Iberia announces Johannesburg

Iberia of Spain has officially announced that it will be launching new flights to JNB-Johannesburg effective 01AUG16 as the carrier looks to relaunch markets with more fuel efficient aircraft.

IB disclosed the new MAD-JNB flights will be operated 3 times per week nonstop using an A330-300 with the below mentioned schedule:

Days - 1/4/5

IB 6051 Dep MAD 2345 Arr JNB 0955+1
IB 6050 Dep JNB 2015 Arr MAD 0635+1 

Emirates increases Cairo and Riyadh flights

Emirates has announced that it has secured bilateral approval to increase its presence in Cairo and Riyadh respectively and as a result of which has jumped on to the opportunity to cash in. 

To begin with, services to CAI shall be increased from double daily to 17 weekly nonstop using a B777-300ER effective 27MAR16. With regards to RUH, flights are being increased from double to triple daily effective 15DEC with a mix of A332s and B77Ws.

Both the new CAI and RUH flights are overnight services departing Dubai v.v !

Thai Airways makes Beijing triple daily

Thai Airways has officially announced that as a result of a surge in bookings being currently witnessed on its Beijing bound flights, it will be increasing its presence on the BKK-PEK route by adding a new daily flight effective 30JAN16.

Overall frequencies will climb as a result of the above from double daily B777s to triple daily with the new service being operated using an A333 with the below mentioned schedule:

TG 686 Dep BKK 2300 Arr PEK 0440+1
TG 687 Dep PEK 0555 Arr BKK 1010

Cathay Pacific announces London Gatwick

Cathay Pacific has officially announced that it will be launching new services to London Gatwick airport effective 02SEP16. CX shall be operating the flight nonstop from its HKG base using its new Airbus A 350-900 with the below mentioned schedule:

Days: MON/WED/FRI/SUN

CX 349 Dep HKG 0055 Arr LGW 0710
CX 344 Dep LGW 1235 Arr HKG 0725+1

This is in addition to the five daily flights that CX already operates into LHR !

Source: http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_HK/about-us/press-room/press-release/2015/Cathay-Pacific-new-Gatwick-service-for-London-travel.html

Emirates next A380 destination - Guangzhou, China

Emirates has officially confirmed that it has applied to the Chinese Civil Aviation Authorities to increase its current daily Guangzhou-Dubai nonstop service to an Airbus A380 from the on set of the IATA Summer 2016 season.

EK disclosed that the high density dual class 615 seater A380 will be used for this service from the on set of the IATA Summer 2016 season once approval is obtained.

Source: http://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/emirates-plans-to-fly-a380-to-guangzhou-to-compete-in-china-1.1634710

Comments:

This capacity upgrade from a daily B77W to a daily 615 seater A380 represents a 46% capacity increase for EK on the DXB-CAN route and it is primarily aimed at poaching away the CAN-Africa market share from QR, ET and KQ as with the higher capacity on offer, EK can now compete more effectively with cheaper fares matching these three airlines to woo them away!

FYI the P2P demand between DXB-CAN (round trip) in 2014 was 181,000 passengers!

United suspends Dubai-Washington

United Airlines has officially announced that it will be suspending its current daily nonstop service from IAD-Washington DC to DXB-Dubai effective 23JAN16. UA cites the below mentioned reasons for the cut:

• Loss of a lucrative U.S. Govt contract of 15,000 fed employees to B6-Jetblue who are EK's biggest code share partner in USA
• Unable to compete against Emirates and Etihad effectively on the IAD-DXB route
• B772ER usage can yield better margins being used on shorter LATAM or trans-atlantic flights to EU as well as to replace B744s (which are being retired)

Source: http://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/united-airlines-to-stop-dubai-flights-1.1634890

British Airways increases Shanghai

British Airways has officially announced as a result of rising demand along with great encouragement from the U.K government to boost business and leisure links with China, it shall be increasing its services to PVG-Shanghai effective 20FEB16.

