Philippine Airline's President has officially
announced that the airline has secured an additional US$ 1 billion of equity
from various investors and is now keenly looking to place its largest ever
order for 100 new planes. It has identified ordering additional A320s and
introducing new A321s into its fleet for its regional and domestic operations.
For the long haul market, PAL's President has stated that the carrier is
leaning more towards ordering Boeing aircraft as the carrier only has 7 such
examples in its fleet and would like to order many more. It has ruled out
ordering the A380 as it cannot serve many domestic airports and nor does it
require the additional capacity that this airplane brings to the table. For the
long haul and high density ASEAN market segment, PAL is looking to standardize
its fleet around the Boeing 787-900 which in turn would fully replace its
current A343 and A333 fleet. For the long haul high volume markets, PAL is
seriously evaluating the Boeing 747-800 to replace its B744s in due course. The
new long haul destinations that PAL's President mentioned that the airline is
keen to launch in the long run include Rome, Miami, London, Paris, New York and
Chicago.
Comments:
The intention with which PAL would order B789s over more A330s is because the A333 cannot fly with a full payload from MNL to Middle East/Europe except UAE however the B789 can easily fly nonstop in both directions to all Middle East and EU destinations without any payload issues. The on board 2 class capacity of the B789 i.e. 290-300 seats is ideal for PAL to use on new medium density long haul routes in the future such as from Manila to Kuwait, Dammam, Dubai, Rome, Paris, Doha, San Diego, Sydney and Melbourne.
Also if airlines such as QR who have a bigger number of J class pax flying into Qatar per year versus Philippines, one reckons that PAL's 42 J class seat cabin on the B77Ws is a bit too much. They should maximize the cabin space of the B77Ws by having 30J class seats max along with 373Y class seats giving a total of 403 versus the 370 currently on their B77Ws (42J/328Y). In turn, a 403 seater B77W should for all purposes be an adequate replacement for PAL's entire B744 fleet which seats currently 391 passengers! In this way, there would be no need for PAL to order B748is but rather it can concentrate on big cost saving synergies by revolving its high density long haul fleet around the 403 seater B77W exclusively, the medium density long haul and regional fleet around the B789 and the short haul regional fleet around the A320 family thus enabling it to have only 3 aircraft family types in its fleet versus the many more it currently has which incur massive extra costs all across the board.
Jet Airways of India has officially announced that due to an ongoing network wide restructuring program aimed at curtailing routes that are not meeting profitability and demand forecasts, it shall be implementing the following changes:
BOM/JNB - all 5 weekly nonstop services using an A332 to be suspended effective 13JUN 2012
BOM/DXB - frequencies increased to 4 times daily using a B738 for all flights
Etihad Airways has officially announced that it has canceled a further 7 Airbus A 350-1000X aircraft out of an original order placed for 25 for this variant type. EY does not seem too pleased with the redesign and delayed entry into service date of the A351 and is looking closely at the newly proposed Boeing 777X product line. With this cancellation, it brings the total number of A351s on order by EY to just 12 units.
Comments:
The intention with which PAL would order B789s over more A330s is because the A333 cannot fly with a full payload from MNL to Middle East/Europe except UAE however the B789 can easily fly nonstop in both directions to all Middle East and EU destinations without any payload issues. The on board 2 class capacity of the B789 i.e. 290-300 seats is ideal for PAL to use on new medium density long haul routes in the future such as from Manila to Kuwait, Dammam, Dubai, Rome, Paris, Doha, San Diego, Sydney and Melbourne.
Also if airlines such as QR who have a bigger number of J class pax flying into Qatar per year versus Philippines, one reckons that PAL's 42 J class seat cabin on the B77Ws is a bit too much. They should maximize the cabin space of the B77Ws by having 30J class seats max along with 373Y class seats giving a total of 403 versus the 370 currently on their B77Ws (42J/328Y). In turn, a 403 seater B77W should for all purposes be an adequate replacement for PAL's entire B744 fleet which seats currently 391 passengers! In this way, there would be no need for PAL to order B748is but rather it can concentrate on big cost saving synergies by revolving its high density long haul fleet around the 403 seater B77W exclusively, the medium density long haul and regional fleet around the B789 and the short haul regional fleet around the A320 family thus enabling it to have only 3 aircraft family types in its fleet versus the many more it currently has which incur massive extra costs all across the board.
