Short Takes
April 1st 2014
AIRLINES: Planned new carrier, SaudiGulf, has signed on for four A320ceo, fitted with sharklets, in preparation for commencement of services from Damman in Saudi Arabia in early 2015. Read More »
AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT: Airbus ProSky, the aerospace group’s Air Traffic Management (ATM) subsidiary, is establishing an office in Singapore to assist ATM upgrades and expansion in the Asia-Pacific, the world’s fastest growing region for air travel.
ALLIANCES: SriLankan Airlines will join oneworld on May 1, the first airline on the Indian sub-continent to join a global alliance. It was sponsored by Cathay Pacific Airways. Garuda Indonesia has joined SkyTeam, the fifth airline in the Asia-Pacific to join the alliance.
CODESHARES: Japan Airlines and S7 Airlines will expand their codeshare with the addition of 12 Russian cities to the partnership including, St Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city. Virgin Australia will replace Qantas Airways as South African Airways’ code share partner on the Sydney-Johannesburg route from May 31.
ENVIRONMENT: Boeing and the Roundtable of Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) with the backing of South African Airways and other partners, are supporting South African farmers with small landholdings to produce and market crops suitable for sustainable biomaterials and biofuels.
FLEET: Indian budget carrier, SpiceJet, has confirmed an order for 42 B737 MAX 8s, valued at list prices of US$4.4 billion. CFMI LEAP -1B engines will power the new planes. After Garuda Indonesia was unable to secure its preferred slots at London’s Gatwick Airport for its planned resumption of flights to London, the carrier has decided to postpone the re-launch until September. In the meantime, it will operate London as an extension of its Jakarta-Amsterdam service.
Singapore headquartered low-cost carrier, Tigerair, and Airbus has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 50 A320neos, made up of 37 firm orders and 13 options for the aircraft type, powered by Pratt &Whitney 1100 engines. The carrier has cancelled its order for nine A320ceo.
INFLIGHT: Korean Airlines’ budget subsidiary, Jin Air, has allowed passengers on all domestic and long-haul routes to use portable electronic devices (PEDs), but the carrier will not allow them to make calls on their mobile phones inflight. Lufthansa, Europe’s largest full-service carrier, said passengers on some medium-haul flights will be able to stream movies, television programs, games and music from onboard servers on Lufthansa aircraft to their own portable devices or smartphones from mid-year.
ROUTES: Korean Air (KAL) will add a second daily service, using A380s, between Seoul and New York’s JFK International airport from next month. KAL also has decided to increase its four times a week flights from Seoul to the U.S.’s Houston, to daily, also commencing from May. Hong Kong’s Dragonair has commenced a twice a week A330-300 service to Indonesia’s premier leisure destination, the island of Bali, marking its entry into the Indonesian market. Sister airline, Cathay Pacific Airways operates a daily service between Hong Kong and Bali’s Denpasar International Airport.
