Saturday, August 14, 2010

Airline News Aug 7-14


Cathay Pacific has officially announced that it shall be increasing its flights to YYZ-Toronto and PER-Perth from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season i.e. Oct 31st. Operations to YYZ are being increased from the current 10 weekly to 12 weekly nonstop with all flights being flown using a Boeing 777-300ER. On the other hand, services to PER are being increased from daily A 333s to 10 weekly nonstop flights using an A 333 nine times per week + an A 343 once a week. CX too confirmed that has signed a LOI with Airbus for 30 A 350-900s and shall be exercising options to convert 6 Boeing 777-300ERs into firm orders as the carrier continues to implement its on going fleet replacement strategy. These A 359s are meant to replace CX's oldest A 333s and its entire A 343 + B 772A fleet. When the order is officially on announced on Airbus's order books, it is expected to consist for many more A 359s as the number of planes it will be replacing total 60+ in the A 359 size category.


Gulf Air has officially announced that it will be launching 3 new destinations and increasing frequencies to Kuala Lumpur + Kathmandu for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The three new cities are Addis Ababa, Basra and Isfahan. The main highlights are as follows:

ADD - new 5 weekly nonstop flights to be launched effective Dec 6th using an A 320.

IFN - new 3 weekly flights to be operated using an E70.

BSR - new 4 weekly flights to be operated using an E70.

KTM
- frequencies increased from 9 to 11 weekly nonstop flights using an A 320.

KUL - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a mixture of A 332s and A 343s.

Ethiopian Airlines has officially confirmed that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to IAD-Washington DC from Dec 15th 2010 onwards as well as increasing frequencies on this flagship route of theirs. ET will be utilizing its brand new Boeing 777-200LR for this flight which will accommodate 321 passengers in a 2 class configuration i.e. 34 business class + 287 economy class. Services to IAD are being increased from 6 weekly to daily flights with the outbound flight from ADD making a technical stopover in FCO-Rome but IAD-ADD will be operates nonstop. The flying time between IAD and ADD is 12 hours 30 minutes.


Air India
has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to CDG-Paris from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season i.e. Oct 31st. Currently, AI operates 3 weekly nonstop flights from its new DEL hub using a 238 seater Boeing 777-200LR. However from Oct 31st, capacity shall be increased by 44% as a 342 seater Boeing 777-300ER will be used to operate this service. The reason for the capacity increase AI confirmed is to aggressively target 6th freedom transit traffic bound to Bangkok and Kathmandu via DEL for which good connections are on offer in both directions. AI too confirmed via an earlier press release, that it does have clear cut intentions of increasing CDG-DEL to a daily service within the next year.


Singapore Airlines
has revealed on the GDS that it shall be implementing few changes to its medium haul network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

IST - capacity increased to 4 weekly nonstop terminator services using a Boeing 777-200 instead of operating via Dubai.

DXB - frequencies reduced from double daily to 11 weekly.

PVG - frequencies reduced from 5 to 4 times daily.


EVA Air has officially confirmed that it shall be increasing capacity across its international network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

SFO - frequencies increased from 10 to 12 weekly nonstop flights using a B 773ER.

SEA - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B 744.

HND - new double daily nonstop flights to be launched using an A 332.

NRT - capacity increased to daily B 773ER + daily A 332.

JKT - capacity increased to 6 weekly nonstop flights using a B 744 Combi.


Air Asia X
has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to IKA-Tehran, Iran from Dec 1st 2010 onwards. D7 will be operating twice weekly nonstop services from its Kuala Lumpur hub using an Airbus A 330-300 with the following flight schedule:

Days of operation: MON/WED

D7 2904 Dep KUL1610 Arr IKA 2040
D7 2905 Dep IKA 2155 Arr KUL 1055
Etihad Airways has officially announced that it will be changing its business model on many low yielding regional routes that are within a 5 hour flying radius of its Abu Dhabi home base. It has revealed that it will be changing the configuration of 10 of its 15 Airbus A 320-200s to an all economy class layout seating 162 passengers offering a seat pitch of 32 inches. Initially 2 aircraft by October 31st will be reconfigured and shall be used on flights to Damascus, Colombo, Calicut and Trivandrum where as in the future services to Cochin, Chennai, Peshawar, Amman, Athens and Beirut too will see this product. EY's CEO Mr Hogan stated that this is a direct response to Fly Dubai who has poached a lot of market share to many cities which has caused some concern not only amongst EY but also amongst all GCC carriers. In total, EY has ordered 20 A 320s hence half of this fleet will get the all economy configuration.


Emirates
has officially confirmed that it shall be increasing capacity on its route to LAD-Luanda, Angola from Nov 1st 2010. Currently, EK operates 3 times per week nonstop from Dubai using a 3 class A 330-200, however from November it shall be using the larger Boeing 777-200ER to operate this route due to the huge cargo and premium class demand that it has been experiencing on this sector.

Lufthansa has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies to EWR-Newark, USA for the IATA Winter 2010 season by adding a second daily nonstop service. Currently, LH only operate a daily flight on the FRA-EWR route using an A 346 but ever since it has grown in stature as a major Star Alliance hub due to Continental Airlines being based there. Both of LH's FRA-EWR daily flights shall be operated using an A 340-300.


Qatar Airways
has officially confirmed that it will be increasing its flights to DAR-Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from January 2nd 2011. Currently, QR operate a daily nonstop flight from DOH to DAR, however from January frequencies are being increased to 11 weekly services using an A 320.


Japan Airlines
has officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to Delhi, India from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season. Currently JAL operates a 3 weekly nonstop service using a Boeing 777-200ER however, from Nov 1st an additional 4th weekly nonstop service will be initiated using the same aircraft type.

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