Behramjee's Airline News

News between 15JAN-21JAN

2012-01-21T04:53:00.001-05:00

Cathay Pacific has officially announced that it has signed an order confirmation with Airbus for 6 more Airbus A350-900s as the carrier looks to fast track the phase out of its aging A343 and B744 fleet by 2016-17. The aircraft shall be used on medium density long haul routes to Europe and Australia. With the signing of this order, the total number of A359s ordered by CX increases to 36.

China Airlines of Taiwan has officially announced that due to heavy losses and below par loads, it shall be suspending all its services to LHR-London Heathrow effective 25MAR 2012. CI launched the route from 28MAR 2010 operated with a 3 weekly nonstop frequency using an Airbus A340-300. Currently, the airline operates 2 weekly services in order to cut the heavy loss burden.

Emirates has officially announced that it will be further increasing its services to the Northern Pakistan cities of Lahore and Islamabad from February 2012 as the carrier was awarded more bilateral access into this high volume, high yielding market segment. Services to Islamabad shall be increased to 8 times per week with all flights being operated with a two class configured 442 seater Boeing 777-300ER where as operations to Lahore will also in turn be increased to 8 times per week but with a standardized schedule using a B773ER five times per week + an A332 three times per week. The schedule for LHE has been changed as the carrier looks to capitalize heavily on the high volume LHE-JED and LHE-North America market segments. In addition, EK too revealed many other capacity changes for its IATA Summer 2012 schedule of which the main highlights are as follows:

BGW - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A332.

DAC - frequencies increased from 17 to 19 times per week using a B773ER.

DUR - capacity increased from daily A332 to daily B773ER.

DUS - capacity increased to double daily B773s from daily A343 + daily B773.

Jet Airways of India has officially announced that it has signed a deal with Boeing to acquire 12 Boeing 737-800s as part of an order swap by exchanging 2 yet to be produced Boeing 777-300ERs for 7 B 738s + 5 options. 9W's B738s form the backbone of its fleet used extensively on domestic and medium haul international routes to the Middle East and Far East regions. For future growth potential, the airline should seriously consider evaluating the Boeing 737-900ER which is a direct competitor to the A321 as within two years a lot of 9W's international services operated currently with a B738 will be requiring a capacity increase hence it would be a cost worthy proposition upgrading from a B738 to a B739ER versus an A332. This aircraft type has already won large orders from Delta (100) and Lion Air (166) as its an ideal plane for high density medium haul routes within a 6 hour flying radius of India.

Etihad Airways has officially announced that it will be significantly increasing capacity to LHE-Lahore, Pakistan as the carrier looks to re-deploy its B773ER capacity on higher volume profitable routes during the IATA S12 season. Currently, LHE is operated on a daily basis using an A332 six times per week + an A320 once a week. However from 26MAR 2012, EY shall be flying to LHE with a 412 seater B773ER on a daily basis thus representing a weekly r/t capacity increase of 2100 seats aka +57%. EY's main focus in LHE in 2012 is also aimed at targeting the high volume LHE-Saudia market along with North America and Europe. In addition, EY too confirmed that it will also be increasing capacity to JED-Jeddah from 26MAR by adding an incremental amount of 1372 r/t seats on its weekly schedule in the following manner:

- Current capacity is 13 weekly flights spread across 6 weekly A320s + 1 weekly A332 + 6 weekly B 773ERs offering 7196 weekly r/t seats. From 26MAR 2012 onwards, it becomes 9 weekly B773ERs + 4 weekly A320s offering 8568 weekly r/t seats i.e. +19% capacity increase.

Privatair of Switzerland has officially announced that it has become the latest and most interesting customer of the upcoming Bombardier C Series jets of which it has placed an order for 10 CS100 aircraft. The breakdown is 5 firm + 5 options. The reason why it is an interesting order is due to the airline being the first to configure these jets into an all business class layout which would accommodate approximately 35 passengers. The flying range capability is 7.5 hours nonstop thus making GCC-London City/EU and LCY-trans-atlantic services possible.

KLM has officially revealed many capacity changes for its long haul network for the IATA Summer 2012 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

DXB - frequencies reduced from double daily to daily nonstop flights using a B744.

BKK - capacity increased with daily nonstop terminator flights using a B773ER four times a week and a B772ER three times per week. The tag on sector to Taipei is dropped.

TIP - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 times per week using a B737.

BAH - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly A332s tagged on to AUH.

DMM - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily tagged on with KWI.

IAH - frequencies reduced from 10 weekly to daily nonstop flights only using a B744 Combi.

MNL - nonstop flights dropped and instead it will be operated via TPE on a daily basis using a B772ER. This will result in KLM being the only airline to offer nonstop services to TPE from mainland Europe.

DEL - capacity reduced from daily MD11 to daily A332.

Air France which is in a serious mode of restructuring its operations in order to reduce losses and cut highly unprofitable routes has disclosed a series of changes for its IATA Summer 2012 schedule of which the main highlights are as follows:

AUH - all flights suspended effective 05MAR; currently AF operates 5 weekly A332s on this sector.

MCO (Orlando) - all flights suspended effective 03Sept.

HKG - frequencies reduced from double daily to 12 weekly i.e. daily B773ER + 5 weekly B772ER.

HAV - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly using a B773ER.

Bahrain Air's CEO has officially revealed at the on going Bahrain Air Show that it is keen to add three regional jets into its fleet by 2014 as the carrier looks to deploy smaller planes on its GCC routes where demand for a larger A320 is not consistent year round. It has shown great interest in the new Russian made Sukhoi Superjet 100 which can seat approximately 85 passengers in a 2 class configuration and fly nonstop with a full payload up to 3500KM.

Transaero of Russia has officially announced that it shall be increasing its presence in the popular New York-Moscow market segment effective 29MAY 2012 as the carrier looks to take full advantage of the peak summer season travel demand. Frequencies shall be increased from the current 4 weekly to daily nonstop services using a Boeing 777-300 for all flights. Note that the B773s operated by Transaero are ex Singapore Airlines owned.

News between 01JAN-14JAN

2012-01-21T03:04:00.003-05:00

Qatar Airways has officially revealed many changes to its long haul route network for the IATA Summer 2012 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

YUL – capacity increased from 3 weekly B772LRs to 3 weekly B 773ERs i.e. an additional 456 r/t weekly seats on offer.

MXP – frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily i.e. daily A333 + daily A320.

MAN – frequencies reduced from double daily to 10 weekly A330s.

American Airlines has officially announced that due to rising costs and losses, it shall be suspending its services to DEL-Delhi, India effective 01MAR 2012. AA currently operates a daily nonstop product from ORD-Chicago to DEL using a B772ER but suffers a payload restriction on the DEL-ORD sector. Its main competitor on this sector is AI-Air India who also offers a daily nonstop product and is bound to be beaming with joy at this announcement by AA.

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies to LAX-Los Angeles from the on-set of the IATA S12 season i.e. 26MAR. Currently, TK operates 3 weekly nonstop flights from its IST hub base using a Boeing 777-300ER, however from end March, these shall be increased to daily nonstop flights using the same aircraft type.

Emirates has officially announced major details of its planned long haul expansion for the IATA Summer 2012 of which the main highlights are as follows:

SGN (Ho Chi Minh City) – new daily nonstop flights to be launched with an A332 effective 01JUN and then upgraded to a daily B773ER effective 29OCT 2012.

GLA – frequencies increased from daily to double daily flights i.e. daily B773ER + daily A343.

ADD – nonstop terminator flights to be operated with an A332.

EBB - nonstop terminator flights to be operated with an A332 instead of daily A345 via ADD.

Etihad Airways has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to KUL-Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in a major manner effective 26MAR 2012. Currently, EY operates a daily A332 product on this sector seating 262 pax on board. However from 26MAR, all daily flights shall be upgraded to a daily B777-300ER which seats 412 passengers, therefore offering additional capacity of 2100 r/t weekly seats on the KUL route!

Alitalia has officially announced that it shall be launching new services to RUH-Riyadh effective 01JUN 2012 as part of its efforts to further expand medium haul services especially to SKY TEAM member hub airports.

AZ revealed that flights will be operated from Rome 4 times per week nonstop to Riyadh using an A320 with the following schedule:

Days: 2/5/6/7

AZ 878 Dep FCO 2030 Arr RUH 0240+1

AZ 879 Dep RUH 0335 Arr FCO 0810

Malaysia Airlines has officially announced that it shall be increasing frequencies to LAX-Los Angeles as well as re-route its current service to the city. Presently, MAS operates 3 times per week from KUL via TPE-Taipei using a B772ER, however from 26MAR, these shall be increased to 4 times per week using the same aircraft type but via NRT-Tokyo with 5^th freedom traffic rights.

Air Asia X, the long haul subsidiary of Air Asia (Malaysia) has officially announced that it shall be suspending all of its long haul services to Europe and India effective March 2012 as the carrier looks to re-organize its strategic plan and cost base. It also blamed the high EU carbon tax for the suspension of European services. The 4 routes canceled are BOM, LGW, ORY (Paris Orly) and DEL.

Fly Dubai has officially announced that it shall be launching 2 new routes from Feb 2012 as it looks further into tapping high yielding niche markets in the Middle East region. FZ confirmed that these 2 new routes are Taif in Saudi Arabia which shall be operated 3 times per week and Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan which shall be operated twice a week respectively. All services to be flown using a 189 seater Boeing 737-800.

News between 24-30OCT

2011-10-29T02:47:00.003-04:00

Transaero Airlines of Russia has officially announced that it has signed a deal with Airbus to purchase 4 Airbus A 380s to initially replace its fleet of Boeing 747-400s within the next 2 years as the carrier has an ambitious long haul growth plan set in stone. These A380s will be configured with the highest density i.e. 700 seats in a 3 class configuration containing a small business class, premium economy cabin and a dense economy class cabin. Its initial route will be on Moscow-Bangkok where the carrier has a strong following.

Air France has officially announced that it will be placing the Airbus A 380 on its popular LAX-Los Angeles route from 28MAY 2012 onwards as the carrier looks to further increase its premium brand awareness in the local market place. AF will be operating the A380 on a daily basis on the CDG-LAX sector however in turn to cater for the capacity increase, the route's total frequencies will drop from 20 weekly B777s to 15 weekly flights i.e. 8 weekly B 772ERs + a daily A 380. AF too confirmed for the IATA S12, its capacity to YYZ-Toronto shall also fall as the carrier will no longer be operating a daily B 747-400 on this route, instead a daily B 772ER will be used which will come as a sigh of relief for its business class passengers in particular due to the better on board seat product features.

Air Berlin of Germany has officially announced that it will be expanding its long haul network to USA out of its Berlin hub as the carrier looks to strengthen One World's presence in the German market with the cooperation of American Airlines. As a result, it will be launching new 3 weekly nonstop flights to LAX-Los Angeles effective 11MAY 2012 using an Airbus A 330-200. AB too revealed that it shall be implementing further capacity increases which are as follows:

TXL/JFK - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily flights using an A332.

DUS/MIA - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly flights using an A332.

DUS/JFK - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using an A332.

DUS/YVR - frequencies reduced from 3 to 2 weekly nonstop flights using an A332.

DUS/LAX - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 weekly nonstop flights using an A332.

Ethiopian Airlines has officially announced major capacity changes to its IATA W11 schedule of which the main highlights are as follows: BAH - all flights suspended effective 30OCT

DXB - frequencies reduced from triple daily to 15 weekly flights using a B 777

DEL - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights

KWI - capacity increased from daily nonstop B 737-700s to daily nonstop B 737-800 terminator flights with no extension to BAH.

Air Pacific of the Fiji Islands has officially announced that it has canceled its entire order of eight Boeing 787-900s as it could not accept further delays to the delivery of these aircraft by Boeing. In turn, FJ has placed an order for 3 Airbus A 330-200s which shall be used to replace its entire long haul fleet of 2 B 744s and 1 B 763ER. FJ has confirmed that these A332s will be used to operate to HKG, SYD, LAX and HNL.

Qatar Airways has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to Kuala Lumpur and Phuket effective 25MAR 2012. The main highlights are as follows:

KUL - capacity increased from 13 weekly A 332s to 13 weekly B 773ERs i.e. an increase of approximately 2000 r/t seats per week.

HKT - capacity increased from daily A332 via KUL to daily B 773ER.

United Airlines has officially announced many capacity changes to its long haul network for the IATA W11 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

SFO/LHR - capacity increased from daily B772ER to daily B744.

SFO/KIX - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly B772ERs.

SFO/PVG - capacity reduced from daily B744 to daily B772ER.

IAD/GVA - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly B763ERs.

IAD/FCO - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly B763ERs.

IAH/FRA - capacity increased from daily B762ER to daily B764ER.

IAH/CDG - capacity reduced from daily B764ER to daily B762ER.

EWR/CPH - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly B757s.

EWR/DUB - frequencies reduced from double daily to daily B757s.

EWR/FRA - frequencies increased from daily to double daily.

EWR/ARN - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly.

EWR/GRU - capacity increased from daily B762ER to daily B764ER.

News between 23-30JUL

2011-07-30T01:40:00.002-04:00

Singapore Airlines has officially revealed changes to its Middle East flying schedule for the IATA W11 season which sees major capacity adjustments across the board. The main highlights are as follows:

AUH - frequencies increased from daily to 9 times per week.

KWI - all flights suspended.

CAI - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 times per week via Dubai

DXB - frequencies reduced from double daily to 11 weekly.

RUH - capacity reduced from 4 weekly B 773 to 4 weekly A 333s.

Swiss has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to PEK-Beijing, China effective 11FEB 2012 to capitalize on the growing business and tourism traffic that is being witnessed out of Western and Central Europe bound to/from China. LX shall be using an Airbus A 340-300 to operate this service on a daily basis. LX also confirmed that it will be increasing capacity on its ZRH-EWR (Newark) route from the on set of the IATA S12 season by replacing its daily nonstop service operated a B 737BBJ with a larger Airbus A 340-300.

Thai Airways and China Southern Airlines have officially revealed the cabin configuration of their soon to be delivered Airbus A 380s. The main highlights are as follows:

TG - total of 507 seats in a 3 class configuration i.e. 12F/60J/435Y.

CZ - total of 506 seats in a 3 class configuration i.e. 8F/70J/428Y.

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to DMM-Dammam, Saudi Arabia effective 12SEP 2011. TK will be operating the new service 3 times per week using an Airbus A 319. It will be targeting the high volume KSA-IST market along with oil/gas traffic bound to Central Asia, Western Europe, Russia and USA. TK's President also officially announced that his airline plans on launching a new African route in Summer 2012 i.e. Kigali, Rwanda which would be operated 4 times per week using a Boeing 737-800. Flight schedules will be revealed at a later date. Lastly, TK too revealed initial capacity changes for its long haul route network for the IATA S12 season which are as follows:

GRU - frequencies to be increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B 773ER.

HKG - frequencies to be increased from 6 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B 773ER.

CAN - frequencies to be increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using a B 773ER.

Emirates has officially announced that it will be implementing capacity + frequency increases across its network during the course of the IATA W11 season. The main highlights are as follows:

KUL - capacity increased from triple daily B 773s to daily A 380 + double daily B 773s.

CAI - frequencies increased from 12 to 13 times per week using B 777s.

MXP - capacity increased from daily A343 + daily B773 to double daily flights using a 3 class configured B 773 only.

TUN - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times per week.

FCO - capacity increased from daily A 332 + daily B 773 to daily A 380 + daily B 773.

KRT - frequencies increased from 4 to 6 times per wee using A332s only.

Air France has officially announced that it shall be reducing its frequencies to MIA-Miami, USA for the IATA W11 season. Currently, AF operates a daily nonstop flight out of its CDG-Paris hub using a Boeing 747-400, however this shall be reduced to 6 times per week using the same aircraft type for the entire W11 season.

Oman Air has officially announced that it will be majorly increasing its presence in Bahrain and Doha from the on set of the IATA W11 season. Frequencies to BAH shall be increased from triple daily to 31 weekly with flights being operated using E75s. DOH on the other hand also gets a frequency increase from triple daily to 5 times daily with flights being flown using a mixture of E75s and B 738s.

Jetblue has officially announced that it has struck a deal to sell 11 of its yet to be delivered factory fresh Embraer E190 aircraft in 2013. B6 ordered 46 E90s few years ago and took delivery of 35 of them. With the carrier recently also ordering many more A320NEOs and converting existing A320 orders to A321s, the carrier does not seem to require additional E90s for its long term growth.

Egypt Air has officially announced that it shall be increasing frequencies to CAN-Guangzhou, China effective 01OCT 2011. Frequencies shall be raised from the current 4 to 5 times per week nonstop using a Boeing 777-300ER for all the flights.

Air Canada has officially announced numerous capacity changes to its long haul route network for the IATA W11 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

YOW/FRA - frequencies increased to 6 times per week using a B 763ER.

YYZ/CPH - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 times per week using a B 763ER.

YYZ/PVG - capacity reduced from daily B 773ER to daily B 772LR.

YYZ/TLV - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 times per week using a B 763ER.

YYZ/NRT - capacity increased from daily B 772LR to daily B 773ER.

YUL/BRU - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 times per week using a B 763ER.

YUL/FRA - capacity reduced from daily B 773ER to daily A 333.

YUL/GVA - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 times per week using a B 763ER.

Airline News 07JUL-22JUL

2011-07-22T11:27:00.002-04:00

British Airways has officially announced that due to increasing demand for its Riyadh bound flights from London Heathrow especially in the premium cabins, it shall be increasing its flights to the city for the IATA W11 season. Currently, BA operates 5 times per week using a Boeing 777-200ER, however from Oct 30th onwards, these shall be increased to daily services using the same aircraft type.

Etihad Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching its 3rd new route in Germany i.e. Dusseldorf from 16DEC 2011 onwards. EY will be initially operating the service 4 times per week using an Airbus A 330-300, however from the on set of the IATA S12 season, flights shall be further increased to daily using the same aircraft type. Its main target market in DUS are pax bound to BKK, MNL, UAE, Iraq, IKA, China and Indian Sub-continent region. EY also announced that it will be increasing flights to EBL-Erbil, Iraq effective 30SEP from the current 2 weekly to 4 weekly flights all using an Airbus A 320.

American Airlines has officially announced that it has placed the world's largest aircraft order in history by signing a deal with both Boeing and Airbus for a combined total of 460 aircraft + 625 options. The break down of the order is as follows:

1. 100 Boeing 737-800s
2. 100 Boeing 737RE family (newly launched product similar to A320NEO)
3. 130 Airbus A 320 family (combination of A320s and A321s)
4. 130 Airbus A 320NEO family (combination of A320NEOs and A321NEOs)

Analysis:

Quite a "coup de tat" for Airbus as this is a huge win for them. Boeing only managed to salvage approximately 40% of this order by hurriedly launching their own B737NG NEO variant otherwise it would have been a huge embarrassment for them seeing one of their top 5 customers jump ship. Make no mistake about it, these A320s bought by AA must have been massively discounted, so much so that if AA were smart, by the time they take delivery of these A320NEOs 6 years later, they can easily sell them off at a 30-40% profit margin.

Now as far as what will AA do with these planes, it is evident that they shall be used to fully replace its aging MD80 and B 757 fleet which it has officially stated. However what is quite interesting to read is that also this order is also meant to fully replace AA's old B 767-200s. Taking all of this into consideration, it is quite evident that out of the A320 family that is on order, the only variants that AA will be ordering are the A320 and A321s; both normal and NEO versions. The A321s will be used to replace their B 757s and B 762s on all domestic and intra-America flights.

As far as the B 737s are concerned, AA currently has only one type of B 737 in its fleet i.e. B 737-800s and that is most likely going to change slightly with Boeing 737-900ERs also going to be ordered as part of this mega order. The reason why one feels that B 739ER will be ordered by AA is because like the A321 it has the same on board capacity of the B 757 + B 762 but it has a greater flying range than the A 321!

Concluding, due to the current seating configuration of its MD80s, B 737s, B 757s/762s, one can rule out AA ordering the A319s and B 737-700s!

Singapore Airlines has officially announced few changes to its IATA W11 schedule which will see many frequency increases particularly in Asia of which the main highlights are as follows:

IST - frequencies increased from 4 to 6 times per week using a B 772ER.

BOM - frequencies increased from double daily to triple daily.

CAN - frequencies increased from daily to double daily flights using A333s only.

AMD - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly.

Royal Jordanian has officially unveiled massive changes to its IATA W11 flying schedule with capacity increases and decreased across its entire network. The main highlights are as follows:

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

AUH - frequencies increased from daily to 9 weekly.

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

RUH - frequencies increased from 6 to 8 times per week.

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

SAH - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 times per week.

KRT - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily.

ADE - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly flights.

Turkish Airlines has officially revealed major changes to its IATA W11 flying schedule as it adjusts capacity based on seasonal demand. The main highlights are as follows:

DXB - capacity increased from daily A 333 + daily A 321 to 11 weekly A 333 + 3 weekly A 321.

JNB/CPT - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using an A 333.

JFK - frequencies versus W10 increased from daily to 11 weekly flights i.e. 4 weekly A 333s + daily B 773ER.

DEL - capacity reduced from daily A 333 to daily A 332.

BOM - capacity increased from daily A 332 to daily A 333.
GYD - frequencies reduced from 4 daily to 24 weekly.

