Thursday, July 31, 2008

Etihad Airways


Etihad Airways has officially confirmed that it will be launching new daily nonstop flights between Abu Dhabi and Melbourne, Australia from March 2009. EY will be using a 3 class configured 286 seater Airbus A 340-600 for this ultra-long haul route. The flight timings are as follows:

EY 460 Dep AUH 2235 Arr MEL 1815+1

EY 461 Dep MEL 2200 Arr AUH 0620+1

Comments:

EY's main target market will be pax heading on to BEY, UK, Saudi Arabia and UAE and not ATH as the carrier has not as yet launched flights to the Greek capital which is surprising as it can provide huge amounts of feeder traffic to its MEL and SYD bound flights via AUH. Though to be frank, the ATH-Australia market is extremely low yielding!!!

Jet Airways India


Jet Airways of India will be launching new daily flights nonstop to Dubai from Mumbai and Delhi each respectively from August 23rd 2008. Both flights will be operated using its 2 class configured Airbus A 330-200. Besides being given lucurative flying rights to DXB, 9W has also managed to secure flying rights for daily Mumbai-Riyadh and daily Delhi-Jeddah nonstop flights.

9Ws India-DXB-India flight timings are as follows:

Dep BOM 1945 Arr DXB 2115
Dep DXB 2245 Arr BOM 0315+1
**Excellent timings as via BOM in both directions, the whole of India is connected within a 3 hour transit time.

Dep DEL 1840 Arr DXB 2025
Dep DXB 2155 Arr DEL 0335+1

**Excellent timings once again as via DEL in both directions, the whole of India is connected within a 3 hour transit time.

Emirates



Emirates has officially confirmed that when it took delivery of its first new Airbus A 380 from the Airbus plant at Hamburg earlier on in the week, it also signed a LOI (Letter of Intent) with Airbus for the purchase of 30 new Airbus A 330-300s plus 30 Airbus A 350s. EK's first A 333 if officially confirmed as an order would be delivered in 2012 by Airbus by which time some of its A 332s would surpass 15 years of service.

Comments:

Looks like a tit for tat replacement strategy i.e. 29 A 332s being replaced by 30 A 333s. The A 332s will be most likely transfered to EK's leasing unit i.e. DAE to find customers internationally which shouldnt be a problem at all. One also believes the A 333s will be replacing some regional routes flown within a 6 hour radius of Dubai which is currently being flown by EK's B 772As and B 772ERs as the A 333 offers better CASM for such flights and similar capacity. These A 333s will also provide a "stop gap capacity measure" for the airline's fleet requirment until its first batch of A 350s arrive which will be by 2015-16.

Cathay Pacific


Cathay Pacific has announced a series of capacity increases across its long haul network for the upcoming autumn low season. The main highlights are as follows:

FCO - capacity increased from Aug 1st onwards to a daily B 747-400 nonstop instead of a daily A 340-300.

PER - frequencies increased to daily nonstop flights using an A 330-300 effective Oct 26th.

SYD - frequencies increased from 25 times a week to 4 times daily nonstop effective Oct 26th. All 4 daily flights will be flown using A 330-300s with 3 out of the 4 daily frequencies being served having the new on board F and J class cabins.

BNE - four extra day time flights a week from HKG will be nonstop using an A 333 effective Oct 26th.

Kingfisher Airlines


Kingfisher Airlines has been reported by the media to have chosen AMS-Amsterdam as its major international hub outside of India. They will seek to fly via AMS to JFK and SFO in the short term future using their 2 class configured 220 seater Airbus A 330-200s. At AMS, KF will enter into a broad based code sharing and frequent flier relationship with KLM to help generate feeder traffic from KLM's vast USA/UK and Western Europe network.

KF has also indicated its intentions to sell 2-3 of its A 340-500s as the economic feasibility study of the aircraft revealed that in the current climate of high fuel prices, it would be suicidal to use this aircraft on nonstop India-JFK and India-SFO flights.

Comments:

According to Wikipedia, there are 217,000 migrant Indians residing in Holland alone thus making the country have the largest mainland Indian EU population even more than Germany, Italy and France combined.So besides 6th freedom transit traffic, it can also get O&D traffic from AMS to India. The purpose of this move seems to be as follows:KF will indeed code share with both NW and KLM on trans-atlantic services in order to avoid itself flying certain routes where its not warranted flying an A 332 due to high fuel and other operational costs.
This in effect allows KF to still offer one stop India-USA flights via the AMS hub to key markets where its aircraft may not fly i.e. LAX/IAH/DFW/DTW/IAD/EWR/SEA.


