Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines has officially announced that it will be inaugurating new nonstop flights from its IAH-Houston hub to FRA-Frankfurt, Germany from November 2009 onwards using a Boeing 767-200ER. This is due to CO joining Star Alliance hence it expects a sizeable amount of feeder and high yield traffic on this sector. Its flight timings are as follows:

CO 46 Dep IAH 1850 - Arr FRA 1140+1
CO 47 Dep FRA 1340 - Arr IAH 1750

Air France

Air France has announced that it will be adding 4 new flights per week to Beirut flown nonstop from its CDG hub using an Airbus A 330-200 effective May 18th 2009. That will result in AF operated aircraft flying the route 11 times a week along side MEA who fly double daily flights. The new flights operate on MON/WED/THU/FRI and their timings are as follows:

AF 562 Dep CDG 1620 - Arr BEY 2130
AF 561 Dep BEY 1035 - Arr CDG 1410

Lufthansa

Lufthansa has officially revealed that it will be increasing capapcity on its FRA-YYC (Calgary) route with the on the set of the Summer 2009 IATA timetable. Currently, it flies a daily 221 seater A 333 on this sector, however that will be increased to a daily A 343 seating 250 passengers. As far as FRA-BOS is concerned, this route too witnesses a capacity decrease for SU 09 to daily A 333 + daily A 346. Lastly, its FRA-CCS (Caracas) route too witnesses a capacity increase for summer 09 from a daily A 343 to a daily A 346.

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines has announced that it will be increasing its Istanbul-Baghdad bound operated flights from 3 to 5 times a week effective January 6th 2009. TK will deploy the A 320 twice a week and the B 738 three times a week each respectively on this new route of theirs.

Also the airline tooy announced that it will be launching new nonstop flights from its Istanbul hub to NBO-Nairobi, Kenya effective April 6th 09. TK will be flying their aging Airbus A 310-300 on this sector and flights will operate 3 timea a week on MON/THU/SAT.

Air Canada

Air Canada will be increasing its flights to Edmonton from London Heathrow but at the same time reducing its Calgary-Heathrow frequency for Summer 2009. According to the latest information available, YEG-LHR will be increased from daily to 9 times a week nonstop using a B 767-300ER where as YYC-LHR will be reduced from double daily to 12 weekly nonstop flights using an A 333 daily + 5 weekly B 763ER.

In addition, AC has announced capacity changes on its Montreal-Frankfurt route which will come into effect from Feb 1st. From that date onwards, AC will operate YUL-FRA using a B 777-200LR 4 times a week along side a B 777-300ER 3 times a week where as currently operates this sector using an A 333 daily.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has announced major changes to a few medium haul destinations in its network for the Summer 2009 season. The main highlights are as follows:

LOS - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a mixture of A 332s and A 333s.

ALG - frequencies increased from 4 to 6 weekly flights using an A 332 and A 333 three times a week each respectively.

GVA - capacity adjusted from 3 weekly A 332s to 5 weekly A 319s.

Emirates-Etihad

Emirates and Etihad Airways have both applied to the Italian Government to seek an amendment in the Italy-UAE bilateral agreement that would permit both airline to increase their presence in the Italian market in the face of a possible Alitalia collapse which they hope to exploit. EK has asked for permission to operate to Venice double daily and triple daily to both Rome and Milan respectively. On the other hand, Etihad Airways has asked to for daily flight rights to both Milan and Rome. Both carriers are aiming to largely attract passengers bound to the Far East and Australia via their respective UAE airport hubs.

British Airways

British Airways has disclosed that it will be reducing capacity on its key Heathrow-Hong Kong nonstop from June 2009. Effective that month onwards, BA's triple daily B 744 operated flights will be switched to double daily B 744s + daily B 777-200ERs.

BA also officially confirmed that it shall be resuming flights to Saudi Arabia after a gap of 6 years. Its flights will start from March 29th 09 and will fly 5 times a week to Riyadh using a 4 class configured B 772ER where as JED will be served also 5 times a week but using a 3 class B 763ER.

KLM

KLM has announced that it will be increasing its flights between Amsterdam and Hong Kong from 18th July 09 onwards with the addition of a 11th weekly frequency flown nonstop. KL will be utilizing Boeing 747-400 Combis for all the 11 weekly flights.

Air Asia X

Air Asia X, the long haul low cost airline of Malaysia has officially revealed that it has secured the acquisition of 2 used Airbus A 340-300s and will be using them to launch new long haul nonstop flights to London's Stansted Airport from its Kuala Lumpur hub. The airline will be flying this route 5 times a week from March 11th 09 onwards and its aircraft will be configured to seat 30 in business class and 286 in economy.

South African Airways

South African Airways has confirmed that it will be launching new services twice a week to EZE-Buenos Aires flown nonstop from its Johannesburg hub. SAA will be using an Airbus A 340-200 for this route on WED & SUN.