SGN - capacity increased from 3 weekly A343s to 3 weekly B 773ERs all operated via BKK.

NBO/DAR - capacity increased from 3 weekly A 332s to 3 weekly A 333s.

KLM has officially revealed highlights of its Summer 2012 (S12) flying schedule which sees few capacity and frequency changes across its long haul network. The main highlights are as follows:

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

CTU - 4 weekly flights to be operated with a B 744 Combi to take advantage of the booming air cargo market.

MIA - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 times per week using a MD11

DMM - frequencies increased from 4 to 6 times per week using an A332.

DOH - frequencies increased from 4 to 6 times per week using an A332.

GRU - capacity increased from 4 weekly B 773ERs + 3 weekly B 772ERs to daily flights using a B 773ER only.

Thai Airways has officially announced that due to stiff competition for its Sydney flights, it will be reducing frequencies to the city effective 01AUG 2011. From the currently flown 18 times per week nonstop from BKK, TG will reduce the service to double daily only using an A 340-600 for both the flights.

Lufthansa has officially announced major changes to its long haul network out of its Munich hub for the IATA W11 season. The main highlights are as follows:

HKG - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily A 346s.

BOM - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily A 343s.

JFK - capacity reduced from daily A346 to daily A333.

GRU - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily A 346s.

SIN - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily A 346s.

Oman Air has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to both Colombo and Male for the IATA W11 season effective 30OCT onwards. Both routes will be getting dedicated terminator flights rather than tag on flights and as a result MLE will be increased from 5 to 6 times per week using an A 333 5 times per week + weekly B 738. In contrast, CMB will be reduced from daily to 6 weekly but due to it being a terminator flight, capacity will be increased with 2 weekly A 332s + 3 weekly A 333s + weekly B 738.

News from 17JUN till 06JUL

2011-07-06T10:44:00.002-04:00

EVA AIR of Taiwan has officially announced that it has placed a multi billion dollar order with Boeing and Airbus combined as part of its network expansion and fleet replacement strategy for the next 3 years. BR confirmed that it has ordered 15 Airbus A 321s + 10 new Boeing 777-300ERs. These 2 aircraft types are expected to gradually fully replace its aging B 744 and MD90 fleet.

Turkish Airlines has officially revealed that it will be increasing frequencies to Los Angeles and Washington DC from the on set of the IATA W11 season and then will be implementing a further increase to both these 2 routes from S12 season as well. The main highlights are as follows:

LAX - frequencies to be increased from 3 to 5 flights per week effective 31AUG and then further increased to daily using B 773ERs from 02APR 2012.

IAD - frequencies to be increased from 5 to 6 flights per week effective 30OCT and then further increased to daily using A 332s from 02APR 2012.

In addition, TK has also revealed expansion plans for other areas in its ever increasing flight network which are as follows:

ISB - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be launched effective 21JUL using a B 738.

TBZ (Tabriz, Iran) - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights effective 18JUL.

ISU (Sulaimaniya, Iraq) - will be operated eff 18JUL 4 times per week nonstop using a 186 seater Airbus A 321-200 with the following schedule: Days: 1/3/5/7 TK 806 Dep IST 2315 Arr ISU 0145+1 TK 807 Dep ISU 0310 Arr IST 0600 (The above mentioned schedule connects beautifully with every single European and North American city in the TK network in both directions via its IST hub)
NJF - will be operated 3 times per week eff 05JUL using a B 737-800 as a triangular routing combining it with Basra-BSR. The schedule is as follows:

Days: 2/4/6

TK 798 Dep IST 0310 Arr NJF 0605

TK 798 Dep NJF 0705 Arr BSR 0750

TK 798 Dep BSR 0850 Arr IST 1215

(The above mentioned schedule connects nicely in both directions in both directions to TK's entire European network + JFK only via its IST hub)

Airbus has officially announced that it has secured 2 important orders from Far East Asia this week for its Airbus A 330-300 model. It announced that Garuda Indonesia signed up officially for 4 additional A 333s and Singapore Airlines signed to lease 15 additional A 333s primarily as a stop gap capacity measure due to the delay of its A 359 delivery schedule.

Thai Airways has officially announced that they are increasing capacity to Europe in a significant manner for the IATA W11 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

BRU - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be launched effective 17NOV using a B 772ER.

CPH - frequencies to be increased from daily to 10 weekly nonstop flights using a B 744.

MXP - capacity to be increased effective 01JAN 2012, with all flights being operated with A346s instead of A345s.

Oman Air has officially revealed a major expansion of its long haul service to Europe and Far East Asia for the upcoming IATA Winter 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

ZRH - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using an A 332 effective 30OCT.

FRA - frequencies increased from 7 to 9 weekly flights using an A 332 six times per week and an A 333 three times per week.

BKK - frequencies increased from 8 to 12 times per week using an A 332 only.

CDG - capacity increased with all flights being operated with A 333s rather than A 332s.

Etihad Airways today revealed a blockbuster announcement concerning an aggressive major push into mainland China from the on set of the IATA W11 season. The main highlights are as follows:

CTU (Chengdu) - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be flown using an A 332 effective 15DEC 2011. Flight schedule is as follows:

EY 818 Dep AUH 0825 Arr CTU 1845
EY 811 Dep CTU 2015 Arr AUH 0040+1

PVG (Shanghai) - new daily nonstop flights to be launched effective 16APR 2012 using an A 332 with the following schedule:

EY 862 Dep AUH 1010 Arr PVG 2145
EY 867 Dep PVG 0020 Arr AUH 0630

Finnair has officially announced that it will be launching a new long haul route to China to a city called Chongqing in southwestern China effective 09MAY 2012. Services will be operated nonstop 4 times per week using an A340-300.

Alitalia has officially revealed many changes to its long haul route network for the IATA W11 season. The main highlights are as follows:

MXP/JFK - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 times per week using an A 332.

FCO/GIG - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 times per week using an A 332.

FCO/YYZ - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times per week using an B 763ER.

Virgin Atlantic has officially revealed few changes to its long haul route network for the IATA W11 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

MIA - capacity increased from daily A346s to daily B744s.

LAX - frequencies reduced from double daily to 12 weekly.

HAV - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly flights using a B744.

Egypt Air has officially revealed major changes to its international route network for the IATA W11 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

NBO - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily.

KUL - services restored with a daily flight operated via BKK using a B 773ER.
ACC - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 times per week.

AMM - frequencies increased from 17 weekly to triple daily.

DOH - frequencies increased from daily to 10 times per week.

JED - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 times daily.

JNB - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily.

LOS - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly.

DMM - frequencies increased from 10 to 11 times per week.

Royal Jordanian has officially announced major increases in capacity and frequency across its international route network for the IATA W11 season. The main highlights are as follows:

KWI - frequencies increased from 10 to 11 weekly nonstop flights.

JFK - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 times per week versus W10. All flights to be operated in W11 using an A342.

MCT - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 times per week.

CMB - frequencies increased from 3 weekly A 310-300s to 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A342.

DEL - frequencies reduced from 5 to 4 weekly flights using an A319.

KRT - frequencies reduced from 6 to 5 weekly flights.

The Paris Air Show recently concluded a couple of weeks ago and many large orders were placed by airlines and leasing companies respectively. To summarize, the main highlights were as follows for each respective manufacturer:

Boeing

Aeroflot ordered 8 B 777-300ERs
Qatar Airways ordered 6 B 777-300ERs
Hong Kong Airlines ordered 15 B 748s (my personal favorite order of the show)
Air Lease Corp ordered 4 B 789s + 24 B 738s + 5 B 773ERs
Malaysia Airlines ordered 10 B 737-800s
GECAS ordered 2 B 748Fs + 8 B 777-300ERs
Norwegian ordered 15 B 738s + 3 B 788s
UTAir of Russia ordered 7 B 739ERs + 33 B 738s

Airbus

Air Asia of Malaysia ordered 200 A320NEOs
LAN Chile ordered 20 A320NEOs
Saudia Airlines ordered 4 A 333s
Transasia of Taiwan ordered 6 A 321NEOs
Garuda Indonesia ordered 25 A 320NEOs
Jetblue ordered 30 A321s + 40 A320NEOs
Indigo of India ordered 180 A320NEOs
SAS ordered 30 A320NEOs
Air Lease Corp ordered 11 A330s + 1 A321 + 64 A320NEOs
GECAS ordred 60 A320NEOs

Bombardier

Korean Air ordered 30 Bombardier CS300s

News till 16JUN

2011-06-16T01:44:00.003-04:00

Thai Airways has officially announced that it has placed a mega order with both Boeing and Airbus for 37 new aircraft that will be delivered to the carrier from 2014 onwards for to meet both its short haul and long haul requirements. The break down of the order is 6 B 787-800s + 2 B 787-900s + 6 B 777-300ERs + 11 A 320-200s + 12 A 350-900s. The B 787s will be used to entirely replace its AB6s on short/medium haul services within the Asian continent where as the A 320s will be used to fully replace its B 737-400s and lastly, the A 359s shall be used to gradually replace its A 333 and B 772A fleet. It is expected down the road, that many more B 773ERs will be ordered by TG to replace a part of their B 744 fleet.

Egypt Air has officially announced that it will be launching new services to Iraq effective 16JUL 2011. MS will be operating to both Erbil and Baghdad with 3 and 4 weekly flights respectively using an Airbus A 320. The timings for EBL are meant specifically to connect its European flights in particular via its main CAI hub in both directions.

Etihad Airways has officially revealed many changes to its long haul route schedule for the IATA Winter 2011-12 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

MNL - frequencies increased from 12 weekly to double daily nonstop flights using a 412 seater B 773ER.

FRA - capacity increased to double daily A 333s from double daily A 332s.

ORD - capacity increased from daily A 346 to daily B 773ER i.e. a daily increase of 240 seats round trip.

ICN - capacity increased with all flights operating with A 333s rather than A 332s.

JKT - capacity increased with all flights operating with 412 seater B 773ERs rather than 262 seater A 332s.

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be launching new flights to KBL-Kabul, Afghanistan effective 09JUL 2011. TK will be operating 3 flights per week on WED/SAT/SUN using a Boeing 737-800. Flights will depart IST at 2350 and arrive back by 1135 which is ideally suited to connect JFK and its entire European network in both directions via IST conveniently.

Emirates has officially announced that it will be launching new nonstop daily flights to LED-St Petersburg, Russia effective 01NOV 2011. LED is Russia's second largest and most prosperous city with huge demand primarily for Far East Asia and O&D to UAE itself. For this route, EK will be utilizing 6 times a week an A 332 and once a week an A 343. In addition, EK has also confirmed that it will be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to BGW-Baghdad, Iraq effective 13NOV 2011. EK will be deploying a 3 class A 332 for this new service.

KLM has officially announced that it will be launching new nonstop flights to GIG-Rio De Janerio, Brazil effective 01NOV 2011. Services will be flown 3 times per week using a Boeing 777-200ER. Other major changes announced by KLM for its long haul route network for the IATA Winter 2011-12 season are as follows:

DMM - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times per week using an A 332.

YYZ - frequencies reduced from 10 weekly to daily nonstop flights.

DFW - all flights suspended.

DOH - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times per week using an A 332.

CTU - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly flights using a B 744 Combi.

DEL - capacity increased from daily B 773ER to daily B 744.

IKA - frequencies reduced from 6 to 5 times per week using a MD 11.

British Airways has officially announced major changes to its long haul route network for the IATA Winter 2011-12 season. The main highlights are as follows:

BAH - capacity increased from daily B 772ER to daily B 744.

HKG - capacity reduced from double daily B 744s to daily B 773ER + daily B 744.

CPT - capacity increased from daily B 744 + daily B 772ERs to double daily B 744s.

DEL - capacity increased from daily B 773ER + daily B 744 to double daily B 744s.

DOH - capacity increased from daily B 772ER to daily B 744 operated via BAH.

JFK - capacity increased with all 7 daily flights operated with B 744s rather than a mixture of B 773ERs and B 744s.

Kuwait Airways has officially announced that due to sliding demand for its DAM-Damascus route, it shall be reducing frequencies effective immediately. Flights will be cut from daily nonstop services to 4 weekly nonstop only using a mixture of A 320s (2 weekly) and A 310-300s (2 weekly). This downgrade is due to the ongoing civil unrest in Syria which has caused a major dip in travel to the country.

Sri Lankan Airlines has officially announced that it will be launching new services to ZRH-Zurich, Switzerland effective 23DEC. UL will be operating the flights via MLE-Maldives from its Colombo home base twice a week. An A 340-300 has been designated for this new route.

Continental Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to MUC-Munich and GVA-Geneva for the IATA Summer 2012 season in the following manner:

GVA - capacity increased from daily B 764ER to daily B 772ER.

MUC - capacity increased from daily B 764ER to daily B 772ER.

In a move that shocked the entire aviation fraternity, Malaysia Airlines officially announced last week that it will be joining the ONE WORLD alliance led by BA-AA. Due to its extremely close relationship with KL-NW-DL for many years, it was expected to lean more so towards SKY TEAM but that seems to have changed. With its neighbors i.e. SQ in STAR and GA in SKY TEAM, MH seemed to have no choice but to accept the offer of ONE WORLD to further its global brand positioning and sales distribution.

Korean Air has officially announced all the routes that its initial batch of 5 Airbus A 380s will be operating on out of its ICN-Seoul hub base airport effective 17JUN 2011. They are New York JFK, Bangkok, Paris and Tokyo Narita. KE however has not disclosed how many frequencies operated by the A380 each route shall receive.

Bahrain Air has officially announced that in order to generate cash and minimize losses, it has sub leased out two A 320s to interested airlines and suspended routes for the on going IATA Summer 2011 season until its very end. As a result, BN announced that they are suspending all flights to Riyadh, Dammam, Damascus, Kathmandu and Dhaka effective immediately.

Other main highlights of its S11 schedule are as follows:

IST - frequencies reduced from the planned 5 to 4 weekly flights.

AMM - has been increased to 4 weekly versus 3 earlier.

BEY - frequencies reduced from planned daily to 5 weekly flights.

News till May 21st

2011-05-27T06:28:00.002-04:00

Lufthansa has officially announced that it will be increasing its frequencies to BAH-Bahrain and capacity to AUH-Abu Dhabi for the upcoming IATA Winter 2011 season as it looks to reshape its GCC network structure. Frequencies from FRA to BAH will be increased from 5 to 6 times per week using an A343 operated via DOH where as AUH will be receiving daily nonstop terminator flights with an A333 rather than having a tag on to MCT-Muscat. Other changes made to LH's Winter 2011 schedule, but this time out of its MUC-Munich hub are as follows:

BOM - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily.

SIN - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily.

GRU - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily.

NRT - capacity increased from daily A343 to daily A346.

ORD - capacity reduced from daily A346 to daily A343.

HKG - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily.

LAX - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly.

Bahrain Air has officially announced that it has succeeded in obtained more flights to Saudi Arabia from 21JUN 2011 as it unveiled its new S11 schedule on its website.

The main highlights are as follows and are valid from 21JUN onwards only:

DMM - frequencies increased from daily to double daily.

ALY - frequencies increased from 2 to 4 weekly flights.

BEY - daily nonstop flights to resume 21JUN departing BAH at 1150.

KTM - frequencies reduced from 5 to 3 weekly nonstop flights.

AMM - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly flights effective 21JUN departing BAH at 1200.

DAC - frequencies reduced from 5 to 3 weekly nonstop flights.

DOH - frequencies increased from daily to double daily flights.

Air France has officially revealed few changes to its long haul schedule for the IATA Winter 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

BOM - capacity increased from daily B 772ER to 6 weekly B 773ER + weekly B 772ER.

CPT - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using a B 772ER.

SGN - frequencies increased from 3 to 5 weekly flights using a B 772ER operated as a nonstop terminator service.

MEX - frequencies reduced from double daily B 772ERs to daily nonstop flights using a B 744 only.

Nas Air of Saudi Arabia has officially announced that it will be launching new 14 weekly flights to Karachi, Pakistan as part of its strategy to expand into less competitive nonstop markets from its KSA home base that offer better returns versus its recently suspended lower yielding services to India. It will be operating a daily nonstop 180 seater Airbus A320 from JED and RUH each respectively to Karachi with a daylight schedule i.e. flights departing KSA at 0740 and departing from KHI at 1400 hrs (local time).

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to Bangkok and Osaka for the upcoming IATA Winter 2011 season in anticipation of high volume movement. Capacity to BKK will be increased from 10 weekly A343s to 3 weekly B 777-300ERs + daily A343s which means a total of 468 seats on a round trip basis per week it shall be adding to BKK. In addition, frequencies to KIX-Osaka shall also be increased from 4 to 5 times using an A332.

Virgin Atlantic has officially announced that due to peak summer season demand to NBO-Nairobi, Kenya it shall be increasing capacity marginally on this route to cater for the high demand. Effective 24JUN, daily nonstop flights operated with a smaller A343 will be upgraded to an A346 twice a week where as the remaining 5 weekly's will remain with an A343.

Emirates has officially announced that it has succeeded in obtaining more bilateral traffic rights into Cairo airport from the Egyptian Govt and as result will be immediately increasing frequencies on the route to take advantage of the anticipated peak summer movement. EK confirmed that frequencies will be increased on the DXB-CAI route from 10 to 12 times per week nonstop using a combination of B 777s and A 332s.

Jazeera Airways of Kuwait (low cost carrier) has officially announced that it has succeeded in obtaining 10 additional weekly flights to Cairo airport from the Egyptian authorities this week and as a result will be increasing its presence on the ever so popular yet fiercely competitive KWI-CAI segment. Currently, it operates 11 times per week using an A 320 but shall increased from 16JUN to triple daily nonstop.

Singapore Airlines has officially announced that due to surging demand of its business class cabin on A380 operated flights in particular, it will be increasing the size of this cabin capacity by having a sub-fleet of A380s which will see having the entire upper deck with 84 business class seats. Currently on its upper deck, SQ seats 60J + 88Y class pax but that will change to 84J and the entire A380 capacity will be reduced from 471 to 409 seats only. The launch route for this modified cabin is Sydney.

Fly Dubai has officially announced that it has succeeded in obtaining more bilateral access into the Indian market as it announces new services to AMD-Ahmedabad and Hyderabad respectively. Both routes will be operated using a B 738 but at a different frequency level. HYD will be flown 3 times per week from 11JUN where as AMD will be initially operated once a week only from 11JUL until more access is granted.

News till May 14th

2011-05-21T05:47:00.002-04:00

Singapore Airlines has officially announced that it made a net profit of US$ 1.09 billion for the past financial year amidst excellent loads and yields generated in both its cargo and passenger cabins + fuel prices being at stable levels in 2010. As part of its business plan in 2012, SQ will be retiring its remaining 7 B 744s + 5 B 772As that it has in its fleet which will be replaced with 8 more A 380s that are due to be delivered next year.

Lufthansa has officially announced many major changes to its long haul schedule for the IATA Winter 2011-12 season. The main highlights are as follows and relevant from FRA hub only:

ATL - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily flights using an A333.

ACC - capacity adjusted from 5 weekly A333s to daily nonstop terminator flights using a B737BBJ.

DFW - frequencies reduced from daily to 6 weekly flights.

EWR - capacity increased from double daily A343s to daily A346 + daily A343.

ICN - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A346.

KRT - capacity increased from 4 weekly BBJs to 4 weekly A343s operated via JED.

MCO - capacity reduced from daily B 744 to daily A 346.

PHL - frequencies reduced from 6 to 5 weekly flights using an A343.

SFO - capacity reduced from daily A380 to daily B744.

DHL has officially announced that it has purchased 13 used Airbus A 300-600Rs (AB6s) that will be converted into full fledged freighter aircraft next year. These jets will be used to replace its aging fleet of AB4s that over 25 years old and have a higher fuel burn rate of over 20% versus the AB6s. These newer AB6s will have a 49 tonne payload carrying capability.

SAS has officially revealed many changes to its long haul schedule for the IATA Winter 2011-12 season. The main highlights are as follows:

CPH/NRT - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A343.

CPH/DXB - all flights suspended

CPH/IAD - capacity reduced from 5 weekly A333s to 5 weekly A343s.

CPH/ORD - capacity increased from daily A343s to daily A333s.

CPH/EWR - capacity increased to daily A333s.

ARN/ORD - frequencies reduced from 6 to 5 weekly flights using an A333.

ARN/EWR - frequencies reduced from 6 to 5 weekly flights using an A333.

Condor Airlines has officially announced that it will not be operating its flights to Asia via Bahrain this winter and instead will be operating via Dubai airport instead. These includes services to Phuket, Bangkok, Colombo and Goa. In addition, it has confirmed that it will be increasing flights on the following routes:

DXB - frequencies increased from 3 weekly to daily using a mixture of B757s and B763ERs.

CMB - frequencies increased from 1 to 2 weekly flights.

NBO - new twice weekly services to be operated using a B763ER.

MBA (Mombasa) - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly flights using a B763ER.

Egypt Air has officially announced many changes to its route network schedule for the IATA Winter 2011-12 season. The main highlights are as follows:

CDG - frequencies reduced to daily A333s compared to 10 weekly flights i.e. daily A333 + 3 weekly A320.

NRT- frequencies reduced from 5 weekly to 3 weekly flights using a B 773ER.

ADD - frequencies reduced from 5 to 4 weekly flights using an A320.

