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 1st 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 1st 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 1st.
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 27th 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 27th 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.
