Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Singapore Airlines



Singapore Airlines has officially revealed major changes to its international long haul route network for the IATA Summer 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

KHI & LHE - all flights suspended from Feb 17th 2010 citing commercial reasons.

MUC - new 5 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using a B 773ER. SQ will have full 5th freedom traffic rights on the MAN-MUC-MAN sector.

MAN - frequencies increased from 3 to 5 weekly flights all flown via MUC using a B 773ER.

BOM - frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily using B 773s.

DEL - frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily using B 773s.

CMB
- frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B 772.

DAC
- frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B 772.

EWR - frequencies increased on this nonstop SIN-EWR flight from 5 to 7 times per week using an A 345.

ICN - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 times per week.

SGN
- frequencies reduced from 18 weekly to double daily nonstop flights.

Emirates Summer 2010



Emirates
will be shortly announcing major details of its capacity and frequency increases for its medium and long haul route network for the Summer 2010 IATA season. The main highlights are as follows:

GRU
- capacity to be increased from daily B 77L to daily B 773ER.

PEK
- capacity to be increased to daily B 773ER + daily A 345.

NBO
- capacity to be increased to daily B 772ER + daily A 343.

CMB/SIN
- frequencies to be increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using a B 773ER.

MEL/AKL -
capacity to be increased from daily A 345 to daily B 773ER.

JNB -
capacity to be increased to triple daily flights using a B 773ER for all services.

SEZ
- frequencies to be increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights.

DME -
capacity to be increased to daily A 345 + daily B 773A.

ACC/ABJ
- in-flight product to be upgraded from daily A 343 to daily A 345.

ATH
- capacity to be reduced from daily B 773A + daily A 332 to daily A 345 + daily A 332.

KRT
- capacity to be increased from daily A 332 to daily A 345.

VCE
- capacity to be increased from daily A 332 to daily A 343.

Egypt Air



Egypt Air
has officially confirmed that it will be reducing capacity to Bangkok and Guangzhou from March 28th. With regards to CAN, all 4 weekly flights currently flown via BKK using a B 772ER will be replaced by an A 332. On the other hand, BKK bound flights too see a capacity reduction from daily nonstop B 772ERs to daily A 332s.

PIA



PIA
has revealed on the GDS that it will be increasing capacity on its flights to BCN-Barcelona, Spain from January 18th onwards. Currently, it operates a twice weekly service from Pakistan (once a week each from LHE and ISB respectively) nonstop to BCN using an A 310-300 which will then change to the larger Boeing 777-200ER.

Air France Abu Dhabi


Air France has officially announced that it will be launching new 5 weekly nonstop flights to AUH-Abu Dhabi, UAE from May 3rd 2010 and at the same time reducing its flights to DXB-Dubai, UAE. It will be using an A 330-200 to operate to AUH nonstop from its CDG hub base.

With regards to DXB, frequencies will be reduced from 12 weekly to daily nonstop flights which will be flown using a B 777-300ER instead of a B 777-200ER.

EVA Air


EVA Air of Taiwan has officially announced that it will be reducing capacity to Seattle and San Francisco for the IATA Summer 2010 season in the following manner:

SFO - capacity reduced from 12 weekly B 773ERs to 10 weekly B 773ERs + 2 weekly B 744 Combis.

SEA - capacity reduced from 5 weekly B 744s to 5 weekly B 773ERs.

Ethiopian Airlines


Ethiopian Airlines has officially confirmed as a result of its entry into Star Alliance, all of its Frankfurt bound flights will be flown nonstop from its ADD hub henceforth and none will be so via FCO-Rome. In addition, it has decided to increase its ADD-FRA flights from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop using a Boeing 767-300ER for all flights with a revised schedule effective June 1st 2010 which is as follows:

ET 706 Dep ADD 1005 Arr FRA 1635

ET 707 Dep FRA 2315 Arr ADD 0725+1

British Airways


British Airways has officially announced that they are increasing flights to TIP-Tripoli from Feb 13th 2010 onwards. Currently, daily nonstop flights are being flown using an A 320, however this route will now see double daily nonstop service largely catering to the "oil sector" originating from USA and UK that have now significant financial interests in Libya's oil sector development. Both flights will be operated using an A 320.