AMS - capacity increased from 6 weekly B 738s to 6 weekly A321s.

ALG - frequencies reduced from 6 to 5 weekly flights using an A320.

BKK - capacity increased to daily B 773ERs.

ATH - frequencies reduced from 9 weekly to daily flights.

DME - frequencies reduced from daily to 4 weekly flights using a B 738.

Safi Airways of Afghanistan has officially announced that it will be launching new services to DEL-Delhi, India effective 16JUN 2011 onwards. 4Q has revealed that it shall be operating 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A320 with the below mentioned schedule:

Days - 1/3/4/7
4Q 247 Dep KBL 1100 Arr DEL 1350
4Q 248 Dep DEL 1450 Arr KBL 1540

Emirates has officially announced that it JNB-Johannesburg, South Africa will be its newest A380 destination effective 11OCT 2011. The A380 will be used on the most popular EK 761/762 rotation which departs DXB at 0440 daily and arrives back by 0010 the next day.

Sri Lankan Airlines has officially announced that it will be launching new services to DME-Moscow, Russia effective 15SEP 2011. UL will be operating a twice weekly frequency via Dubai with 5th freedom rights using an A320. Previously the plan was to start DME in December via Abu Dhabi 3 times a week using an A332 but those plans have been scrapped. Ever since Oct 2010, tourism from Russia to Sri Lanka has sky rocketed to unprecedented levels which has prompted UL to try and tap this high volume yet low yielding market segment.

Airline News till May 7th 2011

2011-05-07T05:21:00.002-04:00

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.

Airline News Mar 01-12

2011-03-10T16:47:00.003-05:00

Etihad Airways has officially announced that it shall be further increasing frequencies to MAN-Manchester, UK to keep in line with the serious increase in competition hailing from Emirates and Qatar Airways in particular to its market share out of the Northern UK. Originally, plans called for EY to increase from daily to 10 weekly effective Aug 1^st 2011. However, another round of increase sees the AUH-MAN route being planned to operate on a double daily basis nonstop using a 2 class configured A 330-200 effective Aug 1^st. In addition, EY too confirmed that its flights to PEK-Beijing, China will be increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop services using an A 332 effective July 2^nd 2011.

With regards to its fleet options, EY has also announced that it has canceled an already existing order for 4 Boeing 787-900s (out of an order for 35 jets of this model type) and in return ordered 3 Boeing 777-300ERs in order to rapidly fuel its international long haul expansion plans which are being hindered with the frequent delays of the B 787 program.

Aeroflot has officially announced that it has placed a billion dollar order with Boeing this week for 8 new Boeing 777s. The break down of this order is 6 B 777-300ERs + 2 B 777-200ERs. SU claimed that with Russia hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup, growth opportunities exist that can be tapped especially as external tourism ex Russia grows along with the fact that SU can better feed its Sky Team member hubs in the distant future.

Cathay Pacific has officially confirmed that it has placed a multi billion order with both Boeing and Airbus earlier on this week for 27 wide bodied aircraft. These include 2 A 359s + 15 A 333s + 10 B 777-300ERs. The latter are expected to be fitted in a 2 class configuration designed to replace the aging Boeing 777-300As from 2013 onwards.

Emirates has unveiled another major round of worldwide restructuring of its entire route network for the entire 2011 calendar year keeping mind high rise of oil prices + political unrest in the MENA region. There have been major frequency and capacity increased too announced in Europe and Asia in particular. The main highlights are as follows:

CPT - frequencies increased from daily to double daily nonstop using an A 345 + B 773ER each daily.

VIE - frequencies increased from daily to 13 times per week i.e. daily B 773ER + 6 weekly A 345.

MXP - capacity increased from double daily A 343s to double daily B 773ERs i.e. additional capacity of 2492 r/t seats per week!

ZRH - capacity increased to double daily flights using a B 773ER.

MAN - frequencies increased from double daily to triple daily nonstop flights i.e. daily A 380 + daily A 332 + daily B 773ER. The new 3rd daily flight arrives into MAN at 0730 and departs back at 0940 MAN time respectively.

SYD - third daily flight reinstated i.e. double daily nonstop + daily via BKK.

PVG - capacity increased from daily A 343 + daily B 773ER to double daily B 773ERs.

FCO - capacity increased from daily A 332 + daily B 773 to double daily B 773s.

SAH - frequencies reduced from daily to 6 weekly A 332s.

TUN - frequencies reduced from 5 to 3 weekly A 332s.

DAM - frequencies reduced from double daily to 13 weekly.

DKR - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times per week using an A 332.

Qatar Airways has officially announced another round of major expansion of its worldwide route network effective June 2011 with new flights being launched to Sofia, Calcutta, Oslo ad Manchester. The main highlights are as follows:

MAN - frequencies increased from daily to double daily nonstop using a 2 class configured A 332.

OSL - new 5 weekly nonstop flights to be launched from 05OCT using a 2 class A 332.

FRA - frequencies increased from 10 to 13 weekly flights using a daily B 772LR + 6 weekly A 332 effective 01JUN.

CCU - new 5 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using an A 320 effective July 27th.

SOF - new 4 weekly flights to be launched with an A 320 effective 14SEP.

LGW - all flights suspended effective 01JUN 2011.

STR - an additional 4th weekly flight to be added using an A 319 effective early June.

Air China has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to DUS-Dusseldorf, Germany effective March 27^th 2011. CA will be operating the route from its main Beijing hub using an Airbus A 330-200. Frequencies will be 3 times per week which shall be increased to 4 weekly from June 21^stMUC-Munich will too be increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332 effective May 11^th 2011. Lastly, CA officially announced that it has placed an order for 5 new Boeing 747-800 passenger models. These birds will be used as an immediate replacement aircraft for its fleet of 5 B 747-400s. CA becomes the third passenger airline after Lufthansa and Korean Air to order this 747 variant. onwards. The Chinese flagship carrier too confirmed that its services to

China Southern Airlines has officially announced few changes to its route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows out of its Guangzhou hub airport base:

DEL – frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B 757.

KTM – frequencies reduced from 6 to 3 weekly flights using an A 319.

NRT – capacity reduced from daily B 772A to daily A 332.

Air India has officially confirmed that it will be increasing its services to DMM-Dammam, Saudi Arabia^th 2011 onwards. The main highlights are as follows: from March 27

DEL/DMM – frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A 320.

BOM/DMM – frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly nonstop flights using an A 320.

Vietnam Airlines has officially announced that it will be significantly increasing its presence in the Australian market from June 13^th 2011. The main highlights are as follows:

SGN/SYD – frequencies increased from 5 weekly A 332s to daily nonstop flights using a B 772ER.

SGN/MEL - frequencies increased from 5 weekly A 332s to daily nonstop flights using the same aircraft type.

British Airways has officially announced that it shall be increasing its flights to PVG-Shanghai, China^th 2011 onwards. Currently, BA operates 5 times per week nonstop from London Heathrow to PVG, however an additional 6^th weekly flight will be launched from late April using a Boeing 777-200ER. effective April 28

Hong Kong Airlines officially announced that it has placed a mega order with Boeing earlier on this week for6 Boeing 777-200LR freighters + 32 Boeing 787-900s. The B 789s will be used in the long run as a full time replacement aircraft of its current A 332 fleet. 38 aero planes. The breakdown of the order is

Iberia of Spain has officially announced that it has placed a huge order with Airbus this week designed to primarily replace its entire fleet of Airbus A 340-300s from 2014 onwards. This order includes 8 A 333s + 8 options. Currently, IB has in its fleet 18 A 343s that can 260 pax in a two class configuration.

Airline News Feb 19-25

2011-02-26T06:58:00.002-05:00

Qatar Airways has officially revealed further changes to its route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

SYZ - new twice weekly nonstop flights to be launched effective June 5th using an A 321. These services shall be gradually increased to 5 times per week.

MAN - frequencies increased from daily to double daily nonstop flights using an A 332.

KHI - capacity increased from daily A 320 to daily A 332 effective May 1st.

FRA - capacity increased from 10 weekly A 332s to 6 weekly B 772LRs + 4 weekly A 332s.

TUN - capacity reduced from 5 weekly A 332s to 5 weekly A 320s.

SEZ - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 320.

Etihad Airways has revealed on the GDS that it shall be increasing its flights to PEK-Beijing, China from July 2nd 2011 onwards. Currently EY operate 5 weekly nonstop flights on the AUH-PEK sector using an A 332, however from July these shall be increased to daily services using the same aircraft type.

Oman Air has officially announced further changes to its route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season as the carrier continues to receive more aircraft to fuel its rapid expansion. The main highlights are as follows:

CMB - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times per week using an A 333.

DAR - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B 738.

MLE - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times per week using an A 333.

Vietnam Airlines has officially announced many capacity and frequency increases to its Far East Asian network for the IATA Summer 2011 season from its secondary HANOI hub. The main highlights are as follows:

PEK - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A 321.

BKK - frequencies increased from daily from double daily nonstop flights using an A 321.

SIN - frequencies increased from daily to 11 weekly nonstop flights using an A 321.

According to the media in Sri Lanka, the national carrier i.e. Sri Lankan Airlines is reportedly in discussions with Boeing to purchase at least a 8-10 Boeing 777s to replace its fleet of Airbus A 340-300s as well to cater for future growth. Though Boeing has been pitching its largest B 773ER to UL, this aircraft type is deemed to be a bit too big for any of UL's worldwide routes hence it is expected that the carrier might opt for the Boeing 777-200ER which would seat approximately 330 passengers in a comfortable 2 class configuration.

Egypt Air has officially announced that in order to cut back on costs for 2011 due to a heavy toll that the on going Egyptian political crisis is having on its current flights and for the foreseeable future, it will be leasing out nearly 40% of its fleet to interested airlines for up to a year. The planes it is keen to dry or wet lease out are A 333s, A 332s and B 773ERs along with few A 321s, E170s and B 738s.

Lufthansa has officially disclosed the configuration details of its new Boeing 747-800s that are scheduled to be delivered soon to the carrier. It will seat a total of 386 passengers only with the layout being 8 first class + 80 business class and 298 in economy class. No initial long haul routes have been mentioned by LH but it is expected that JFK, Tokyo and Singapore would be the first recipients.

United Airlines has officially disclosed many capacity adjustments to its European service from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

IAD/CDG - frequencies increased from daily to double daily flights using a B 772ER + B 757 each daily respectively.

IAD/AMS - capacity reduced from daily B 772ER to daily B 757.

EWR/ZRH - capacity increased from daily B 762ER to daily B 763ER.

Airline News Feb 12-18

2011-02-25T00:43:00.002-05:00

Alitalia has officially announced that it will be embarking on a major long haul expansion out of its FCO-Rome hub in 2012-13 as the carrier takes more delivery of new Airbus A 330-200s already on order with Airbus. AZ has disclosed that the new routes it shall be launching are Delhi, Seoul, Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi. With regards to AUH, it is expected to be a code share with Etihad Airways as part of a broader partnership where by EY flies MXP-AUH and AZ does FCO-AUH. Beyond AUH, AZ will code share on EY's services to Australia, Far East and Indian Subcontinent where as EY would code share beyond FCO/MXP to domestic Italian points + to key offline EU points.

Malaysia Airlines has officially announced that it shall be increasing its presence in JED-Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season. Currently, MH offers 4 weekly nonstop flights between KUL and JED using a Boeing 777-200ER. However from March 27th, frequencies are increased to 6 times per week using a Boeing 747-400 four times per week + twice a week B 772ERs. In total, the capacity increase on offer is from 1128 one way weekly seats to 2000 i.e. 872 more aka 77% increase in capacity.

Jet Airways of India has officially confirmed that it has been granted rights to fly nonstop to Amsterdam, Holland from Delhi from the on set of the IATA Winter 2011 season. In addition, in a move that has generated a lot of interest within the aviation fraternity, 9W too has applied to start nonstop flights to New York City from either BOM or DEL from IATA W11. This is in response to the positive feedback that Air India's nonstop services to USA have been receiving from the Indian travelers which has also in turn hurt 9W's performance over the past few months on the BOM/DEL-NYC route. For the nonstop NYC route, 9W would be using a Boeing 777-300ER which can operate without payload issues out of DEL but not out of BOM. It hasn't yet disclosed which airport in NYC it would prefer flying to nonstop but since its current international expansion is more on the lines of flying to Sky Team hubs, JFK would likely get the nod. However, DEL-JFK is already flown nonstop by AI but from BOM its EWR so in order to differentiate itself, one would reckon BOM-JFK being chosen as it has more higher yielding premium passengers flying F & J versus DEL-JFK.

Oman Air has officially revealed a massive expansion plan for its entire network for the IATA Summer 2011 with capacity and frequency increases to Europe, Middle East and Far East. The main highlights are as follows:

BAH - frequencies increased from double to triple daily flights.

DOH - capacity increased to triple daily nonstop terminator flights.

MXP - capacity increased to 4 weekly A 330s having terminator nonstop flights in both directions i.e. no longer linked with MUC eff June 1st.
DXB - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times daily.

BKK - frequencies increased to 10 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332.

KUL - frequencies increased from 5 to 7 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332.

AUH - frequencies increased from triple daily to 4 times daily.

MUC - capacity increased to 4 weekly A 333s having terminator nonstop flights in both directions i.e. no longer linked with MXP eff June 1st

DME - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using a B 738.

KRT - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using a B 738.

Qatar Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to VCE-Venice, Italy effective June 15th 2011. QR will be operating this new route using an Airbus A 320. In addition, QR too has confirmed that it shall be increasing frequencies to SEZ-Seychelles effective June 1st from 4 times per week to daily nonstop service using an A 320.

Cathay Pacific has officially announced many changes to its route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season of which the main highlights are as follows:

MXP - frequencies to be increased from 4 weekly B 773ERs to daily nonstop flights using the same aircraft type effective July 02.

TPE - frequencies increased from 101 to 108 weekly flights.

JKT - frequencies increased from 18 weekly to triple daily nonstop.

SUB - frequencies increased to daily nonstop flights

In addition at the currently on going Routes America conference, CX has disclosed that it is interested in launching new flights to Dammam, Kuwait and Madrid in the near future as it sees a lot of potential in these markets.

American Airlines has officially confirmed that it will be reducing frequencies to DEL-Delhi, India effective May 1st 2011. Currently, AA offers a daily nonstop service using a B 772ER, however from May, it shall be reduced to 6 times per week only using the same aircraft type.

KLM has officially announced that it will be launching new flights to EZE-Buenos Aires, Argentina effective Oct 21st 2011. KL will be operating the new services nonstop using a B 772ER.

Lufthansa has officially announced that it shall be launching new flights to GIG-Rio De Janerio, Brazil effective Oct 30th 2011. LH will be operating the new service nonstop from its FRA hub using an A 340-300 on a daily basis.

Hawaiian Airlines has officially announced that it will be launching new flights to KIX-Osaka, Japan effective July 12th 2011. HA will be operating the service using a Boeing 767-300ER on a daily basis.

Korean Air has officially revealed many changes to its route network for the IATA Winter 2011-12 season. The main highlights are as follows:

DXB - frequencies reduced from 5 to 4 weekly nonstop flights.

JKT - frequencies increased to 10 times per week nonstop.

MNL - capacity reduced from double daily B 773s to double daily B 772s.

TLV - capacity increased from 3 weekly A 332s to 3 weekly B 772ERs.

GUAM - frequencies increased from daily to 11 weekly i.e. daily B 773 + 4 weekly A 333s.

Airline News till Feb 11th

2011-02-25T00:37:00.002-05:00

The CEO of Turkish Airlines has officially announced the carrier's USA long haul expansion plans that shall be taking place in 2012. He revealed that new flights to Houston, Miami, Detroit and Boston have been planned with IAH and MIA being on the top priority list. MIA is expected to be launched nonstop from the on set of the IATA Winter 2011 season using an A 330-200 operated 3 times per week from IST. Houston on the other hand would initially be receiving an Airbus A 340-300 until more B 777-300ERs arrive into the TK fleet. From MIA, TK's main target market is Africa, Southeast Asia and Southern Europe where as from IAH, the emphasis will be on high yielding oil traffic bound to TK's niche Central Asian network as well as the oil cities of the Middle East, North Africa, Iraq and Levant. In 2011 and 2012, TK will be taking delivery of an additional 6 A 333s + 5 B 773ERs + 2 A 332s + 6 A 319s + 14 A 321s + 10 B 738s and 10 B 739s.

Qatar Airways has officially confirmed that it will be increasing its frequencies to Singapore effective May 2011. It will be done in stages in the following manner: a) From May, frequencies increased to 10 weekly. b) From Oct, another 3 more to be added. c) From Nov 3rd, an additional weekly flight to make it double daily. The aircraft to be used for the double daily flights are a B 773ER and A 332.

Thai Airways has officially announced further changes to its medium and long haul route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows: MXP - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using a B 772ER. DXB - capacity reduced from daily B 772 to daily A 333.
JNB - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 weekly nonstop flights. BOM - frequencies reduced from double daily to 12 weekly. CAN - capacity increased to double daily A 333s. JKT - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly flights i.e. daily B 744 + 3 weekly A 333. DPS - capacity increased to daily B 744 from daily A 333. MAA - capacity increased from daily AB6 to daily A 333. DAC - capacity increased to daily B 773 from daily A 333.

Bahrain Air has officially announced its network expansion plan for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

BEY – frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily using a 160 seater A 320.

DAC – frequencies increased from 3 to 5 weekly using a 160 seater A 320.

BOM – frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly using a 160 seater A 320.

DXB – frequencies increased from double to triple daily using a mixture of A 320s and A 319s.

Jet Airways of India has officially announced that it will be launching new flights to the Middle East from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 timetable i.e. March 27th. The main highlights are as follows:

BOM/DMM - new daily nonstop flights using a B 738.

BOM/DXB - a new third daily flight using a B 738.

Yemenia has officially confirmed that it will be increasing flights to CAN-Guangzhou, China from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season. An additional weekly flight shall be operated via Dubai with 5th freedom traffic rights using an A 330-200. This will raise the total operation to 3 times per week using the same aircraft type.

Sri Lankan Airlines has officially confirmed that they are dry leasing an additional Airbus A 340-300 which is an ex Cathay Pacific aircraft configured in a 3 class layout with F/J/Y. The airline will not be retrofitting the aircraft and is most likely going to be using it on its highest yielding long haul route which has considerable premium demand i.e. CMB-LON.

Qatar Airways has officially announced that they shall be launching new nonstop flights to YUL-Montreal, Canada from this summer onwards. Mr Al Baker (CEO) confirmed this at a press conference held at Brussels airport earlier this week. Services would be operated 3 times per week using a Boeing 777-200LR. Main target markets out of Montreal would be the Indian Subcontinent, GCC, Iran and tour operator business bound to BKK, SIN, KUL and DPS. QR also announced that it will be placing a massive order for Boeing and Airbus A 380 planes at this summer's Paris Air Show which is also expected to see the airline announcing a much anticipated order for at least 20+ Bombardier C300 Series to fund its 'regional expansion' into Iran, Iraq and Central Asia.

Emirates has officially announced further changes to its medium haul schedule for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

KRT - frequencies reduced from daily A 345s to 3 weekly A 332s.

HAM - frequencies increased from daily to double daily flights.

Oman Air has officially announced that it will be launching new nonstop flights to DME-Moscow, Russia effective June 9th 2011 onwards. WY will be using a Boeing 737-800 to operate the flight nonstop from its Muscat hub 4 times per week. The main target markets for WY on this route is Far East, Colombo, Maldives and Dubai. In addition, WY too officially announced that it shall be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to KRT-Khartoum, Sudan which will be operated effective May 5th using a Boeing 737-800.

Air India has officially announced that it shall be increasing capacity to Toronto from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 schedule by deploying a 342 seater Boeing 777-300ER on the nonstop India-YYZ-India route on a daily basis. The routing structure will be a same plane service ATQ-DEL-YYZ-DEL-ATQ. The total capacity increase is 104 seats daily one way i.e. 44% increase in capacity.

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it has obtained approval from its Board of Directors to launch new nonstop flights to KBL-Kabul from this summer onwards. Flights are expected to be operated 4 times per week nonstop using a Boeing 737-800.

Philippine Airlines has officially confirmed that it shall be suspending all of its flights to RUH-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia effective March 31st 2011. PAL currently operates 4 weekly nonstop flights from Manila using a B 747-400. The airline sees high loads on this sector but due to losing close to US$ 200,000 per flight, the high level losses have forced it to abandon RUH flights once again.

Korean Air has officially confirmed that it shall be increasing flights to ORD-Chicago, USA from July 25th 2011. KE currently operates a daily nonstop flight from its ICN-Seoul hub using a B 747-400, however from late July, these will be increased to 10 times per week nonstop using a B 744 for all flights.

Air Canada has announced further capacity and frequency changes for its long haul network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

YVR/NRT - capacity increased from daily B 763ER to daily B 773ER.

YUL/CDG - frequencies increased to double daily using a B 763ER.

YYZ/SCL/EZE - frequencies increased to daily using a B 763ER.

Lufthansa has officially announced many changes to its long haul schedule for the IATA Summer 2011 season out of its FRA hub. The main highlights are as follows:

YYC - frequencies reduced from daily to 6 weekly.

PVG - frequencies increased from 10 weekly to double daily using a B 744 and A 346 daily each respectively.

IAD - frequencies reduced from double daily to 13 weekly.

