Qatar Airways has officially revealed on the GDS few capacity changes for its long haul route network for the IATA Winter season. The main highlights are as follows:
MEL/DOH/DXB - will be a daily same plane service from MEL only and not vice versa using a B 772LR.
BKK - capacity reduced from double daily B 773ERs to daily A 333 + daily B 773ER.
MNL - capacity reduced from a daily B 773ER to a daily A 333.
HKG - capacity reduced from daily A 346 to daily A 332.
Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be reducing capacity to Mumbai, India for part of the IATA Winter 09-10 season in the following manner:
a) Scheduled daily A 332 service will be reduced to a daily B 738 from Oct 26 till Dec 15th.
b) Dec 15th 09 onwards, the flight will revert back to a daily A 332 operation. TK has also revealed that it will be increasing capacity on its flagship IST-JFK route from Oct 1st onwards by replacing its daily A 343 service with the larger Boeing 777-300ER.
Chicago too sees an increase in capacity from a daily A 332 to once a week B 773ER + 6 weekly A 332.
Air Canada has officially revealed that it will be reducing capacity on its flagship trans-atlantic route i.e. Toronto-London Heathrow for the IATA Winter season in the following manner:
AC 868 - maintains daily B 763ER service.
AC 856 - capacity reduced from daily B 773ER to daily A 333.
AC 848 - capacity reduced from daily B 773ER to daily B 763ER.
AC 858 - capacity reduced from daily A 333 to daily B 763ER.
Total capacity reduction is 23% versus Summer 09.
British Airways has revealed on the GDS that it will be increasing its flights to LAD-Luanda, Angola from October 2009 with an additional 2nd weekly nonstop operated flight being flown using a Boeing 777-200ER. Apart from this, BA too confirmed that for the IATA Winter 09-10 season, it will be reducing flights to CPT-Cape Town, South Africa from the scheduled double daily to 13 weekly nonstop flights i.e. daily B 744 + 6 weekly B 772ER.
Gulf Air has officially revealed that it will be increasing its flights to DAC-Dhaka, Bangladesh effective Aug 20th 09 from the current 10 times a week to 12. A mixture of A 343s and A 332s will be used on the BAH-DAC-BAH route. GF too disclosed that it will not be resuming flights to HYD this winter but operations to BLR will be reinstated with a daily A 320 nonstop frequency.
Thai Airways has officially disclosed that it will be reducing its flights to Dubai and Kuwait for the IATA Winter 09-10 season in the following manner:
DXB - frequencies reduced from 11 to daily nonstop flights i.e. MAA-DXB sector suspended. All DXB-BKK-DXB TG operated flights will be flown using an A 333 only.
KWI - frequencies reduced from 5 weekly A 346s to 3 weekly nonstop flights using an A 333.
KLM has officially revealed that it will be reducing frequencies to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from the on set of the IATA Winter 09-10 timetable. Currently, flights are operated on a daily basis using a Boeing 777-200ER however, these will be reduced to a 5 weekly operation due to seasonal adjustment in demand scales.
V Australia has officially announced that it will be launching 3 new long haul routes from this winter onwards. They are as follows:
MEL/JNB - new twice weekly nonstop flights using a B 773ER will be launched effective March 13th 2010.
MEL/HKT (Phuket) - once a week nonstop flight using a B 773ER will be launched effective Dec 3rd 2009.
BNE/HKT - twice weekly nonstop flights to be launched using a B 773ER effective Nov 22nd 2009.
Iberia of Spain has officially announced that it will be suspending its Madrid-Washington DC flight from the on set of the IATA Winter 09-10 table due to falling demand and yield on this trans-atlantic route.
Ethiopian Airlines has officially confirmed that it will be reducing flights to Dubai, UAE from Dec 6th 09 from the current double daily nonstop service to a daily one only using a Boeing 767-300ER. No official reason has been yet sighted by the airline. In addition, ET has also confirmed that its flights to NBO and DAR are to be increased from daily to 11 weekly each respectively using B 737-700s.
Air Asia X of Malaysia has officially announced that it will be launching its first scheduled Middle East route with the inauguration of new 5 weekly nonstop flights to AUH-Abu Dhabi from its Kuala Lumpur hub. Flights will be launched from Nov 2009 with an A 340-300 and introductory fare levels are US$ 30 one way all taxes inclusive (not joking).
Aer Lingus of Ireland has officially confirmed that due to falling yields, low demand and high operational costs, it will be suspending service from its Dublin hub to Washington DC and San Francisco for the entire IATA Winter 09-10 season. Both these routes are currently flown using A 330-200s.
Delta Airlines has officially disclosed that it will be using its new Boeing 777-200LR for the entire winter schedule for its nonstop ATL-LOS (Lagos) flights owing to high cargo demand and excess baggage charges that it makes a lot of money on. It seems to have also bowed down from political pressure in Nigeria with politicians requesting the airline to use its newer aircraft on this route rather than a Boeing 767-400ER which used to face payload penalties on this route.
