Gulf Air

Gulf Air has announced that it will make a big announcement at the upcoming Dubai Air show (Nov 11-15 2007) about its future plans as well as revealing a big order to lease wide bodied and narrow bodied Boeing and Airbus planes. Along with GF, EK, QR and possibly KU too are expected to order and firm up orders at this bi annual event.

Analysis:

Many people feel that the Boeing 787-800 & -900 series is the perfect replacement for GF's A 332/A 343 fleet. That may sound logical but to the naked eye, one reckons that the B 788 is too small to replace GF 's 3 class A 332s on medium haul flights as it has a very spacious J & F class cabin.

The perfect aircraft for GF to purchase is the B 789 because it can be used for all flights in its network i.e. as a 3 class 240 seater for Europe & UK + possible future nonstop long hauls to USA & as a 2 class 270 seater for its high density Indian subcontinent/ BKK MNL / & JED bound flights.

Air France / KLM

Air France & KLM has revealed tentative details of its long haul Summer 2008 schedule of which the main highlights are as follows:

PVG - increased to double daily using a B 772ER by AF, where as KLM have increased their AMS-PVG flights to 12 weekly all using B 744 Combis.

ATL - 3 class service re-introduced by AF with daily B 772ER flights.

PEK - increased to double daily by AF using a B 773ER.

HKG - increased by AF to double daily B 772ERs.

BLR - capacity reduced by AF from daily B 772ERs in the winter to daily A 332s.

YYZ - will once again see daily B 744 service by AF.

DEL - capacity reduced by AF from daily B 744s in the winter to daily A 343s.

UKIA

A new airline financed by the expat Pakistani community residing in the UK has formed an airline called UKIA i.e. UK International Airlines has managed to get two Boeing 767-200ERs which will be based at the airline's main hub at East Midlands (EMA) Airport.

UKIA will use the aircraft to launch 3 weekly flights from EMA to Islamabad, Pakistan via Sharjah. According to its authorized agents in the Midlands region of the UK, the airline plans on obtaining 2-3 more B 762ERs to fly to Dhaka, Kathmandu, Gambia, Delhi and eventually increase ISB bound flights to 5 weekly.

The first flight departs on Oct 19th 2007 for ISB from EMA and the introductory fare on offer is GBP 390 all taxes inclusive for EMA-ISB-EMA.

UKIA's ISB schedule visit : http://www.ukinternationalairlines.com/shdl.pdf

Official website : http://www.ukinternationalairlines.com/default.asp

Airline profile : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_International_Airlines

US Airways

After signing a commitment with Airbus at the Paris Air Show in June 2007, US Airways has now firmed up the contract for the purchase of 92 Airbus aircraft, including 18 A 350-800s, 4 A 350-900s, 10 A 330-200s, and 60 A320 family aircraft. The airline is slated to receive its first A350 in 2014 with deliveries running through 2017.

Delivery dates for the newly ordered A330s run from 2009 through 2010. The A 320 Family order is comprised of 10 A321s, 40 A 320s and 10 A 319s with extensive conversion rights within the A320 Family.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa of Germany has officially confirmed that it will be increasing capacity to Houston, Texas from Frankfurt effective April 1st 2008.

During the winter season, it will fly a daily A 340-600 on the FRA-IAH route, however from the onset of the summer 2008 timetable, the route will be upgraded to a daily Boeing 747-400.

Egypt Air

Egypt Air has announced that it will be leasing 11 new wide bodied aircraft to fuel its long haul expansion. The airline will lease 3 Airbus A 330-200s + 8 new Boeing 777-300ERs.

The latter will replace the entire fleet of 5 leased Boeing 777-200ERs. The B 773ERs & A 332s will start arriving into MS's fleet from late 2010 onwards.

Analysis :

The main reason why MS chose the B 773ER was because it can fly nonstop from its CAI hub to IAH & Japan & the U.S. West Coast without a payload restriction which its B 772ERs could not. MS's B 772ERs are configured for 319 passengers in a 3 class layout however the B 773ERs are likely to have a 2 class configuration (by eliminating first class) seating approximately 370 passengers.

Northwest Airlines

Northwest Airlines will shortly be announcing that it will be launching a new long haul trans-atlantic service to Amsterdam, Holland from Portland, Oregon using an Airbus A 330-200. The new flight will begin next year and is expected to be flown on a daily basis.

Czech Airlines

Czech Airlines is rumored to announce that it will be suspending its long haul flights to both Montreal and Toronto from April 2008. This comes after serving Canada for over 35 years.

OK currently uses A 310-300s for its PRG-Canada bound flights and was the cheapest airline to fly to Eastern Europe from Canada via its Prague hub.

Maxjet

Maxjet, the all business class airline that flies out of London Stansted airport has revealed changes to its long haul network for 2007-08. The airline flies an all business class configured Boeing 767-200ER on trans-atlantic flights which seat 102 passengers.

The main highlights of its network changes are as follows :

LAX - increased to 5 weekly flights from December 2007.

LAS - increased from 4 to 6 weekly flights effective February 2008.

JFK - increased from daily to 10 weekly flights effective March 2008.

IAD - all flights suspended from November 2007.