In addition to TIP, BA have also confirmed that it will be further reducing capacity to YYZ-Toronto for the entire Summer 2010 IATA season from a double daily B 772ER operation to a daily B 772ER + daily B 763ER service.

Etihad Airways


Etihad Airways has officially announced that it will be increasing flights to KTM-Kathmandu, Nepal from January 1st 2010 onwards from the current 4 weekly to daily nonstop flights. All services will be operated by a 2 class configured Airbus A 330-200.

Etihad Airways
has officially confirmed that it will be increasing frequencies to DUB-Dublin, Ireland from March 28th onwards. Currently, daily nonstop flights are flown using a 2 class A 332, however these shall be increased to 10 weekly nonstop flights using a 2 class A 332 as well.

Alitalia


Alitalia
has officially revealed that it will be launching new 5 weekly nonstop flights to LAX-Los Angeles, USA from June 5th 2010. AZ will be deploying a Boeing 777-200ER to operate this flight which will be flown on MON/WED/THU/SAT/SUN only. The flight schedule is as follows:


AZ
620 Dep FCO 0925 Arr LAX 1325
AZ 621 Dep LAX 1525 Arr FCO 1215+1


Alitalia has officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to NRT-Tokyo, Japan from June 5th 2010 from 10 weekly to 12 weekly nonstop flights from Italy. It will be doing so in the following manner:

FCO/NRT - frequencies increased from daily to 9 weekly nonstop flights using a B 772ER.

MXP/NRT
- frequencies remain as they are at 3 weekly nonstop flights using a B 772ER.

United Airlines


United Airlines
has officially announced that it will be launching new daily nonstop flights to FCO-Rome from its ORD-Chicago hub effective May 1st 2010. It will operate as a summer seasonal flight till Aug 31st only. The flight schedule is as follows:

Days of service: DAILY
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300ER

UA 904 Dep ORD 1825 Arr FCO 1040+1

UA 905 Dep FCO 1230 Arr ORD 1605

United Airlines has officially confirmed that it will be increasing capacity on one of its flagship trans-atlantic routes i.e. San Francisco-Frankfurt for the peak summer season i.e. from May 1st till Aug 30th only. Currently, the route is being flown nonstop using a B 772ER but this shall change to a larger Boeing 747-400.

Emirates Tokyo


Emirates has officially announced that it will be launching new flights to NRT-Tokyo Narita from its Dubai hub from March 28th 2010. EK will operate the route 5 times per week nonstop using a 3 class configured Boeing 777-300ER which will have its new "Sky Suites" first class product. Its Tokyo flights connect beautifully in both directions to Brazil and all African + European destinations via Dubai.

The flight schedule is as follows:


Days of operation: MON/THU/FRI/SAT/SUN

EK 318 Dep DXB 0250 Arr NRT 1755

EK 319 Dep NRT 2140 Arr DXB 0435+1

Emirates Amsterdam



Emirates
has officially announced that it will be launching new daily nonstop flights to AMS-Amsterdam, Holland from May 1st 2010. EK will operate the route using a mixture of 3 class configured Boeing 777-300ERs and Boeing 777-200LRs.

The flight schedule is as follows:


EK 145 Dep DXB 0825 Arr AMS 1330
EK 146 Dep AMS 1530 Arr DXB 2359

These flights connect very well in both directions to all of EK's flights to Southeast Asia, Australia and East/Southern Africa via their DXB hub. EK will compete with KLM on this sector on which the latter i.e. KLM flies 10 weekly B 772ERs nonstop.


Cathay Pacific



Cathay Pacific
has revealed that it will be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to MXP-Milan, Italy from March 28th 2010. CX will operate a 3 class configured Boeing 777-300ER on this long haul flight which is expected to see a lot of premium traffic and high yielding cargo. It will be taking away a lot of market share from EK/QR/EY/LH/LX from MXP that is bound to Japan, HKG, China and South Korea. The flight schedule is as follows:

Days of operation: MON/WED/FRI/SUN
CX 235 Dep HKG 0005 Arr MXP 0735

CX 216 Dep MXP 1325 Arr HKG 0700+1

Other news from CX is that for the Summer 2010 IATA season, they are increasing capacity to Toronto and Los Angeles in the following manner:

YYZ - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly nonstop flights using a B 773ER for all of the flights.