Jet Airways of India has officially announced that due to an ongoing network wide restructuring program aimed at curtailing routes that are not meeting profitability and demand forecasts, it shall be implementing the following changes:
BOM/JNB - all 5 weekly nonstop services using an A332 to be suspended effective 13JUN 2012
BOM/DXB - frequencies increased to 4 times daily using a B738 for all flights
Etihad Airways has officially announced that it has canceled a further 7 Airbus A 350-1000X aircraft out of an original order placed for 25 for this variant type. EY does not seem too pleased with the redesign and delayed entry into service date of the A351 and is looking closely at the newly proposed Boeing 777X product line. With this cancellation, it brings the total number of A351s on order by EY to just 12 units.
British Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching new long
haul services to ICN-Seoul, South Korea effective 02DEC 2012. Flights shall be
operated 6 times per week using a Boeing 777-200ER with the below mentioned
schedule:
Days: MON/TUE/THU/FRI/SAT/SUN
BA 017 Dep LHR1300 Arr ICN 0855+1
BA 018 Dep ICN 1045 Arr LHR 1400
In other news, BA has too revealed many changes to its long haul route network for the upcoming IATA W12 schedule of which the main highlights are as follows:
CAI - capacity increased from daily B772ER to daily B744
IAH - capacity reduced to double daily B772ERs only from daily B744 + daily B772ER
DFW - capacity reduced from daily B744 to daily B773ER
MIA - triple daily B744 operated service maintained for W12 season as well
Qatar Airways has officially announced further capacity increases for its existing route network at the Arabian Travel Market held in UAE last week. The main highlights are as follows:
KWI - frequencies increased from 7 to 8 times daily effective June
CDG - frequencies increased from 16 to 18 times per week effective December
AUH - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times daily effective June
KUL - frequencies increased from 17 to 21 times per week effective September
Days: MON/TUE/THU/FRI/SAT/SUN
BA 017 Dep LHR1300 Arr ICN 0855+1
BA 018 Dep ICN 1045 Arr LHR 1400
In other news, BA has too revealed many changes to its long haul route network for the upcoming IATA W12 schedule of which the main highlights are as follows:
CAI - capacity increased from daily B772ER to daily B744
IAH - capacity reduced to double daily B772ERs only from daily B744 + daily B772ER
DFW - capacity reduced from daily B744 to daily B773ER
MIA - triple daily B744 operated service maintained for W12 season as well
Qatar Airways has officially announced further capacity increases for its existing route network at the Arabian Travel Market held in UAE last week. The main highlights are as follows:
KWI - frequencies increased from 7 to 8 times daily effective June
CDG - frequencies increased from 16 to 18 times per week effective December
AUH - frequencies increased from 5 to 6 times daily effective June
KUL - frequencies increased from 17 to 21 times per week effective September
Emirates has officially announced that
they are further increasing services to
both Riyadh and Jeddah effective 01JUN 2012 onwards in the following
manner as the carrier continues to witness high demand for its flights to/from
the Saudi Kingdom. The main highlights are as follows:
RUH (eff
01AUG) - frequencies increased from double daily to 17 weekly
i.e. 3 weekly A345s + daily A332 + daily B777. The additional 3
frequencies are at the following time i.e. dep DXB 0655 Arr RUH 0750...dep RUH
0920 Arr DXB 1205. This overall represents a capacity increase of 1448 seats on offer per week on a r/t basis !
JED (eff
01JUN) - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 weekly i.e. 4
weekly A332s + double daily A380s. The additional 4 weekly frequencies are
operated using an A332 and also at an identical time to our recently
introduced and successful GF 169/170 overnight services i.e. dep DXB 0155 Arr
JED 0340...Dep JED 0515 Arr DXB 0855. This overall represents a capacity increase of 2224 seats on offer
per week on a r/t basis !
Fly Dubai has
officially announced that as part of the liberalized UAE-KSA bilateral accord,
it has been awarded the right to increase its services to Riyadh effective
immediately. Hence, the airline confirmed that it shall be increasing its own
services to RUH from its DXB base effective 13MAY from double daily to triple
daily nonstop using a 189 seater B737-800. The schedule already uploaded for
sale in the GDS system shows departures from DXB at 0755/1425/1640 respectively
and departures from RUH at 0930/1600/1815 respectively as well.
