Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines has officially announced that they will be launching new daily nonstop flights to Los Angeles (LAX) and Washington DC (IAD) from December 2010 onwards which shall be code shared with their Star Alliance partner i.e. United Airlines. Services to IAD will be flown using a new Airbus A 330-200 where as operations to LAX will be flown using their brand new factory fresh Boeing 777-300ER which will have the worlds largest business class seat. The flight schedule of these routes is expected to be as follows:

IAD - daily A 332 (250 seats...22J / 228Y)

TK XXX Dep IST 1100 Arr IAD 1450
TK XXX Dep IAD 2315 Arr IST 1700+1

LAX - daily B 773ER (310 seats...8F / 34J / 268Y)

TK XXX Dep IST 1045 Arr LAX 1445
TK XXX Dep LAX 1800 Arr IST 1720+1

The above mentioned schedule allows for excellent connections vis IST in both directions to all of TK's Levant, African, Central Asian, Middle East and Indian subcontinent (BOM/DEL/KHI) destinations. TK also officially confirmed that from Dec 2010, it shall also be increasing frequencies on its flagship route to New York-JFK to a double daily nonstop operation using their new Boeing 777-300ERs for both flights. The second daily departure will depart JFK at 1130pm where as the current one departs at 445pm NYC time.

Comments:

IAD was expected to be launched by TK since 2006 but always there was some sort of hindrance that prevented the route from being inaugurated. LAX will be an interesting route to see how TK performs from a yield point of view in particular as its an ultra long haul route with tons of competition and high operating costs. The airline that one feels that would be most impacted negatively with TK entering are EK and QR at LAX and IAD respectively.

The main reason for this is due to TK's ability to undercut EK's fares in all cabin classes from LAX to the Middle East and Africa in particular. Out of IAD, TK should see good J class loads bound to AMM/BEY/CAI/DAM/IST/TAS/ALA/ADD/SIN/KRT/GYD/JED/RUH in particular as the connections on offer to these capital cities from/to IAD via IST in both directions are excellent. From IAD, they shall be a huge threat to QR's market share to DEL/BOM/KHI/DXB/AUH in particular.

Air India

Air India has officially announced that to meet high demand and increased competition on the Delhi-London Heathrow route, it has decided to increase capacity on this sector to a 10 weekly nonstop service using a Boeing 777-300ER for all the flights. Previously, AI operated a daily B 772LR alongside a 3 weekly B 773ER on this sector. This means that AI's capacity to LHR from DEL increases by 104 seats on a daily basis with this aircraft upgrade.

Egypt Air

Egypt Air has officially announced that it is seriously examining the possibility of launching new daily flights to Toronto, Chicago and Washington DC from Summer 2011 as the carrier takes delivery of its last batch 2 new Boeing 777-300ERs by that time. Out of these 3 destinations, only 2 will be launched but the carrier insists that it will use their new B 77Ws to launch these services. It has also revealed on the GDS that effective Jan 1st 2011, capacity on its flagship CAI-JFK route will be increased from a daily B 777-200ER to a daily B 777-300ER. By December 2010, MS will have 3 B 773ERs and will be using them exclusively on 6 weekly nonstop flights to Tokyo + daily JFK services. MS's B 77Ws seat 346 in a 2 class configuration i.e. 49 in business class and 297 in economy class.

Comments:

There is no logical way that MS can fill a B 77W operating to YYZ-Toronto on a year round daily basis as the market isn't big enough to support a service using such an aircraft type. The best aircraft suited for MS's CAI-YYZ services is their 268 seater Airbus A 330-200 which accommodates 24 in J class and 244 in Y class. Even for IAD and ORD, the B 77W is too big for both routes to operate on a daily basis even if UA code shares on these flights which it definitely shall. If it really wants to fly B 77Ws to USA apart from JFK, then the best option would be IAD versus ORD because filling a 49 seater J class cabin with UA feed would be far easier from the political capital city versus ORD. From IAD, MS can get decent amount of high yielding political and business traffic bound to CAI and via its hub to KRT, Saudi Arabia, East Africa, South Africa, KRT, Central Asia, TIP, ALG, TUN and AMM.

Gulf Air

Gulf Air has officially revealed on the GDS that it shall be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to MED-Medina, Saudi Arabia effective June 17th 2010 onwards. Flights are to operate with an Embarer E 70 aircraft offering a capacity of 67 seats.

Emirates

Emirates has further revealed more details of its route expansion for the upcoming IATA Winter 2010-11 season. The main highlights are as follows:

JFK - capacity increased on EK 201/202 from daily B 773ER to daily A 380.

BGW - frequencies increased from 3 weekly to daily nonstop flights using an A 332.

