Short Takes
October 14th 2014
Cargo: Garuda Indonesia Cargo is set to join the SkyTeam Cargo alliance by the end of June 2015. Qatar Airways Cargo is adding a weekly Doha – Khartoum – Entebbe – Brussels – Stavanger – Doha service from October 19 using A330 freighter aircraft. Read More »
Codeshares: Subject to regulatory approval, ANA plans to put its ‘NH’ code on seven additional TAM Airlines routes out of Sao Paulo from October 26: Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Curitiba, Frankfurt, Londrina, Manaus and Paris. Starting from the same date, UNITED will add its ‘UA’ code to 13 ANA-operated Japanese domestic and regional flights connecting to its San Francisco – Haneda service. From October 15, China Airlines will start code sharing with Virgin America by adding its ‘CI’ code to 17 domestic U.S. services operated by Virgin. Etihad will add its ‘EY’ code to 8 American Airlines domestic U.S. routes out of Dallas Forth/Worth when it starts operations to the city from December 3. Qatar Airways and S7 Airlines commenced a new codeshare agreement on October 6, which saw the former add its ‘QR’ code to 12 mainly domestic Russian routes, and the latter add its ‘S7’ code to Qatar Airways’ services to Moscow (Domodedovo) and Ho Chi Minh/Phnom Penh. Singapore Airlines has started code sharing with JetBlue on 15 U.S. domestic routes via New York’s JFK from October 7.
Communications/Technology: ANA is extending its paid in-flight Wi-Fi service to 30 additional aircraft operating on international routes, bringing the total number of aircraft offering wireless connectivity to “approximately 100 within FY2015.” Vistara has become the first airline in India to adopt the Amadeus Altea Suite of technology solutions.
Fleets: China Airlines has taken delivery of the first of ten B777-300ERs and is deploying the aircraft on crew familiarization flights to Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City before starting long-haul operations to Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco from December. Vistara has received the first of 20 new A320 aircraft it is leasing from BOC Aviation.
Lessors: Air Lease Corporation (ALC) has announced the long-term lease placement of two new B737-800s with Kunming Airlines, scheduled for delivery in 2015. Moreover, the lessor has closed two additional twelve-year lease agreements with EVA Air for new B777-300ER aircraft for delivery in 2016 and 2017.
Routes: Air Astana will add a weekly Kostanay – Hanover A320 service from May 17. American Airlines has applied for traffic rights for daily B777-200ER Dallas Forth/Worth – Beijing operations from summer 2015. China Eastern Airlines is delaying its twice-weekly Shanghai – Dubai A330-200 launch by two weeks to November 9. Emirates is replacing one of its three daily B777-300 Dubai – Milan flights with the larger A380 from December 1. From March 31, Ethiopian Airlines will resume flights from Addis Ababa to Singapore on board B787-8 aircraft with three-weekly rotations. Etihad Airways will replace the A340-500 with B777-200LR aircraft on the Abu Dhabi – Seoul route from October 26, and will start a thrice-weekly Dallas Forth/Worth service using the same aircraft from December 3. EVA Air is increasing frequency on the Taipei – Hanoi route to six-weekly using a combination of A321 and MD90 aircraft. Hong Kong Express is adding a daily A320 Tokyo Narita service from December 8 to complement its current twice-daily Haneda operations. IndiGo has started a daily A320 Delhi – Vishakhapatnam service on October 10. Korean Air from October 26 will convert its twice-weekly Seoul – Nha Trang service from chartered to scheduled operations using B737-900ER aircraft. Maldivian Airlines is introducing Bangkok (Don Mueang) to its network by routing its weekly A320 Chongqing and Wuhan flights through the Thai capital from October 26. 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. Qatar Airways will reduce flights to Philadelphia from daily to five-weekly from October 16 to November 30. Subject to regulatory approval, SriLankan plans to introduce a four-weekly Colombo – Kunming A320 service from December 1.
Strategic Decisions: Cambodian start-up Bassaka Air was granted its AOC by regulators in Phnom Penh and will start chartered operations with two leased A320 from casino firm NagaCorp “in the near future.” From October 26, Etihad Airways will use Air Serbia A319 aircraft on services to Belgrade and Muscat, Jet Airways A330-200 aircraft on routes to Hyderabad, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos and Riyadh, as well as Jet Airways B777-300ER aircraft for flights to Delhi, Dhaka, Kuala Lumpur, New York (JFK) and San Francisco.