Currently, BA operates a daily nonstop flight from LHR to PVG using a B777. These will be increased to 10 weekly nonstop flights operated by a daily B773ER + 3 weekly B772ER. 

Point to point demand in 2014 between London and Shanghai was 336,000 passengers and this is expected to grow by at least 15% by end of 2016. 

Air France announces Tehran

Air France has officially announced that it will be re launching its flights to Tehran operated nonstop from its Paris hub base effective April 2016. Services will be flown 3 times per week using an A330-200 with the below mentioned schedule:

Days 3/5/7

AF 738 Dep CDG 1030 Arr IKA 1840
AF 755 Dep IKA 0715 Arr CDG 1055

AF suspended CDG-IKA flights in 2008 as a result of global economic meltdown and the negative effects sanctions were having on Iran.

In addition, the French national carrier also confirmed that it will be increasing its services into New York JFK airport by adding a new daily flight from Paris's second airport i.e. Orly (ORY) effective June 2016. These flights will be operated using a B777-200ER.

Sri Lankan to cut Frankfurt Rome and Paris

Sri Lankan Airlines CEO has publicly stated in an address in Colombo recently, that the airline is undertaking a major cost restructuring exercise aimed at bringing the airline's operations in a sustainability mode after years of massive losses on its long haul routes in particular.

He confirmed that the "Vanity routes" in question to be cut are Rome, Paris and Frankfurt where it cannot compete against the GCC carriers funneling traffic via their respective hub airports to Asia as the yields are far too low to justify continuing operating. 

London will be retained as the sole EU destination served nonstop from Colombo using the A332/A333 fleet and the aircraft coming out of FRA/CDG/FCO will be instead used to boost frequencies to China.

Source: http://www.economynext.com/SriLankan_Airlines_to_ditch_%E2%80%98vanity%E2%80%99_routes-3-3671.html

KLM increases LAX and Muscat flights

KLM has officially announced that it will be increasing its presence in Muscat and Los Angeles from the on set of the IATA S16 season as the carrier looks to take advantage of available opportunities in the long haul market segment. 

MCT - frequencies will be increased from 4 weekly to daily flights using a B789 operated via AUH

LAX - frequencies increased from 12 weekly to double daily nonstop using a B744 Combi

China Airlines increases JFK and FRA

China Airlines (Taiwan) has officially announced that it will be increasing its services to New York JFK and Frankfurt, Germany from the on set of the IATA W16 season i.e. 30OCT

Currently, JFK is operated 3 times per week nonstop using a B777-300ER (77W). These flights will be increased to 5 times per week using the same aircraft type. As far as FRA is concerned, the route will also be increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop using a B77W as well. FRA is one of CI's top performing long haul routes in terms of cargo revenue.

Qatar Airways increases Maputo capacity

Qatar Airways officially announced today that it will be increasing capacity on its services to MPO-Maputo, Mozambique effective 29MAR16. Currently, all 3 weekly flights are flown via JNB using a B77W however from the on set of the IATA S16 season, it will make MPO a nonstop terminator destination (DOH-MPO-DOH) using a 254 seater B787-8. 

The schedule is as follows:

Days - 2/4/7

QR 1361 Dep DOH 0630 Arr MPM 1340
QR 1362 Dep MPM 1505 Arr DOH 0010+1

China Eastern announces 3 new long haul routes

China Eastern Airlines, the largest carrier based out of Shanghai airport has officially announced that it will be launching three new long haul destinations in 2016. All the routes will be operated out of its primary PVG (Shanghai) hub base and they are to Brisbane (BNE), Prague (PRG) and Chicago (ORD) respectively.

The operational highlights are as follows:

BNE - to be launched effective 16JAN three times per week using an A332

ORD - to be launched effective 18MAR using a B77W on a daily basis nonstop

PRG - to be launched effective 02APR using an A332 on a three weekly basis