Japan Airlines CEO has announced that the carrier is looking to launch at least two new USA routes in 2016 during a press conference inaugurating the new nonstop Tokyo-Dallas nonstop service.
The one route that was mentioned as a possible reinstatement was Las Vegas which JAL previously operated for many years. JAL is very happy with the performance economics of the plane and should seriously consider being the first Asian airline to fly nonstop to Miami which is a major hub of its fellow One World partner i.e. American Airlines. NRT-MIA traffic demand in 2014 was 24,000 passengers + via AA support it can access easily Latin/Central America + Caribbean islands providing passengers with one stop access. NRT-MIA can be sustained 4 times per week using a B789 with the flying time of the route being 14 hours 30 minutes hence easily do able from an aircraft flying range perspective.
TAP Portugal has officially announced that it has signed a deal with Airbus for the procurement of 53 new aircraft that will see the airline commercially through the entire 2020-30 decade. The breakdown of the order is 14 A330-900s + 15 A320NEOs + 24 A321NEOs. Previously it had ordered 12 A350-900s which were in turn exchanged for 14 A339s as TAP's internal studies revealed it was cheaper for them overall to operate the A339 versus the A359 whose extra flying range was not required for any destination in its current and future network plan.
The A321NEO order will be split between the normal NEO version and the LR version which TAP has stated will be used to fly on medium demand trans-atlantic routes from Lisbon to U.S. East Coast and Northeast Brazil. The cities identified for this purpose include Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Washington DC, Bayeux, Parnaiba and Aracaju. The configuration of these A321NEOLRs will see 16 flat bed seats in business class plus 159 in economy totaling 175.
Malaysia Airlines has officially announced that it will be suspending all flights to both Paris and Amsterdam effective 25JAN16 as the carrier enters into its last phase of route network restructuring designed to save the airline large amounts of operating cash. As a result of this, London Heathrow will be MH's sole EU destination where it shall continue to operate double daily flights using the Airbus A380 exclusively in code share with fellow One World partner British Airways.
MH also revealed on the sidelines that it has concluded signing a broad based code share agreement with Emirates that will see the former place its code on EK's operated flights from DXB to EU and selected MENA destinations. In return, EK will do the same on MH's operated flights to the Austral-Asia region. This arrangement is very similar to the EK-QF venture initiated few years ago.
Emirates has officially confirmed that due to network demand requirements, it will be implementing the below mentioned changes:
DAR - frequencies reduced from double daily B773s to a daily nonstop service only effective 15DEC
MNL - frequencies increased from double daily to 18 weekly with all flights exclusively being operated by the B777-300ER (B77W) effective 29MAR
It is highly surprising that a route such as Addis Ababa with its massive labor market demand to GCC has yet to warrant double daily A332 operated service by EK where as ET currently operate 18 weekly flights DXB-ADD !
Turkish Airlines has officially confirmed that it has ordered 20 additional Airbus A321-200NEOs catered for additional planned growth in the 2020-30 decade.
In total as a result of this order, 72 A321NEOs have been ordered by the carrier which has the capability to fly up to 7 hours nonstop from Istanbul with a full payload of passengers plus cargo.
Source: http://www.eturbonews.com/66479/turkish-airlines-firms-order-20-additional-a321neo-aircraft
Cathay Pacific has officially revealed details on how it is configuring its upcoming Airbus A350-900s as well as on what routes it will be operating to and lastly what purpose it brings to the airline in terms of long haul expansion.
To begin with, the cabin configuration will be in a 3 class layout seating 280 pax in total i.e. 38 business + 28 premium economy + 214 economy. CX has on order a total of 22 A359s + 26 A351s.
The A359 will be used to boost its presence in mainland Europe through frequency increases to Milan, Manchester, Zurich, Madrid, Dusseldorf and Amsterdam as well as launch potential new markets such as Barcelona, Copenhagen and Geneva (these 3 destinations are of my opinion only which have sufficient demand to warrant a CX flight 4 times per week).
In addition to cater for growth, the A359 will be used to gradually replace CX's oldest B777-200As and A330-300s whilst the larger A350-1000s are geared to increase the carrier's footprint in Australia + North America along side replacing its entire A343 + B773A fleet (used on ASEAN routes).
Royal Air Maroc (RAM) has officially announced that it will be launching 2 new long haul destinations from the Summer 2016 season onwards as the carrier looks to position its CMN-Casablanca hub as the gateway to North Africa and Southwestern Europe.
The new routes are Washington DC and Rio De Janerio. The former will be flown 3 times per week nonstop using a B787-800 effective 08SEP. The latter will be operated in conjunction with GRU (Sao Paulo) as a triangular service 3 times per week using a Boeing 767-300ER effective 02MAY.
Air India has been cited by the Indian media to be seriously studying the prospect of launching a new nonstop service to IAD-Washington DC from its primary Delhi hub base. The carrier's new SFO-DEL nonstop service has received a very strong response from the traveling public as a result of it is looking at new opportunities in USA where Star Alliance partner United has a strong presence.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/business/now-air-india-plans-direct-flight-to-washington/article7927525.ece
If launched, it will be maximum a three weekly service operated using the same schedule as DEL-JFK-DEL and the aircraft shall be a B777-300ER only as AI's B788s would struggle to operate the route with a full payload nonstop.
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) !
Qatar Airways has revealed that due to its continued success in serving ALG-Algiers, Algeria it will be boosting its presence on this route effective 02FEB16.
Current daily nonstop flights are operated using the high density configured A340-600. These shall be increased to 10 weekly nonstop with the new 3 weekly flights flown with the A330-200. China provides vital feed to QR's ALG flights due to its increased investments in the oil rich North African country.
Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing its presence on Washington DC and Johannesburg routes from July 2016 onwards as the carrier looks to boost its market share on these two popular routes.
Both IAD and JNB will be increased from the current daily A333 operated services to ten weekly each using the same aircraft type exclusively.
Malaysia Airlines has officially unveiled its new business class cabin product to be exclusively rolled out on its Airbus A330-300 fleet exclusively effective April 2016 onwards.The new seats will be a full flat bed one versus the sloping angled seat currently in use for the past decade. It will be flown on routes to Australia and North Asia (Seoul, China and Japan) only.
The new cabin configuration of the A333s will see 290 pax on board i.e. 27 business class + 263 economy
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/business/aviation/your-guide-to-malaysia-airlines-new-business-class-20151103-gkq4a6.html
Etihad Airways has officially announced that Mumbai will be its next Airbus A380 destination effective 01MAY16. Its current triple daily flights are operated using a B777 (double daily) + A320 (daily).
From 01MAY16, the afternoon departure from AUH and evening out of BOM i.e.
EY 204 Dep AUH 1410 Arr BOM 1920
EY 203 Dep BOM 2135 Arr AUH 2325
It will be a daily same plane service (A380) to JFK via AUH in both directions.
Medview Airlines of Nigeria has officially announced that it will be launching new nonstop services into LGW-London Gatwick airport effective 20NOV15. Flights shall be operated 4 times per week using a Boeing 767-300ER with plans to make it daily within a few months time.
The schedule is as follows:
Days - 1/3/5/7
VL 209 Dep LOS 1115 Arr LGW 1710
VL 210 Dep LGW 2210 Arr LOS 0410+1
VL will be competing against daily flights operated by VS (A346) + BA (B744) + W3 (A332). The demand between LHR and LOS (round trip 2014) was 490,000 passengers just point to point!