Honestly speaking, IT should not venture into NYC as AI-9W already fly there as do CO-DL. One glance at how poorly AI's and 9W's JFK flights should be sufficient for KF to stay clear of that airport! It should only use its A 332s from AMS to markets in USA which would welcome a direct flight via AMS to BOM and BLR initially and see little competition. Taking that into consideration, 2 A 332s should be based in AMS by Kingfisher for daily AMS-ORD + daily AMS-SFO flights initially. To DEL & HYD, IT should codeshare with KLM from AMS.

Air France


Air France has surprisingly announced that it will be suspending all nonstop flights from its CDG-Paris hub to IKA-Tehran effective Oct 26th 2008. AF cites the low yield that was being witnessed on this route as the main reason for the closure.

However, to compensate for its suspension, it will make KLM increase flights on the AMS-IKA sector from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights. Besides suspending IKA, the French carrier has announced further changes to its long haul network for Winter 08-09. The main highlights are as follows:

ORD - capacity reduced to 5 weekly A 332s + 2 weekly A 343s.

YUL - eff Feb 09, capacity reduced to daily B 744 + daily B 773ER.

HAV - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using a B 744.

NRT - capacity reduced to 6 weekly A 332 + 6 weekly B 773ER + daily B 772ER.

PEK - reduced from double daily to 10 weekly B 773ERs.

MRU - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily B 744s.

EVA Air


EVA Air has announced a series of cutbacks for its international network as it looks to control costs during the upcoming autumn low season. The main highlights of its scaled down trans-pacific services are as follows:

LAX - reduced by 3 times a week to 14 times a week service. On certain days, its daily, others double daily, some triple daily.

SEA - reduced from 5 to 4 times a week with all flights being flown all using a B 773ER.

SFO - reduced from 10 to 8 weekly nonstop flights all using a B 773ER.

BKK - reduced from 13 to 11 times a week nonstop flights.

SIN - reduced from daily to 5 times a week.

AMS via BKK - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 times a week but capacity increased from B 744 Combi to B 773ER.

PVG - capacity increased to 2 weekly nonstop B 773ERs instead of A 332s.

Singapore Airlines


Singapore Airlines has confirmed it will making major adjustments to its Australian network effective this August which will last till end October. The main highlights are as follows:

MEL - capacity increased to double daily B 744s + daily B 773ERs.

SYD - two weekly flights have been cut.

PER - reduced from 19 to 18 weekly flights.

BNE - reduced from triple daily to 19 weekly flights.

Gulf Air

Gulf Air has revealed a series of changes to its Winter 2008-09 schedule which sees capacity increases in India and Europe in particular. All these changes have been uploaded on major GDS systems. The main highlights are as follows:

CDG - frequencies increased from daily to 9 weekly flights effective Oct 29th. All flights will be flown using an A 332.

DEL - frequencies increased from 10 weekly to double daily i.e. daily A 343 + daily A 320.

DAC - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly. All flights are flown using an A 343. (FYI...this increase is already in place)

BOM - frequencies reduced from triple daily to double daily.

BKK - frequencies increased to 11 weekly nonstop flights from BAH i.e. weekly A 332 + 10 weekly A 343s.

HYD - capacity increased from daily A 320 to 5 weekly A 321s + two weekly A 320s.

CCU - capacity increased from 2 weekly A 320s to 2 weekly A 332s effective August 08.

Air China


Air China has released details of its Winter 2008-09 timetable of which major changes have been made for its long haul route network in particular. The main highlights are as follows:

KHI - increased to 2 weekly flights using an A 319 via Urumqi. Flights to KWI via KHI are suspended.

DXB - frequencies increased to 4 weekly A 332s.SFO - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly B 744 Combis.

DEL - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily B 762ERs.

SYD - frequencies increased to 8 weekly flights, all flown using an A 332.

MEL - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly flights using an A 332.

LHR - capacity reduced from daily B 744 Combis to daily A 332.

CDG - frequencies increased from daily A 343 to daily B 744 Combis + 2 weekly A 332s.

FRA - frequencies reduced from double daily to 12 weekly flights i.e. 5 weekly A 332s + 3 weekly B 744s + 4 weekly B 744 Combis.

MUC - capacity increased from 5 weekly B 763ERs to 5 weekly A 332s.

ARN - capacity increased from 4 weekly B 762ERs to 4 weekly A 332s.