DFW - frequencies reduced from daily to 6 weekly.

PHL - frequencies reduced from daily to 6 weekly.

KLM has officially announced that it shall be increasing flights to Dubai, UAE from the on set of the IATA S11 timetable. Services shall be lifted from 13 weekly to double daily nonstop using an Airbus A 330-200 for all flights. This is expected to be a direct response against Emirates who has negatively effected KLM's loads on the O&D sector plus KL's market share to India and Far East Asia in particular.

Alitalia has officially confirmed that it shall be increasing services to LAX-Los Angeles, USA from June 5th 2011. AZ will be adding an additional weekly nonstop flight from Rome to LAX using a B 772ER which will bring its total frequencies to 6 weekly.

Latest Airline News till Jan 14

2011-01-21T12:40:00.003-05:00

Asiana Airlines of South Korea has officially confirmed that it has placed a firm order with Airbus to order 6 new Airbus A 380s. OZ has said that the configuration of these planes will be similar to that of KE's i.e. high number of premium seats and will be used to connect high density STAR hub routes such as SFO/FRA/NRT/BKK primarily.

Saudia Airlines has officially confirmed that it is on course to formally join the SKY TEAM Alliance in 2012 with Air France being its main sponsor in the group. As a result of its impending membership, SV has announced few changes to its Summer 2011 plan which are as follows:

CAN (Guangzhou) – New 3 weekly nonstop flights to be flown from JED via RUH using a B 772ER.

JED/JFK – frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly nonstop flights using a B 772ER eff May 2nd.

RUH/CDG – capacity increased from 4 weekly A 320s to 4 weekly A 333s eff June 23rd.

JED/CDG - capacity increased from 4 weekly A 320s to 4 weekly A 333s eff June 23rd.

JED/IAD – frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly nonstop flights using a B 772ER eff June 19th.

Qatar Airways has officially revealed further capacity and frequency changes to its IATA Summer 2011 schedule. The main highlights are as follows:

BLR - capacity increased from daily A 321 to daily A 332.

CPH - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily A 332s.

BCN - capacity increased from 4 weekly A 319s to 4 weekly A 332s.

JKT - capacity reduced from daily A 333s to daily A 332.

MLE - frequencies reduced from double daily A 320s to 13 weekly A 320s.

Emirates has officially revealed capacity reductions to Johannesburg for the IATA Summer 2010 season as the carrier looks to redeploy on routes that have higher summer seasonal demand across its network. To JNB, capacity has been reduced from triple daily B 773ERs to daily A 343 + double daily B 773ER.

Etihad Airways has officially announced and published in the GDS that they shall be increasing AUH-JED flights from Feb 1^st 2011 from daily flights to 12 weekly services. Flights shall be flown using a B 773ER daily (412 seats) + 5 weekly A 320s (140 seats).

The 5 additional flights schedule is as follows:

EY 313 Dep AUH 0150 Arr JED 0350

EY 314 Dep JED 0515 Arr AUH 0845

The above mentioned flight schedule is designed primarily to connect JED conveniently in both directions to EY’s entire USA/YYZ/EU/SYD/BKK/MNL/JKT flights. Other changes announced by EY for the Summer 2011 season are as follows:

MAN - frequencies increased from 7 to 10 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332 from Aug 1st.

SYD - capacity increased with all flights operating with A 346s rather than a mixture of A 345s and A 346s.

MEL - capacity increased to 4 weekly A 346s + 3 weekly A 345s.

Korean Air has officially announced details of where it will be sending it’s A 380s once it starts receiving them from June 1^st 2011. The routes destined for the mega jumbo are LAX, BKK, HKG, NRT and JFK. KE’s A 380s seat 407 pax in a 3 class layout i.e. 12F + 94J + 301Y. The main highlights for North America are as follows:

JFK – capacity increased from double daily B 773ERs to daily A 380 + daily B 773ER eff Sept 1^st.

LAX – Out of the 5 daily ICN/LAX flights, KE 17/18 will be upgraded from daily B 744 to daily A 380.

In addition, other operational changes announced by KE across its network for Summer 2011 are as follows:

SIN – frequencies increased from daily to double daily i.e. daily B 773A + daily B 772A.

TLV – frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332.

MNL – capacity increased to double daily B 773As.

SGN – frequencies increased from daily to double daily flights using a B 773A daily + B 739 daily.

United Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies on its popular Washington DC-London Heathrow service from the onset of the IATA Summer 11 season i.e. March 27^th by adding an additional daily frequency on the route. This would make IAD-LHR a 4 times daily service using a double daily B 772ER + double daily B 763ER.

China Southern Airlines based out of CAN-Guangzhou, has officially announced that it shall be increasing its flights to CDG-Paris and LAX-Los Angeles from the onset of the IATA Summer 11 season i.e. March 27^th in the following manner:

CDG – frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 332.

LAX - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B 772ER.

CZ has also confirmed that it will be launching a new long haul route next summer i.e. AKL-Auckland, New Zealand operated nonstop from its CAN hub base. A B 772ER would be used to launch this route 3 times per week effective April 8th.

Fly Dubai has officially announced that it will be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to DAC-Dhaka, Bangladesh from Feb 14th 2011 onwards. FZ will deploy a 189 seater B 737-800 on this sector with a flight schedule similar to that of its newly announced Chittagong service.

Lufthansa has officially announced that it shall be increasing capacity to CCS-Caracas, Venezuela from the on set of the S11 season. Currently a daily A 343 is used for this route flown nonstop from FRA. However, from March 27th, a bigger A 346 will be deployed as LH experiences high load of premium passengers on this flight of theirs. Fly Dubai, the low cost carrier based out of UAE has officially announced that it shall be launching new flights to CGP-Chittagong, Bangladesh effective Jan 17th 2011. FZ will be operating the route nonstop from its DXB base 4 times per week using a Boeing 737-800. The flight schedule is as follows: Days: MON/WED/FRI/SUN FZ 587 Dep DXB 1340 Arr CGP 2020 FZ 588 Dep CGP 2120 Arr DXB 0125+1

Korean Air has officially revealed details of the configuration of its fleet of Airbus A 380 jets which will have the lowest density configuration of any airline that currently operates it. KE's A 380s will be seating 407 passengers only in a 3 class configuration with 12 first class + 94 business class (all on the upper deck only) + 301 in economy class.

Egypt Air has officially revealed on the GDS that it will be adding an additional weekly flight to YYZ-Toronto from the on set. Instead of the original plan of operating 3 weekly nonstop flights from CAI using a B 773ER, MS will be flying 4 weekly services using the same aircraft type. The new 4th weekly service will be operated on a Tuesday with the same flight schedule as the other ones on MON/THU/SAT.

Turkish Airlines has officially revealed a massive expansion plan for its European network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

CPH - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 weekly nonstop flights using a mixture of A 320s and B 738s.

SVO - frequencies increased from triple daily to 24 weekly nonstop flights.

OSL - frequencies increased from daily to 9 weekly nonstop flights.

FCO - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 weekly nonstop flights.

ARN (Stockholm) - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 weekly nonstop flights.

CDG - capacity increased from 4 daily B 738s to daily A 333 + daily A 320 + double daily A 321.

VCE - frequencies increased from 10 weekly to double daily nonstop.

HEL - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly nonstop flights using a B 738.

LIS - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights.

GOT - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B 738.

BCN - capacity increased from double daily A 321s to 3 weekly A 333s + 11 weekly A 321s.

CGN - frequencies increased from daily to double daily flights using a B 738 only.

Air Canada has officially revealed its European network plan for the peak summer 2011 season (June 1-Sept 30) which sees many capacity reductions across the board. The main highlights are as follows:

YUL/LHR - frequencies increased from daily to double daily flights using a B 763ER only.

YUL/BRU - capacity increased from daily B 763ER to daily A 333.

YYZ/CPH - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using a B 763ER.

YYZ/MAD - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using a B 763ER.

YYC/LHR - frequencies reduced from 12 weekly to daily flights using a B 773ER.

Asiana Airlines of South Korea has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies to USA from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season. Services to San Francisco shall be increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights effective May 24th 2011 using a B 772ER exclusively. As far as Seattle is concerned, flights to this city are also increased from 5 weekly to daily services from the same date but with using an A 333 instead of a B 772ER.

Cathay Pacific has officially revealed that it shall be increasing flights to CDG-Paris, France from March 29th 2011. Currently, CX operates 11 weekly nonstop flights from its HKG hub to CDG however from the IATA SU season, these shall be raised to double daily flights using a B 744 11 times per week + 3 times a week on an A 343.

US Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching an additional daily nonstop flight from its CLT-Charlotte hub to Frankfurt, Germany from May 19th 2011 onwards. The second daily flight will be flown using a Boeing 767-200ER where as the current daily service is operated with an A 333.

The UAE Govt has been busy signing new bilateral accords with various states over the past two weeks namely Portugal and Cambodia. It has struck an open skies with Portugal where as with Cambodia, its carriers can operate up to 7 flights per week maximum with fifth freedom rights available via BKK, SIN or KUL.

Latest Airline News till Dec 10

2010-12-10T02:33:00.004-05:00

Airbus has officially announced that during the French Prime Minister's recently concluded official trip to India this week, it has struck a major aircraft leasing deal with Air India and Jet Airways to lease up to 35 aircraft from 2011 onwards. 9W will be leasing 10 Airbus A 330s which are a mixture of A 332s and A 333s where as AI shall be leasing 10 A 330s and 15 A 320s. 9W announced too that some of these A 330s will be used to launch new nonstop flights from Mumbai to Rome as well as services to Amsterdam are being seriously evaluated.

Cathay Pacific has officially announced a major expansion plan for its long haul network from the onset of the IATA Summer 2011 season with 2 new destinations plus major frequency increases. The main highlights are as follows:

AUH - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be launched from June 1st using a 2 class Airbus A 330-300.

ORD - new daily nonstop flights to be launched from Sept 1st using a Boeing 777-300ER.

YYZ - frequencies increased from 12 weekly to double daily nonstop using a B 773ER for all services effective May 1st.

JFK - frequencies increased from triple daily to 4 times daily from May 2011 using a B 773ER for all services.

Singapore Airlines has officially announced that it shall be launching a new Airbus A 380 route i.e. LAX-Los Angeles from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 schedule i.e. March 27th. SQ confirmed that the flight to LAX operated via NRT-Tokyo shall be upgraded from a daily B 744 to a daily A 380. It will be the first Asian airline offering trans-pacific A 380 service as a result of this upgrade.

Egypt Air has officially announced changes to its entire network for the IATA Summer 2011 season with capacity increases and adjustments all across the board. The main highlights are as follows:

BAH - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 weekly nonstop flights using a B 738.

CDG - frequencies to be increased from 10 to 11 weekly nonstop flights.

KWI - frequencies increased from double daily to triple daily nonstop.

FCO - frequencies increased from 9 to 12 weekly nonstop flights.

DAM - frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily.

MUC - capacity increased from daily B 738 to 2 weekly A 332s + 5 weekly B 738s.

DOH - capacity increased from daily A 320s to 5 weekly A 342s + 2 weekly A 320s.

LCA - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights.

AUH - capacity increased from a daily A 332 to a daily B 772.

BEY - frequencies increased from 16 weekly to triple daily.

BCN - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily.

BRU - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily.

AMM - frequencies increased from 19 weekly to triple daily.

AMS - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily nonstop.

ATH - frequencies reduced from 12 to 10 weekly nonstop flights.

Royal Jordanian has officially revealed many changes to its medium haul network for the IATA Summer 2011 season which sees capacity increases and decreases all round. The main highlights are as follows:

JED – frequencies reduced from triple daily to double daily.

FCO - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 weekly nonstop flights

MUC - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly nonstop flights.

SAH - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly flights.

MCT - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights

BSR - capacity reduced from 4 weekly E95s to 4 weekly E75s.

AMS - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 weekly nonstop flights.

ATH - frequencies reduced from 6 to 5 weekly nonstop flights.

BOM - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly nonstop flights using an A 319.

BRU - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly nonstop flights.

CMB - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights.

LCA - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights.

KLM has officially announced new changes to its international long haul network for the IATA Summer 2011 season with capacity increases and adjustments. The main highlights are as follows:

XMN - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be operated to Xiamen, China using a B 772ER.

ALA - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights.

CTU - cargo capacity increased from 4 weekly B 772ERs to 4 weekly B 744 Combis.

EBB/KGL - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 weekly nonstop flights.

Air China has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies to YVR-Vancouver, Canada for the IATA Summer 2011 season. Currently, CA operates a 10 weekly nonstop service using an A 330-200 for all flights from its Beijing hub. These shall be increased to 12 times per week nonstop using the same aircraft type.

Air Canada has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to PEK-Beijing for Summer 2011 from May 2nd onwards. Daily flights operated with a Boeing 767-300ER shall be increased to a larger Boeing 777-300ER.

Malaysia Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies to ADL-Adelaide, Australia from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season i.e. March 27th. Flights shall be upgraded from the current 4 weekly to 6 times per week nonstop operated with a Boeing 777-200ER only. MH is the only airline operating international long haul services to/from ADL.

Air Asia X has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to CHC-Christchurch, New Zealand from April 1st 2011. D7 will be operating the flight 4 times per week from its KUL hub using a 2 class configured A 330-300 seating 383 passengers.

Tunis Air of Tunisia has officially announced that it shall be inaugurating new nonstop flights to YUL-Montreal, Canada from June 2012. Flights will be operated twice a week nonstop using an Airbus A 330-200.

Qatar Airways has officially announced that it will be serving EZE-Buenos Aires nonstop from Doha in the near future as the carrier is now seriously focusing on expanding its presence in Latin America. It has also confirmed that it will be launching 2 new cities in China as part of its expansion plan in 2011-12. These two are expected to be Xiamen and Chengdu.

Airline News till Nov 29

2010-12-10T02:27:00.003-05:00

Egypt Air has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to YYZ-Toronto effective June 1st 2011. MS shall be operating the service 3 times per week using their brand new Boeing 777-300ER which shall seat 349 passengers in 2 class configuration. Its main target market for this sector is O&D to CAI plus transit traffic bound to North Africa, Levant and GCC region of the Middle East. The flight schedule is as follows:

Days: WED/FRI/SUN

MS 995 Dep CAI 2330 Arr YYZ 0540+1
MS 996 Dep YYZ 1130 Arr CAI 0600+1

Emirates has officially revealed on the GDS a massive expansion plan for its worldwide route network for the entire year 2011 in Europe and Far East Asia. The main highlights are as follows:

HAM - frequencies increased from daily to double daily flights using a B 773 and a B 772ER each respectively effective Sept 1st.

MAD - capacity increased from Oct 30th 2011 from daily A 343 to daily B 773ER.

SYD - frequencies increased from double to triple daily with the third nonstop flight operated nonstop with a B 773ER effective Oct 1st.

AMS - capacity increased to a daily B 773ER versus 6 weekly B 77Ls + weekly B 773ER effective June 1st 2011.

ZRH - capacity increased to double daily B 773ERs versus daily B 772ER + daily B 773ER effective Sept 1st 2011.

MXP - capacity increased from Oct 30th 2011 from double daily A 343 to daily B 773ER + daily A 343.

SIN - frequencies increased to 4 times daily with the new additional flight being operated with a B 773ER effective Oct 29th 2011. It is expected that since this new frequency has a 12 hour ground time at SIN, a tag on to DPS-Bali is also expected to happen in due course.

BKK - frequencies increased to 4 daily nonstop flights i.e. triple daily B 773s + daily A 380 effective May 30th 2011.

DKR - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 332. In addition, EK has also filed to launch new daily flights to GVA-Geneva using a B 772ER effective June 1st 2011 with the following flight schedule:

EK 089 Dep DXB 0950 Arr GVA 1430
EK 090 Dep GVA 1600 Arr DXB 0010+1

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be undertaking another round of significant expansion in China this winter season by increasing its presence in the Communist state by adding more flights. Effective Jan 30th 2011, TK will be launching new 3 weekly nonstop flights to CAN-Guangzhou, China operated with a Boeing 777-300ER. In addition, it has also confirmed that its services to PEK-Beijing shall be further increased from the current 5 weekly to a daily nonstop terminator service using a B 777-300ER as well.

Air France has officially revealed its latest Airbus A 380 destination i.e. IAD-Washington DC, USA. From June 6th 2011, capacity shall be greatly increased from double daily B 772ERs to a daily A 380 + daily B 772ER. IAD is one of AF's highest yielding long haul routes seeing consistently high loads in the premium cabins in particular.

Air Arabia of Sharjah, UAE has officially announced that it shall be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to KABUL, AFGHANISTAN effective Dec 16th 2010 using an Airbus A 320-200.

Their flight schedule is as follows:

Days: 2/3/5/7

G9 261 Dep SHJ 0600 Arr KBL 0900
G9 262 Dep KBL 0945 Arr SHJ 1205

Royal Jordanian has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to TXL-Berlin, Germany effective June 2nd 2011. RJ will be operating the service twice a week nonstop using an Airbus A 320-200. Its main purpose is to connect an upcoming major One World partner hub of Air Berlin and to offer seamless connections for the massive Iraqi and Arab diaspora community residing in the city itself.

RAK Airways of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE has officially announced that it shall be launching 3 new routes this December as part of its rapid expansion within a 4 hour flying radius of RAK airport itself. The 3 new routes it announced to be flying are Chittagong, Dhaka and Cairo. All flights shall be flown using its fleet of used/leased Boeing 737-400s only. Services to all these three new cities will be operated three times per week nonstop only effective Dec 15th 2011.

Hawaiian Airlines has officially confirmed that it has placed an order with Airbus for 6 additional Airbus A 330-200s to the ten it already has previously ordered from the manufacturer. These additional A 332s will be used to fully replace the B 763ERs and to expand further with new long haul nonstop flying from HNL to the U.S. East Coast + Far East Asia and Australia/AKL. HA's A 332s seat 294 passengers in a 2 class configuration.

Airline News till Nov 22

2010-12-10T02:24:00.003-05:00

PAL-Philippine Airlines has officially announced that it shall be launching new flights to New Delhi, from March 27th 2011. PAL operate a 6 times weekly service between its Manila hub and Delhi using an Airbus A 330-300 for all the flights. The flight routing though would be 3 weekly nonstop terminator flights and the remaining 3 flown via Bangkok with full 5th freedom rights.

Thai Airways has officially confirmed that due to high demand for its flights to Oslo, Norway on a year round basis, it will be increasing frequencies on the BKK-OSL route from March 27th 2011 onwards. Frequencies shall be upgraded from the scheduled 5 weekly nonstop services to a daily operation using a Boeing 777-200ER (292 seater) for all the flights.

United Airlines has officially announced that it will be launching new flights to LOS-Lagos, Nigeria from its IAD-Washington DC hub base effective Dec 12th 2010. UA shall be operating a daily flight on this sector via Accra using a 185 seater Boeing 767-300ER. However, it is expected that with the tag on service, capacity is expected to be increased to a Boeing 777-200ER by Summer 2011.

Air Arabia of Sharjah, UAE has officially announced that it shall be launching new flights to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia via Kathmandu, Nepal effective Dec 16th 2010. It does have 5th freedom rights on the KTM-KUL-KTM sector and all flights shall be operated using an A 320-200. KTM will remain a double daily service with this new tag on flight.

Air China has officially announced major changes to its European network for the IATA Summer 2011 season which sees expansion across the board. The main highlights are as follows:

PEK / MXP - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be flown using an A 332 effective June 15th.

PEK / DUS - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be flown using an A 332 effective March 27th.

PEK / STO - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B 772ER.

In addition Air China also officially confirmed that it has placed an order with Airbus for 10 A 359s plus 10 Airbus A 332s. The A 359s will be used to gradually replace its entire Boeing 777-200 fleet.

Air Asia X has officially confirmed that it will be launching new nonstop flights from its KUL hub to ORY-Paris Orly airport effective Feb 14th 2011. Flights shall be operated 4 times per week nonstop using a 2 class configured Airbus A 340-300.

Delta Airlines has officially revealed many changes to its long haul route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

BOS/LHR - new double daily nonstop flights to be launched using a B 763ER.

BOS/CDG - new daily nonstop flight to be launched using a B 757.

SEA/AMS - frequencies increased from 10 weekly to double daily nonstop using an A 330.

JFK/CDG - new daily nonstop flight to be launched using a B 763ER.

MIA/LHR - new daily nonstop flight to be launched using a B 763ER.

NRT/MNL - frequencies increased from daily to 11 weekly.

NRT/CAN - capacity increased from daily B 757s to daily B 763ER.

DTW/PEK - 5 weekly nonstop flights to be reinstaed using a B 772ER.

KLM has officially confirmed that it will be dry leasing into its fleet 3 brand new Airbus A 330-300s meant primarily for expansion along with purchasing 5 new Embraer E190s. The A 333s will be delivered to the carrier in 2012 which will be replacing B 772ERs on trans-atlantic flights which in turn will be freed up to expand further in Far East Asia and Latin America.

RAK Airways of UAE has officially announced that they will be launching new flights to Bangladesh from Dec 15th 2010. Three weekly flights each shall be operated nonstop from its RAK-Ras Al Khaimah home base using a Boeing 737-400 to both Dhaka and Chittagong. The flights are primarily targeting O&D traffic + 6th freedom transit traffic bound to JED.

