Short Takes
October 7th 2014
Communications: Etihad Airways has installed Wi-Fi on-board its fleet of 24 B777 aircraft and said its entire ‘old’ fleet of 89 passenger aircraft — 28 A320s, 26 A330s, 11 A340s and 24 B777s — will be retrofitted within "months". Read More » The airline’s new A380 and B787 will all feature wireless connectivity as they arrive from the manufacturers. Philippine Airlines will install OnAir wireless IFE on a further five A330s and six A340s.
Codeshares: All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Philippine Airlines have announced a reciprocal codeshare agreement (including frequent flyer programme tie-up) from October 26, subject to government approval. The codeshare deal will cover a total of 37 routes between Japan and the Philippines, as well as domestic Japanese and Philippine flights on the respective carriers. Qatar Airways and Vueling have signed an interline agreement. The deal aims to enable the Gulf airline to increase its passenger numbers to Europe, while also strengthening Spanish carrier Vueling's hubs in Rome and Barcelona. Virgin Australia adds its code to the daily South African Airways Johannesburg – Perth service, as well as on all of Delta’s services from Los Angeles to Nashville, Kansas City and Raleigh/Durham.
Routes: AEROFLOT will deploy the B777-300ER from October 2 through to October 25 on the Moscow – Guangzhou route, replacing A330-200 aircraft. From December 8, AirAsia will resume a daily A320 service between Kuala Lumpur and Hyderabad. American Airlines has applied for traffic rights for daily B777-200ER Dallas Forth/Worth – Beijing operations from summer 2015. Cathay Pacific Airways has revised its schedule on the Hong Kong – Jakarta route. From January 2, the carrier will add five additional frequencies per week on board A330-300 aircraft, bringing the total to 26 weekly rotations. From December 9, China Eastern Airlines will launch a four-weekly A330-200 service between Shanghai and Auckland. China Southern Airlines will introduce a twice-weekly A319 Guangzhou – Jeju service from November 1. Emirates will operate a one-off A380 service from Dubai to Manila on October 7 to celebrate its move to the International Terminal at Ninoy Aquino Airport. From March 31, Ethiopian Airlines will resume flights from Addis Ababa to Singapore on board B787-8 aircraft with three-weekly rotations. Thailand’s JetAsia Airways has launched a scheduled Bangkok – Tokyo Narita service, with four-weekly flights on board Boeing 767-200ER aircraft. Malindo Air is increasing capacity on the Kuala Lumpur – Bangkok (DMK) route with an additional daily B737-900ER service from December 20. On October 1, Okay Airways started a thrice-weekly B737-800 service from Tianjin to Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi), its first scheduled route to South East Asia. Qantas has launched the world's longest A380 route, with an 8,755-mile journey between Sydney and Dallas/Fort Worth that lasts 15 and a half hours. Qatar Airways has announced it will deploy a second A380 on the Doha – Heathrow route from December 1. On December 30, Singapore Airlines will offer a one-off A380 service on its SQ618/9 Singapore – Osaka rotation. THAI from October 26 to November 30 will swop the B777-300 for the B777-300ER on its daily TG660/1 Bangkok – Tokyo Haneda rotation. South Korea’s T’Way Airlines is launching a twice-weekly B737-800 Seoul Incheon – Haikou service from October 8. Xiamen Airlines on September 28 introduced a third daily B737-800 service on the Xiamen – Hong Kong route in response to Hong Kong Airlines’ cancellation of the route from September 23.
Strategic Decisions: Philippine low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific Air has said it may expand its network from its secondary hub in Cebu as a result of the airport’s growth plans. Hainan Airlines subsidiary Fuzhou Airlines has postponed its inaugural flight until the end of October, as its Air Operator’s Licence did not get approved in time by China’s CAAC. Its maiden flight was originally scheduled for October 1. Nok Air and its joint venture partners ANA Holdings and Assumption University officially celebrated the launch of Pan Am International Flight Training Center (Thailand), a new state-of-the-art flight training centre at ABAC's Suvarnabhumi campus. The simulator training centre will open with an A320 simulator, with plans to expand to a total of four simulators - two for A320s and two for B737NGs. For the time being, Oman Air has abandoned plans to establish a low-cost carrier.
Cargo: Global air freight markets grew 5.1% year-on-year in August, boosted by increased demand in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and North America, according to IATA’s August air freight market analysis.
Manufacturers: Airbus has begun final assembly of the first A350 XWB for Vietnam Airlines. The aircraft is scheduled for delivery in mid-2015, making Vietnam Airlines the first Asian carrier to fly the A350 XWB. Boeing will increase the monthly 737 production rate from currently 42 to 52 aircraft in 2018, when it expects to start manufacturing 620 737s per year. Eastern Air Lines Group, the Miami-based start-up trying to revive the iconic airline brand from the 80s, has ordered 20 Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. MRJ90s with 20 options.
