Short Takes
January 27th 2015
AIRLINES: Business Air, a Bangkok-based charter airline, has had its licence revoked after it was unable to settle overdue debt, leaving over 700 passengers stranded. Read More » Cathay Pacific Airways is considering a major overhaul of its Marco Polo Club and Asia Miles loyalty schemes with widespread impact ranging from restricting lounge access to awarding reward and status credits based on the cost of the ticket rather than distance flown. Jazeera Airways parent, Jazeera Airways Group, said it will cease operations at its Sahaab Aircraft Leasing subsidiary in order to fully focus on its airline business. Looking to improve its bottom line by $18 million, SriLankan Airlines said it will terminate all services to Hambantota from February 9. In a statement, the carrier said its services to Colombo, as well as Hambantota’s use as an intermediate stop on flights to Jeddah, Beijing and Shanghai no longer proved economically viable. Hambantota will still be served by flydubai and Mihin Lanka.
CARGO: Qatar Airways Cargo will launch a weekly Doha – Brussels – Basel – Doha A330F service from January 28.
CODESHARES: Starting February 1, Etihad Airways will add its ‘EY’ designator on 15 regional and domestic routes operated by Aerolineas Argentinas from Buenos Aires.
MANUFACTURERS: ATR said it delivered 83 aircraft in 2014 and signed sales agreements for 160 aircraft, breaking the previous record of 157 in 2011.
ROUTES: Air Arabia will launch its first service to China on February 10 with a thrice-weekly Sharjah – Urumqi A320 operation. AirAsia X is terminating its four-weekly Kuala Lumpur – Nagoya A330-300 service from February 14. Japan’s AirDo will cancel all services from Sapporo to Fukushima, Komatsu, Niigata and Toyama starting March 29, but will increase frequency on the Sapporo – Sendai B737-700 route from five- to seven-daily from the same date. Air Macau will increase frequency on the Macau – Osaka A320 route from four-weekly to daily effective March 29. American Airlines has received regulatory approval to launch a daily Beijing – Dallas Fort/Worth B777-200ER service from May 6. Cambodia Angkor Air has launched a Siem Reap – Wuxi A321 service, with flights operating every 5 days. China Airlines will replace the A330-300 with the B747-400 on the daily Narita – Honolulu route from July 1. China Eastern Airlines will begin a thrice-weekly Changzhou – Taipei A320 service effective February 1. Emirates will replace the A330-200 with the B777-200ER on the Dubai – Kolkata rotation from March 29. Also from March 29, Etihad Airways will replace the A330-200 with the B777-300ER on one of its two daily Abu Dhabi – Rome services. Garuda Indonesia will extend its service cancellations on the once daily Denpasar – Haneda and Jakarta – Narita routes beyond March 29. Indonesia AirAsia X will launch a four-weekly Denpasar – Taipei A330-300 service starting March 29. JAL will replace the B777-300ER with the B787-9 (configured C44W35Y116) on the Narita – Jakarta route effective July 1. Jetstar Japan will launch a new daily Nagoya – Okinawa A320 service starting March 29. Jetstar Pacific has added a third daily Da Nang – Macau A320 service. Mandarin Airlines will start a twice-weekly Taichung – Shantou E90 service from April 2. Qatar Airways has said it will continue double-daily A350 operations on the Doha – Frankfurt route beyond March 30. Japanese carrier Solaseed Air will launch a daily Okinawa – Nagoya and a twice-daily Okinawa – Ishigaki service, both operated by B737-800 aircraft, starting March 29.
