Short Takes
November 17th 2017
Airlines: British Airways is in talks with Germany’s Dr. Peters Group over the potential acquisition of ex-Singapore Airlines A380s. Read More » Cathay Pacific Airways will roll out Wi-Fi across its A330 and B777 fleets from mid-2018 “in response to growing customer demand”; it already offers connectivity on its A350 fleet. Emirates Airline will remove first class from its ten B777-200LR, increasing the overall seat count from 266 to 302 seats. Malindo Air has signed up for SITAONAIR’s electronic flight bag solution. Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air this week placed an order for Pratt & Whitney GTFs to power a combined 30 A321neo aircraft. The deal, signed during Donald Trump’s state visit to Vietnam, has a list value of more than US$2 billion.
Routes: AirAsia will increase frequency on the Kuching-Singapore A320 route from nine-weekly to 16-weekly starting December 26. AirAsia X will increase Kuala Lumpur-Xian from four-weekly to daily A330-300 rotations beginning November 26, in addition to increasing Kuala Lumpur-Hangzhou from four- to six-weekly A330-300 flights from January 11. Bangkok Airways has cancelled its daily Bangkok-Dhaka A319 route. JC International has launched twice-weekly Siem Reap-Hong Kong and twice-weekly Phnom Penh-Hong Kong A320 flights. Cambodian start-up Lanmei Airlines plans to launch a weekly Phnom Penh-Hong Kong A320 route on November 27. Singapore Airlines will increase frequency on the Singapore-Dusseldorf A350 route from thrice- to four-weekly commencing March 27. Thai AirAsia will launch a daily Phuket-Kunming A320 flight on February 1. Thai Lion Air has postponed the launch of daily Don Mueang-Kochi B737-800 flights from December 1 to February 1. Xiamen Airlines will launch a daily Beijing-Kota Kinabalu B737-800 service on January 16.
