Overview
It has been a good week for Asia-Pacific aviation as South Korea recovers from the MERS outbreak and the country’s carriers are seeing an upward trend in forward bookings for the July/August peak. In Vietnam, all signs are set for expansion as both Airbus and Boeing received new and somewhat surprising commitments from the Vietnamese carriers. Across the South China Sea, in Indonesia, Lion Air has received approval to add routes, after a long interval, and flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia is resuming international expansion. In China, its carriers continue their onslaught from the East with the announcement of new services to the U.S. They will be competing with the American Airlines-Qantas trans-Pacific alliance that received interim approval from Australia last week.
Korean aviation recovers from MERS Read More »
Airline News
Vietjet in discussions with Boeing
Vietnam’s only private airline, Ho Chi Minh-based VietJet Air, signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with Boeing last week, promising to study potential purchases from the U.S. manufacturer. If realized, a VietJet order would be a coup for Boeing, given the Vietnamese budget carrier has so far been a loyal Airbus customer, with up to 100 A320-family aircraft worth approximately $9.8 billion at current list prices, on order. Read More »
Airline News
American-Qantas alliance receives interim approval
Qantas Airways and American Airlines have received interim approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to deepen their trans-Pacific alliance “because it was likely to lead to additional capacity on the Sydney-Los Angeles route, as well as increased competition and capacity on Sydney-San Francisco”. Read More »
Airline News
Lion Air ban lifted, Garuda resumes long-haul expansion
Indonesia’s fast-growing Lion Air Group has submitted 44 new route applications to the Indonesian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) after a four-month long ban was lifted in June. Read More »
Airline News
Conflict over Skymark rescue package
Skymark Airlines and its largest creditor, U.S. leasing firm Intrepid Aviation, last week clashed head-on at a Tokyo creditors briefing session, with Intrepid voicing stiff opposition to Skymark’s proposed rehabilitation plan, raising questions about Skymark’s future independence if it was to receive assistance from ANA Holdings. Read More »
Airline News
Mainland carriers report profit high
Profits for China's civil aviation industry reached a historic high in the first half of 2015, said Li Jiaxiang, chief of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) at his mid-year teleconference in Beijing last week, adding its first-half profit had surpassed the results for the 2014 year. Read More »
People
FlightSafety appoints simulation director
FlightSafety International has appointed Scott Goodwin as executive director for its simulation unit. Read More »
Short Takes
CODESHARES: SriLankan Airlines and airberlin have started a reciprocal codeshare agreement whereby SriLankan placed its ‘UL’ designator on airberlin’s Abu Dhabi-Berlin and Abu Dhabi-Vienna services, while airberlin added its ‘AB’ code to SriLankan’s Colombo-Abu Dhabi rotations. Read More »
