News till 30JUN

Emirates has officially announced that it shall be increasing capacity on three of its long haul routes effective Winter 2012 onwards. The main highlights are as follows:

JFK - capacity increased to double daily A380s effective 01JAN 2013

LUN/HRE - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using an A332 effective 01OCT 2012

 

In addition, EK too revealed that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to EBL-Erbil, Iraq effective 12AUG 2012. EBL will be started initially with 4 weekly flights using an A343 but from 01SEP onwards shall be increased to daily flights using an A332. Lastly, building on the success of its new BSR-Basra route, EK will be further increasing frequencies here as well from 4 weekly to daily flights using an A332 from 01AUG.

Thai Airways has officially announced its first batch of initial capacity changes for the IATA Summer 2013 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

CPH – capacity reduced from a daily B744 to a daily B773ER which will have the new business class product. TG’s B77W configuration is 42J and 306Y

DME – frequencies increased from 3 to 4 times per week using a B773

LAX via ICN – capacity increased from 4 weekly B772ER to 4 weekly B744

ANA of Japan has officially announced that it has converted an order it held with Boeing for 4 Boeing 787-800s to the larger -900 version as the carrier identifies a need to replace more faster its fleet of regional Boeing 777-200As of which the B789 is the direct replacement aircraft. NH's total B787 order book numbers 55 aircraft of which 19 are B789s and 36 B788s.

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to IAH-Houston, USA effective 01APR 2013. Services will be operated 4 times per week using their new B777-300ER aircraft and the schedule is as follows:

Days: 1/2/5/6

TK 033 Dep IST 1305 Arr IAH 1805
TK 034 Dep IAH 1950 Arr IST 1555+1

The above mentioned schedule enables perfect connections in both directions via IST to the key oil markets in Central Asia, Saudi Arabia, GCC, North Africa as well as the VFR markets of KHI, BOM and DEL.

Hong Kong Airlines has officially revealed on the GDS system that it will be reducing its flagship all business class service on the Hong Kong-London Gatwick route effective 01SEP 2012. Currently, HX operates a daily flight on this route nonstop and has been unfortunately been well received by the traveling public as their seat load factor is low. From 01SEP, frequencies will be reduced from daily to 3 weekly which indirectly means an uncompetitive product as no business passenger would fly an airline offering 3 weekly HKG-LON services when CX/BA have double/triple daily flights!

Oman Air has officially announced that they are increasing both capacity and frequency to JED-Jeddah, Saudi Arabia effective 01JUL 2012. Frequencies are increased from 9 weekly B738s to 10 weekly flights using bigger aircraft i.e. 3 weekly A332s + daily B738. The new schedule is specifically targeting JED bound traffic from Pakistan and Kuala Lumpur as the connections are now as follows:

KHI-JED-KHI…4 weekly i/b and o/b

LHE-JED-LHE…2 weekly o/b and 4 weekly i/b

ISB-JED-ISB…3 weekly i/b and o/b

KUL-JED-KUL…4 weekly o/b and 5 weekly i/b

Overall, this represents an increase of 608 seats by WY on a r/t basis per week on the JED route.

Nasair of KSA has officially announced that they shall be launching new nonstop flights to PEW-Peshawar, Pakistan from its Riyadh hub base effective 01JUL 2012.It will be operating the route 4 times per week using a 180 seater Airbus A320. The flight schedule is as follows:

Days: MON/TUE/FRI/SUN

XY 740 Dep RUH 0725 Arr PEW 1320

XY 741 Dep PEW 1435 Arr RUH 1635

Qatar Airways has officially announced that they shall be significantly increasing services to DAC-Dhaka, Bangladesh from the on set of the IATA W12 season i.e. 27OCT 2012. Currently, QR operates to DAC 11 times per week nonstop using a mixture of A332s and A333s, however from 27OCT, frequencies shall be increased from 11 weekly to DOUBLE DAILY with all flights being operated with the A330s i.e. 10 weekly A333s (305 seater) + 4 weekly A332s (259 seater). In addition, QR too confirmed that it will be launching new nonstop flights to Maputo, Mozambique effective 31OCT 2012. These services shall be operated via Johannesburg three times per week using a B777-300ER.

Lion Air of Indonesia has officially announced that it is forming a new long haul subsidiary airline called Batik Air which was launched in grand style by placing an initial order for 5 Boeing 787-900. These aircraft will be configured in a 2 class layout i.e. business and economy and are destined to operate from Jakarta to Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Australia, Japan and China only.

Air China has officially announced that it will be reducing frequencies on two if its European routes for the upcoming IATA W12 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

PVG/MXP - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A332.

PEK/ARN (Stockholm) - frequencies reduced from 6 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A332.

Uzbekistan Airways has officially announced that it will launching new nonstop flights to ISB-Islamabad, Pakistan effective 28OCT 2012. HY will be operating the new flight twice a week nonstop from its Tashkent base using an Airbus A320. The main target market for HY to/from ISB is the price conscious PAK-Europe ethnic markets. Other highlights of its W12 schedule is as follows:

LHE - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 times per week nonstop
 

FCO - frequencies increased from 1 to 2 weekly nonstop

LHR - capacity increased from 2 weekly B757s to 2 weekly B763ERs with the new J/Y product

DXB - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly nonstop flights

Cebu Pacific has officially announced that the first new route it is seeking to operate for its new low cost long haul venture using all economy class A333s (387 seater) is to Muscat, Oman. The airline has submitted an application to operate MNL-MCT nonstop using an A 333 six times per week from Summer 2013 onwards. If successful, it will be the first airline offering a full low cost service between MNL and the GCC. FYI, due to payload limitations an A333 with 387 seats cannot operate nonstop in both directions from MNL to KWI/DMM/RUH/BAH/DOH.

