s Routes Asia forum certainly supported the Department of Tourism's marketing message that "it is more fun in the Philippines". Our host and its partners have made tremendous efforts to showcase the hospitality and variety of the Philippines archipelago.
Now a fully owned subsidiary of Virgin Australia, Tigerair Australia has recently undergone a major transformation – even ‘changing its stripes’ – in a bid to enhance its customer service and market fit.
The resumption of the non-stop seasonal service between Auckland and Osaka by Air New Zealand between November 2016 and March 2017 will contribute an estimated $24 million to the New Zealand economy, during the operation, according to Auckland Airport.
The new service will provide 245,000 additional seats per year and is expected to generate an estimated 3,000 jobs in New South Wales and contribute more than AUD$240 million to the local economy. The new service will also provide 84 tonnes of cargo capacity per week in and out of the New South Wales (NSW) capital.
On the eve of this year’s Routes Asia air service development forum it was revealed in Australia that the 2018 event will take place in Brisbane. The news was announced as delegates were arriving in Manila, Philippines for this year’s event. The 2017 Routes Asia will take place in Okinawa, Japan.
Dubbed the ‘Capital Express’ route, Singapore Airlines will introduce a four times weekly schedule on Singapore – Canberra – Wellington, subject to final regulatory approval and will be operated with a 266-seat retrofitted Boeing 777-200 fitted with 38 Business Class and 228 Economy seats.
Have you wondered what enticed an airline to a certain destination? What the data says about demand on the city pair and connecting markets? What external factors may have influenced the airline in selecting a specific city pair? How this business case differs from others? Our new ‘Route Case’ offering will seek to provide the answers all within a single 20 minute meeting slot at our events.
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.
