Short Takes
January 13th 2015
CARGO: The cargo market grew 4.2% year-on-year in November according to IATA’s November Air Freight Market Analysis. Read More » While the November figures represent a slowdown from October’s 5.4% year-over-year growth, the total air freight market nonetheless grew 0.8% since October. The Asia-Pacific region recorded a 5.9% year-on-year volume growth, measured in FTKs, while the Middle East grew 12.9%. Combined, the two regions accounted for 93% of the month’s volume increase.
CODESHARES: Cathay Pacific Airways has added its ‘CX’ code to three of flyBe’s UK-bound services ex Paris (CDG) and two UK-bound services, ex Amsterdam. On December 8, Cathay added its designator to seven of flyBe’s services from Manchester.
MANUFACTURERS: Boeing logged 13 commercial orders for a total of 174 aircraft in December. The company also reported delivering 74 commercial aircraft to 40 customers. Interestingly, 101 of the new commitments are unidentified-customer orders for the B737 MAX.
ROUTES: Air China will deploy the B747-8 on the Beijing – San Francisco route daily from May 1. Air New Zealand will operate the B787-9 daily on the Auckland – Tokyo (NRT) from August 21, instead of October 25. Cathay Pacific Airways will reduce frequency on the Hong Kong – Chicago B777-300ER route from 10-weekly to daily starting March 23. China Eastern Airlines has cancelled plans for a twice-weekly Shanghai – Dubai A330-200 service from February 8. Emirates will deploy a second daily A380 on the Dubai – Manchester route from February 1, while a third daily rotation continues to be operated by a B777-300ER. From January 20, Gulf Air will increase frequency on the Bahrain – Muscat A320 route from 20- to 24-weekly. Hainan Airlines will launch a twice-weekly Lanzhou – Kaohsiung service on February 6 using B737-800 aircraft. Jet Airways will reduce frequency on the Singapore – Chennai and Singapore – Delhi B737-800 routes from twice-daily to daily starting March 15. Korean Air will launch a five-weekly Incheon – Hefei B737-800 from March 30, a twice-weekly Incheon – Nanning B737-800 rotation from May 11 and a thrice-weekly Jeju – Guiyang B737-900 operation, also from May 11. Lao Airlines has launched a twice-weekly Luang Prabang – Chengdu A320 service. Singapore Airlines will replace the B777-200ER with the -300ER variant on four out of seven weekly frequencies on the Singapore – Amsterdam route from February 10, before deploying the larger variant daily from May 1. Shenzhen Airlines will add a daily Xian – Bangkok (BKK) A320 service from January 31, as well as a thrice-weekly Wuxi – Fuzhou – Bangkok and a four-weekly Wuxi – Shantou – Bangkok B737-800 service from February 4. THAI is replacing the A330-300 with the B787-8 on the daily TG417/8 Bangkok – Kuala Lumpur rotation from February 1. Turkish Airlines will launch a daily Istanbul – Taipei service using A340-300 aircraft from March 31, to be upgraded to B777-300ERs from October 26.
