Overview
It has been a week of numbers in Asia-Pacific aviation as a majority of carriers announced their latest financial and operational figures. Qantas Airways outperformed them all with a $713 million profit in its latest financial year, to June 30. However, Japan Airlines (JAL) and the Mainland carriers are likely to trump Qantas’ performance, having achieved impressive half-year results. Already at the performance bottom end, Thai Airways International was thrown another curveball last week as the Bangkok bomb attack led to a 20% increase in ticket cancellations. At Airbus, Singapore Airlines’ clout appears to have influenced the manufacturer to accelerate the development of the A350LR, now scheduled to enter the market by 2018, four years ahead of rival Boeing’s B777-X series. Read More »
Airline News
Joyce to stay at Qantas as the good news rolled in
“It is a good feeling to be at the helm of this great company as it begins the first phase of a remarkable turnaround,” Qantas Group boss, Alan Joyce, told a media conference in Sydney last week after he announced the airline’s $713 million return to full-year profitability. Revelling in his success, Joyce made it clear he wanted to continue as the carrier’s CEO for some time. Read More »
Airline News
Mainland Chinese expansion at Pudong Aviation City, Tianjin Airlines, Sichuan Airlines
Unfazed by the catastrophic events at a Tianjin warehouse storing dangerous chemicals that killed 114, Tianjin Airlines, a subsidiary of HNA Group, last week launched daily Tianjin-Haneda operations. Read More »
Airline News
Airbus confirms SIA premium A350LR
Just months after Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) chief, Goh Choon Phong, revealed his plans to re-launch non-stop flights to the U.S., Airbus has confirmed it is working with the carrier to develop a long-range variant of the A350-900 by 2018. Read More »
Airline News
THAI: 20% cancellations following Bangkok bomb attack
One in five travellers booked on Thai Airways International (THAI) rebooked after last week’s bomb explosion at Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine killed 21 people. THAI waived fees for passengers booked before September 18 after numerous governments issued travel alerts for Thailand. Read More »
Airline News
IndiGo firms up 250 A320 order
Gurgaon-based IndiGo, India's largest airline with a 38% market share, has finalised the purchase of 250 A320neo aircraft, handing Airbus its largest-ever order (by the number of planes) in a deal worth $26.55 billion at list prices. Read More »
People
Ashwani Lohani, an engineer-turned-bureaucrat, has been appointed chairman and managing director of chronically unprofitable Air India. Lohani holds four engineering degrees, has written two books and is credited with the turnaround of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation and the India Tourism Development Corporation. Read More »
Short Takes
ROUTES: Air China will launch a thrice-weekly Chengdu-Paris A330-200 route on January 28. All Nippon Airways (ANA) will reduce frequency on the Narita-Dusseldorf B787-8 route from daily to five-weekly from January 4 through to February 4; it has cancelled its Narita-Paris launch planned for October 25. Read More »
