Short Takes
SHORTTAKES
January 8th 2016
Airlines
Fiji Airways has received its first A330-300 variant, with plans to fly on the Sydney and Los Angeles routes from January 16. Nepal Airlines is said to be “close” to announcing an Airbus wide body order to open new routes to Japan and Australia. Read More » Ryukyu Air Commuter, a Japan Airlines (JAL) subsidiary, has taken delivery of its first Dash 8-400(C) Combi aircraft from Bombardier. It is the launch customer for the variant, with five on order.
Airports
Japan’s Tokyo/Haneda and Osaka/Itami airports have topped OAG’s 2015 punctuality table. In the best large airport category, Tokyo/Haneda recorded 91.25% on time performance for the 12 months to December 31, 2015. In the small airports category, Osaka/Itami was the top performer with 93.85% on time performance for the same 12 months.
Information Technology
AFI KLM E&M has signed a partnership with MRO software specialist, Ramco Systems, to create a joint research and development centre in Singapore. Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced plans to upgrade its B777 fleet with Astronautics’ Block Point 4 (BP4) Electronic Flight Bag (EFB), which enables the storage of more information including detailed charts, maps, documents and databases to enhance aircraft performance and improve operational efficiency.
Routes
Air China will cancel its four-weekly Beijing-Colombo A330 service from March 27. Air India will launch a daily Kochi-Dubai A320 service on January 11. Air Mauritius will consolidate its Kuala Lumpur and Singapore services from March 11 by converting them into a three times a week Port Louis-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur triangular flight using a mix of A330s and A340s. Bangkok Airways will add a thrice-weekly Chiang Mai-Luang Prabang ATR72 flight starting March 28 and it will launch four-weekly Suvarnabhumi-Da Nang A319 operations from May 16. Beijing Capital Airlines will commence three times a week Chongqing-Koh Samui A319 flights on January 15. China Airlines will terminate its twice-weekly Kaohsiung-Fukuoka B737-800 service from March 27. Emirates Airline will add a second daily Dubai-Geneva B777-300ER rotation on June 1. IndiGo has launched a second daily Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai A320 service, and it has shelved plans for a daily Delhi-Doha service originally scheduled to begin February 29. Bangladeshi carrier, NovoAir, has commenced thrice-weekly ERJ145 Dhaka-Yangon flights. Scoot will add a seventh B787-8 flight on its Singapore-Nanjing route from May 6. Vietnam Airlines will bring its latest aircraft to China as it replaces the A321 with the B787-9 on three out of five weekly Hanoi-Beijing flights, effective May 1, and it will switch from the A321 to the A350 on its daily Ho Chi Minh City-Pudong route from March 27.
AAPA November Traffic results
The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has reported the region’s carriers transported 22.5 million passengers in November, up 6.7% over the year-ago period as average international passenger load factors for the month stood at 76.8%, up 2.1% year-on-year, despite a 5.7% capacity increase. However, cargo carried across the region saw a continuing slide, with a 2.4% drop in FTMs, principally as a result of what it called “soft market conditions” in the key manufacturing economies across Asia.