Boeing has officially announced that it is actively studying a true replacement for the Boeing 757 as many European and U.S. based carriers in particular are pressing the American manufacturer to produce a long range narrow body aircraft capable of flying the same range nonstop but with improved operating economics. The characteristics of the new B757 would likely be as follows:
1. Most probably be named as the Boeing 797 project
2. Would incorporate B787 technology
3. All economy class configuration is expected to seat 230 passengers and a typical two class approximately 180
4. Aircraft shall be able to fly 8 hours 30 minutes nonstop thus enabling routes such as East Coast USA to Germany/Western Europe be operated without any payload limitations.
5. Prime target customers include US Airways, United, American, British Airways, KLM/Air France, TAM as well as many low cost carriers based in Europe and Asia.
Comments:
Boeing has officially announced that it is actively studying a true replacement for the Boeing 757 as many European and U.S. based carriers in particular are pressing the American manufacturer to produce a long range narrow body aircraft capable of flying the same range nonstop but with improved operating economics. The characteristics of the new B757 would likely be as follows:
1. Most probably be named as the Boeing 797 project
2. Would incorporate B787 technology
3. All economy class configuration is expected to seat 230 passengers and a typical two class approximately 180
4. Aircraft shall be able to fly 8 hours 30 minutes nonstop thus enabling routes such as East Coast USA to Germany/Western Europe be operated without any payload limitations.
5. Prime target customers include US Airways, United, American, British Airways, KLM/Air France, TAM as well as many low cost carriers based in Europe and Asia.
Comments:
Over the weekend, I will be writing a detailed analysis on this new aircraft
type being studied by Boeing and which airlines should seriously look at it as
well as on what routes they could be operated on.
EVA Air of Taiwan
has officially announced that it has placed an additional order with Boeing for
7 more Boeing 777-300ERs as the carrier looks to standardize its long haul
fleet around this aircraft type. This would bring the total number of B77Ws in
BR’s fleet to 22 and are being used primarily on USA and European routes.
Ethiopian
Airlines has officially announced that due to increasing importance that
CAN-Guangzhou has for traffic to all parts of Africa, in order to remain
competitive against the likes of EK, KQ and QR in particular, it shall be
adjusting its operations to CAN effective 16MAY 2012 by flying all flights
nonstop from its Addis Ababa hub. ET will be using a Boeing 767-300ER to
operate all the daily services where as currently flights are flown via Bangkok
with 5th freedom traffic rights.
KLM has
officially announced that due to increasing demand for its flights to
IKA-Tehran from Europe and North America in particular, it shall be increasing
its frequencies on the AMS-IKA route from the on set of the IATA W12 season.
Currently, KL operates 4 times per week nonstop from AMS to IKA using a MD11
however, these shall be increased to daily nonstop flights using the same
aircraft type.
Royal Jordanian has officially announced that due to poor loads and low yields, it shall be suspending all its flights to NBO-Nairobi effective immediately. RJ operated 4 times per week nonstop from Amman to NBO using an A320 with traffic mainly obtained from Italy, UK, Beirut and Germany.
Royal Jordanian has officially announced that due to poor loads and low yields, it shall be suspending all its flights to NBO-Nairobi effective immediately. RJ operated 4 times per week nonstop from Amman to NBO using an A320 with traffic mainly obtained from Italy, UK, Beirut and Germany.
Turkish Airlines has
officially revealed on the GDS that it shall be increasing its flights
across its network to a variety of medium and long haul destinations in
2012 of which the main highlights are as follows:
KBL - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop using an A320 effective 22APR
DAC - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A332 effective Oct
BAH - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily using an A321 effective 23APR
JFK - frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily effective Oct 28th i.e. daily A333 + daily B77W
YYZ - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B77W effective Dec 31st
DMM - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A320 effective 23APR.
TK's CEO has also officially announced that the airline shall be launching new nonstop flights to IAH-Houston from November 2012 operated nonstop from IST. It is expected to initially be a 4 weekly nonstop service operated with a Boeing 777-300ER. Following the launch of IAH, the CEO also confirmed that flights to BOS-Boston will also get the green light from Summer 2013 operated nonstop using an Airbus A330-200.
