Air Canada has officially revealed on the GDS major changes to its South America schedule for the IATA Summer 2010 season with increase in frequencies to 3 key destinations. The main highlights are as follows:
BOG - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using a B 767-300ER effective May 31st.
CCS - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 319 effective June 22nd.
LIM - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using a B 767-300ER effective June 3rd.
Hainan Airlines of China has revealed few changes to its long haul network for the upcoming IATA Summer 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:
PEK/DXB - frequencies increased from 3 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B 763ER.
PVG/BRU - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using an A 332 effective May 28th.
Embraer of Brazil has officially announced that they are seriously studying the probability of launching a larger E195 version called thus far the E195X which would seat 130 passengers in a single economy class configuration. The aircraft would likely have a flying range of 2800KM and is targeted towards airline wishing to replace old MD80s, classic Boeing 737-300s and older A 319s on short haul routes. A final decision will be taken by Summer 2011 by the company to decide whether or not this venture is worth pursuing.
Analysis:
The E-Jets family line of aircraft has proven to be a big hit with airlines due to its lower purchase and operating trip costs on short haul flights up to 3 hours of flying length versus B 717s and A 318s in particular. If Embraer do indeed go ahead with this launch, its main competitors would not only be Boeing and Airbus but Bombardier as well due to the latter having recently launched their C-130 product.
This new E195X model is an excellent replacement aircraft for airlines to seriously consider purchasing versus A 319s especially if they already operate a size able fleet of E 170s and E 190s. Airlines that should be initially targeted by sales people at Embraer are as follows:
a) JETBLUE - an airline like B6 can find this aircraft very useful as it can easily seat 125 passengers in an all economy class layout and be used on many of its domestic U.S. routes where current demand on flights operated by its 100 seater E 190 jets is very high. Rather than upgrading capacity on these flights from an E 190 to an A 320, it would be cheaper to do so from an E190 to an E195X due to the smaller capital costs involved in particular.
b) AIR CANADA - The Canadian national carrier can find this aircraft useful to fly on trans-border and domestic Canada routes under 3 hours of length rather than spend extra cash at having an A 319 do it.
c) QATAR AIRWAYS - QR has been on the look out to purchase regional jets for a while now and this aircraft along with the E 190 can be an ideal fit into their fleet. In its luxurious 2 class configuration, QR can seat 85 pax on the E190 and 105-100 on the E195X and be used to fly on low density regional flights within the GCC region + Iran + Iraq and Central Asia.
d) KUWAIT AIRWAYS - ideal plane for it to use on low density GCC regional flights rather than the higher density A 320 which sees low load factors on flights to AUH/MCT/DOH/DMM/BAH etc. It can also be used in the future to launch services to BGW/NJF/Basra etc.
e) PARAMOUNT AIRWAYS INDIA - ideal plane to give it a capacity uplift versus ordering the E190. Currently, the airline has many E170s and E175s in its fleet.
f) LOT POLAND - this is the plane to replace their aging fleet of 6 Boeing 737-500s from both a capacity and flying range point of view! They already have a fleet of 10 E70s and 10 E75s so this aircraft would be a perfect fit due to fleet/cockpit commonality issues.
Oman Air has officially revealed further expansion plans of its medium haul route network for the Summer 2010 IATA season. The four new destinations are Lahore, Kuala Lumpur, Islamabad and Dar Es Salaam. The main highlights are as follows:
LHE - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using a B 738 effective May 10th.
ISB - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using a B 738 effective May 16th.
KUL - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using an A 332 effective May 1st.
DAR - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using a B 738 effective June 1st.
Comments:
Finally LHE and ISB have been launched by the carrier. Both routes shall prove to be high yielding for the airline due to the huge O&D + 6th freedom traffic that shall easily help fill up the flight in both directions on a year round basis. For those who dont know, DAR is another destination that may not make money but the state of Tanzania has a huge Omani population residing especially in Zanzibar.
Emirates has officially revealed major changes to its Summer and Winter 2010 schedule especially with regards to realigning capacity on various routes across its medium haul and long haul network. The main highlights are as follows:
PER - capacity increased to double daily nonstop flights using a B 772LR effective Nov 1st.
DXB / KUL / MEL - capacity increased from daily A 345 to daily B 773ER effective July 1st.
MUC - capacity reduced from daily B 773ER + daily A 332 to daily A 345 + daily A 332 effective July 1st.
CMN - in flight product upgraded from daily A 343 to daily A 345 effective Aug 1st.
MEL - capacity increased to triple daily flights all using a B 773ER instead of 2 daily B 773ERs + daily A 345 effective Aug 1st.
LOS - in flight product upgraded with the 2nd daily flight being flight being operated by an A 345 along side the B 773ER which operates the other daily flight.
Biman Bangladesh has officially taken delivery of its newly leased Boeing 777-200ERs which are ex Singapore Airlines air frames and will be utilizing these aircraft to replace the A 310-300s and DC 10-30s on its most popular routes in the following manner:
LHR - to be finally flown nonstop 4 times per week using a B 772ER hence eliminating the DXB stopover en-route.
RUH - capacity increased to 6 weekly nonstop flights using a B 772ER with 3 of those flights being extended to DMM.
SIN - out of 4 weekly flights, 3 will be flown using a B 772ER with the remaining one with a DC 10.
FCO - to be flown once a week nonstop rather than via DXB using a B 772ER.
Comments:
Excellent moves by BG. Hopefully this shall gradually lead to a massive turn around for this ailing carrier that has suffered massive amounts of bureaucratic mismanagement and corruption for over 30 years. By flying nonstop to London Heathrow from DAC, the market share of all the Arab carriers on the LON-DAC-LON route will definitely fall as a result of this move. With newer Boeing 777-300ERs on their way to be delivered directly from Boeing, things are looking up for the carrier. It will be nostalgic to see its DC 10s finally leave the fleet from a photographer's point of view but this aircraft has done its time and served the carrier to its fullest possible limit.
Continental Airlines has officially revealed that it will be becoming a major force at London Heathrow to contend with from March 2010 onwards with a huge increase in capacity and frequency which gets further increased in the IATA Winter 2010 schedule. CO will be adding a new 4th daily nonstop flight to LHR from its EWR hub from March 28th using a B 752ER and from Oct 31st, another 5th daily nonstop flight will be added using the same aircraft type. Four flights will be operated by a B 757-200ER where as one shall be flown using a B 772ER.
Thus from Oct 31st, its EWR-LHR-EWR schedule will look like this:
Dep EWR at 0900/1825/1915/2120/2210 /// Arr LHR at 0625/0725/0925/1015/2120
Dep LHR at 0840/1030/1115/1235/1800 /// Arr EWR at 1205/1330/1445/1605/2130
Air India has officially revealed that it will be increasing capacity to Riyadh in a major manner from Feb 1st 2010 onwards in the following manner:
BOM/RUH - capacity increased to 6 weekly nonstop flights using B 744s.
DEL/RUH - capacity increased to 2 weekly nonstop flights using B 744s.
CCJ/RUH - capacity increased to 2 weekly nonstop flights using a B 744.
Comments:
Excellent move by AI which shall definitely him put even more pressure on its main competitors i.e. 9W and SV on these sectors with the extra passenger and cargo capacity on offer.
