Canada and the Philippines
have officially agreed to further liberalize
the air bilateral accord between the
two countries in light of increased year on year demand. The main highlights of
this new deal are as follows:
a)
Frequencies increased from 7 to 14 per
week
b)
5th freedom traffic rights
available to PAL on YVR-JFK and YYZ-JFK five times per week only
c)
Air Canada allowed to fly to SYD/MEL
via MNL with 5th freedom traffic rights
PAL in turn has
indicated that its new upcoming service to New York JFK is desired to be
operated via YVR-Vancouver using a B773ER effective Nov 2014.
Cathay Pacific has officially
announced that it shall be launching new
daily nonstop flights to ZRH-Zurich effective 29MAR15. All services will be
operated using a 4 class configured Boeing 777-300ER with the below mentioned
schedule:
CX 383 Dep HKG 0015
Arr ZRH 0655
CX 382 Dep ZRH 1330
Arr HKG 0645+1
Emirates has officially revealed many changes
to its route network for the remainder of the 2014 calendar year of which the
main highlights are as follows:
BRU
– new daily nonstop flights using a B772LR effective 05SEP
KHI
– new 6th daily flight effective 01AUG departing DXB at 2235 using
an A332.
BOS
– capacity increased from daily B772LR to daily B773ER effective 01AUG
FRA
– capacity increased from triple daily B773ER to daily A380 + double daily
B773ER effective 01SEP
SEZ
– frequencies increased from 12 weekly to double daily using an A345 effective
26OCT
SIN
– frequencies increased from 4 to 5 daily flights using an
A380 twice daily + a B773 three times daily
Delta Airlines have placed further orders
for Airbus A321-200s as the airline is very happy with the performance
economics of this aircraft type especially on trans-continental domestic routes
within the U.S. landscape. DL confirmed that they ordered an additional 15
units bring their total A321 order to 45.
Qatar Airways
has revealed many capacity changes for the remainder of the year to its medium
and long haul route network of which the main highlights are as follows:
ICN – capacity increased
from daily A332 to daily B773ER effective 02SEP
LHE – frequencies
increased from daily to double daily effective 01JUL i.e. daily A333 + daily
A320
VIE – capacity increased
from daily A320 to daily A332 effective 01SEP
DME – capacity increased
from double daily A320 to daily B788 + daily A320
CDG – capacity increased
from triple daily A346 to daily A380 + double daily A346
CGK – frequencies
increased from double daily to 18 weekly i.e. daily B773ER + 11 weekly A333
MED – frequencies
increased from 5 weekly to daily using an A320
In addition, QR confirmed that its 3rd A380 route
from IATA W14 season shall be nonstop to New York JFK.
Comments:
There are two routes
that QR need to look into that can generate good volume across certain parts of
their network. First one is MRU-Mauritius operated 5 times per week using a
B787. Main market segments to feed MRU would be CDG, UK, Germany, Italy, India,
HKG, DXB, SIN, ICN, NRT and China. Unlike a majority of other leisure market
segments, what seperates MRU from the likes of BKK, HKT, DPS, HNL etc is the
fact that the yields for MRU are much higher due to lower competition + greater
income level of both the locals + the tourists visiting the island on a year
round basis. The second route for QR to attack is CGP-Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Currently, only FZ and WY operate here but with narrow bodied aircraft. In the
winter, both would be facing payload restrictions hence cannot carry the
maximum number of passengers intended. The main market segment for QR at CGP is
GCC, KSA and UK. Over here, a daily A333 operated service would suffice nicely
as cargo potential is there as well to be exploited.
Etihad Airways has revealed few changes to its
route network for 2014 of which the main highlights are as follows:
AMM – frequencies
increased from 18 weekly to triple daily effective 01JUL
BEY – same as
above effective 01JUL
LCA – frequencies
increased from 3 weekly to daily effective 01JUL
As far as its upcoming Boeing 787-900 is concerned, EY
confirmed that the first two aircraft shall be used operating a daily same
plane service routed Washington-Abu Dhabi-Mumbai effective 01JAN15.
Lufthansa has announced that it shall be reconfiguring its classic Boeing 747-400
fleet (currently 19 units) to a standard two class configuration and
operate them on routes that have minimal first class cabin demand. The new
configuration will seat 389 passengers versus 330 currently. In the business
class cabin, there will be 67 seats along with 322 in economy class. The routes
that shall see this aircraft from IATA S15 season onwards are daily Dubai,
Toronto, Osaka, Tokyo, Vancouver and Seoul all operated from Frankfurt. Other
changes revealed by LH for the upcoming IATA W14 season are as follows:
FRA/BKK –
capacity reduced from daily A346 to daily A343
FRA/KIX –
capacity reduced from daily B744 to daily A343
FRA/EZE –
capacity increased from daily B744 to daily B748
FRA/NRT –
capacity reduced from daily B744 to daily A343
Eva Air of Taiwan has officially announced that
they have placed an additional order for
6 Boeing 777-300ERs as the carrier is extremely happy with the economic
benefits of this aircraft type. In addition, their CEO revealed that they will
be ordering the Boeing 787-1000X to
be the official replacement aircraft for its entire A330 (11 A332s + 3 A333s)
fleet from 2020 onwards with an initial order for 5 units. With regards to its
cargo fleet, the B772LRF has been chosen to be its preferred type replacing 9
B744Fs + 3 MD11Fs.
Fly Dubai of
UAE has revealed major expansion plans for its route network for
this summer season onwards of which the main highlights are as follows:
ADE – new 3
weekly flights effective 01AUG
KDH (Kandahar) –
new 2 weekly flights effective 25JUL
VKO (Moscow’s 3rd
airport) – new daily nonstop flights effective 23SEP
India – effective
01JUN, new 4 weekly flights to DEL + 3 weekly to COK + 3 weekly to TRV
