12JUN edition

Canada and the Philippines have officially agreed to further liberalize the air bilateral accord between the two countries in light of increased year on year demand. The main highlights of this new deal are as follows:

a)      Frequencies increased from 7 to 14 per week

b)      5^th freedom traffic rights available to PAL on YVR-JFK and YYZ-JFK five times per week only

c)       Air Canada allowed to fly to SYD/MEL via MNL with 5^th freedom traffic rights

PAL in turn has indicated that its new upcoming service to New York JFK is desired to be operated via YVR-Vancouver using a B773ER effective Nov 2014.

Cathay Pacific has officially announced that it shall be launching new daily nonstop flights to ZRH-Zurich effective 29MAR15. All services will be operated using a 4 class configured Boeing 777-300ER with the below mentioned schedule:

CX 383 Dep HKG 0015 Arr ZRH 0655

CX 382 Dep ZRH 1330 Arr HKG 0645+1

Emirates has officially revealed many changes to its route network for the remainder of the 2014 calendar year of which the main highlights are as follows:

BRU – new daily nonstop flights using a B772LR effective 05SEP

KHI – new 6^th daily flight effective 01AUG departing DXB at 2235 using an A332.

BOS – capacity increased from daily B772LR to daily B773ER effective 01AUG

FRA – capacity increased from triple daily B773ER to daily A380 + double daily B773ER effective 01SEP

SEZ – frequencies increased from 12 weekly to double daily using an A345 effective 26OCT

SIN – frequencies increased from 4 to 5 daily flights using an A380 twice daily + a B773 three times daily

Delta Airlines have placed further orders for Airbus A321-200s as the airline is very happy with the performance economics of this aircraft type especially on trans-continental domestic routes within the U.S. landscape. DL confirmed that they ordered an additional 15 units bring their total A321 order to 45.

Qatar Airways has revealed many capacity changes for the remainder of the year to its medium and long haul route network of which the main highlights are as follows:

ICN – capacity increased from daily A332 to daily B773ER effective 02SEP

LHE – frequencies increased from daily to double daily effective 01JUL i.e. daily A333 + daily A320

VIE – capacity increased from daily A320 to daily A332 effective 01SEP

DME – capacity increased from double daily A320 to daily B788 + daily A320

CDG – capacity increased from triple daily A346 to daily A380 + double daily A346

CGK – frequencies increased from double daily to 18 weekly i.e. daily B773ER + 11 weekly A333

MED – frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily using an A320

In addition, QR confirmed that its 3^rd A380 route from IATA W14 season shall be nonstop to New York JFK.

Comments:

There are two routes that QR need to look into that can generate good volume across certain parts of their network. First one is MRU-Mauritius operated 5 times per week using a B787. Main market segments to feed MRU would be CDG, UK, Germany, Italy, India, HKG, DXB, SIN, ICN, NRT and China. Unlike a majority of other leisure market segments, what seperates MRU from the likes of BKK, HKT, DPS, HNL etc is the fact that the yields for MRU are much higher due to lower competition + greater income level of both the locals + the tourists visiting the island on a year round basis. The second route for QR to attack is CGP-Chittagong, Bangladesh. Currently, only FZ and WY operate here but with narrow bodied aircraft. In the winter, both would be facing payload restrictions hence cannot carry the maximum number of passengers intended. The main market segment for QR at CGP is GCC, KSA and UK. Over here, a daily A333 operated service would suffice nicely as cargo potential is there as well to be exploited.

Etihad Airways has revealed few changes to its route network for 2014 of which the main highlights are as follows:

AMM – frequencies increased from 18 weekly to triple daily effective 01JUL

BEY – same as above effective 01JUL

LCA – frequencies increased from 3 weekly to daily effective 01JUL

As far as its upcoming Boeing 787-900 is concerned, EY confirmed that the first two aircraft shall be used operating a daily same plane service routed Washington-Abu Dhabi-Mumbai effective 01JAN15.

Lufthansa has announced that it shall be reconfiguring its classic Boeing 747-400 fleet (currently 19 units) to a standard two class configuration and operate them on routes that have minimal first class cabin demand. The new configuration will seat 389 passengers versus 330 currently. In the business class cabin, there will be 67 seats along with 322 in economy class. The routes that shall see this aircraft from IATA S15 season onwards are daily Dubai, Toronto, Osaka, Tokyo, Vancouver and Seoul all operated from Frankfurt. Other changes revealed by LH for the upcoming IATA W14 season are as follows:

FRA/BKK – capacity reduced from daily A346 to daily A343

FRA/KIX – capacity reduced from daily B744 to daily A343

FRA/EZE – capacity increased from daily B744 to daily B748

FRA/NRT – capacity reduced from daily B744 to daily A343

Eva Air of Taiwan has officially announced that they have placed an additional order for 6 Boeing 777-300ERs as the carrier is extremely happy with the economic benefits of this aircraft type. In addition, their CEO revealed that they will be ordering the Boeing 787-1000X to be the official replacement aircraft for its entire A330 (11 A332s + 3 A333s) fleet from 2020 onwards with an initial order for 5 units. With regards to its cargo fleet, the B772LRF has been chosen to be its preferred type replacing 9 B744Fs + 3 MD11Fs.  

Fly Dubai of UAE has revealed major expansion plans for its route network for this summer season onwards of which the main highlights are as follows:

ADE – new 3 weekly flights effective 01AUG

KDH (Kandahar) – new 2 weekly flights effective 25JUL

VKO (Moscow’s 3^rd airport) – new daily nonstop flights effective 23SEP

India – effective 01JUN, new 4 weekly flights to DEL + 3 weekly to COK + 3 weekly to TRV