Etihad Airways has officially announced plans for its brand new Boeing 777-300ERs that are due to enter service with the carrier effective July 2012. All future B77W aircraft will be fitted with a three class configuration seating 330 passengers i.e. 8 first class + 40 business class and 282 economy class. These shall be initially deployed exclusively on its flagship AUH-LHR route. Effective March 2013 i.e. on set of the IATA S13 timetable, EY in turn shall be increasing capacity on its LHR sector from triple daily A346s (286 seater) to triple daily B77Ws (330 seater) therefore an increase in capacity of 924 seats per week in each direction. As a result though of the A346 being taken out of LHR in S13, EY in turn announced that capacity to JFK shall be increased in S13 from a daily A 345 (240 seater) to a daily A346 (286 seater).
Kenya Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to BEY-Beirut effective 25OCT 2012 as the carrier looks to serve niche markets within a 6 hour flying range of its narrow body Boeing 737-700 aircraft capability especially to those airports that are also fellow Sky Team hubs. Flights shall be operated three times per week nonstop with the main target markets being O&D + transfer traffic bound to ADD, Congo, South Africa and Central Africa.
KBL - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop using an A320 effective 22APR
DAC - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A332 effective Oct
BAH - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to daily using an A321 effective 23APR
JFK - frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily effective Oct 28th i.e. daily A333 + daily B77W
YYZ - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a B77W effective Dec 31st
DMM - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A320 effective 23APR.
TK's CEO has also officially announced that the airline shall be launching new nonstop flights to IAH-Houston from November 2012 operated nonstop from IST. It is expected to initially be a 4 weekly nonstop service operated with a Boeing 777-300ER. Following the launch of IAH, the CEO also confirmed that flights to BOS-Boston will also get the green light from Summer 2013 operated nonstop using an Airbus A330-200.
Etihad Airways has officially announced plans for its brand new Boeing 777-300ERs that are due to enter service with the carrier effective July 2012. All future B77W aircraft will be fitted with a three class configuration seating 330 passengers i.e. 8 first class + 40 business class and 282 economy class. These shall be initially deployed exclusively on its flagship AUH-LHR route. Effective March 2013 i.e. on set of the IATA S13 timetable, EY in turn shall be increasing capacity on its LHR sector from triple daily A346s (286 seater) to triple daily B77Ws (330 seater) therefore an increase in capacity of 924 seats per week in each direction. As a result though of the A346 being taken out of LHR in S13, EY in turn announced that capacity to JFK shall be increased in S13 from a daily A 345 (240 seater) to a daily A346 (286 seater).
Kenya Airways has officially announced that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to BEY-Beirut effective 25OCT 2012 as the carrier looks to serve niche markets within a 6 hour flying range of its narrow body Boeing 737-700 aircraft capability especially to those airports that are also fellow Sky Team hubs. Flights shall be operated three times per week nonstop with the main target markets being O&D + transfer traffic bound to ADD, Congo, South Africa and Central Africa.
Delta Airlines has officially announced that it shall be suspending its flights to Milan and Rome effective 28OCT 2012 as the carrier looks to deploy wide body capacity elsewhere during the lean winter season which traditionally sees low volumetric demand for its European bound services. Daily flights from JFK to Rome along with Atlanta to Milan operated 4 times per week shall be suspended for the entire IATA W12 season.
Jet Airways of India has officially revealed on the GDS system that it shall be suspending three international routes very soon as the carrier looks to redeploy additional capacity domestically to cash in due to the downsizing of Kingfisher Airlines. The major highlights are as follows:
BOM/RUH - frequencies reduced from double daily to daily nonstop flights effective 13MAY
DEL/CMB - all flights suspended effective 16MAY
TRV/SHJ - all flights suspended 06MAY
Comments:
By suspending DEL-CMB, 9W stands to lose good feeder traffic bound to LHR and MXP in particular. It should bring CMB bring by October to take advantage of the peak winter seasonal demand from both India and Europe to CMB as well as to adequately feed its new upcoming EU routes + MXP in the lean winter season. For the time being though, EK/QR/EY/WY must be licking their lips as they stand to gain a lot out of MXP with 9W's DEL-CMB flights suspension. 9W needs to seriously look at operating MAA-KWI nonstop with a B739ER!