Korean Air

Korean Air will be launching new flights to MXP-Milan, Italy twice a week flown nonstop from its Seoul (ICN) hub effective Dec 10th 2008. KE will be using a B 777-200ER for this route and the flight will continue onwards to FCO-Rome. The latter will maintain 3 weekly flights with one of them being a turn around terminator service.

Egypt Air

Egypt Air has officially confirmed that it will be doubling its capacity on offer on its high demand Cairo-Doha route from the on set of the Summer 2009 IATA season. Currently, it flies a daily A 320 on this sector but that will be replaced by the larger Airbus A 340-200.

United Airlines

United Airlines has officially confirmed that it will be launching new daily nonstop flights to GVA-Geneva, Switzerland from its IAD-Washington Dulles hub from April 19th 2009. UA will be using a 3 class configured Boeing 767-300ER for this route which is likely to be code shared with LX. The airline hopes to attract a lot of high yielding political and business traffic on this all important route for which it will have a monopoly stronghold. The flight timings are as follows:

UA 974 Dep IAD 1800 Arr GVA 0800+1
UA 975 Dep GVA 1200 Arr IAD 1500

UAL has also revealed that for Summer 09, it will be reducing capacity on its ORD-Heathrow route to triple daily B 763ER operated services only. For Summer 08, it was a daily B 772ER + double daily B 763ER.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways will be increasing frequencies to KTM-Kathmandu, Nepal from the on set of the IATA Summer 09 timetable (March 28) from 11 weekly flights to double daily nonstop. QR will fly 5 weekly A 332s + 9 weekly A 320s on this route which does very well not only for them but its competitors as well such as GF and EY. One of the main reasons for this increase is the huge influx of Nepali labor now being recruited in the Middle East in the construction industry especially in Qatar as their salaries payable are lower than Indians and Pakistanis apparently.

Air Canada

Air Canada has announced that it will be launching new daily flights to GVA-Geneva, Switzerland from Toronto via Montreal (same plane service) using a Boeing 767-300ER from June 1st 09. AC anticipates strong high yielding demand for this route especially between June-September. The flight timings are as follows:

AC 830 Dep YYZ 1800 Arr YUL 1919
AC 830 Dep YUL 2045 Arr GVA 1005+1

AC 831 Dep GVA 1215 Arr YUL 1430
AC 831 Dep YUL 1600 Arr YYZ 1720

Jet Airways India

Jet Airways will be suspending its new Bangalore-Brussels nonstop flights from January 12th 09 onwards according to major GDS systems. All flights after that date have been ZERO'd out. No official reason has been cited yet but it will be due to cost cutting and using the 1 A 332 dedicated for this route on more higher yielding India-Middle East and India-Far East Asia flights.

9W also will be reducing capacity to EWR from Jan 21st onwards by replacing daily B 773ER operated flights with daily A 332s on the BOM-BRU-EWR sector.

Delta Airlines

Delta Airlines has officially confirmed that it will be increasing its network in Africa from June 2009 with the launch of 2 new destinations namely Abuja and Lagos in Nigeria from ATL and JFK respectively. The main highlights are as follows:

JFK/LOS - eff June 9th, new 5 weekly nonstop B 763ER service complimenting the already exisiting daily ATL-LOS B 763ER service.

ATL/ABV - new twice weekly B 752 service with a tech stop in SID in both directions.

Other key developments that DL has ear marked for 2009 expansion as a result of its merger with NW are as follows:

SEA/LHR - all flights suspended from Jan 8th.

JFK/TLV - frequencies increased from daily to 11 weekly B 763ERs all flown nonstop eff June 30th 09.

JFK/NRT - new daily nonstop flights to start eff June 4th using a B 772ER.

JFK/PRG - new 3 weekly nonstop flights start from June 18th using a B 763ER.

SLC/NRT - new 5 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using NW A 332s eff June 3rd 09.

ATL/NRT - second daily nonstop flight to be launched using a NWA B 744 eff May 4th 09. Current daily flight is flown using a DL B 772ER.

JFK/CPT - new 3 weekly flights to be flown via DKR using a B 763ER.

SEA/PEK - new nonstop flights to be flown using NWA aircraft.

DTW/PVG - new nonstop flights using NWA aircraft.

ATL/NBO - new 4 weekly flights to be launched using B 763ER via DKR eff June 2nd 09.

NRT/SGN - new daily flights to be launched using a NWA B 752 eff June 1st.

Air France

Air France will be increasing its flight frequencies to DTW-Detroit, USA from Feb 23 09 from 4 weekly to daily services to fill in the gap left by Northwest Airlines cancelling its own DTW-CDG nonstop service. AF will be using an A 332 5 times a week along with an A 343 twice a week for this sector.

Thai Airways

Thai Airways will be reducing capacity to NGO-Nagoya, Japan from Dec 1st 08 onwards due to the worldwide economic crisis that has engulfed the large Japanese auto companies that are based out of NGO. Currently, TG flies 9 weekly B 773As to NGO seating 380 pax in a 2 class configuration. However, from Dec 1st onwards, TG will be using a 267 seater A 340-600 (3 class configured) on daily flights where as the other 2 weekly flights will remain a B 773A operated one.