Oman Air announces major Asia expansion plans

Oman Air has officially revealed expansion plans for its Southeast Asia route network effective 01MAY17. The main highlights are as follows:

BKK - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 weekly operated exclusively by the B787 

CAN - frequencies increased from 3 weekly to daily i.e. new 4 weekly via SIN + 3 weekly nonstop

CGK - frequencies increased from 3 weekly to daily nonstop

Air China announces USA expansion

Air China has officially announced its North America expansion plan from the on set of the IATA S17 season which is as follows:

*All flights to operate nonstop from its primary Beijing (PEK) hub

IAD - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily using a B77W

YUL - frequencies increased from 4 to 6 weekly using a B789 & B77W

EWR - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly using a B77W

IAH - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly using a B77W

Cathay Pacific to suspend Riyadh

Cathay Pacific has disclosed via filing on Sabre GDS that it will be suspending all flights to RUH-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia effective 05MAR17 as the airline is feeling the pinch of low oil prices hurting corporate travel demand to/from KSA bound to Austral-Asia. 

CX currently operates 4 times per week nonstop to RUH using an A333 with MNL being its top feeder market on this flight.

Australia and Rome increased by Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing its presence in FCO-Rome, Italy effective 03JUL17. It currently operates 3 times per week using a B772ER which shall now be increased to 4 times per week nonstop using the same aircraft type.

P2P demand between SIN and FCO has increased to 58,000 passengers over the past year and its main feeder markets are Australia, MNL, BKK, KUL and Indonesia.

As far as its Aussie bound services are concerned, SQ disclosed the following:

SYD - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 daily effective 19JUN

MEL - frequencies increased from 4 daily to 31 weekly effective 17JUL

BNE - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 daily effective 22AUG

Emirates upgrades Casablanca to a daily A380

Emirates has officially announced that CMN-Casablanca shall be its newest Airbus A380 destination operated on a daily basis effective 27MAR17.

EK had originally planned to boost its CMN-DXB service to double daily B77Ws from September 2016 but that plan was axed as part of major cost cutting initiatives undertaken by the carrier due to heavy drop in profits. 

The O&D demand between DXB and CMN in 2016 was 106,000 passengers alone with CMN being a very popular destination amongst GCC residing Arabs during the summer holiday season especially.