Turkish Airlines has officially confirmed that it shall be further increasing capacity to ALA-Almaty, Kazakhastan from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season. The new plan calls for all IST-ALA daily flights to be operated with A 333s rather than 3 weekly B 738s + 4 weekly A 333s. The primary reason for this major capacity upgrade is due to high demand in the business class cabin + cargo.

Airline News till Nov 15

2010-12-10T02:18:00.002-05:00

Emirates has officially revealed on the GDS system that it will be launching new nonstop flights to BSR-Basra, Iraq effective Feb 2nd 2011. EK will be deploying a three class configured Airbus A 330-200 seating 237 passengers and shall operate the service 4 times per week with the following flight schedule:

Days: MON/WED/THU/SAT

EK 945 Dep DXB 1345 Arr BSR 1445
EK 946 Dep BSR 1615 Arr DXB 1910

The above mentioned flight schedule for its 'EU/North American destinations' has a good connection from IAH, JFK and LHR only but out of BSR, a minimum transit of 7-11 hours is required at DXB airport. EK too has confirmed that it is further increasing flights to both Jeddah and Riyadh from Jan 5th 2011 from 12 weekly to double daily nonstop to each city respectively. The additional 2 JED flights will be operated using an A 340-300 where as the 2 additional RUH flights will be flown with an A 330-200.

Lastly, according to Frankfurt Airport slot filings for the IATA Summer 2011 season, EK has applied to increase its popular DXB-FRA nonstop service from double to triple daily with the third daily flight arriving into FRA at 6am and departing at 850am. For this service, EK will be utilizing a 2 class configured Airbus A 330-200 if approved by FRA Airport Authorities.

Qatar Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to ALP-Aleppo, Syria from April 6th 2011. QR will be operating the service 4 times per week using a 144 seater Airbus A 320-200 (12J + 132Y). This new route has been announced as QR's 100th destination in its network and its flight schedule is as follows:

QR 430 Dep DOH 1230 Arr ALP 1545
QR 431 Dep ALP 1645 Arr DOH 1940

Lufthansa has officially announced that it is going to be increasing capacity to ORD-Chicago, USA for the IATA Summer 2011 season. Currently, LH was planning to operate from FRA nonstop to ORD on a daily basis using an A 340-600, however that is being changed to a larger Boeing 747-400.

Turkish Airlines has officially confirmed that it will be increasing frequencies to South Africa from January 17th 2011 as the carrier looks to further expand its presence on this popular route. An additional 5th weekly flight will be added and be flown as per the normal rotation i.e. IST-JNB-CPT-JNB-IST. However from April 23 2011, capacity will be further increased to a 5 weekly A 330-300 which seats 289 passengers in a 2 class configuration versus TK's A 343s that seat 270 pax.

Other changes that TK has released for IATA Summer 2011 are as follows:

DXB - capacity increased to daily A 333 + daily A 321.

IKA - capacity increased to 4 weekly A 333s + 10 weekly B 738s.

ICN - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 332.

CMN - capacity increased to daily wide bodied service i.e. 4 weekly A 343s + 2 weekly A 333s + weekly A 332.

Alitalia's CEO has officially announced that the Italian state carrier will be launching new nonstop flights to PEK-Beijing, China effective June 2011. AZ will operate the service nonstop from its main FCO-Rome hub using an Airbus A 330-200 five times per week.

Sky Mark Airlines of Japan who shocked the airline industry worldwide last week with its order of 6 A 380s has officially revealed its business plan on what it intends to do with these aircraft. In a total U Turn from its current low cost business model, the carrier plans an ultra-premium configuration for its super jumbo fleet seating 394 passengers only in a 2 class configuration. It will install 114 business class flat bed seats with a 60 inch seat pitch along with 280 premium economy class seats with a 38 inch seat pitch. The initial 6 aircraft will be used to operate nonstop services to New York, Frankfurt and London initially. After it receives all of its 6 A 380s, pending performance, the airline intends on ordering a further 9 units to expand to Paris, LAX, Vancouver, Rome, Hawaii, Bangkok, Melbourne and Singapore.

Egypt Air has officially confirmed that it shall be increasing capacity to DXB-Dubai from January 1st 2011 by deploying a double daily nonstop service using Airbus A 330-300s for all the flights instead of a mixture of A 330s and B 738s. MS too reconfirmed that its popular CAI-LHR nonstop flight will henceforth too be operated exclusively with a Boeing 777-300ER rather than an Airbus A 330-300.

Malaysia Airlines has officially confirmed that it will be increasing flights to AKL-Auckland, New Zealand from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season i.e. March 28th 2011. MH will be launching a 6th additional weekly nonstop flight to AKL from its KUL hub using a Boeing 777-200ER which is also the aircraft type being used for all the other flights as well.

Airline News Nov 8-14

2010-11-09T16:28:00.003-05:00

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be launching new flights to DAC-Dhaka, Bangladesh effective Dec 26th 2010. TK will operate 4 weekly services via Karachi, Pakistan using an Airbus A 340-300 thrice a week + an A 332 once a week. Its main target market in DAC is Europe as well as North America bound passengers. Once more wide bodied A 333s (289 seater) get delivered to TK next summer, the airline plans to de-link DAC from KHI and operate 4 weekly nonstop terminator services. The flight schedule is as follows:

Days of service: MON/WED/FRI/SUN

TK 708 Dep IST 0030 Arr KHI 0845
TK 708 Dep KHI 1000 Arr DAC 1415

TK 709 Dep DAC 2250 Arr KHI 0115+1
TK 709 Dep KHI 0230+1 Arr IST 0550+1

In addition, TK has revealed major expansion plans for its worldwide route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

JFK - frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily nonstop flights using a B 773ER (349 seats).

BEY - frequencies increased from double to triple daily nonstop flights using a B 738.

KIX - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332.

SIN/JKT - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily services using an A 332.

ALA - frequencies increased from daily B 737-700ss to 11 weekly nonstop flights i.e. 4 weekly A 333s + daily B 738s.

TSE - capacity increased from 4 weekly B 737s to 4 weekly A 333s.

PIA of Pakistan has officially announced that due to huge demand for its new BCN-Barcelona, Spain bound flights, it will be increasing frequencies on this route from 2 to 3 weekly nonstop flights from Pakistan. The 3rd weekly flight will be operated as a terminator service to/from Islamabad using a B 773ER where as the remaining two are flown onwards to ORD-Chicago with full 5th freedom traffic rights using a B 772ER.

GMG Airlines of Bangladesh has officially announced a major expansion plan for the Middle East region from its Dhaka based hub effective Dec 16th 2010. The main highlights are as follows:

FYI, GMG's B 763ERs seat 264 pax in a 2 class configuration of 12J + 252Y

AUH - new twice weekly nonstop flights to be flown using a B 763ER.

DXB - all flights to be flown as turn around terminator flights and capacity to be increased from three weekly MD82s to three weekly B 763ERs.

JED - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using a B 763ER.

RUH - frequencies increased from 3 to 6 weekly nonstop flights using a B 763ER.

Qatar Airways CEO has officially announced that the carrier is extremely interested in increasing its flights to Indonesia by launching new flights to the second largest city of the country i.e. Surabaya. If approved, it will be the only long haul carrier operating out of the city and its main target market is Indonesian labor workers residing in the Middle East region. QR plans on operating to Surabaya via Kuala Lumpur 4 times per week using an A 330 from Summer 2011. As a result of this, flights to KUL shall be increased from the current 11 weekly to double daily nonstop using an A 330.

Saudia Airlines has officially confirmed that it has placed a massive order with Boeing for 22 new Boeing 777-300ERs + 8 Boeing 787-800s. The 777 order breakdown is 12 firm + 10 options. SV is also in the final stages of signing an agreement into joining the SKY TEAM alliance of which Air France is its main sponsor.

Aeroflot has officially announced that it shall be increasing frequencies to HKG-Hong Kong, China from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season. SU will be increasing frequencies from the planned daily nonstop flights using an A 332 to 9 times per week nonstop using the same aircraft type. Other changes announced by SU for its Asia network in SU 11 is as follows:

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

NRT - capacity increased from 5 weekly B 763ERs + 2 weekly A 333s to 5 weekly A 332s + 2 weekly A 333s.

PEK - frequencies increased from double daily nonstop to 16 weekly nonstop using a B 763ER for all the flights.

DEL - capacity increased from daily B 763ER to daily A 333.

China Eastern Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies to Australia from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season. MU is based out of PVG-Shanghai and is making the following adjustments:

SYD - frequencies increased from 5 weekly A 343s to daily nonstop flights using an A 333.

MEL - frequencies increased from 4 weekly A 343s to daily nonstop flights using an A 343.

Lufthansa has officially announced that it is further increasing capacity to JNB-Jo'Burg, South Africa from Feb 12th 2011 by adding more Airbus A 380 operated flights from its primary FRA hub base. From Feb 12th onwards, all FRA-JNB operated flights will be flown on a daily basis using an A 380 instead of the current 5 weekly + 2 weekly B 744s.

Mihin Lanka has officially announced that it shall be adding 3 new destinations to its international route network from Dec 2nd 2010. All these flights will be operated nonstop from its CMB-Colombo hub base using Airbus A 321-200s only. The main highlights are as follows: DAC - 3 new weekly nonstop flights JKT - 3 new weekly nonstop flights MLE - 4 new weekly nonstop flights

Skymark Airlines of Japan has officially announced that it has signed a LOI (Letter of Intent) with Airbus for an order of 6 new Airbus A 380-800s. It makes the carrier the first Japanese based airline to place an order for the A 380 which it will configure with 800 seats in an all economy class configuration to be used to Europe, USA and popular Asian cities.

China Southern Airlines has officially announced that it has a placed a major order with Airbus for its regional expansion in Asia. CZ confirmed an order being placed for 6 Airbus A 330-200s + 30 Airbus A 320-200s.

Norwegian Airlines has officially confirmed that it has chosen the Boeing 787-800 as its preferred aircraft for long haul expansion out of its main Oslo hub. The carrier confirmed that it will be leasing 2 B 788s from ILFC and has requested for 4 more of the same aircraft type. The first destinations to be launched shall be New York City and Bangkok.

Spice Jet of India has officially announced that it has ordered 33 additional Boeing 737-800s plus another 30 Bombardier Q400 turbo prop aircraft to fuel its regional expansion strategy in India and abroad within a 5 hour flying radius of the country. The airline will get its international flying license from April 2011 and hence have ordered the B 738s for this very purpose for expansion to the Middle East, Far East and Indian Sub-Continent region.

Airline News Nov 01-07

2010-11-02T17:01:00.003-04:00

American Airlines has officially announced many changes to its long haul route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

DFW/LHR - frequencies increased to triple daily nonstop flights.

DFW/GRU - frequencies reduced from 10 weekly to daily nonstop flights.

DFW/CDG - capacity being reduced from daily B 772ER to daily B 763ER.

MIA/LHR - frequencies reduced from 8 weekly to daily nonstop flights.

MIA/MAD - frequencies increased from daily to 12 weekly flights using a B 763ER only.

JFK/BCN - frequencies increased from daily to 11 weekly flights using a B 763ER only.

Fly Dubai has officially announced that it shall be starting 2 new routes from Nov 23rd 2010 onwards in the Middle East region. It will first be launching new daily nonstop flights to Abha, Saudi Arabia followed by 2 weekly nonstop flights to Ashghabat in Turkmenistan. Both routes will be operated with a Boeing 737-800 and FZ will be the first airline to fly into AHB-Abha airport.Flights to AHB will depart there at 340am three times per week and four times per week at 245pm.

British Airways has officially revealed few changes to its international long haul route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows: PEK - capacity increased from daily B 772ER to daily B 744. YVR - for peak summer season flying i.e. June till Sept, frequencies reduced from 13 weekly B 744s to 12 weekly using the same aircraft type.

Aigle Azur Airlines based out of CDG-Paris has officially announced that it successfully launched new twice weekly nonstop services from its home base CDG airport to BGW-Baghdad, Iraq yesterday. It flew the route using an Airbus A 319 departing CDG at 2345 and arriving into BGW at 630am the next day.

The state of Qatar and Canada have officially agreed on a new air bilateral accord giving access for the first time each nation's respectively designated national carrier to operate 3 weekly passenger nonstop flights from Doha to any Canadian city + 3 weekly freighter flights. As a result of this new deal, Qatar Airways is expected to announce the launch of new DOH-YYZ (Toronto) nonstop flights for Summer 2011 using a Boeing 777-300ER. QR's commencement of YYZ will be the biggest threat to Air India's monopoly of the Amritsar-Toronto market segment which is currently being operated with a change of plane service via Delhi.

Turkish Airlines has officially announced few changes to its long haul route network for the current IATA Winter 2010 season which are as follows:

HKG - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A 343 once a week and a B 773ER six times per week from Feb 1st 2011.

IAD - frequencies to be reduced from the on set from 5 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332.

Philippine Airlines has announced major capacity and frequency changes across its network for the current IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

RUH - frequencies increased from 3 weekly A 333s to 4 weekly nonstop flights using a B 747-400 from Nov 23rd.

SIN - frequencies increased from 25 to 28 weekly nonstop flights.

HKG - frequencies increasing from 3 to 5 daily nonstop flights.

BKK - frequencies increased from 13 weekly nonstop flights to double daily.

Ethiopian Airlines has officially confirmed few changes to its overall route network for the on going Winter 2010 season which shall come into effect gradually. The main highlights are as follows:

JED - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B 763ER twice a week + B 757 five times per week.

BOM - frequencies increased from daily B 757s to double daily nonstop flights operated by a Boeing 737-800X.

DXB - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 times per week nonstop i.e. 10 weekly B 772LR + 4 weekly B 737s + 4 weekly B 757s.

Lufthansa has officially confirmed that it will be increasing capacity to JNB-Jo'Burg, South Africa from Nov 13th 2010. It was originally supposed to be operating a 3 weekly A 380 + 4 weekly B 744 service for the entire winter period, however this has now been changed to a 5 weekly A 380 + 2 weekly B 744 only.

Singapore Airlines has officially announced few changes to its Middle East network for the on going IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

JED - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly flights using an A 333 via AUH.

KWI - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 weekly flights using an A 333 via AUH.

Aeroflot has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies to HKG-Hong Kong, China from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season. Currently it operates 5 weekly nonstop service using an A 332. These are going to be increased to a daily nonstop flight using the same aircraft type.

Korean Air has officially announced that it shall be increasing its flights to LAX-Los Angeles from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season i.e. March 27th 2011 from 30 to 37 times per week. The schedule break up is as follows:

24 times per week nonstop terminator services ICN-LAX-ICN + 3 weekly ICN-LAX-GRU + daily ICN-NRT-LAX + 3 weekly ICN-LAS-LAX-ICN. The aircraft variety used for LAX is a daily B 773ER + daily B 744 + 23 weekly B 772ERs.

KLM has officially confirmed that it shall be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to MIA-Miami, USA from its Amsterdam hub from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 season i.e. March 27th. KL will be flying this route using its MD11.

China Airlines of Taiwan has officially announced that it shall be resuming flights to AKL-Auckland, New Zealand from Jan 1st 2011 onwards. CI will be operating a 3 weekly service routed via BNE-Brisbane using an Airbus A 330-300. It will have 5th freedom traffic rights on the BNE-AKL sector too.

Qatar Airways Summer 2011 changes

2010-11-02T14:28:00.002-04:00

Qatar Airways has revealed in the GDS system major capacity changes for its worldwide route network for the IATA Summer 2011 season.

The main highlights are as follows:

BEY - In W10, QR operates 20 weekly nonstop flights to BEY using an A 320 15 times per week + A 321 five times per week i.e. 6090 round trip weekly seats. In comparison, for S11, QR will be increasing frequencies to triple daily nonstop flights using an A 321 eleven times per week + an A 320 ten times per week i.e. 6774 round trip weekly seats aka 664 extra r/t seats...11% capacity increase!

MNL - capacity reduced from daily B 77W + daily A 333 to daily A 332 + daily B 77W i.e. reduction of 644 weekly r/t seats.

DAM - capacity increased to daily A 320 + daily A 321 in S11 versus 3 weekly A 321s + 11 weekly A 320s in W10 i.e. increase of 264 r/t weekly seats!

IKA - capacity increased from 13 weekly A 320s + weekly A 321s to 6 weekly A 321s + 8 weekly A 320s i.e. increase of 440 r/t weekly seats.

BOM - capacity increased to daily B 77W from a mixture of daily flights using A 332s / A 346s and B 77Ls i.e. increase of 860 r/t weekly seats!

DAC - capacity reduced from 5 weekly A 333s + 6 weekly A 332s to 11 weekly A 332s i.e. 460 less r/t weekly seats!

ATH - 9 weekly A 321s + 5 weekly A 320s in S11 versus 8 weekly A 321s + 6 weekly A 320s in W10.

LHR - capacity reduced with A 346s gradually leaving the fleet (as they are being dry leased to Aerolineas Argentina) so for S11 it is daily B 77W + 12 weekly A 333s + 6 weekly A 346s versus 10 weekly A 346s + daily B 77Ws + 4 weekly A 333s + 3 weekly A 332s.

HKT via KUL - frequencies reduced from daily A 332s to 6 weekly A 332s.

CEB - capacity reduced from 3 weekly A 333s to 3 weekly A 332s.

ISB - capacity increased from 2 weekly A 333s + 2 weekly A 332s to 3 weekly B 77Ws + weekly A 332 i.e. increase of 272 r/t weekly seats.

LHE - capacity reduced from 3 weekly A 333s + 1 weekly A 332 to 4 weekly A 332s.

COK - capacity increased from 9 weekly A 321s + 2 weekly A 320s in W10 to 11 weekly A 321s.

MAA - capacity reduced to 5 weekly A 321s + 2 weekly A 332s.

Airline News Oct 18-24

2010-10-27T14:03:00.002-04:00

Emirates has officially revealed many changes to its route network for the Summer 2011 season with capacity expansion both in Levant and Southeast Asia regions.

The main highlights are as follows:

KUL - frequencies increased from triple daily B 773ERs to 25 weekly B 773ERs aka 20% capacity increase or 2912 extra weekly seats round trip.

BKK - capacity increased with 2 daily A 380s + 2 daily B 773s versus 1 daily A 380 + 3 daily B 773s aka 2142 extra weekly seats on a round trip basis or 10% capacity increase.

DAM - capacity increased from double daily A 332s to 9 weekly A 332s + 2 weekly B 773s + 3 weekly B 772s i.e. 826 extra weekly seats on a round trip basis or 12% capacity increase.

AMM - capacity increased from 8 weekly A 332s + weekly A 343 + 2 weekly B 772s + 3 weekly B 773s to 2 weekly B 773s + 6 weekly B 772s + 6 weekly A 332s.

The states of Qatar and Syria this week concluded signing a new broader bilateral accord that gives further access to Qatar Airways into the Syrian market. The main highlights of it are as follows :

- frequencies to DAM can be increased to triple daily.

- new daily flights to ALP can be flown.

- open skies to all other Syrian cities.

- open skies for freighter flights to all Syrian cities.

Currently, QR operates double daily services to DAM with A 320s with departures at 1230pm and midnight from DOH.

Sri Lankan Airlines has officially announced that it shall be increasing frequencies to Karachi, Pakistan from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 timetable. UL will be operating an additional 4th weekly nonstop service using an Airbus A 320 due to high load factors over the past few months which has spurned this decision in KHI's favor.

Malaysia Airlines will be launching new 3 weekly nonstop flights to RUH-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia effective Dec 17th 2010. MH will be operating a 290 seater two class configured Boeing 777-200ER for this new service.

Flight schedule is as follows:

MH 152 Dep KUL 2005 Arr RUH 2340
MH 153 Dep RUH 0110 Arr KUL 1400

MAS also operates 4 weekly B 772ERs to JED nonstop + 2 weekly DMM flights with an A 332.

Air France has officially announced that it shall be launching new flights to Phnom Penh (PNH), Cambodia from the on set of the Summer 2011 season i.e. March 28th. AF will be operating 3 weekly flights via Bangkok using an A 340-300. However, from May 9th onwards, capacity shall be increased to a B 772ER for this route. BKK will continue to be served on a daily nonstop basis using a B 772ER with 4 of out 7 weekly flights being a terminator service.

American Airlines has officially confirmed that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to PVG-Shanghai from its secondary LAX-Los Angeles hub effective April 5th 2011. AA will be operating the service on a daily basis using a Boeing 777-200ER.

Aeroflot has officially announced few changes to its long haul network for Summer 2011. The main highlights are as follows: HAN - frequencies increased from 3 weekly B 763ERs to 4 weekly A 333s. LCA - frequencies increased to double daily nonstop services.

US Airways has officially announced seasonal capacity increases for its European network for the peak summer season. For SU11, the main highlights are as follows:

CLT / FCO - capacity increased from May 3rd from daily B 762ER to daily A 333.

PHL / BCN - capacity increased from May 3rd from daily B 762ER to daily A 332.

Airline News Oct 10-17

2010-10-27T14:00:00.003-04:00

Turkish Airlines has officially confirmed that it will be significantly increasing capacity to YYZ-Toronto from Dec 27th 2010 onwards. Currently, it operates a 250 seater A 330-200 on the 3 weekly IST-YYZ service however after Christmas due to averaging a very high load factor on this sector, a larger 349 seater Boeing 777-300ER shall be used to fly this route. This translates into a 40% increase in capacity by TK on the Toronto route.

