Air France has officially confirmed that due to cost cutting measures, it will be implementing the following capacity and frequency changes to its long haul route network effective January 2010:
JNB - frequencies reduced from double daily nonstop flights operated by a B 773ER + daily B 772ER to a daily nonstop flight operated by an Airbus A 380 effective March 2010.
NRT - frequencies reduced from 17 weekly to double daily nonstop flights using a B 773ER for all services.
DXB - frequencies reduced from January 18th onwards from 13 weekly i.e. 6 weekly A 332 + daily B 772ER to a daily nonstop flight operated by an Airbus A 380.
Emirates CEO has officially announced that the next batch of A 380s that the airline will be receiving from Airbus will have 28 extra economy class seats thus increasing capacity from 489 to 517 and will be primarily used on the London Heathrow route. EK too confirmed that it has put on hold configuring many of its A 380s into a 2 class (J and Y) 620 seater to be used on high density Indian Subcontinent, Jeddah and Far East Asia routes until the worldwide economy picks up again.
In addition, EK has revealed few capacity changes on the GDS for its network which will come into effect from Dec 1st 09 onwards. They are as follows:
DAR - capacity increased from daily A 343 to daily B 773ER.
THR - frequencies increased from 17 to 19 weekly flights using a combination of B 773As and B 773ERs for all the flights.
CAN - capacity increased from daily A 332 to daily 3 class configured B 773ER.
CMN - capacity reduced from a daily B 773ER to a daily A 343.
Analysis:
The capacity increase to both DAR and CAN are surprising to say the least because it will be a 3 class configured B 77W that would be used on both routes. This begs the question as to why EK is using an aircraft with a first class cabin on these 2 routes which have virtually zero first class demand year round! IKA too has seen a huge capacity increase this year as previously, one could recall that it was 17 weekly A 332s in April 2009 and now its B 773s all the time!
China Airlines of Taiwan has officially announced that it will be launching new 3 weekly nonstop flights from Delhi to FCO-Rome, Italy from December 1st 2009. The routing was originally TPE-BKK-FCO using an A 343 which has now been switched to TPE-DEL-FCO flown with an A 330-300. The flight timings are as follows:
Days of operation: TUE/THU/SUN
CI 071 Dep DEL 1425 Arr FCO 1840
CI 072 Dep FCO 2240 Arr DEL 1055+1 (next day)
Analysis:
An excellent move by CI to switch their FCO flight from BKK to DEL as no airline flies DEL-Italy nonstop and there is a big market to tap into. According to DGCA stats, over 40,000 passengers in 2008 flew from Delhi to Italy with 30% of that number bound to Rome where as the rest were largely headed towards MXP. The flight timings for this new DEL-FCO-DEL service are ideal for O&D VFR and business traffic alike and CI can easily feed this flight with pax from BOM/BLR/MAA/COK if it gets a good SPA with 9W or AI on the domestic India sectors.
There is a fair bit of tourist/missionary travel as well on this route due to FCO's close proximity to the Vatican. Lastly, cargo too would bring in solid $$$ for CI which will help increase the revenues of this flight.
American Airlines has officially announced that it will be initiating few changes to its long haul schedule for the Summer 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:
JFK/MAN - new daily nonstop flights to be launched using a B 757 effective May 13th.
JFK/MAD - new daily nonstop flights to be launched using a B 757 effective May 1st.
ORD/HNL - new daily nonstop flights to be launched using a B 763ER effective June 10th.
Virgin Atlantic has revealed on the GDS that it will be reinstating its daily flight to ORD-Chicago from May 27th 2010 onwards. VS will be using an Airbus A 340-300 to operate this flight. This flight is being suspended for the IATA Winter 09-10 season due to on going cost cutting initiatives implemented by VS across the board.
Sri Lankan Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to DMM-Dammam, Saudi Arabia from Oct 27th 2009 onwards. UL will be flying this route 4 times per week nonstop using an A 332 twice a week + an A 343 twice a week.
Asiana Airlines of South Korea has officially disclosed that it will be increasing its frequencies to TPE-Taipei from January 2010 with the addition of 2 weekly flights to its already daily operation. In total, 9 weekly nonstop flights will be flown from Seoul (ICN) to TPE using an A 333 daily and an A 320 twice a week.
In addition, the carrier too announced that it will be increasing its flights to CEB-Cebu in the Philippines from the current 4 weekly to double daily effective Dec 1st 2009 by using an A 321 nine times per week + an A 320 five times per week.
South African Airways has officially confirmed that it reached a settlement with Airbus over a previous order that got canceled in 2002 which consisted of purchasing 15 aircraft. The settlement will entail SAA taking delivery of 6 brand new Airbus A 330-200s from 2013 onwards which will be used to replace its fleet of A 340-200s. The A 332s will be used to fly nonstop to BOM, West Africa and Europe from JNB.
Kenya Airways has officially confirmed that the delay in it receiving its Boeing 787 aircraft from Boeing has forced it to enter into talks with rival Airbus to purchase aircraft in the interim in order to keep afloat on its continued international long haul expansion plans. KQ is in talks with Airbus for A 330-200s only that can be delivered within 2 years.
Source: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Company%20Industry/-/539550/664210/-/u6jn9iz/-/
Comments:
I dont see the need for KQ to order 6-9 A 332s due to the delays with the B 787s as they could probably get a sweeter compensation deal from Boeing for brand new or 3-4 year old used B 763ERs from some where. This would help them cut down on costs as it would be detrimental having a wide bodied fleet consisting of 3 different types i.e. 777, 767 and 330! If KQ doesnt want B 763ERs, then Boeing should pitch some B 77Ls and lobby the U.S. Govt to allow KQ to fly nonstop to USA from NBO which it cannot do so now due to the FAA ruling which downgraded NBO as a CAT II airport. The B 77L can also fly nonstop to HKG and PEK from NBO as well!
Air Canada has been cited by the Canadian media that it wishes to launch a new nonstop multiple weekly flight out of YYC-Calgary to Asia from the on set of the IATA Summer 2010 time table but will first conduct a thorough research to see if this flight can be made viable and would be supported whole heartedly by the local business community in particular.
Comments:
Good initiative by AC! Best is to have a 4 weekly B 763ER service from YYC to NRT in the peak summer season and 3 weekly for the remaining months of the year when its low season.