CAI - frequencies increased from 10 to 13 weekly nonstop flights.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa has officially confirmed that from August to end October, it shall be reducing capacity on its Munich-Tokyo route from a daily nonstop flight using an A 340-600 to a daily A 340-300. With regards to Cairo for IATA Winter 2010-11, it has revealed that it will be increasing capacity on the route by flying it daily but with an Boeing 747-400 rather than an A 340-600.

Air France

Air France has officially announced that for the first time ever, it will be flying 20 times per week nonstop to NRT-Tokyo from its Paris hub during the IATA Winter 2010-11 season. Usually, during the winter season, AF operates only a double daily nonstop flight but faced with increased demand and competition from EK/EY/QR on this important high yielding route, it has decided to get ultra aggressive to protect its market share. For the CDG-NRT sector, double daily flights will be flown using a B 773ER and the remaining 6 weekly will be with an A 332.

Delta Airlines

Delta Airlines has officially announced that it shall be launching a new 3rd daily nonstop flight from its JFK hub to LHR-London Heathrow from Sept 19th 2010. All 3 daily nonstop flights shall be operated by Boeing 767-400ERs. The flight timings are as follows:

Dep JFK 1845/2110/2305 Arr LHR 0705/0925/1130

Dep LHR 1005/1230/1705 Arr JFK 1320/1540/2040

Royal Brunei

Royal Brunei has officially confirmed that it has finalized a deal with Singapore Airlines to lease out the latter's fleet of 6 Boeing 777-200ERs. BI will be using these aircraft to fully replace its aging fleet of 6 Boeing 767-300ERs which shall be gradually retired by January 2011. These aircraft seat 285 passengers in a 2 class configuration i.e. 30 business class + 255 economy class.

Emirates

Emirates has officially announced that it will be launching new nonstop flights to BGW-Baghdad from July 1st 2010 from its Dubai home base. EK will be using an Airbus A 330-200 to operate this service three times per week. The flight schedule allows for excellent connections to all European and GCC destinations in particular. It is as follows:

Days of operation: TUE/THU/SAT

EK 941 Dep DXB 0700 Arr BGW 0830
EK 942 Dep BGW 1030 Arr DXB 1355

Oman Air

Oman Air has officially announced that it shall be increasing its flights to BKK-Bangkok from June 1st 2010 as the carrier looks to consolidate its presence on this all important route which sees a lot of O&D traffic as well as generating a lot of 6th freedom transit traffic from Europe and within the GCC. This new 9th flight will be operated by its Airbus A 330-300 thus in total 3 weekly A 333 flights will be flown along side 6 weekly ones using an A 332.

Air Berlin

Air Berlin based out of Berlin, Germany has officially confirmed that it shall be launching new nonstop flights to DXB-Dubai from November 1st 2010. Frequencies will be 3 times per week nonstop and the carrier will be utilizing an Airbus A 330-200 to operate the route on WED/FRI/SUN.

The flight schedule is as follows:

AB 7318 Dep TXL 1945 Arr DXB 0335+1
AB 7319 Dep DXB 0520 Arr TXL 0900

KLM

KLM has officially announced that it shall be increasing frequencies on its popular Amsterdam-Tokyo Narita route from October 1st 2010 onwards. Currently, daily nonstop flights are operated by a Boeing 747-400 Combi, however from Oct 1st, frequencies will be increased to 9 times per week nonstop using a B 744 Combi daily + 2 weekly B 744 full pax configuration.

Thai Airways

Thai Airways has officially confirmed that it shall be re-adjusting its capacity to Mumbai and Delhi in India from May 16th 2010 onwards in the following manner:

BOM - frequencies reduced from 10 weekly to daily nonstop flights using a 2 class configured B 773A.

DEL - frequencies increased from 12 weekly to double daily nonstop flights using a mixture of A 333s and B 772As.

Austrian Airlines

Austrian Airlines is expected to shortly announce the resumption of its flights to Mumbai, India from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 timetable. OS will be re launching the route from Oct 31st onwards flying 5 times per week nonstop from its Vienna hub using a Boeing 767-300ER. The flight schedule is as follows:

OS 35 Dep VIE 1040 Arr BOM 2330
OS 36 Dep BOM 0145 Arr VIE 0540

Lufthansa

Lufthansa has officially revealed details of the configuration of its Airbus A 380 cabin which is revealed to be seating 526 passengers in a 3 class configuration. The layout calls for the entire upper deck to be an exclusive premium cabin with 8 first class + 98 business class seats. The lower cabin will only cost of 420 economy class seats. LH though has not revealed the exact seat product features of its premium cabin on board this cabin but it has left many industry on lookers surprised with the number of business class seats it is installing on board considering the worldwide economic climate forecasted for the next three years. The initial routes that LH's A 380s are going to be deployed on are Tokyo, JFK, Delhi, Bangkok, Jo'Burg, Bangkok and China.