Egypt Air has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to both Bangkok and Guangzhou, China from Dec 15th 2010 onwards in a significant manner. Currently, MS operates a CAI-BKK-CAN flight using a B 772ER however the latest changes announced make both cities receive dedicated terminator services. Capacity to BKK is increased to a daily nonstop terminator flight operated with a B 772ER where as CAN also receives a nonstop service from CAI with a B 772ER but 4 times per week only.

SAS has officially confirmed that it shall be launching 2 new long haul routes from the on set of the Summer 2011 time table. The main highlights are as follows:

CPH / PVG - new 5 weekly nonstop services to be operated using an A 343.

OSL / EWR - new daily nonstop services to be flown using an A 333.

Emirates has officially announced that it is seriously pondering to further place an order for 30 additional Airbus A 380s as it sees a requirement of 120 such aircraft over the next decade as part of its fleet plan. It did not originally place this order because of space constraints at the current DXB airport however this shall not be the case with the new JXB-Jebel Ali Airport which EK and other carriers hope to move to within the next 6 years.

British Airways has officially confirmed that it will be reducing capacity to NRT-Tokyo, Japan from the on set of the IATA Summer 2011 timetable. Currently, it operates a daily nonstop flight using a Boeing 747-400 on the LHR-NRT sector however from end March a smaller Boeing 777-300ER will be used to fly this sector which shall have its latest on board F and J class seat product.

Iberia has officially announced that it shall be adjusting capacity to the Americas for the Summer 2011 season with the main highlights are as follows:

MAD/IAD - all flights suspended.

BCN/MIA - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be flown using an A 343.

MAD/LAX - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be flown using an A 343 which shall be increased to 4 times per week effective June 27th using the same aircraft type.

Oman Air has officially confirmed that it is not going ahead with a planned increase of upgrading flights to CDG-Paris from 4 to 5 weekly A 333s from Nov 1st but instead will increase capacity to Cairo, Egypt effective Dec 18th onwards. Flights to CAI are currently flown on a daily basis using a B 737-800 which shall later on see from Dec 18th two weekly A 333s + 5 weekly B 738s aka 15% increase in capacity.

Royal Brunei has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to Melbourne, Australia effective March 29th 2011. BI will be operating 4 times per week from its BWN hub using a Boeing 777-200ER. In addition, the airline too confirmed that it will be reducing frequencies to Perth which is currently flown 4 times per week using an A 320. The new winter schedule calls for a 3 weekly nonstop service but operated with a larger B 772ER.

Korean Air has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies on its services to Singapore from Nov 22nd 2010 onwards. Services shall be increased from daily to 11 times per week nonstop using a B 773A daily + 3 weekly B 744s + weekly A 333.

Airline News Oct 02-09

2010-10-08T18:17:00.004-04:00

KLM has officially revealed many changes to its long haul network for the IATA Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

YYZ - frequencies increased from 10 weekly to double daily nonstop flights using a B 772ER daily + MD 11 six times per week.

YYC - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times per week using a MD 11.

CPT - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B 772ER.

ICN - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily nonstop using a B 744 Combi.

DAR - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B 772ER.

EBB/KGL - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 weekly flights using an A 332.

Sri Lankan Airlines has officially announced that it shall be launching new 3 weekly flights to CAN-Guangzhou, China via Bangkok from Jan 28th 2011 onwards. UL has 5th freedom rights on the BKK-CAN sector and will be using an A 343 twice a week + an A 332 once a week for this new route. As a result of this, flights to BKK shall be increased from 10 to 13 weekly nonstop services.

Thai Airways has been officially cited by the Bangkok Post newspaper that it shall be dry leasing 8 brand new Boeing 777-300ERs from Bank of China from August 2012 onwards to replace the 3 currently leased 9W B 773ERs it has in its fleet + 5 of its oldest Boeing 747-400s. TG will be paying US$ 1.15 million per month for each of these jets + $ 5.87 million non refundable commitment fee. The configuration of these new B 773ERs will have 346 seats in a 2 class layout seating 40 in business class + 306 in economy class.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/aviation/200305/thai-to-lease-eight-boeings

Qatar Airways has officially revealed that it shall be launching additional flights to Europe from March 2011 thus further boosting its presence in this key market segment. The main highlights are as follows:

CPH - frequencies increased from 4 to 6 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332.

MUC - frequencies increased from daily to 11 times per week using A 332s.

STR - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be launched to STUGGART effective March 9th 2011 using an A 319. With this increase, QR will henceforth operate 31 weekly flights to Germany out of the 35 it is allowed.

Air Canada has officially announced its first set of changes to its long haul route network for the peak Summer 2011 season i.e. eff June 1st. The main highlights are as follows:

YUL / BRU - capacity increased from daily B 763ER to daily A 333.

YYZ / ZRH - capacity increased from daily B 763ER to daily A 333.

YYZ / MEX - frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily nonstop.

Ethiopian Airlines has officially announced that it shall be increasing its frequencies to both Kuwait and Bahrain from Nov 1st 2010 onwards. Currently, ET operate 5 weekly flights to both these cities in a triangular fashion i.e. ADD-BAH-KWI-ADD using a Boeing 737-700. It will increase its frequencies to a daily operation from November using the same aircraft type.

Air India has just released an amended long haul schedule for the IATA W10 season.

The main highlights are as follows:

DEL/CDG – planned increased from 3 weekly B 77Ls to daily B 77Ws has been cancelled. New schedule is for AI to only increase CDG from 3 to 4 weekly flights but using a smaller 238 seater Boeing 777-200LR (77L).

DEL/LHR – planned double daily B 773ER operation has been cancelled and replaced with double daily B 77Ls.

HYD/DEL/ORD – capacity increased from daily B 77L to daily B 77W.

DEL/HKG/KIX – capacity increased from 3 weekly B 77Ls to 3 weekly B 77Ws.

DEL/HKG/ICN - capacity increased from 4 weekly B 77Ls to 4 weekly B 77Ws.

Taiwan and UK have recently signed a new bilateral accord which further liberalizes access to the UK for EVA Air and China Airlines. The main highlights are as follows:

LHR - flights can be increased from 10 to 14 per week.

MAN - new 7 weekly pax + 10 weekly cargo flights can be operated. 5th freedom traffic from BKK to MAN and vice versa available.

British Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to San Diego, California from June 1st 2011 onwards. BA will be operating a daily service on this route which it suspended a decade ago. The aircraft to be used is a 3 class Boeing 777-200ER i.e. J/W/Y.

EL AL of Israel has officially announced that it is increasing flights to Hong Kong from Tel Aviv effective Nov 1st 2010 onwards. An additional 5th weekly nonstop flight shall be operated using a Boeing 777-200ER.

Air Mauritius has officially announced that it shall be increasing its flights to HKG-Hong Kong from July 2011 by adding a 4th weekly nonstop service on this sector. All services shall be operated with an Airbus A 330-200.

Bahrain Air has just announced a major expansion for its route network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

DMM – new 10 weekly nonstop flights to be launched eff Oct 31st

ALY – frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly flights using an A 320.

BEY – frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop service.

RUH - frequencies increased from 6 to 8 weekly nonstop flights.

NJF - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights.

KTM – frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights.

COK - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights.

CCJ - frequencies increased from 4 to 6 weekly nonstop flights.

Airline News Sept 19-24

2010-09-24T04:36:00.002-04:00

Lufthansa has officially announced that it has placed a mega order for 48 new airplanes from Airbus and Embraer for itself and its subsidiaries i.e. SWISS and Germanwings. The break up of the order is as follows:

LH - 3 new A 333s + 20 A 320s + 8 E 195s

LX - 5 new A 333s + 2 A 321s + 2 A 320s

Germanwings - 8 new A 319s

In addition, LH has announced that it will be increasing capacity to KWI-Kuwait from the on set of the Summer 2011 season. For W10, it operates a daily A 333 seating 221 seats in a 3 class configuration, however for SU 11 it shall be 4 weekly A 343s + 3 weekly A 333s.

Jet Airways has officially announced that it shall be expanding its route network from November 2010 by launching new daily nonstop flights to MXP-Milan and CMB-Colombo from Delhi and Mumbai respectively. The main highlights are as follows:

DEL / MXP - new daily nonstop flights using an A 332 to be launched from Dec 5th 2010. The flights will cater to the massive O&D demand that exists between these 2 cities which is 90,000 passengers per year + the flight schedule allows excellent connections in both directions via DEL to DAC, domestic India, CMB and BKK.

DEL / CMB - new daily nonstop flights using a B 738 to be flown from Nov 5th 2010. This flight will connect to London and Milan in both directions.

BOM / CMB - new daily nonstop flights using a B 738 to be flown from Nov 5th 2010. This flight will connect in both directions to BRU/USA/YYZ/LON.

BOM / JNB - frequencies reduced from daily A 332s to 5 weekly nonstop flights using the same aircraft type.

Indian media too has reported that options 9W holds for 5 A 332s are going to be changed to 3 A 333s + 2 A 332s.

British Airways has officially announced that it will be increasing its presence on 2 key long haul markets in its network from Summer 2011. New 5 weekly nonstop services to Tokyo's Haneda airport shall be flown using a Boeing 777-200ER. In addition, its current flights to EZE-Buenos Aires operated via GRU-Sao Paulo shall be de-linked and EZE will once again be flown nonstop on a daily basis using a B 777-200ER as well.

Cathay Pacific has officially confirmed that it has firmed up an earlier LOI with Airbus and Boeing for 30 Airbus A 359s and 6 Boeing 773ERs. The A 359s will be used to replace the A 333s and B 772As initially with more expected to be ordered in the long run as this aircraft will be the backbone of the fleet in the next decade. The B 773ERs will be used for further long haul expansion in due course.

Egypt Air has officially announced that it shall be increasing its capacity to Dubai from Cairo from January 1st 2011. Currently it operates a daily B 773ER + 4 weekly A 333 + 3 weekly B 738 on this sector which shall be increased to a double daily B 773ER operation.

BMI-British Midland has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to TIP-Tripoli, Libya from Dec 1st 2010. BD will be using an A 319 for this new route and its flight schedule is as follows: BD 469 Dep LHR 0855 Arr TIP 1430 BD 470 Dep TIP 1515 Arr LHR 1645

South African Airways has officially announced that it shall be increasing capacity to Mumbai, India from the on set of the Summer 2011 timetable when it phases out its entire Airbus A 340-200 fleet. JNB-BOM flights would then be operated using the larger A 340-300 four times per week.

Air France has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights from Paris to Lima in South America from June 21st 2011. AF will operate this route 5 times per week nonstop using a Boeing 777-200ER. In addition, AF too confirmed that it is adjusting capacity to Saudi Arabia from Nov 29th 2010 onwards in the following manner:

RUH - capacity increased by 75% from daily A 319s to 3 weekly A 332s + 4 weekly A 319s.

JED - frequencies reduced from 5 weekly A 319s to 3 weekly A 332s.

Lastly, AF confirmed that it will be inaugurating new nonstop services to MCO-Orlando, USA from its CDG hub effective June 7th 2011. Flights will be operated 3 times per week using a high density 2 class configured B 773ER seating 472 passengers i.e. 14 business class + 458 economy class.

Air Berlin of Germany has officially announced that it shall be greatly increasing its presence at New York's JFK airport from the on set of the Summer 2011 season. JFK is seen as a crucial long haul gateway for AB as its a major hub of fellow One World alliance partner i.e. American Airlines. AB confirmed that new 4 weekly Berlin-JFK flights using an A 332 shall be launched alongside increasing Dusseldorf-JFK to a daily A 332 service as well.

Qatar Airways is in the final stages of officially confirming a deal to dry lease out its entire fleet of 4 A 340-600s to Aerolineas Argentina for an undisclosed period of time. These jets are expected to leave the QR fleet from Summer 2011 and shall be replaced by more B 77Ws and B 787s that are being delivered to the airline next year.

US Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching 2 new trans-atlantic routes from May 2011 from its CLT-Charlotte hub. The destinations that get new flights are Dublin and Madrid with daily nonstop services. CLT-DUB will be operated with a B 757 where as CLT-MAD gets a B 767-200ER.

Aug 15-22 Airline News

2010-08-14T17:01:00.001-04:00

Etihad Airways has officially revealed major capacity changes across its entire network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

MNL - capacity increased to 12 weekly B 773ERs nonstop from daily B 773ER + 5 weekly A 332. This means an extra 1624 seats offered on a round trip basis i.e. 19% increase in weekly capacity.

ISB - capacity increased to 3 weekly B 773ERs + 4 weekly A 320s from 6 weekly A 320s + weekly A 332. A further capacity increase takes place from Dec 19th onwards when a 4th weekly B 773ER gets added in alongside 3 weekly A 320s. This means an extra 1860 seats offered on a round trip basis i.e. 84% increase in weekly capacity.

FRA - capacity increased from double daily A 332 to daily A 333 + daily A 332 effective Dec 1st.

LHE - capacity increased to daily flights operated exclusively by an A 340-600. Currently, EY operates 2 weekly A 332s + 3 weekly A 346s + a weekly A 320 and a weekly B 773ER so the capacity increase is 204 seats on a round trip basis i.e. 11%.

MEL - capacity increased from 6 weekly A 345s + weekly A 346 to 3 weekly A 346s + 4 weekly A 345s.

ORD - capacity reduced from daily A 346 to weekly A 345 + 6 weekly A 346.

EBL - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly flights operated by an A 320 exclusively.

SYD - capacity reduced from 11 weekly A 346s to 2 weekly A 345s + 9 weekly A 346s.

CDG - capacity increased to 8 weekly A 333s + 2 weekly A 332s.

GVA - capacity increased from Dec 1st from 5 weekly A 332s to 5 weekly A 333s.

Emirates has officially announced major capacity changes across its entire medium and long haul network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

SYD - frequencies reduced from triple daily to double daily flights i.e. daily A 380 nonstop + daily B 773ER via BKK.

AMS - capacity increased to daily nonstop flights operated by a B 773ER exclusively.

HKG - capacity increased from double daily B 773 to daily A 380 via BKK plus daily B 773ER nonstop.

PER - capacity increased to 13 weekly B 773ERs + weekly B 772LR.

MAD - capacity increased from daily A 332 to daily A 343.

ISB - capacity increased to 4 weekly B 773ERs + weekly B 772A.

LHE - capacity increased to 4 weekly B 773ERs.

TUN - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly flights operated by an A 332.

LAX - frequencies increased from daily to double daily nonstop flights using a B 777-200LR for all services.

MXP - capacity adjusted to double daily A 343s.

IAH - frequencies increased from daily to double daily nonstop flights using a B 777-200LR for 13 flights + weekly B 773ER (payload restricted).

Cathay Pacific has officially announced that it is increasing capacity to SFO-San Francisco from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season. It was planned to serve HKG-SFO with a daily B 744 + daily B 773ER, however that has been changed to 10 weekly B 744s + 4 weekly B 773ERs. In addition, other changes revealed are as follows:

SYD - frequencies increased from 25 to 28 weekly flights all operated with an A 333.
AKL - frequencies reduced from double daily nonstop flights to 12 weekly i.e. daily B 744 + 5 weekly A 343.

KIX - frequencies increased from double to triple daily nonstop using an A 333 for all flights.

BNE - frequencies increased to 11 weekly flights.

CNS - frequencies increased to daily flights.

Qatar and Sri Lanka have officially announced signing of a new air bilateral accord which has the following highlights:

a) Frequencies can be increased from 21 to 28 weekly flights.

b) Out of these flights, 14 must be operated using narrow body equipment.

c) Fares to be common rated with UL on DOH-CMB-DOH sector.

Gulf Air has revealed on the GDS system that it shall be increasing capacity to Karachi, Pakistan for the entire IATA Winter 2010 season. Planned daily A 320 services are being increased to a daily A 321 which offers an extra 34 seats per flight. This change is effective Oct 11th 2010.

GMG Airlines has officially announced that it has been granted the authority by the Saudi and Bangladeshi Governments to operate 10 weekly nonstop flights from Dhaka to Saudi Arabia effective immediately. The allocation is 6 weekly JED + 4 weekly RUH flights. As a result, GMG has commenced operations on the DAC-JED sector 4 times per week using a Boeing 767-300ER along side RUH-DAC 3 times per week using the same aircraft type. Z5 has stated on its website that its B 763ERs are configured to hold 264 passengers.

Air China has officially announced that it shall be increasing frequencies on its flights to Dubai from Beijing from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season. Flights are to be increased to 5 times per week nonstop using an Airbus A 330-200 for all services.

China Airlines of Taiwan has officially announced few capacity changes to its long haul route network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

JFK - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 weekly flights using an A 343.

DEL/FCO - frequencies reduced from 3 to 2 weekly flights using an A 343.

LAX - frequencies reduced from double daily B 744s to 12 weekly B 744s.

Air Canada has officially confirmed that it is reducing frequencies to Geneva for the IATA Winter 2010 season. AC planned to serve Montreal-Geneva 5 times per week using a B 763ER, however that is being reduced to 4 times per week now using the same aircraft type.

Air India has officially announced major capacity increases to its domestic operations from its new Delhi hub from the onset of the IATA Winter 2010 season. This has been done in order to better feed its long haul and regional international flights from the DEL gateway point. The main highlights are as follows:

DEL/ATQ – frequencies increased from double daily to 5 daily flights with all services using an A 321.

DEL/BOM – frequencies increased from 11 to 14 daily flights.

DEL/AMD – frequencies increased from double to triple daily flights with all services using an A 319.

DEL/HYD – frequencies increased from double daily to 4 daily flights with all services using an A 320.

DEL/COK – frequencies increased from daily to double daily using an A 321 and A 320 each respectively.

DEL/CCU – frequencies increased to five daily flights using a mixture of A 319s/320s/321s.

EVA Air of Taiwan has officially announced that it shall be adjusting capacity on its flights to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore for the entire IATA Winter 2010 season. Services to SIN are being increased from 5 weekly A 332s to daily nonstop flights using a B 773ER. On the other hand, KUL flights are being reduced from 5 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332.

Egypt Air has officially announced few capacity changes for its medium haul network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

KWI - frequencies increased to double daily nonstop flights.

AUH - frequencies increased to 10 weekly nonstop flights.

CDG - frequencies increased to 9 weekly nonstop flights i.e. daily A 333 + 2 weekly A 320.

DXB - capacity increased from Jan 4th to daily A 333 + daily A 332.

Airline News Aug 7-14

2010-08-14T16:57:00.002-04:00

Cathay Pacific has officially announced that it shall be increasing its flights to YYZ-Toronto and PER-Perth from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season i.e. Oct 31st. Operations to YYZ are being increased from the current 10 weekly to 12 weekly nonstop with all flights being flown using a Boeing 777-300ER. On the other hand, services to PER are being increased from daily A 333s to 10 weekly nonstop flights using an A 333 nine times per week + an A 343 once a week. CX too confirmed that has signed a LOI with Airbus for 30 A 350-900s and shall be exercising options to convert 6 Boeing 777-300ERs into firm orders as the carrier continues to implement its on going fleet replacement strategy. These A 359s are meant to replace CX's oldest A 333s and its entire A 343 + B 772A fleet. When the order is officially on announced on Airbus's order books, it is expected to consist for many more A 359s as the number of planes it will be replacing total 60+ in the A 359 size category.

Gulf Air has officially announced that it will be launching 3 new destinations and increasing frequencies to Kuala Lumpur + Kathmandu for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The three new cities are Addis Ababa, Basra and Isfahan. The main highlights are as follows:

ADD - new 5 weekly nonstop flights to be launched effective Dec 6th using an A 320.

IFN - new 3 weekly flights to be operated using an E70.

BSR - new 4 weekly flights to be operated using an E70.

KTM - frequencies increased from 9 to 11 weekly nonstop flights using an A 320.

KUL - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a mixture of A 332s and A 343s.

Ethiopian Airlines has officially confirmed that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to IAD-Washington DC from Dec 15th 2010 onwards as well as increasing frequencies on this flagship route of theirs. ET will be utilizing its brand new Boeing 777-200LR for this flight which will accommodate 321 passengers in a 2 class configuration i.e. 34 business class + 287 economy class. Services to IAD are being increased from 6 weekly to daily flights with the outbound flight from ADD making a technical stopover in FCO-Rome but IAD-ADD will be operates nonstop. The flying time between IAD and ADD is 12 hours 30 minutes.

Air India has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to CDG-Paris from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season i.e. Oct 31st. Currently, AI operates 3 weekly nonstop flights from its new DEL hub using a 238 seater Boeing 777-200LR. However from Oct 31st, capacity shall be increased by 44% as a 342 seater Boeing 777-300ER will be used to operate this service. The reason for the capacity increase AI confirmed is to aggressively target 6th freedom transit traffic bound to Bangkok and Kathmandu via DEL for which good connections are on offer in both directions. AI too confirmed via an earlier press release, that it does have clear cut intentions of increasing CDG-DEL to a daily service within the next year.

Singapore Airlines has revealed on the GDS that it shall be implementing few changes to its medium haul network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

IST - capacity increased to 4 weekly nonstop terminator services using a Boeing 777-200 instead of operating via Dubai.

DXB - frequencies reduced from double daily to 11 weekly.

PVG - frequencies reduced from 5 to 4 times daily.

