Short Takes
March 24th 2016
AIRLINES: China’s Okay Airways on Monday received its 19th B737-800. A China Eastern Airlines A319 on Saturday entered the runway at South Korea’s Cheongju Airport without permission, causing a near collision with a Korean Air B737 about to touch down. Read More » Starting next week, KLM will deploy its new B787-9 on services to Chengdu, Hangzhou and Xiamen. Zhejiang Loong Air, a domestic carrier based in Hangzhou, has been given the green light by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to expand its operations to include “regional services” to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, as well as international flights. The Flydubai B737-800 that crashed short off the runway at Rostov appears to have stalled, killing all 62 passengers and crew on-board.
MRO: The first Australian service station for Lufthansa Technik’s Cyclean Engine Wash has opened at Melbourne airport. The engine wash unit is mounted on a vehicle so it can be operated at other nearby airports. The Cyclean engine wash can be done as part of maintenance work, overnight or in the transit period between two flights. The MRO company plans to locate Cyclean units, which can wash all leading engine models, at Brisbane, Perth and Sydney airports.
ROUTES: Air India will replace the B787-8 with an all-economy A320 on the thrice-weekly Delhi-Moscow rotation from March 28. Air New Zealand will replace the B767-300ER with the B787-9 on the twice-weekly Christchurch-Perth route starting December 9. Six days earlier, China Airlines (CAL) will launch a twice-weekly A350-900 Taipei-Rome nonstop service, dropping the stopover in Delhi. EastarJet will launch a thrice-weekly Cheongju-Ningbo B737-800 service from March 28. Korean Air will increase frequency on the Incheon-Rome B777-300ER route from four- to six-weekly starting June 3. Myanmar National Airlines will increase frequency from daily to double daily on the Yangon-Bangkok B737-800 route beginning March 31. China’s Spring Airlines will launch a twice-weekly Yinchuan-Bangkok and a twice-weekly Lanzhou-Bangkok, both operated by the A320, from April 1, respectively. However, Spring will discontinue its Chengdu-Bangkok and Chengdu-Chiang Mai flights from March 26, and its Chengdu-Kansai and Chengdu-Taizhou-Ibaraki services from April 7 and April 10, respectively. Tigerair Taiwan will increase frequency on the Taipei-Okinawa A320 route from five-weekly to daily commencing June 29.