China Eastern Airlines has officially announced that it shall be increasing its presence on the popular Shanghai-Paris route as the carrier looks to take advantage of booming business, immigration and tourist traffic flows from China to France that is currently being witnessed. Currently, MU operates a daily A330-200 nonstop on the PVG-CDG sector, however from the onset of the IATA W12 timetable i.e. 28OCT, frequencies shall be increased to 10 times per week nonstop using the same aircraft type. Lastly, MU has officially announced that it has ordered 20 brand new Boeing 777-300ERs to expand its long haul fleet as well to gradually replace its entire fleet of 5 A340-600s which seat 322 pax in a 3 class configuration i.e. 8F/42J/272Y. The addition of the B777 into MU's fleet means a totally new aircraft type being added into the carrier's fleet but in turn the long term savings + extra revenue gained by operating B77Ws on long haul flights to USA and Europe versus A346s over a 12 year period far outweighs the costs involved in introducing a new aircraft type.
Air China has officially announced that due to increasing demand for its Stockholm bound flights from Beijing it shall be increasing capacity on the route to meet demand. Currently, CA operates 5 weekly nonstop services using a B772ER, however from 11JUN onwards, it shall be increasing flights to daily nonstop but with using a smaller Airbus A 330-200. In addition, it shall be reducing frequencies from its secondary PVG-Shanghai hub to Paris and Milan from July as well to 4 and 5 weekly each respectively.
Thai Airways has officially announced its new operational plans for its initial batch of four Airbus A380s that will be coming into service from 28OCT 2012. The main highlights are as follows:
CDG - frequencies to be reduced from 10 weekly B77Ws to daily A380 effective 16FEB
FRA - capacity increased from daily B744 + daily B77W to daily A380 + daily B77W effective 15DEC
NRT - capacity increased to daily A380 + daily B744 + double daily B773 effective 16JAN
Other changes announced by TG for the upcoming IATA W12 season are as follows:
MXP - capacity increased from 3 weekly A346s to 3 weekly B744s.
BNE - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a B773 for all flights.
OSL - frequencies reduced
from daily to 6 weekly but capacity overall increased with new B773ER
being used. TG's new B77Ws seat 34J + 330Y.
NGO - frequencies increased from 10 to 11 weekly
ARN - frequencies increased from daily to 9 weekly
CTS - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using an A333 effective 30OCT
Comments:
With
regards to TG's A346 fleet, there has been a lot of talk of the carrier
wanting to find solutions on either selling them off early as well how
it can better utilize the plane on long haul routes. To begin with, one
feels that TG must understand that it would
be highly unlikely for them to sell A346s in the near future in the
current configuration that they are in i.e. 8F/60J/199Y. Since the A346
has at least another 4-5 years left in TG's fleet, it would be seriously suggested to TG
to re-configure its entire A346 fleet to have a 2 class configuration
that is indicative of its passenger and market dynamics as well as the
fact that many airlines now have switched to the 2 class model hence it
would make a better re-sale proposition once put in the market. The two
class configuration one proposes for TGs A346s is 36 business class +
328 economy class thus totaling 364 seats (97 more than its current
layout). This is an ideal configuration not only for re-sale but also
for TG's
current European and Australian routes that lack demand for F class and
barely fill up 70% of the J class cabin. In addition, by having a denser
configuration it would in turn result in their seat operation cost per
mile being reduced and gain passenger revenue. The 364 seater A346 is
ideal for routes such as BKK-CPH/MXP/FCO/ARN/MUC/AKL/MEL/DME.
Afriqiyah Airways of Libya has officially announced that it has placed an order with Airbus for three brand new Airbus A 330-300s as the carrier looks to be at the forefront of Libya's new economic prosperity in the post Gadhafi era. The airline already has in its fleet 1 A332 + few A320s.
Comments:
One
does not seem to understand why the larger A333 has been ordered when
the A332 offers more flying range and can meet the passenger demand for
any high density route to/from TIP.
MUC/ORD - capacity reduced to daily A333
MUC/IAD - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using an A333 only
MUC/PEK - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights using an A343 only
FRA/MAA - capacity reduced from daily A346 to daily A343
FRA/BOG - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop using an A346 only