EVA Air has officially confirmed that it shall be increasing capacity across its international network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

SFO - frequencies increased from 10 to 12 weekly nonstop flights using a B 773ER.

SEA - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B 744.

HND - new double daily nonstop flights to be launched using an A 332.

NRT - capacity increased to daily B 773ER + daily A 332.

JKT - capacity increased to 6 weekly nonstop flights using a B 744 Combi.

Air Asia X has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to IKA-Tehran, Iran from Dec 1st 2010 onwards. D7 will be operating twice weekly nonstop services from its Kuala Lumpur hub using an Airbus A 330-300 with the following flight schedule:

Days of operation: MON/WED

D7 2904 Dep KUL1610 Arr IKA 2040 D7 2905 Dep IKA 2155 Arr KUL 1055
Etihad Airways has officially announced that it will be changing its business model on many low yielding regional routes that are within a 5 hour flying radius of its Abu Dhabi home base. It has revealed that it will be changing the configuration of 10 of its 15 Airbus A 320-200s to an all economy class layout seating 162 passengers offering a seat pitch of 32 inches. Initially 2 aircraft by October 31st will be reconfigured and shall be used on flights to Damascus, Colombo, Calicut and Trivandrum where as in the future services to Cochin, Chennai, Peshawar, Amman, Athens and Beirut too will see this product. EY's CEO Mr Hogan stated that this is a direct response to Fly Dubai who has poached a lot of market share to many cities which has caused some concern not only amongst EY but also amongst all GCC carriers. In total, EY has ordered 20 A 320s hence half of this fleet will get the all economy configuration.

Emirates has officially confirmed that it shall be increasing capacity on its route to LAD-Luanda, Angola from Nov 1st 2010. Currently, EK operates 3 times per week nonstop from Dubai using a 3 class A 330-200, however from November it shall be using the larger Boeing 777-200ER to operate this route due to the huge cargo and premium class demand that it has been experiencing on this sector.
Lufthansa has officially announced that it will be increasing frequencies to EWR-Newark, USA for the IATA Winter 2010 season by adding a second daily nonstop service. Currently, LH only operate a daily flight on the FRA-EWR route using an A 346 but ever since it has grown in stature as a major Star Alliance hub due to Continental Airlines being based there. Both of LH's FRA-EWR daily flights shall be operated using an A 340-300.

Qatar Airways has officially confirmed that it will be increasing its flights to DAR-Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from January 2nd 2011. Currently, QR operate a daily nonstop flight from DOH to DAR, however from January frequencies are being increased to 11 weekly services using an A 320.

Japan Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to Delhi, India from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season. Currently JAL operates a 3 weekly nonstop service using a Boeing 777-200ER however, from Nov 1st an additional 4th weekly nonstop service will be initiated using the same aircraft type.

July 30-Aug 06 Airline News

2010-08-14T16:46:00.003-04:00

British Airways has officially revealed that it shall be reducing capacity on its London-Delhi route from Feb 1st onwards as the carrier takes delivery of more B 773ERs. For the IATA Winter 2010 season, it is operating a double daily B 744 service to DEL, however from Feb 1st, it gets reduced to a daily B 773ER + daily B 744. In addition, BA too confirmed that its flights to North America will see capacity changes for the Winter 2010 season in the following manner:

LAX- frequencies reduced from triple daily B 744s to double daily services using the same aircraft type.

EWR - capacity increased to triple daily B 772ERs.

JFK - frequencies increased to 48 times per week from LHR using a B 744 36 times per week + 12 weekly B 772ERs.

Virgin Atlantic has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity to Delhi, India from its London Heathrow base from the on set of the Summer 2011 season i.e. March 27th. Currently, it operates a daily nonstop service using an Airbus a 340-300 however from March 27th, a larger Airbus A 340-600 shall be used by the carrier to fly the route on a daily basis.

Air India has officially announced that it will be rescheduling its operations to Toronto with the much anticipated daily nonstop flight being announced from Delhi from Nov 1st 2010. AI will be using a Boeing 777-300ER for this dedicated flight with a same flight number to ATQ-Amritsar. However, the DEL-ATQ sector will be operated using an A 320/321. The flight schedule is as follows: Days of operation - DAILY AI 187 Dep DEL 0125 Arr YYZ 0645 AI 188 Dep YYZ 1035 Arr DEL 1125+1

Other long haul changes announced by the airline to take effect from Nov 1st are as follows:

DEL/LHR – frequencies increased from 10 weekly B 77Ws to double daily nonstop using a B 77W + B 77L each daily. Flights shall arrive into LHR at 1330 and 1855 with departures being at 1330 and 2130 respectively.

BOM/FRA/ORD – canceled

AMD/FRA/EWR – canceled

DEL/LHR/YYZ – canceled

ATQ/LHR/YYZ – canceled

DEL/ORD – daily nonstop flights to be operated using a B 77L.

BOM/EWR - daily nonstop flights to be operated using a B 77L.

DEL/FRA – daily ‘day light’ terminator flight to be operated using a B 77L. This will be the only India-FRA service operated by the carrier as it is abolishing its scissors hub at FRA airport from Oct 31^st.

Singapore Airlines has officially revealed many capacity changes to its medium and long haul route network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

SYD - capacity increased to double daily A 380s + double daily B 772ERs.

KIX - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly nonstop flights using an A 333 for all flights.

DAC - capacity increased from daily B 772As to daily A 333s.

BKK - capacity increased from 4 daily B 772As to 4 daily A 333s which seat 19 more passengers per flight.

AMD - capacity increased from 2 weekly B 772As to 2 weekly A 333s.

LAX - all business class A 345 operated flight sees frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop.

DME/IAH - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using a B 773ER.

Qatar Airways has officially revealed that it will be reducing capacity on its Singapore-Bali route from Jan 1st 2011 onwards. Currently, QR operates this service on a daily basis using a 335 seater B 777-300ER, however from the new year it will be using a smaller 259 seater B 777-200LR three times per week along side the B 773ER four times per week. This translates into a 24% reduction by QR on this sector.

KLM has confirmed that it shall be implementing few capacity changes for its long haul network for the Summer 2011 season. The main highlights are as follows:

LIM - capacity increased from daily B 772ER to 3 weekly B 773ER + 4 weekly B 772ER.

SFO - capacity increased from daily B 773ER to daily B 744 from June 26th.

Oman Air has officially announced few changes to its Indian subcontinent network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. Services to Bangalore are being increased from 5 to 6 weekly nonstop flights where as flights to Chittagong are also being increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights. BLR will be served with a B 737-700 where as CGP is operated with a B 738.

Fly Dubai has officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to Bahrain and Muscat from Nov 1st 2010 onwards. Both cities will see frequencies lifted from double daily to triple daily flights using a 189 seater B 738X.

Spice Jet under a new management team has confirmed to the Indian media that it shall be ordering 30 new Boeing 737-800s which shall be delivered to the carrier from 2014 onwards. This will make the total B 738 fleet number 58 aircraft.

Finnair has officially announced that it shall be leasing into its fleet 2 used Airbus A 340-300s from April 2011 as the carrier looks to further expand its highly successful long haul services to Southeast Asia from its HEL hub. The aircraft will come from ILFC and are expected to be ex Virgin Atlantic aircraft as the latter is receiving few A 333s from next summer which are replacing the A 343s on trans-atlantic services.

Farnborough Air Show 2010 aircraft orders

2010-07-23T04:55:00.002-04:00

At the on going Farnborough Air Show being held in the UK, the following major aircraft orders were placed by airlines worldwide:

a) Emirates confirmed an order for 30 Boeing 777-300ERs and stated all these aircraft will have a 3 class configuration hence meant for higher yielding medium/long haul routes.

b) Qatar Airways confirmed an order for 2 Boeing 777-200LRs + 3 options of the same variant. These shall be delivered in 2012 and shall be used to launch new nonstop flights from Doha to Los Angeles.

c) GECAS Leasing placed an order for 60 Airbus A 320s + 40 Boeing 737NGs.

d) Garuda Indonesia officially confirmed placing an order for 6 Airbus A 330-200s.

e) Aeroflot officially confirmed placing an order for 11 Airbus A 330-300s.

f) Air Lease Corporation (founded by former ILFC CEO Mr Udzvar) confirmed placing an order for 20 A 321-200s (10 with Sharklets) + 31 Airbus A 320-200s + 20 EMB 190ARs + 60 Boeing 737NGs.

g) Saudia Airlines was identified as the UFO customer for 12 new Boeing 777-300ERs.

h) Norwegian Airlines confirmed placing an order for 15 Boeing 737-800s.

i) Flybe ordered 100 EMB175s i.e. 35 firm + 65 options

j) Hong Kong Airlines announced an order for 10 Airbus A 330-200s + 15 Airbus A 350s.

k) Royal Jordanian ordered 3 Boeing 787-800s.

l) RBS Aviation Capital ordered 52 Airbus A 320s + 43 Boeing 737NGs.

m) Air Austral ordered 2 Boeing 777-200LRs + 1 Boeing 777-300ERs.

n) ALAFCO of Kuwait exchanged a previous order of 12 Airbus A 350-800s for 12 Airbus A 350-900s.

o) American Airlines officially confirmed placing an order for 35 Boeing 737-800s.

p) Virgin America signed with Airbus an order for 40 Airbus A 320-200s with Sharklets + 20 options.

q) LAN Chile signed a MOU for 50 A 320s out of which 10 are A 321-200s.

r) Azerbaijan Airlines officially confirmed placing an order for 2 Boeing 767-300ER freighters + 1 B 763ER pax model.

Airline News July 15-23 2010

2010-07-23T04:52:00.002-04:00

Thai Airways has revealed on the GDS further capacity changes to its route network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

OSL - capacity increased from daily A 345 to daily B 772ER.

DEL - capacity increased to daily B 744 + daily B 773A from daily A 333 + daily B 773A.

DME - frequencies increased from 3 weekly B 772ERs to 4 weekly nonstop flights using a B 773A.

MXP - capacity reduced from 3 weekly B 772ERs to 3 weekly A 346s.

DXB - capacity reduced from daily B 773A to daily B 772ER.

SYD - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 weekly nonstop with all flights being operated using an A 340-600.

JKT - capacity increased from daily B 772A to daily B 744.

Qatar Airways has officially announced that it shall be increasing frequencies to DAC-Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 1st 2011. Currently, QR operates 11 weekly flights between its Doha hub and Dhaka which shall be increased to 13 times per week i.e. 10 weekly A 333s + 3 weekly A 332s. QR too confirmed that it is increasing capacity to Europe for the IATA Winter 2010 season in the following manner:

ZRH - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 332.

CPH - frequencies and capacity increased from 4 weekly A 319LRs to 6 weekly A 332s from Feb 2011.

ESB - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 320.

Gulf Air has officially announced that it shall be launching 2 new destinations from this winter onwards. Services to Colombo shall be resumed after a 5 year gap with 5 weekly nonstop flights operated using an A 320-200 and new 4 weekly services to Aden, Yemen will also be launched as a tag on service from Sanaa.

CMB will have a split flight schedule which will connect very well with Europe/North America three times per week outbound and twice a week inbound to cater to the large Sri Lankan/Tamil immigrant communities that reside in the Western Hemisphere. However, London Heathrow shall witness convenient 5 weekly connections in both directions via BAH.

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it shall be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to LAX-Los Angeles, USA from March 31st 2011. TK will operate this new service with its brand new Boeing 777-300ER that will be delivered factory fresh from Boeing. The flight schedule for LAX is as follows:

Days of operation: TUE/THU/SAT/SUN

TK 009 Dep IST 1110 Arr LAX 1625
TK 010 Dep LAX 1855 Arr IST 1710+1

The above mentioned flight schedule connects very well with TK's entire Levant, North Africa, Middle East, GCC, BOM, DEL, East Africa, South Africa flights in both directions via IST. With regards to Karachi connections, it connects thrice weekly outbound and twice weekly inbound.

As far as the cabin configuration of its new B 773ERs are concerned, they will seat 337 passengers in a business, premium economy and economy cabin. TK's new premium economy product will have a seat pitch of 45 inches, seat width of 19.6 inches and a recline of 130 degrees. The other routes that shall be getting TK's new B 773ERs on regular flights are Hong Kong and Shanghai from March 8th onwards.

Virgin Atlantic has revealed few capacity changes with regards to its North American schedule for Summer 2011. The main highlights are as follows:

BOS - capacity increased from 4 weekly B 744s + 3 weekly A 343s to 6 weekly A 346s + weekly A 343.

EWR - capacity increased to double daily A 346s from daily A 343s + daily A 346s.

MIA - capacity reduced from daily B 744 to 2 weekly A 346s + 5 weekly B 744s.

KLM has revealed on the GDS many capacity changes to its long haul route network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

MNL - capacity reduced to 3 weekly B 773ERs + 4 weekly B 772ERs.

YYC - frequencies reduced from 5 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332.

DXB - capacity reduced to 13 weekly nonstop flights using an A 332 only.

DEL - capacity increased from Feb 1st onwards to a daily B 773ER.

Etihad Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching new daily nonstop flights to ICN-Seoul, South Korea from Dec 10th 2010 onwards from its Abu Dhabi hub base. EY will be operating a 3 class configured A 330-200 on this new route.

Air India has officially confirmed that it will be increasing its flights to Abu Dhabi from its Mumbai hub effective Oct 31st onwards. Currently, it operates 5 times per week using an A 321 which shall be increased to daily nonstop flights using the same aircraft type.

Delta Airlines has officially revealed that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to HND-Tokyo Haneda from Jan 29th 2011 onwards from its Detroit and Los Angeles hubs each respectively. Both cities will see daily terminator service to HND using a Boeing 747-400.

Qatar Airways

2010-06-26T08:36:00.002-04:00

Qatar Airways has officially announced details of a massive expansion plan in Europe and Southeast Asia which shall commence from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season. This includes the addition of 6 new cities to its ever expanding global network which include Phuket, Hanoi, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest and Nice. In addition, QR has too revealed on the GDS that it shall be adding a third daily nonstop flight to BKK-Bangkok from Nov 2nd 2010 onwards using an Airbus A 330-300. This third daily flight enables connections in both directions via DOH to North America and all EU/African cities that depart between 745-1045am Doha time.

The main highlights of this expansion plan are as follows:

BRU - new 5 weekly nonstop flights to be flown using an A 332.

HKT (Phuket) - new daily flights to be flown using an A 333 via KUL with full 5th freedom rights.

HAN - new four weekly flights to be flown using an A 333 via BKK with full 5th freedom rights.

SGN (Ho Chi Minh City) - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily flights using an A 332 i.e. 3 weekly via BKK with full 5th freedom rights + 4 nonstop.

BKK - frequencies increased from double to triple daily nonstop flights using a B 777-300ER double daily + daily A 333.

NCE - new three weekly flights to be operated via MXP using an A 333.

BUD/BUH - new 4 weekly flights to be flown using an A 320 as a tag on triangular service.

Analysis:

Out of all these flights, BRU and Vietnam I feel has the best chance of being successful. Unlike its other EU route launches, BRU has a standardized timing which allows excellent connections via QR's Doha hub to connect beautifully in both directions to all of QR's Southeast Asian destinations + KHI, CMB, DAC and KTM. They will get a good amount of high yielding business class traffic on this route and give Etihad a tough time henceforth.

With regards to HAN, its an excellent move to fly there via BKK with 5th freedom rights especially now since Air France will be suspending flights to the city from October onwards. With HAN being the capital of Vietnam, one would expect QR to get a good amount of high yielding J class flying political/military traffic on board bound to Europe and GCC in particular.

Lufthansa

2010-06-25T16:03:00.002-04:00

Lufthansa has officially revealed major capacity and frequency changes for its long haul network for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

MAA - capacity increased from daily A 343 to 6 weekly A 346s + weekly A 343.

CPT - frequencies increased to daily nonstop flights using a B 744.

AUH/MCT - frequencies increased to daily flights using an A 333 six times per week + weekly A 343.

ICN - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 weekly nonstop flights using an A 346.

ATL - capacity adjusted from daily A 343 to daily A 333.

JNB - capacity increased from daily B 744 to 3 weekly A 380s + 4 weekly A 346s.

LOS - capacity adjusted from daily A 333 to daily A 343.

ALA - frequencies increased to daily nonstop flights using an A 343 twice a week + A 333 five times a week.

DFW - capacity adjusted from daily A 343 to daily A 333.

EWR - capacity reduced from daily B 744 to daily A 346.

PHL - frequencies reduced from daily to 6 weekly nonstop flights using an A 343.

ABV - frequencies increased to daily flights using an A 333 six times per week + an A 343 once a week.

Austrian Airlines

2010-06-25T16:02:00.001-04:00

Austrian Airlines has officially announced that it shall be increasing capacity on its route to Dubai, UAE from January 19th 2011 onwards. Currently, OS operates a daily nonstop flight using a Boeing 767-300ER which will from mid January onwards be increased to the larger Boeing 777-200ER. In addition, OS has too confirmed that it shall be increasing capacity to TLV-Tel Aviv with a double daily nonstop service using an Airbus A 321-200.

Delta Airlines

2010-06-25T15:57:00.001-04:00

Delta Airlines has officially revealed major changes to its long haul route network for the IATA Winter season that shall come into effect from Oct 31st 2010. The main highlights are as follows:

JFK/AMS/BOM - daily same plane service using an A 332 instead of the route originating from ATL.

EWR/AMS - capacity increased from a daily B 763ER to a daily A 332.

ATL/AMS - capacity increased from daily A 332 to daily A 333.

MEM/AMS - capacity increased from a daily B 763ER to a daily A 332.

LAX/NRT - capacity increased from daily A 332 to daily B 744.

NRT/HKG - capacity increased from daily A 333 to daily B 744.

NRT/PVG - capacity increased from daily A 333 to daily B 744.

ATL/MXP - frequencies reduced from 5 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using a B 763ER.

Malaysia Airlines

2010-06-25T15:56:00.004-04:00

Malaysia Airlines has officially revealed few changes to its Asia medium haul network effective July 15th on routes to Male, Manila and Hyderabad. The main highlights are as follows:

HYD - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B 738.

MNL - frequencies increased from daily to double daily nonstop flights using a B 738.

MLE - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using an A 333.

Royal Brunei

2010-06-25T15:56:00.002-04:00

Royal Brunei has officially announced that it shall be increasing capacity on its route to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia effective August 2nd 2010. Currently, BI operates 5 times per week nonstop using a Boeing 767-300ER, however this shall change when from August it will be utilizing one of its leased ex SQ Boeing 777-200ER to operate the service.

Thai Airways

2010-06-25T15:53:00.002-04:00

Thai Airways has officially disclosed many changes to its medium and long haul network from August 1st 2010 onwards. The main highlights are as follows: DXB - capacity increased from a daily 267 seater A 346 to a 388 seater B 777-300A i.e. 45% capacity increase!

SYD - frequencies reduced from triple daily to double daily nonstop flights using an A 340-600 for both services.

AKL - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B 772ER.

HYD - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 weekly nonstop flights using an AB6.

BNE - frequencies increased from 3 to 5 weekly nonstop terminator flights using a B 772ER.

DPS - frequencies increased from daily to 11 weekly flights using a B 773A daily + an A 333 four times per week.

JKT - frequencies increased from daily to 10 times per week using an A 333 for all services.

Thai Airways has officially announced that as part of its fleet modernization plan, it shall be leasing 8 Boeing 777-300ERs and purchasing 7 Airbus A 330-300s. The 7 A 333s will be exclusively used to on regional routes within Asia to boost capacity and replace all current routes operated by their aging AB6 fleet. The 8 B 773ERs on the other hand shall be utilized on high yielding long haul routes that see considerably business class traffic.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/aviation/39042/thai-divides-jet-orders-between-boeing-airbus

Cathay Pacific

2010-06-25T15:51:00.002-04:00

Cathay Pacific has officially announced that it will be placing a large order for wide bodied jets this year (most likely at the Farnborough Air Show) to replace its fleet of Boeing 747-400s, Airbus A 340-300s and Boeing 777-200As / -300As as the carrier looks to streamline its fleet and cater for expected growth in traffic during the later part of the current decade. Thus far it has indicated that it will not order the Airbus A 380 and instead it shall be initially focusing its attention on both the A 350, B 773ER and B 787 family line to meet its expectations.

Comments:

Interesting announcement by CX which indicates that they are writing off the A 380 for now but who knows as this could be a bargaining tactic used by them to get Airbus to sweeten the deal if they do order a dozen or so A 380s! For CX's wide bodied fleet replacement, they should implement the following changes:

1. B 773As to be replaced by B 773ERs and used on regional routes in a 2 class configuration in the same manner that EK uses these aircraft on short/medium haul sectors. The B 773As need to be gradually replaced from 2013 onwards and in order to have fleet commonality, costs controlled etc, the B 773ER is the best replacement as its flexibility too would in the future allow longer range flights to new or existing markets.

2. A 343s, B 772As and A 333s to be replaced by A 359s due to the latter's similar pax carrying capability + greater nonstop flying range ability.