Thai & Malaysian


Malaysia Airlines will be increasing its flights to India from the on set of the Winter 2008-09 timetable as this is the peak season for travel to India with diwali, eid, christmas and the wedding season beginning from early October lasting till end January. Its flights to Delhi will be increased from 9 to 10 weekly flights all operated by an A 333 where as flights to Mumbai will be increased from daily to 9 weekly all using a B 777-200.

Thai Airways has officially confirmed that it will be increasing its flights to Mumbai and Bangalore in India from October 2nd 2008. BLR will be increased from daily to 10 weekly flights using an A 333 four times a week + an A 300-600R six times a week. BOM on the other hand, will be increased from daily to 10 times a week with all flights being flown using a 2 class configured A 330-300.

American Airlines


American Airlines will be making capacity enhancements at its Miami-MIA hub during the upcoming Winter 2008-09 schedule. MIA-Heathrow flights will be given a frequency upgrade from 8 to 10 weekly nonstop flights i.e. daily B 772ERs + 3 weekly B 763ERs as the airline looks to cash in on the high density demand during the winter season from the thousands of UK residents vacationing on the warm beaches of Florida.

Lastly, MIA-Madrid nonstop flights will witness a capacity upgrade from daily B 763ERs to daily B 772ERs.

Farnborough Air Show



Etihad Airways placed one of the largest orders for commercial aviation aircraft in history at this week's Farnborough Air Show. EY placed an order for 45 Boeing wide bodied aircraft plus 55 Airbus aircraft. The break up of EY's order is as follows:


a) 35 Boeing 787-900s + 10 Boeing 777-300ERs. Options are for 25 Boeing 787s + 10 more B 777-300ERs. Purchase rights were taken for additional 5 B 773ERs + 10 B 787s.


b) 20 Airbus A 320s + 25 Airbus A 350s + 10 Airbus A 380s plus options for five more A 320s + 10 A 350s + 5 A 380s. Purchase rights were taken for additional 15 A 320s, 15 A 350s and five A 380s.


Fly Dubai, the new low cost airline of Dubai placed a multi billion order at the Farnborough Air Show for 54 Boeing 737-800s surprising the entire industry who expected the A 320 family of aircraft to win this order. Fly Dubai also has the option to convert some B 738s to the larger -900 version. The airline will be targeting cities within a 5 hour flying radius from DXB's new Jebel Ali Airport (which will be its hub). The carrier will be launched by the end of the year with a batch of 4 leased B 738s.


Saudia Airlines officially confirmed at the Farnborough Air Show signing an order with Airbus for 8 brand new Airbus A 330-300s which will be used on high density regional flights. It is expected that SV will use these planes to replace its aging fleet of Boeing 747-100s initially on flights to DAC, Northern Pakistan and India.


Asiana Airlines of South Korea has officially confirmed placing a multi billion order with Airbus at the recent Farnborough Air Show for 30 new Airbus A 350s which are most likely to be the -900 version. This aircraft is likely to be the long term replacement for OZ's entire fleet of A 333s and B 772ERs as the A 359 can fly long haul nonstop flights with approximately 300 plus passengers to Europe and North America thus proving to be a perfect replacement aircraft for its fleet of A 333s and B 772ERs.


Air China has officially confirmed placing a multi billion order with Boeing earlier on this week at the Farnborough Air Show for 15 new Boeing 777-300ERs and 30 new Boeing 737-800s. It is not yet known if the B 773ERs will be a direct replacement for CA's fleet of 4 B 744s and 8 B 744 Combis but one should not be surprised if this is the case as CA prepares to change its business model from an O&D carrier to a "hub & spoke carrier" by strengthening its PEK-Beijing hub by offering connections across its network from a variety of key short haul and long haul destinations.

Korean Air



Korean Air has announced that it will be launching new nonstop flights from its ICN-Seoul hub to TLV-Tel Aviv, Israel effective Sept 17th 2008. KE will fly the route 3 times a week initially using a Boeing 747-400 Combi on Tues/Thur/Sat.

Besides launching TLV, KE will also be starting new nonstop flights to TAS-Tashkent, Uzbekistan from Seoul using a Boeing 777-200ER effective Sept 2nd 2008 on a 3 times weekly basis.

Aeroflot


Aeroflot of Russia has announced major changes to its Winter 08-09 international medium haul network which will come into effect from end October. The main highlights are as follows:

BOM - increased from 2 to 6 times a week nonstop using a Boeing 767-300ER.

DXB - increased from daily to double daily nonstop flights using an A 320.

CAI - increased from 3 to 4 times a week nonstop using an A 319.

IST - increased from double daily to triple daily using an A 320 double daily + A 321 daily.

ATH - increased from daily to 9 weekly flights using an A 319.