Short Takes
October 28th 2014
Cargo: International air freight volumes are expected to grow at a five-year 4.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), according to IATA’s Airline Industry Forecast for 2014-2018. Read More » The Middle East is expected to be the fastest growing international freight market, with a CAGR of 4.7%, followed by the African market (4.4% CAGR), Asia-Pacific and Latin America (both at 3.8% CAGR), Europe (3% CAGR) and North America (2.8% CAGR).
Codeshares: AEROFLOT has commenced adding its ‘SU’ code on four of Bangkok Airways’ Thai domestic services. Subject to regulatory approval, from October 26, ANA plans to put its ‘NH’ code on eleven Avianca routes out of the U.S. Simultaneously, the South American carrier has applied to place its code on five of ANA’s Tokyo – U.S. services. Korean Air and LAN Peru have extended their partnership with a new codeshare agreement for the Seoul–Los Angeles–Lima route from October 21. The two have been codesharing on the Seoul–Los Angeles–Santiago route since 2005.
Fleets: Subject to final approval by the Chinese government, Kunming Airlines has ordered four B737-700NG and six B737 MAX valued at $897 million at current list prices.
Manufacturers: Boeing and China’s COMAC have opened a demonstration facility for turning waste cooking oil, commonly referred to as gutter oil in China, into sustainable aviation biofuel. Experts in the field estimate that China generates enough gutter oil to produce 500 million gallons of biofuel annually. Mitsubishi has unveiled its first 92-seat MRJ flight-test aircraft and will undergo about six months of ground evaluations before taking to the air in the second quarter of 2015.
Routes: Beijing Capital Airlines will launch a twice-weekly Hangzhou – Okinawa A320 service from October 29, its first international route. BIMAN has cancelled service resumption on the Dhaka – Hong Kong route originally scheduled to reopen from November 11. From October 26, China Eastern Airlines will resume service on the Beijing – Osaka route with four weekly A320 rotations. Moreover, it will start a thrice-weekly A330-200 Kunming – Paris service from December 18, the first long-haul operation for the carrier’s Yunnan branch. China Southern Airlines will add a new four-weekly B787 Guangzhou – San Francisco non-stop service from June 22, in addition to the thrice-weekly Wuhan – Guangzhou – San Francisco route to be launched on December 16. South Korea’s Eastarjet, from October 26, is adding three new B737-800 routes from Cheongju to Northeastern parts of China, with two-weekly flights to Dalian and Harbin and three-weekly services to Yanji. Ethiopian Airlines will reduce frequency on the Addis Ababa – Seoul route from four- to twice-weekly from October 26. Etihad Airways will increase B777-200LR Abu Dhabi – Dallas Fort/Worth service from thrice-weekly to daily from April 16. Further, the carrier has cancelled planned B787-9 operations on the Abu Dhabi – Doha route from December 27. From December 15, Gulf Air will resume five-weekly A320 Bahrain – Hyderabad services after almost six years of absence. Hainan Airlines will increase frequency on the B787-8 Beijing – Chicago route to daily from June 25. Philippines Airlines will add three additional weekly frequencies on the Manila – San Francisco route from December 12 through to January 16 using A340-300 aircraft. Qatar Airways will introduce a daily A380 service on the Doha – Bangkok route from January 5, with three additional daily services operated by B777-300ER aircraft. Thai start-up Siam Air Transport (Siam Air) has launched a daily Bangkok (Don Mueang) – Hong Kong service on board B737-300 aircraft. Singapore Airlines will increase frequency on the Singapore – Ho Chi Minh City route from 14 to 17 weekly rotations from December 19. Skymark Airlines from January 29 to March 28 is introducing a seasonal Sapporo – Okinawa service on board B737-800 aircraft. The new service will initially operate four times a week, before being increased to daily from March 1. SriLankan Airlines has revised planned operation on the Colombo – Kunming route, due to start from December 1. Initially service will be four-weekly as planned, however, from January 1, this will be reduced to thrice-weekly.
Strategic Decisions: Cathay Pacific Airways has announced a major initiative that will see the carrier refresh its brand image in the coming weeks. According to the airline’s chief executive Ivan Chu, changes have been made to the CX logo, as well as a new design philosophy that will be “evident in the new lounges that [the airline] will open soon – starting with Haneda, Japan in December”. In an official statement, CX announced: “the brushwing no longer sits constrained inside a box, and has been gently harmonised and set free”. The typography has also been standardised to a single size. The carrier believes this will produce a cleaner, crisper, and more contemporary identity for the airline. The revamped logo will also be seen on the company’s cabin crew uniforms.
