Short Takes
November 4th 2016
Routes: Air Busan will launch a four-weekly Busan-Sanya A321 flight from December 7 and a twice-weekly Daegu-Sanya flight starting December 14. Air India Express will launch four-weekly Kolkata-Dhaka and four-weekly Kolkata-Singapore B737-800 flight starting November 20. Read More » China Southern Airlines has added a daily Pudong-Ho Chi Minh A320 flight. Finnair will suspend its Helsinki-Chongqing A330-300 route from January 11 to May 2 as a large number of its A330 crew will undergo A350 type rating. Gulf Air will increase frequency on the Bahrain-Sialkot A320/A321 route from twice- to four-weekly starting December 3. IndiGo Airlines will launch a daily Ahmedabad-Lucknow A320 route from November 12, and it will add a second daily Ahmedabad-Chennai and a sixth daily Kolkata-Guwahati flight starting the same date. It will also add a new daily Chennai-Muscat flight from December 15. Jetstar Japan will launch a four-weekly Narita-Pudong A320 route on January 23. Philippine Airlines (PAL) will launch a four-weekly Cebu-Singapore A321 route from December 16, and a daily Clark-Incheon A321 route from January 1. Qatar Airways is once again offering all-business-class A319 service, this time nine times a week on the Doha-Dubai route. Royal Jordanian will terminate its thrice-weekly Amman-Guangzhou B787 flight from November 30. Sichuan Airlines has opened reservations for a twice-weekly Chengdu-Jinan-Los Angeles A330-200 rotation launching December 6. In December, THAI will place its two A350s on the four-weekly Suvarnabhumi-Rome route, as well as double daily to Singapore. Turkish Airlines will terminate its four-weekly Istanbul-Osaka A330-200 rotation from January 31 and it will replace the A330-300 with the B777-300ER on the daily Istanbul-Singapore route commencing May 30. TransAsia Airways will launch a daily Taipei-Fukuoka A320 service beginning December 1 (previously served by now defunct LCC offshoot V Air). T’Way Airlines will add a thrice-weekly Daegu-Hong Kong B737-800 route from December 13, and a five-weekly Daegu-Cebu route from December 15. VietJet Air has launched a daily Hanoi-Hue A320 route. Xiamen Airlines will launch a thrice-weekly Fuzhou-Kota Kinabalu B737-800 route beginning December 10.
GDS: Sabre’s overall third quarter revenue increased 6.9%, including 19.8% revenue growth at its airline and hospitality solutions unit and 2.3% improved earnings at its travel network unit. Through to September 30, Sabre’s net profit was down 76.9% year-on-year to $40.8 million, “due primarily to a purchase accounting gain related to the acquisition of Abacus in the year-ago period”.
MRO: Taikoo (Xiamen) Landing Gear Services (HAECO Landing Gear Services) has signed a 10-year agreement with Cathay Pacific Airways covering their fleet of 53 B777-300ERs.
