Air Canada has officially announced a major round of aggressive capacity upgrades and additional frequencies to its European and Asian network as the carrier looks to ward off any potential threat from Air Transat, Westjet as well as capitalize on its strong following versus Air France-Alitalia on certain key market segments.
The main highlights are as follows:
YYZ/AMS - capacity increased from daily B763ER to daily A333
YYZ/MXP - capacity increased from daily B763ER to daily A333
YVR/PVG - capacity increased from daily B788 to daily B77W
YYC/NRT - capacity increased from daily B763ER to daily B788
YUL/CDG - capacity upgraded to double daily B77Ws (high density)
YYZ/FCO - capacity upgraded from daily A333 to daily B77W
YYZ/MAD - capacity increased from daily B763ER to daily B788
YYZ/ZRH - capacity increased from daily B788 to daily B789
YYZ/TLV - capacity increased from daily B788 to daily B789
YUL/FCO - capacity upgraded from daily B763ER to daily A333
YVR/DUB - new 3 weekly nonstop flights using a B763ER effective 10JUN
YVR/LHR - frequencies increased to double daily i.e. daily B77W + daily B789
YYZ/IST - capacity increased from daily B763ER to daily B789
Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be significantly increasing its presence in the Kuala Lumpur marketplace effective 01JUN16 as the carrier looks to take full advantage of Malaysia Airlines heavily weakened position in Europe.
Frequencies shall be upgraded from 10 weekly to double daily nonstop operated by the Airbus A330-300 exclusively.
Austrian Airlines has officially announced that it will be launching a new service to one of Iran's largest cities i.e. Isfahan
OS will operate 4 times per week nonstop from its Vienna hub using an Airbus A319 with the below mentioned schedule:
OS 875 Dep VIE 2045 Arr IFN 0355+1
OS 876 Dep IFN 0550 Arr VIE 0815
This flight will be largely catering towards a niche market in Europe i.e. Iranian emigrants who reside in Western Europe since the 1979 revolution and want a direct flight into IFN rather than transiting via Tehran (IKA) airport !
Source: http://www.austrianairlines.ag/Press/PressReleases/Press/2015/11/092.aspx?sc_lang=en&mode={30999B4B-42D0-45A6-B671-FE5E3CB68ED8}
The state of Oman and India have agreed on an expanded bilateral that allows Oman Air to significantly increase its operations effective December 2015 in the below mentioned manner:
BLR - frequencies increased from daily to double daily
COK - frequencies increased from daily to double daily
LKO - frequencies increased from daily to 11 weekly
JAI - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly
GOI - frequencies increased from 6 weekly to daily effective 01DEC
The Australian Government has officially announced that it has signed an enhanced bilateral accord with UAE further facilitating growth for airlines based out of each others territories.
The UAE based airlines i.e. Etihad + Emirates can operate an additional 14 flights per week to SYD/BNE/PER/MEL and in return Qantas + Virgin Australia can do the same for DXB/AUH.
Source: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/new-bilateral-deal-sees-etihad-emirates-get-more-flights-australia-613063.html
Eva Air's CEO officially unveiled the carrier's 5 year expansion strategy that focused on long haul growth and fleet rationalization. The main highlights of the plan are as follows:
- 24 B787-100s + 2 B777-300ERs ordered
- Frequencies to North America to be boosted i.e. SFO increased from double to triple daily, JFK increased from daily to double daily
- New long haul services to Chicago and Washington DC to be launched in 2016 with B777-300ERs
- Two new European destinations likely to be launched in 2016 i.e. Milan and Bareclona
Comments:
MXP-TPE demand in 2014 was 27,000 pax versus FCO-TPE being 36,000 (CI operates this route via DEL three times per week using an A333). Maximum required is a 3 weekly nonstop service on a B789 sized aircraft. BCN-TPE on the other hand was 15,000 pax and the same held true for MAD-TPE last year. I dont see the viability of Spain being added to BR's network. MXP has a bit of merit as it can also provide useful onward feed to SE Asia.
Instead of BCN, I would strongly suggest BR consider ZRH-TPE
which had 28,000 pax point to point in 2014 with much higher yields
good cargo potential major Star hub hence can provide incremental S/F
with support from LX !
For USA-TPE 2014, demand was as follows:
NYC - 150K
LAX - 379K
SFO - 268K
IAH - 22K
SEA - 51K
ORD - 25K
IAD - 21K
YYZ - 35K
YVR - 91K
Lufthansa has officially announced that due to heavy losses, it will be suspending its daily service between Munich and Dubai effective 09APR16. Currently, the route is operated by an A340-600 with a night time departure out of MUC airport.
This announcement comes on the heels of Emirates confirming that it will be significantly increasing its own MUC services from 01FEB by adding a new 3rd daily service as well as upgrading its current double daily service to A380s. In 2014, 315,000 passengers flew MUC-DXB-MUC (point to point only) !
