Airline News till May 7th 2011

Kuwait Airways has officially announced that it has been granted additional access to Saudi Arabia with 5 extra weekly frequencies allocated to Jeddah and new 3 weekly frequencies designated for Medinah.

As a result, KU has revealed officially in the GDS system the following increases:

JED - frequencies will be increased immediately from daily A340s to 12 weekly flights using a mixture of A340s and AB6s.

MED - 3 weekly nonstop flights to be operated with an A 320 effective 16JUN 2011. In addition, KU too confirmed that it will be relaunching services to IST-Istanbul effective 16JUN three times per week using an A320.


The Turkish Govt has officially announced that it's flag carrier i.e. Turkish Airlines has been granted approval from the Pakistani Civil Aviation Authorities to launch new flights to Islamabad operated nonstop from its Istanbul hub. TK will be using Airbus A 330s on the IST-ISB route which is expected to be operated 4 times per week from the later part of this summer season. With TK being a fellow STAR ALLIANCE member, it is expected that Lufthansa, BMI and United Airlines will be interlining to tap into his important market segment. TK too announced many changes to its long haul schedule for the IATA Winter 2011-12 season with the main highlights being as follows:

BOM - capacity increased from daily A 332s to daily A 333s.

JNB - frequencies and capacity increased from 5 weekly A 332s to daily A 333s.

JFK - capacity reduced from 11 weekly B 773ERs to daily B 773ERs + 4 weekly A 332s.

ICN - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 332.

CPT - frequencies and capacity increased from 5 weekly A 332s to daily A 333s.


Qatar Airways has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies to FCO-Rome and CAI-Cairo from July 2011 onwards. Currently, QR operates a daily A 330 service on the DOH-FCO sector, but these shall be increased to 11 times per week with the additional 4 weekly services being operated with an A 320. As far as CAI is concerned, frequencies will be raised from daily to 9 times per week with the 2 additional weekly flights operated with an A 320. QR too confirmed it has purchased a 33% stake in Cargolux and thus aims to become one of the top 5 leading cargo airlines of the world by 2015. The arrangement with Cargolux has made QR decide to convert 15 of its current A 330s into freighters gradually once its new Boeing 787s start getting delivered. Lastly, at the upcoming Paris Air Show, QR is expected to finalize an order for 20 additional A 380s (10 firm + 10 options) + 50 A 320NEOs + 20 Bombardier C 300 Series to fuel its 'regional strategy' to Iran, Iraq and Central
Asia.


EVA Air has officially revealed many changes to its USA long haul schedule for the IATA Winter 2011 season with the main highlights being as follows:

LAX - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 times per week.

SFO - frequencies increased from 10 to 12 times per week.

SEA - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 times per week.


Air Berlin of Germany has officially announced major increases to its long haul network for the IATA Winter 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

TXL(Berlin)/DXB - frequencies increased from 3 to 6 times per week using an A332.

TXL/BKK - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 times per week using an A332.

TXL/HKT (Phuket) - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 times per week using an A332.

TXL/MIA - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 times per week using an A332.

DUS/BKK - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 times per week using an A332.

DUS/YYZ - summer seasonal service goes year round with 3 weekly A 332s in winter.

DUS/JFK - summer seasonal service goes year round with 4 weekly A 332s in winter.


Korean Air has officially announced that it has placed a big order for 7 additional long haul aircraft to supplement its rapid worldwide expansion strategy focusing on USA and Sky Team hub airports in Europe. KE announced that it has purchased 5 additional A 332HGWs and 2 Boeing 777-300ERs.

Qatar Airways has officially revealed another round of massive expansion focusing on Saudi Arabia, Central Asia and Africa to further fuel its regional strategy growth. The main highlights are as follows:

JED - frequencies increased from daily to double daily using a combination of B 777s and A 330s effective 01JUN.

DMM - frequencies increased from triple daily to four daily using A 320s effective 01JUN.

RUH - frequencies increased from daily to double daily using a mixture of A 330s and A 320s effective 01JUN.

MED - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using an A 320 effective 14JUN.

EBB (Entebbe, Uganda) - new daily nonstop flights to be launched using an A320 effective 02NOV.

GYD (Baku, Azerbaijan) - new daily nonstop flights to be launched using an A320 effective 02NOV.


Jet Airways of India has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to Hong Kong, Singapore, Brussels and Newark effective 28JUL due to rising demand in both the passenger and cargo departments on these three important routes. The main highlights are as follows:

BOM/HKG - capacity increased from daily A 332 to daily B 773ER.

BOM/BRU/EWR - capacity increased from daily A 332 to 2 weekly B 773ER + 5 weekly A 332.

DEL/SIN - capacity increased from daily B 738s to daily A 332.


Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to SGN-Ho Chi Minch City, Vietnam effective 30JUN 2011. Currently, TK operates 4 weekly services via Bangkok using an A 340-300. These shall be increased to daily flights via BKK using the same aircraft type with 5th freedom traffic rights. TK too confirmed that it will be increasing frequencies to GYD-Baku to four times daily effective 31MAY using a mixture of B 737s and A 320s.


Lufthansa has officially revealed few changes to its DUS-Dusseldorf hub for its long haul winter 2011 schedule. The main highlights are as follows:

YYZ - frequencies to be maintained year round at 3 weekly.

ORD - frequencies reduced from 5 to 4 weekly.

MIA - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly.

In addition, LH too confirmed that it will be reducing flights to BAH-Bahrain effective 09MAY until the end of October due to crippling demand on their services to the Gulf state. Frequencies will be reduced from daily A 333s to 5 weekly with all of them operating via DMM in both directions.


Gulf Air has revealed on the GDS that it will be increasing its services to Istanbul effective 15MAY 2011 by adding an additional 5th weekly flight to the route as well as increasing capacity from 4 weekly E70s to 5 weekly A320s. The schedule will be a split one which would allow all the key high volume markets to get connected with IST in both directions via its BAH hub.