LAX - frequencies increased from double daily to 17 weekly nonstop flights i.e. daily B 744 + 10 weekly B 773ERs.

Comments:

Excellent moves by CX. I would personally recommend them to seriously contemplate launching new flights to BRU flown via DXB with full 5th freedom traffic flights. The ideal aircraft for such a sector would be a 2 class configured A 333 which has their new J class product. They will get a lot of high yielding premium and cargo traffic to/from BRU due to it being both a political and financial capital of the EU.

Air France


Air France has officially revealed major capacity and frequency changes to its North America and Asia network for the Summer 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

YYZ - capacity reduced by 38% i.e. from daily B 744 to daily A 343.

BLR - frequencies reduced from daily to 6 weekly flights using an A 332.

SFO - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly nonstop flights from June 22nd i.e. 3 weekly A 343s + daily B 773ER.

KIX - capacity reduced from daily B 773ER to 4 weekly B 773ER + 3 weekly B 772ER.

YUL - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 daily flights i.e. daily B 773ER + daily B 744 + daily B 772ER.

DTW - eff June 21st, capacity increased from daily A 332 to daily B 772ER.

ATL - eff June 21st, capacity increased from daily B 772ER to daily B 744.

SEA - capacity increased from daily A 332 to 3 weekly A 343s + 4 weekly A 332s.

JFK - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 daily nonstop flights.

ICN - capacity reduced from daily B 773ERs to 3 weekly B 773ERs + 4 weekly B 772ERs.

SWISS


SWISS has officially announced details of a major expansion plan for its long haul network for the IATA Summer 2010 season. The main highlights are as follows:

SFO - new 6 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using an A 343 effective June 2nd. The flight schedule doesnt allow SFO to be connected to India and Middle East flights which is strange. Their flight schedule is as follows:

LX 038 Dep ZRH 1315 Arr SFO 1630
LX 039 Dep SFO 1925 Arr ZRH 1540+1

NBO/DAR - capacity increased from 5 weekly A 332s to 5 weekly A 333s.

BOM - frequencies increased to 6 weekly nonstop flights using its new A 333s.

DEL - capacity increased to 5 weekly flights using its new A 333s.

DXB/MCT - capacity increased to daily A 333s.

KLM



KLM has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity on its new route to DPS-Bali, Indonesia from January 21st 2010 by adding a 4th weekly flight to the city which will be flown via Singapore. This extra frequency will be maintained throughout the year and all flights will be flown using a Boeing 777-300ER.

Gulf Air


Gulf Air has officially announced that it will be reducing flights to BKK-Bangkok from the on set of the IATA Summer 2010 season. Currently, 10 weekly nonstop flights are flown which will be reduced a daily service only using an A 332 six times per week and an A 343 once a week. The schedule is also varied as 5 flights arrive back into BAH at 1315 where as the remaining 2 arrive into BAH at 2320 local time.

Thai Airways


Thai Airways has officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to ATH-Athens, Greece from March 28th 2010. TG will launch an additional 4th weekly flight flown nonstop from its Bangkok hub using an Airbus A 340-500. The remaining 3 weekly flights are also operated by an A 340-500.

Thai Airways has officially confirmed that it will be increasing its flights to BNE-Brisbane from January 16th 2010 from the current 5 weekly to 10 weekly flights operated in a varied manner. Daily flights will be flown via SYD using an A 340-600 which will see BNE getting first class service for the first time and the remaining 3 weekly flights will be operated nonstop from BKK using a B 772A.

Thai Airways management has revealed to the media that they are going to be re launching nonstop flights from Bangkok to New York City in the near future but this time to EWR-Newark airport and not JFK as the former is a Star Alliance hub with Continental Airlines being the dominant home based airline. It will be re launching New York services because it is unable to find any airline or leasing company willing to buy its fleet of A 340-500s hence!

TG also said that for this route it will be removing its Premium Economy cabin product from this aircraft which will result in a 25% increase in capacity as currently TG's A 345s seat 215 pax but will in the future accommodate 260 in a 2 class configuration of J and Y.

South African Airways


South African Airways has been confirmed to have signed a leasing deal with Aircastle aircraft leasing company for the procurement of 6 brand new Airbus A 330-200s which shall be delivered from 2011 onwards. SAA will be using these aircraft to gradually replace its entire fleet of 6 A 340-200s to Europe and South America.