Comments:

98 business class seats means someone in LH's business strategy planning is banking on a strong turnaround for the worldwide economy during the next 3 years. Best of luck to them in trying to get a decent load factor. However there are 2 ways in which one can look at this cabin configuration especially of the business class.

1. In its B 744s, LH has 80 business class seats installed and with the A 380 being positioned as an aircraft capable of carrying 25% more passengers, therefore one may feel that the LH planning department folks have taken the safe route by increasing J class cabin size accordingly.

2. However, one may also feel that by having a large J class A 380 cabin on routes to China, BKK, SIN, HKG, NRT, JNB and DEL in particular, LH will be trying to poach away a size able chunk of the J class market share that currently EK/EY/QR/WY/TK/RJ/MS enjoy out of Germany/Europe due to their cheaper prices. One shall not be surprised to see out of these 98 J class seats, at least 20-24 being reserved in the lowest fare inventory category matching the cheap J class fares of the Arab carriers/TK/RJ/MS and KLM on key Asian/African routes in order to 'regain' vital market share!

Lufthansa has officially announced that it will be flying year round flights to YUL-Montreal instead of summer seasonal only from its secondary Munich hub. Flights shall be operating 5 times per week nonstop using an Airbus A 330-300. Other changes announced out of its MUC hub for the IATA Winter 2010 season are as follows:

DEL - capacity increased from daily A 343 to daily A 346.

DXB - capacity increased from daily A 343 to daily A 346.

RUH - 3 weekly nonstop flights using a B 738 to continue year round.

TAS - 3 weekly nonstop flights using a B 738 to continue year round.

LH has also officially announced that it will be increasing its flights to Abu Dhabi and Muscat from Frankfurt effective Oct 31st 2010 with an additional weekly flight being flown as FRA-AUH-MCT. Thus this route becomes a daily operated flight using an Airbus A 330-300.

In addition, LH too confirmed that it shall be increasing capacity on its new route to EBL-Erbil, Iraq from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season. Currently, flights are operated nonstop from its main FRA hub 5 times per week using an Airbus A 319. However from Oct 31st onwards, LH will be increasing services to daily nonstop on this sector using a larger Airbus A 320 which seats 38 more passengers than its A 319s.

Saudia Airlines

Saudia Airlines has officially announced in a company newsletter memo that it will be purchasing 12 brand new Boeing 777-300ERs which shall be used to gradually replace its aging fleet of 9 Boeing 747-300s + 3 Boeing 747-100s. These aircraft have the capability of also flying nonstop to the U.S. East coast for which they are destined to be used on as well. The configuration of its B 773ERs are not revealed as yet but many will be configured in 2 regional 2 class layout to operate flights to MNL, Pakistan, India, DAC and CMB where as others receiving the 3 class configuration will be used on prestige routes such as USA, LHR, China and Tokyo.

Air Canada

Air Canada has officially revealed details of its Southeast Asia expansion for the upcoming IATA Winter 2010 season as the carrier looks to consolidate its presence in the region. The main highlights are as follows:

YYZ / PEK - frequencies increased from 4 weekly to a daily nonstop flight using a Boeing 777-300ER.

YYZ / PVG - frequencies increased from 3 weekly to a daily nonstop flight using a Boeing 777-200LR.

YVR / PEK - frequencies increased to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a Boeing 767-300ER.

YVR / ICN - frequencies increased to daily nonstop flights using a Boeing 767-300ER.

YVR / PVG - frequencies increased to 5 weekly nonstop flights using a Boeing 767-300ER.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has revealed on the GDS that it will be reducing capacity to New York JFK between August 1st and October 31st as it seems that it needs a spare Boeing 777-300ER to extra Umrah and Eid seasonal flights between Aug 10-Sept 30 in particular to various parts of the Middle East and Indian subcontinent. From the current daily nonstop flights using the Boeing 777-300ER, QR shall be deploying between Aug 1st-Oct 31st, two weekly B 777-200LRs along side 5 weekly Boeing 777-300ERs.

In addition, QR has officially confirmed that it has been granted permission by the Iraqi Govt to launch flights to Erbil, Najaf and Baghdad. Plans call for A 320s and A 321s being used on DOH-Iraq flights from the on set of the IATA Winter 2010 season.

Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways has officially disclosed that it shall be increasing capacity to Karachi and Lahore from June 7th onwards in order to cater for the summer peak travel season as well as demand for Umrah travel to Saudi Arabia. The main highlights are as follows:

KHI - capacity increased to 5 weekly A 346s + weekly A 320 + weekly B 773ER.

LHE - capacity increased to 4 weekly B 773ERs + weekly A 346 + weekly A 332 + weekly A 345.