Short Takes
November 1st 2014
BRANDING: Cathay Pacific Airways has updated its logo, the brushwing. It will no longer sit constrained inside a box and has been gently harmonized and set free, the Hong Kong carrier. Read More »
CODE SHARES: AEROFLOT has commenced adding its ‘SU’ code on four of Bangkok Airways’ Thai domestic services. Subject to regulatory approval, from October 26, All Nippon Airways (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. ANA also has signed a code share agreement with Ethiopian Airways that will connect flights between Addis Ababa and Bangkok and Hong Kong as well as Mombasa, Nairobi, London, Frankfurt and Paris. 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 airlines have been codesharing on the Seoul–Los Angeles–Santiago route since 2005.
ENVIRONMENT: 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. Hong Hong’s global bank, HSBC, has joined Virgin Atlantic and Chicago-based biofuel producer, Lanza Tech, as a partner in the venture’s plans to get biofuel on board the Virgin Atlantic fleet in 2015. The biofuel company was set up in New Zealand in 2005, but moved to Chicago where it is developing biofuel that is converted from waste gases of industrial steel production.
FLEETS: China Aviation Supplies has signed a General Terms Agreement with Airbus for 70 A320s. Garuda has ordered 46 B737 MAXs and converted four B737-800s from Boeing. Subject to approval by the Chinese government, Kunming Airlines has ordered four B737-700NG and six B737 MAX, valued at a list price of $897 million.
INFLIGHT: Boeing Shanghai has completed the installation of high speed Wi-Fi on the first of three Nok Air B737-800s. Nok Air is the first airline in Asia to offer free Wi-Fi to its passengers
LEASING: Taiwan’s EVA Airways will lease two B777-300ER airliners from Singapore-based BOC Aviation with deliveries scheduled for 2017.
MANUFACTURERS: Airbus president and CEO, Fabrice Bregier, Tianjin Free Trade Zone (TJFTZ) president, Feng Zhijiang and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC)president, Lin Zuoming, signed a Letter of Intent to establish an A330 Completion and Delivery Centre in the TJFTZ. The joint venture complex is planned to offer cabin installation, engine runs, aircraft painting and aircraft delivery services. Mitsubishi has unveiled its first 92-seat MRJ flight-test aircraft that will undergo about six months of ground evaluations before taking to the air in the second quarter of 2015. Engine Alliance’s GP7200 engines entered service on Qatar Airways’s first A380, when the Doha-based carrier commenced revenue flights on the airliner between Hamad International Airport and London Heathrow. GE Aviation has delivered its 1,000th engine to Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines, including engines manufactured by GE’s joint venture, CFM International. CFM is an equal partner joint venture between GE and Snecma. Rolls-Royce has flown its new generation, lighter weight composite carbon/Titanium (CTi) fan blades on a Trent 1000 engine tested on a B747 in Arizona in the U.S.
ROUTES: All Nippon Airways will operate a second flight from Tokyo Haneda to Hong Kong, mainly at weekends, from December 20, to provide better onward connections to ANA’s domestic and regional network. Etihad Airways will introduce services from Abu Dhabi to Dallas Fort Worth, Phuket and San Francisco by year end. 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 resumed 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 will not proceed with the planned B787-9 operations on the Abu Dhabi – Doha route from December 27. 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 more 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 B737-300 aircraft. Singapore Airlines will increase frequency on the Singapore – Ho Chi Minh City route from 14 to 17 weekly flights from December 19. Skymark Airlines from January 29 to March 28 is introducing a seasonal Sapporo – Okinawa service on 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 its 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.