3. B 744s to be replaced by A 380s and not B 773ERs because the current CX B 744 fleet seats 380 pax approximately where as their B 773ERs seat only 301. Now a typical 3 class A 380 in CX's configuration would likely seat 500 pax which means 120 pax more than their B 744s i.e. nearly 30% more. One would instead suggest that the A 380s of CX be used exclusively as a 4 class aircraft with a new premium economy cabin added into the on board product so that the total 4 class capacity becomes 450 pax max which means 70 more than the B 744 i.e. approx 18% more which is manageable from a sales stand point. In addition, traffic volume on potential CX A 380 routes should increase by approx 20% over the next 5 years so this is all manageable. If CX orders A 380s at this summer's Farnborough Air Show, they would probably get the A 380s delivered from 2014 onwards.

The A 380s of CX should be used on:

HKG-LHR
HKG-LAX
HKG-JFK

HKG-CDG...in this way like how SQ reduced ZRH frequencies, CX can fly a daily A 380 to CDG rather than 10 weekly B 744s.

HKG-SYD
HKG-SFO

HKG-SIN (regional route as part of a continued same plane service from a long haul flight)
HKG-NRT (regional route as part of a continued same plane service from a long haul flight)
HKG-TPE (regional route as part of a continued same plane service from a long haul flight)

Emirates

2010-06-25T15:50:00.002-04:00

Emirates has officially announced at the Berlin Air Show that they have placed a massive order with Airbus for 32 additional Airbus A 380-800s. This means that by the time all these additional aircraft are delivered by 2017, EK's A 380 fleet size will jump from 58 to 90. EK too confirmed that these additional A 380s will not be used as a replacement aircraft for any of its wide bodied fleet and instead to propel further capacity growth in key high density markets worldwide.

Comments:

One should not be surprised at all if many of these A 380s end up being transferred to its aircraft leasing unit i.e. DAE and leased out to interested airlines worldwide. Some too feel that this order has also been placed in order to create a further backlog on the A 380 production line thus causing further delivery issues for carriers that would like to place new or additional orders.

Singapore Airlines

2010-06-25T15:48:00.001-04:00

Singapore Airlines has officially confirmed that it shall be increasing its flights to Munich and Manchester from Sept 1st 2010 onwards. Currently, 5 weekly flights are flown as SIN-MUC-MAN-MUC-SIN with 5th freedom traffic rights on the MUC-MAN-MUC sector using a Boeing 777-300ER. However from Sept 1st, these flights shall witness a rise in frequency from 5 weekly to daily flights using the same aircraft type.

Air France

2010-06-25T15:45:00.002-04:00

Air France has officially revealed few changes to its long haul schedule for the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

GIG - frequencies increased from 12 weekly to double daily nonstop flights using a B 744 and an A 332 each daily.

NRT - frequencies reduced from 20 weekly to double daily flights flown nonstop using an A 380 and B 773ER each daily.

ATL - capacity increased from daily A 343 to daily B 772ER.

China Eastern Airlines

2010-06-25T15:44:00.001-04:00

China Eastern Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to YVR-Vancouver and JFK-New York City from its PVG-Shanghai hub effective Oct 31st 2010 onwards. Services to JFK shall be increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 340-600 where as operations to YVR are to be upgraded from 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 340-300.

British Airways

2010-06-25T15:42:00.001-04:00

British Airways has officially revealed details of the layout of its new Boeing 777-300ER cabin configuration as well as what routes it shall be operating on from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 timetable. BA's B 773ERs will seat a total of 297 seats in a 4 class configuration i.e. 14 first class + 56 business class + 44 premium economy and 183 economy class. The initial routes that shall be getting these new aircraft are Mumbai and Dubai only.

Hence for the Winter 2010 season, BA's capacity to BOM will drop from a daily B 744 + daily B 772ER to a daily B 773ER + daily B 772ER where as DXB's capacity too shall be reduced as it will see a daily B 773ER + daily B 772ER + daily B 763ER operating rather than a B 744 for the winter season.

Alitalia

2010-06-25T15:41:00.001-04:00

Alitalia is expected to announce shortly that it will be increasing its flights to Japan in particular NRT-Tokyo from Nov 1st 2010 to take full advantage of the withdrawal of JAL-Japan Airlines on the high yielding Italy-Japan sector. AZ plans to add an additional weekly flight operated nonstop both from its Rome and Milan stations to Tokyo which shall see the carrier offering a total of 14 weekly flights on the Tokyo route i.e. 10 from FCO and 4 from MXP.

United Airlines

2010-06-25T15:39:00.002-04:00

United Airlines has officially confirmed that it shall be reducing capacity to BKK-Bangkok from July 1st. Currently, UA operates a daily Boeing 747-400 to BKK via Tokyo with full 5th freedom traffic rights however it will be reduced to a daily Boeing 777-200ER as the B 744 will instead be used to boost capacity to TPE-Taipei which is also flown via NRT.

UA too announced that it shall be boosting capacity to BRU-Brussels from its IAD-Washington hub for the IATA Winter 2010 season from a daily Boeing 767-300ER to a daily Boeing 777-200ER.

Kingfisher Airlines

2010-06-25T15:38:00.001-04:00

Kingfisher Airlines has officially announced that it shall be increasing capacity on its Southeast Asian network from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season in the following manner:

DEL / HKG - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 332.

DEL / BKK - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 320.

BOM / BKK - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 320.

Continental Airlines

2010-06-25T15:36:00.001-04:00

Continental Airlines has officially announced that its first route to be flown with its new Boeing 787-800 fleet shall be a new destination in itself. New daily nonstop flights to Auckland, New Zealand have been chosen as the launch route flown from its IAH-Houston hub. The flight time is 15 hours and the configuration of its B 788s will have 228 seats in a 2 class layout i.e. 36 business class + 192 in economy class.

Comments:

This has come as quite a shock to many as no one expected IAH-AKL to be the initial route operated by CO's maiden B 788s nor did anyone expect IAH-AKL to be even in the short term expansion pipeline! Anyways, other routes ear marked by CO to be operated by their B 788 fleet are a new daily same plane service IAH-EWR-DXB, replacing B 772ERs to both BOM and DEL, replacing B 764ER on IAH-CDG, replacing B 762ERs from both EWR and IAH to GRU, replacing B 762ERs from IAH to EZE and new daily service to West Africa (most likely LOS) from EWR. One should also expect SE Asian routes such as IAH-ICN (with OZ code sharing) and IAH-China too launched within the next 3-4 years with the B 788s if the worldwide economy holds fort.

Air India

2010-06-25T15:21:00.003-04:00

Air India has officially revealed on the GDS few capacity changes with regards to its regional network effective June 21st which shall last till the end of the IATA Summer 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

BOM/SIN - capacity increased from a daily A 319 to a daily B 773ER.

BOM/DXB - capacity increased from daily A 321 to a daily B 773ER. It will be a daily same plane service DXB-BOM-SIN henceforth!

COK/CCJ/JED - capacity increased to 5 weekly B 744s.

Air India also has officially announced that it shall be launching new services to ICN-Seoul, South Korea from Aug 1st 2010 onwards. AI will be operating to ICN from Delhi via Hong Kong four times per week using a Boeing 777-200LR with full 5th freedom traffic rights available on the HKG-ICN-HKG sector.

American Airlines

2010-06-25T15:18:00.003-04:00

American Airlines has officially announced that it shall be reducing capacity to Europe during the IATA Winter 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

ORD/FRA - all flights suspended from Nov 16th onwards.

JFK/FCO - all flights suspended from Nov 16th onwards.

ORD/DUB - all flights suspended from Oct 29th onwards.

Services on all the above mentioned routes shall resume on a daily basis effective April 5th 2011.

Comments:

Looks like AA takes quite a beating on the Star Alliance UA-LH dominated FRA-ORD route. It shall be interesting to see where these 3 B 763ERs get re deployed to in the winter season. One would assume boosting capacity to Hawaii and Latin America!

TAM Brazil

2010-06-25T15:15:00.001-04:00

TAM of Brazil has officially announced that it will be launching new nonstop flights to Frankfurt from its Rio De Janerio hub from August 1st 2010 onwards. JJ will be operating this route 5 times per week using an Airbus A 330-200.

The flight schedule is as follows:

Days of operation: TUE/WED/FRI/SAT/SUN

JJ 8072 Dep GIG 2145 Arr FRA 1440+1

JJ 8073 Dep FRA 2240 Arr GIG 0610+1

Turkish Airlines

2010-05-23T21:42:00.003-04:00

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that they will be launching new daily nonstop flights to Los Angeles (LAX) and Washington DC (IAD) from December 2010 onwards which shall be code shared with their Star Alliance partner i.e. United Airlines. Services to IAD will be flown using a new Airbus A 330-200 where as operations to LAX will be flown using their brand new factory fresh Boeing 777-300ER which will have the worlds largest business class seat. The flight schedule of these routes is expected to be as follows:

IAD - daily A 332 (250 seats...22J / 228Y)

TK XXX Dep IST 1100 Arr IAD 1450
TK XXX Dep IAD 2315 Arr IST 1700+1

LAX - daily B 773ER (310 seats...8F / 34J / 268Y)

TK XXX Dep IST 1045 Arr LAX 1445
TK XXX Dep LAX 1800 Arr IST 1720+1

The above mentioned schedule allows for excellent connections vis IST in both directions to all of TK's Levant, African, Central Asian, Middle East and Indian subcontinent (BOM/DEL/KHI) destinations. TK also officially confirmed that from Dec 2010, it shall also be increasing frequencies on its flagship route to New York-JFK to a double daily nonstop operation using their new Boeing 777-300ERs for both flights. The second daily departure will depart JFK at 1130pm where as the current one departs at 445pm NYC time.

Comments:

IAD was expected to be launched by TK since 2006 but always there was some sort of hindrance that prevented the route from being inaugurated. LAX will be an interesting route to see how TK performs from a yield point of view in particular as its an ultra long haul route with tons of competition and high operating costs. The airline that one feels that would be most impacted negatively with TK entering are EK and QR at LAX and IAD respectively.

The main reason for this is due to TK's ability to undercut EK's fares in all cabin classes from LAX to the Middle East and Africa in particular. Out of IAD, TK should see good J class loads bound to AMM/BEY/CAI/DAM/IST/TAS/ALA/ADD/SIN/KRT/GYD/JED/RUH in particular as the connections on offer to these capital cities from/to IAD via IST in both directions are excellent. From IAD, they shall be a huge threat to QR's market share to DEL/BOM/KHI/DXB/AUH in particular.

Air India

2010-05-23T21:40:00.003-04:00

Air India has officially announced that to meet high demand and increased competition on the Delhi-London Heathrow route, it has decided to increase capacity on this sector to a 10 weekly nonstop service using a Boeing 777-300ER for all the flights. Previously, AI operated a daily B 772LR alongside a 3 weekly B 773ER on this sector. This means that AI's capacity to LHR from DEL increases by 104 seats on a daily basis with this aircraft upgrade.

Egypt Air

2010-05-23T21:39:00.001-04:00

Egypt Air has officially announced that it is seriously examining the possibility of launching new daily flights to Toronto, Chicago and Washington DC from Summer 2011 as the carrier takes delivery of its last batch 2 new Boeing 777-300ERs by that time. Out of these 3 destinations, only 2 will be launched but the carrier insists that it will use their new B 77Ws to launch these services. It has also revealed on the GDS that effective Jan 1st 2011, capacity on its flagship CAI-JFK route will be increased from a daily B 777-200ER to a daily B 777-300ER. By December 2010, MS will have 3 B 773ERs and will be using them exclusively on 6 weekly nonstop flights to Tokyo + daily JFK services. MS's B 77Ws seat 346 in a 2 class configuration i.e. 49 in business class and 297 in economy class.

Comments:

There is no logical way that MS can fill a B 77W operating to YYZ-Toronto on a year round daily basis as the market isn't big enough to support a service using such an aircraft type. The best aircraft suited for MS's CAI-YYZ services is their 268 seater Airbus A 330-200 which accommodates 24 in J class and 244 in Y class. Even for IAD and ORD, the B 77W is too big for both routes to operate on a daily basis even if UA code shares on these flights which it definitely shall. If it really wants to fly B 77Ws to USA apart from JFK, then the best option would be IAD versus ORD because filling a 49 seater J class cabin with UA feed would be far easier from the political capital city versus ORD. From IAD, MS can get decent amount of high yielding political and business traffic bound to CAI and via its hub to KRT, Saudi Arabia, East Africa, South Africa, KRT, Central Asia, TIP, ALG, TUN and AMM.

Gulf Air

2010-05-23T21:37:00.001-04:00

Gulf Air has officially revealed on the GDS that it shall be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to MED-Medina, Saudi Arabia effective June 17th 2010 onwards. Flights are to operate with an Embarer E 70 aircraft offering a capacity of 67 seats.

Emirates

2010-05-23T21:36:00.001-04:00

Emirates has further revealed more details of its route expansion for the upcoming IATA Winter 2010-11 season. The main highlights are as follows:

JFK - capacity increased on EK 201/202 from daily B 773ER to daily A 380.

BGW - frequencies increased from 3 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 332.

CAI - frequencies increased from 10 to 13 weekly nonstop flights.

Lufthansa

2010-05-23T21:34:00.002-04:00

Lufthansa has officially confirmed that from August to end October, it shall be reducing capacity on its Munich-Tokyo route from a daily nonstop flight using an A 340-600 to a daily A 340-300. With regards to Cairo for IATA Winter 2010-11, it has revealed that it will be increasing capacity on the route by flying it daily but with an Boeing 747-400 rather than an A 340-600.

Air France

2010-05-23T21:32:00.001-04:00

Air France has officially announced that for the first time ever, it will be flying 20 times per week nonstop to NRT-Tokyo from its Paris hub during the IATA Winter 2010-11 season. Usually, during the winter season, AF operates only a double daily nonstop flight but faced with increased demand and competition from EK/EY/QR on this important high yielding route, it has decided to get ultra aggressive to protect its market share. For the CDG-NRT sector, double daily flights will be flown using a B 773ER and the remaining 6 weekly will be with an A 332.

Delta Airlines

2010-05-23T21:31:00.002-04:00

Delta Airlines has officially announced that it shall be launching a new 3rd daily nonstop flight from its JFK hub to LHR-London Heathrow from Sept 19th 2010. All 3 daily nonstop flights shall be operated by Boeing 767-400ERs. The flight timings are as follows:

Dep JFK 1845/2110/2305 Arr LHR 0705/0925/1130

Dep LHR 1005/1230/1705 Arr JFK 1320/1540/2040

Royal Brunei

2010-05-23T21:29:00.002-04:00

Royal Brunei has officially confirmed that it has finalized a deal with Singapore Airlines to lease out the latter's fleet of 6 Boeing 777-200ERs. BI will be using these aircraft to fully replace its aging fleet of 6 Boeing 767-300ERs which shall be gradually retired by January 2011. These aircraft seat 285 passengers in a 2 class configuration i.e. 30 business class + 255 economy class.

Emirates

2010-05-13T10:49:00.001-04:00

Emirates has officially announced that it will be launching new nonstop flights to BGW-Baghdad from July 1st 2010 from its Dubai home base. EK will be using an Airbus A 330-200 to operate this service three times per week. The flight schedule allows for excellent connections to all European and GCC destinations in particular. It is as follows:

Days of operation: TUE/THU/SAT

EK 941 Dep DXB 0700 Arr BGW 0830
EK 942 Dep BGW 1030 Arr DXB 1355

Oman Air

2010-05-13T10:46:00.001-04:00

Oman Air has officially announced that it shall be increasing its flights to BKK-Bangkok from June 1st 2010 as the carrier looks to consolidate its presence on this all important route which sees a lot of O&D traffic as well as generating a lot of 6th freedom transit traffic from Europe and within the GCC. This new 9th flight will be operated by its Airbus A 330-300 thus in total 3 weekly A 333 flights will be flown along side 6 weekly ones using an A 332.

Air Berlin

2010-05-13T10:45:00.001-04:00

Air Berlin based out of Berlin, Germany has officially confirmed that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to DXB-Dubai from November 1st 2010. Frequencies will be 3 times per week nonstop and the carrier will be utilizing an Airbus A 330-200 to operate the route on WED/FRI/SUN.

The flight schedule is as follows:

AB 7318 Dep TXL 1945 Arr DXB 0335+1
AB 7319 Dep DXB 0520 Arr TXL 0900

KLM

2010-05-13T10:44:00.001-04:00

KLM has officially announced that it shall be increasing frequencies on its popular Amsterdam-Tokyo Narita route from October 1st 2010 onwards. Currently, daily nonstop flights are operated by a Boeing 747-400 Combi, however from Oct 1st, frequencies will be increased to 9 times per week nonstop using a B 744 Combi daily + 2 weekly B 744 full pax configuration.

Thai Airways

2010-05-13T10:42:00.004-04:00

Thai Airways has officially confirmed that it shall be re-adjusting its capacity to Mumbai and Delhi in India from May 16th 2010 onwards in the following manner:

BOM - frequencies reduced from 10 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a 2 class configured B 773A.

DEL - frequencies increased from 12 weekly to double daily nonstop flights using a mixture of A 333s and B 772As.

Austrian Airlines

2010-05-13T10:42:00.002-04:00

Austrian Airlines is expected to shortly announce the resumption of its flights to Mumbai, India from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 timetable. OS will be re launching the route from Oct 31st onwards flying 5 times per week nonstop from its Vienna hub using a Boeing 767-300ER. The flight schedule is as follows:

OS 35 Dep VIE 1040 Arr BOM 2330
OS 36 Dep BOM 0145 Arr VIE 0540

Lufthansa

2010-05-13T10:38:00.003-04:00

Lufthansa has officially revealed details of the configuration of its Airbus A 380 cabin which is revealed to be seating 526 passengers in a 3 class configuration. The layout calls for the entire upper deck to be an exclusive premium cabin with 8 first class + 98 business class seats. The lower cabin will only cost of 420 economy class seats. LH though has not revealed the exact seat product features of its premium cabin on board this cabin but it has left many industry on lookers surprised with the number of business class seats it is installing on board considering the worldwide economic climate forecasted for the next three years. The initial routes that LH's A 380s are going to be deployed on are Tokyo, JFK, Delhi, Bangkok, Jo'Burg, Bangkok and China.

Comments:

98 business class seats means someone in LH's business strategy planning is banking on a strong turnaround for the worldwide economy during the next 3 years. Best of luck to them in trying to get a decent load factor. However there are 2 ways in which one can look at this cabin configuration especially of the business class.

1. In its B 744s, LH has 80 business class seats installed and with the A 380 being positioned as an aircraft capable of carrying 25% more passengers, therefore one may feel that the LH planning department folks have taken the safe route by increasing J class cabin size accordingly.

2. However, one may also feel that by having a large J class A 380 cabin on routes to China, BKK, SIN, HKG, NRT, JNB and DEL in particular, LH will be trying to poach away a size able chunk of the J class market share that currently EK/EY/QR/WY/TK/RJ/MS enjoy out of Germany/Europe due to their cheaper prices. One shall not be surprised to see out of these 98 J class seats, at least 20-24 being reserved in the lowest fare inventory category matching the cheap J class fares of the Arab carriers/TK/RJ/MS and KLM on key Asian/African routes in order to 'regain' vital market share!

Lufthansa has officially announced that it will be flying year round flights to YUL-Montreal instead of summer seasonal only from its secondary Munich hub. Flights shall be operating 5 times per week nonstop using an Airbus A 330-300. Other changes announced out of its MUC hub for the IATA Winter 2010 season are as follows:

DEL - capacity increased from daily A 343 to daily A 346.

DXB - capacity increased from daily A 343 to daily A 346.

RUH - 3 weekly nonstop flights using a B 738 to continue year round.

TAS - 3 weekly nonstop flights using a B 738 to continue year round.

LH has also officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to Abu Dhabi and Muscat from Frankfurt effective Oct 31st 2010 with an additional weekly flight being flown as FRA-AUH-MCT. Thus this route becomes a daily operated flight using an Airbus A 330-300.

In addition, LH too confirmed that it shall be increasing capacity on its new route to EBL-Erbil, Iraq from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season. Currently, flights are operated nonstop from its main FRA hub 5 times per week using an Airbus A 319. However from Oct 31st onwards, LH will be increasing services to daily nonstop on this sector using a larger Airbus A 320 which seats 38 more passengers than its A 319s.

Saudia Airlines

2010-05-12T19:10:00.002-04:00

Saudia Airlines has officially announced in a company newsletter memo that it will be purchasing 12 brand new Boeing 777-300ERs which shall be used to gradually replace its aging fleet of 9 Boeing 747-300s + 3 Boeing 747-100s. These aircraft have the capability of also flying nonstop to the U.S. East coast for which they are destined to be used on as well. The configuration of its B 773ERs are not revealed as yet but many will be configured in 2 regional 2 class layout to operate flights to MNL, Pakistan, India, DAC and CMB where as others receiving the 3 class configuration will be used on prestige routes such as USA, LHR, China and Tokyo.

Air Canada

2010-05-12T19:08:00.001-04:00

Air Canada has officially revealed details of its Southeast Asia expansion for the upcoming IATA Winter 2010 season as the carrier looks to consolidate its presence in the region. The main highlights are as follows:

YYZ / PEK - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to a daily nonstop flight using a Boeing 777-300ER.

YYZ / PVG - frequencies increased from 3 weekly to a daily nonstop flight using a Boeing 777-200LR.

YVR / PEK - frequencies increased to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a Boeing 767-300ER.

YVR / ICN - frequencies increased to daily nonstop flights using a Boeing 767-300ER.

YVR / PVG - frequencies increased to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a Boeing 767-300ER.