Short Takes
February 10th 2015
AIRLINES: Korean Air has launched a new business class product, initially debuting on its Incheon – Singapore and Incheon – Hanoi A330-300 routes. The Mainland’s Okay Airways has established Xi’an as its second base after Tianjin, and opened two new routes to Krabi and Bangkok as it received two out of eight ordered B737-900ER aircraft last week. Read More » The carrier said it hopes to launch services to Europe next year or in 2017 at the latest.
AIRPORTS: Tokyo’s Narita International Airport will open a dedicated low-cost carrier terminal in early April. The 66,000sqm Terminal 3 will feature five contact stands for narrow-body aircraft and two contact stands for wide-body aircraft.
CARGO: According to IATA’s December 2014 Air Freight Market Analysis, global air freight volumes grew 4.5% in 2014, a strong improvement over 2013’s 1.4% growth over to the previous year. Carriers in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East led the year’s air freight market expansion, delivering 46% and 29% of the total market’s FTK growth, respectively.
CODESHARES: Air New Zealand has added its ‘NZ’ code on four additional Air Canada routes from Vancouver, including Edmonton, Kamloops, Kelowna and Victoria. Effective February 10, Philippine Airlines will add its ‘PR’ designator on two WestJet services from Toronto (Montreal, Ottawa) and four WestJet services from Vancouver (Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto [from March 15] and Winnipeg).
MANUFACTURERS: Airbus and Boeing both logged five orders in January. Airbus sold five A330-200s to an undisclosed customer, while Boeing added five B737-800s to All Nippon Airways’ (ANA) order log. Bombardier has completed flutter, cold-weather and passenger-evacuation testing on the CS100. It currently has four test aircraft flying, with a fifth to be added shortly.
ROUTES: Asiana Airlines will increase A380 operations on the Incheon – Hong Kong route from five-weekly to daily starting June 3, while its other two daily services will continue to be operated by the A330-300 and B747-400, respectively. From September 1, Cathay Pacific Airways will launch a four-weekly Hong Kong – Dusseldorf four-class B777-300ER service. China Eastern Airlines will operate ten-weekly Shanghai (PVG) – New York (JFK) B777-300ER services between June 23 and September 11. China Southern Airlines will increase frequency on the Guangzhou – Brisbane A330-200 route from five-weekly to daily effective June 23, while the Guangzhou – Melbourne frequency will be upped from ten-weekly to twice-daily starting July 1, and the Guangzhou – Auckland B787-8 route will see double-daily rotations from August 1, up from ten-weekly. Emirates will replace the B777-300ER with the A380 on one of its two daily Dubai – Dusseldorf departures from July 1, repeating the same move on the Dubai – Madrid route from August 1. Ethiopian Airlines will add a second-daily B787-8 Mumbai – Addis Ababa service starting March 29. Etihad Airways has adjusted the frequency for its Abu Dhabi – Madrid launch (from March 30) from daily to four-weekly A330-200 operations, and it has cancelled plans to launch a thrice-weekly Abu Dhabi – Algiers service from June 17. Garuda Indonesia will reduce frequency on the Jakarta – Osaka A330-200 route from four- to three-weekly starting April 27. HK Express will add a thrice-weekly Hong Kong – Siem Reap A320 service from October 1. Hong Kong Airlines will launch a twice-weekly Hong Kong – Miyazaki A320 rotation from March 28. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has cancelled its twice-weekly Islamabad – Barcelona A310-300 service. From March 29, Philippine Airlines will increase frequency on the Manila – Bangkok A320 route from 14- to 17-weekly, and on the Manila – Osaka A321 route from daily to 10-weekly. Meanwhile, it will reduce frequencies on the Manila – Dammam and Manila – Riyadh A330-300 routes from five- to four-weekly starting May 26. From June 16, Qatar Airways will add a third-daily frequency on the Doha – Singapore route to be operated by the A350-900. Solomon Airlines plans to add a weekly Honiara – Sydney A320 service from June 1, subject to regulatory approval. South African Airways will terminate its thrice-weekly Mumbai – Johannesburg A330-200, and thrice-weekly Beijing – Johannesburg A340-600 service from March 29. SriLankan Airlines has ceased non-stop Colombo – Moscow operations and is instead routing the twice-weekly service via Dubai deploying a mix of A320 and A330-200 aircraft. Effective February 12, Turkmenistan Airlines will add a weekly Ashgabat – Kuala Lumpur B777-200LR service.