Japan has signed new bilateral accords with both UAE and Qatar giving them significant increase in flying allotments to their country in particular Tokyo from the on set of the IATA S13 season onwards of which the main highlights are as follows:

QR - allowed to increase NRT-DOH to double daily as well as operate daily flights from DOH to HND

EK and EY - both allowed to increase their respective NRT bound services to double daily as well as operate daily each to HND airport

It is expected that out of the 3 carriers, Emirates will be the first to take up this offer and increase its Tokyo bound flights to double daily by April 2013 with the below mentioned schedule using a B777:

EK XXX Dep DXB 2130 Arr NRT 1215+1
EK XXX Dep NRT 1710 Arr DXB 2300


Oman Air has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop service to IKA-Tehran effective 01SEP 2012. WY will be operating the route on a daily basis from its Muscat base using a 72 seater Embraer E175 for all flights. The schedule is a split one with four flights departing MCT at 0930 and three flights at 0200 respectively as the schedule largely is catering towards passengers bound to Germany, London, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.


Qatar Airways has officially announced that it shall be increasing services to both Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur from the on set of the IATA W12 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

HKG - frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily nonstop using an A332

KUL - frequencies increased from 17 weekly to triple daily nonstop using an A332


Etihad Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching a new long haul route from June 2013 onwards i.e. GRU-Sao Paulo in Brazil which marks the debut of the airline into South America and in turn allows it to market itself as operating to all continents of the globe nonstop from its Abu Dhabi base. Services to GRU shall be flown on a daily nonstop basis using an Airbus A340-600. The schedule is as follows:

EY 171 Dep AUH 0945 Arr GRU 1755
EY 170 Dep GRU 0035 Arr AUH 2020

The above mentioned schedule mainly caters to traffic bound to Far East, India and Beirut.


Emirates has officially announced that it shall be reducing its operations at LAX-Los Angeles effective 01AUG as the carrier looks to redeploy aircraft to replace some of its A380 flying due to the wings crack issue. Frequencies on the LAX route shall be dropped from double daily to daily with the 0230 dep DXB flight being scrapped. Along with this, flights to Cape Town as well are being reduced from 01SEP onwards from double daily to daily.


Garuda Indonesia has officially announced that it will be shortly placing an order with Airbus for 3 A330-200 Freighters as the carrier forecasts strong growth in the Indonesian air cargo market segment and hence wants to take full advantage of it in the least risky manner. It says that it chose the A332F and not the B772:RF because it already has a bunch of passenger version A332s in its fleet where as with the B777, it only operates the B777-300ER hence it did not want to add another aircraft type into its overall fleet mix. The A332F can carry 64 tons of cargo on board and can fly up to 8 hours nonstop with a full payload.


Cathay Pacific has officially announced that due to seasonal demand patterns as well as cost cutting initiatives, it shall be reducing its services to FCO-Rome for the IATA W12 season. Currently, CX operates a daily nonstop flight from HKG to FCO using A343, however from 27OCT, these will be reduced to 5 times per week using the same aircraft type.


Singapore Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing flights to London Heathrow effective 09SEP 2012 as the carrier looks to take further advantage of the high yield and leisure market bound to SE Asia and Australia via its strategically located hub of Singapore. Out of the 4 daily services, 3 shall be flown with an A380 and one with a B773ER. Flights depart SIN at 0905/1245/2330/2345 and arrive back into SIN at 0720/1420/1550/1755 respectively.


Air France has officially announced that due to cost cutting measures as well as to further share commonly flown routes by its fellow Sky Team members, it will be suspending all flights to JED-Jeddah, Saudi Arabia effective 01SEP 2012. Currently, AF operates 3 times per week to JED nonstop from CDG using an A332 and in turn, Saudia Airlines will be filing in the gap by increasing its own JED-CDG operated services from 4 weekly to daily nonstop using an Airbus A320. AF too announced that it shall further increase its flights to RUH-Riyadh from the current 4 weekly to daily nonstop using an A330-200.


American Airlines has officially announced the on board configuration of its soon to be delivered Boeing 777-300ERs that it placed on order two years ago. Their B77Ws will be in a 3 class configuration seating 310 passengers of which the breakdown is 8 first class, 52 business class and 250 economy class respectively. AA's initial routes flown by this aircraft type include both Sao Paulo and London Heathrow from its Dallas and JFK airport hubs.


Kenya Airways has officially announced that it will be suspending all of its flights to FCO-Rome, Italy effective immediately as the route has failed to meet its minimum required targets. KQ operated 3 times per week between NBO and FCO using a B767-300ER and catered largely to O&D + transfer traffic bound to ADD, DAR, JNB and EBB.


South African Airways has officially announced that it shall be increasing its long haul capacity from 01AUG 2012 onwards to three key routes as it looks to advantage of the pull out of many carriers from its home market. The main highlights are as follows:

JNB/BOM - frequencies increased from 4 to 6 weekly nonstop flights using an A332

JNB/ACC - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 weekly nonstop flights using an A332

JNB/PER - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A343

CPT/LHR - all flights suspended; currently operated on a daily basis with an A332