Short Takes
July 20th 2015
Airlines
Garuda Indonesia has signed an agreement with local cargo carrier Cardig Air, based in Jakarta, to coordinate on cargo shipping throughout the region. Cardig currently operates three B737-300Fs, principally on domestic routes between major hubs in Indonesia, but also to international destinations such as Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia. Read More »
Codeshares
Emirates Airline has started a codeshare agreement with flyBe, whereby Emirates will place its ‘EK’ designator on eight ex-Manchester, seven ex-Birmingham, five ex-Glasgow, three ex-Newcastle and an ex-Gatwick flyBe domestic service.
Lessors
China Aircraft Leasing Group has delivered the second A320 to Air India under a 12-year operating lease agreement. The first delivery was completed February 3 and the remaining three aircraft will be delivered before year-end.
Manufacturers
Airbus has contracted Saab Aerostructures to manufacture and assemble composite wing trailing edge false work extensions for the A330neo. GE Aviation and COMAC have announced the start of the second phase of their “global civil aviation talent programme” (GCAT) to develop aircraft engineering skills in China.
MRO
Indian budget start-up TruJet, which launched operations July 12 with a maiden ATR72-500 flight from Hyderabad to Tirupati, said it plans to open a new component MRO facility in Hyderabad by end-2015.
Routes
Air Astana will replace the B757 with the B767-300ER on the twice-weekly Almaty-Hong Kong route from October 27. Air China will increase frequency between Beijing and Bangkok to four-daily, replace the B737-800 with the A330-300 on the daily Beijing-Manila rotation, and cancel its four-weekly Chengdu-Mumbai A319 service, all effective October 25. British Airways will deploy its new B787-9, configured 8/42/39/127, on the Delhi-Heathrow route starting October 25. Jetstar will add a daily Avalon-Gold Coast A320 rotation from October 25. Lufthansa will reinstate its four-weekly Pune-Frankfurt Privatair B737-800 service beginning October 25. Malaysia Airlines will terminate its daily Hong Kong-Kota Kinabalu B737-800 route starting September 1, and it will reduce frequency between Narita and Kota Kinabalu from thrice- to twice-weekly. Moreover, it will replace the B777-200ER with the A330-300 from September 1. Myanmar National Airlines will launch six-weekly Yangon-Singapore B737-800 operations commencing August 17, its first international service. Oman Air will increase frequency on the Muscat-Manila A330 route from thrice-weekly to daily starting August 1. Qatar Airways will deploy the A350 on one of its daily Doha-Dubai frequencies from August 2, and it will replace the A330-200 with the B787-8 on one of its three daily Jakarta-Doha departures starting October 25. Sichuan Airlines will launch a thrice-weekly Haikou-Bangkok A321 service commencing July 16, and a thrice-weekly Chengdu-Chiang Mai A321 operation from August 5. SWISS will deploy its new B777-300ER daily to Hong Kong from May 12, and daily to Bangkok from July 7, ending A340-300 operations. Tigerair Taiwan will commence a daily Kaohsiung-Narita A320 service. Vietnam Airlines has delayed the introduction of the B787-9 on the Hanoi-Heathrow route by a month to September 1, followed by Ho Chi Minh-Heathrow from September 2.
