Malaysia Airlines has officially announced another update for its restructuring plans concerning its wide body fleet in particular of which the main highlights are as follows:
- 6 new A350-900s to be dry leased from ALC which will replace the B772ERs
- All B772ERs to be retired in 2016 before 01JUN
- 2 A330-900s to be dry leased from ALC and used exclusively on Auckland services
- New business class seats on all A333s to be introduced from W16 season which will be the widest in the industry
Source: http://airleasecorp.com/2015/09/10/malaysia-airlines-berhad-and-air-lease-corporation-sign-lease-agreements-for-four-airbus-a350s/
Air Canada has officially announced a major expansion of its long haul program operated exclusively by the B767-300ER for the next IATA S16 season. The main highlights are as follows:
YUL/CMN - new 4 weekly nonstop flights to be operated effective 03JUN
YYZ-PRG - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be operated effective 29MAY
YYZ-WAW - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be operated effective 16JUN
YYZ-BUD - new 3 weekly nonstop flights to be operated effective 10JUN
Source: http://aircanada.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=919
Ethiopian Airlines has revealed many incremental capacity increases to its IATA W15 medium and long haul operational program as the carrier looks to take advantage of its superior competitive position in the African marketplace especially with its main rival KQ's weakening state of affairs. The main highlights are as follows:
ABJ - to be operated as a nonstop terminator service five times per week using a B787
GRU - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop using a B772LR
MBA - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly
COO - all flights to be operated as nonstop terminator services using a B738 three times per week. This means that the 5th freedom sector COO-ABJ is henceforth suspended!
KRT - frequencies reduced from 4 to 3 daily nonstop
MPO - capacity increased from daily B738 to daily B787
EBB - frequencies increased from double to triple daily using a B738
LFW - all
flights to be operated as nonstop terminator services using a B738 six times per week. This means that the 5th freedom sector LFW-ABJ is
henceforth suspended!
CPT - frequencies increased to a daily service using a B738
Cathay Pacific has officially announced that it will be launching new flights to Madrid, Spain effective 02JUN16 as the carrier looks to increase its presence in Europe via an extensive code share pact with fellow One World partner Iberia of Spain.
CX will operate 4 times per week nonstop from HKG to MAD using a B777-300ER using the below mentioned schedule:
Days - 2/4/6/7
CX 315 Dep HKG 0045 Arr MAD 0845
CX 320 Dep MAD 1225 Arr HKG 0705
In addition with travel from SE Asia especially Japan, Seoul and China booming to Spain, CX hopes to take advantage of this movement via its HKG hub .
Austrian Airlines has officially announced that it will be launching new nonstop flights from its main VIE hub to PVG-Shanghai, China effective 04APR16. The route will be operated on a daily basis nonstop using a B777-200ER exclusively.
The schedule is as follows:
OS 75 Dep VIE 1320 Arr PVG 0540+1
OS 76 Dep PVG 1050 Arr VIE 1610
The airline is also in advanced talks with HKG airport officials into relaunching service in S16 season with a new nonstop flight between VIE & HKG!
Qatar Airways has announced many changes to its medium haul route network for the IATA W15 season of which the main highlights are as follows:
CPH - frequencies increased from 11 weekly to double daily nonstop using a B788 exclusively effective 02DEC
DAC - frequencies increased from 10 weekly to double daily nonstop using an A333 exclusively effective 01DEC
ARN - frequencies increased from 10 to 13 weekly nonstop using a B788 exclusively effective 15DEC
CCU - capacity increased from daily A320 to daily B788 effective 01DEC15
BRU - frequencies increased from 6 to 8 weekly nonstop flights using a B788 exclusively effective 01DEC
ASM - frequencies increased from 4 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A320
NAG - services relaunched on a daily basis using an A320 effective 01DEC15
SWISS has officially announced that due to increasing demand for its Boston bound flights during the IATA Summer season, it shall be increasing its presence on the ZRH-BOS sector by upgrading it to a double daily nonstop operation using an A330-300 exclusively. The schedule is as follows:
LX 054 Dep ZRH 1255 Arr BOS 1520
LX 052 Dep ZRH 1730 Arr BOS 1955
LX 055 Dep BOS 1700 Arr ZRH 0615+1
LX 053 Dep BOS 2140 Arr ZRH 1055+1
In 2014, the number of O&D pax between Switzerland and BOS was as follows:
ZRH-BOS 59,000
GVA-BOS 28,000
Other top markets for LX that feeds this flight originate from FCO, MXP, Germany, DXB, DEL and BOM.
Royal Jordanian has officially announced that it will be launching two new long haul destinations effective 02DEC15 as the carrier looks to take advantage of low fuel costs and efficient aircraft in its fleet such as the B788 to drive up revenues.
The 2 new routes are Guangzhou and Jakarta and they shall be each operated in the below mentioned manner:
3 weekly B788s AMM-BKK-CAN
3 weekly A332s AMM-KUL-CAN
This results in AMM-BKK-KUL being exchanged for AMM-BKK-CAN where as KUL becomes a nonstop service from KUL connecting the two One World carriers effectively. Bangkok remains a daily nonstop service with the remaining 4 weekly flights extending onwards to HKG using a B788 too.
Etihad Airways has announced wide ranging capacity changes for its IATA W15 season as the carrier rapidly phases out its entire A345/A346 fleet from active service in order to reduce operational costs associated with it.
The main highlights are as follows:
MAN - capacity increased with double daily flights all operated by a two class B773ER
KUL - frequencies reduced from double daily to 12 weekly exclusively operated by an A332
CTU - frequencies reduced from daily to 4 weekly nonstop using an A332
ICN - capacity reduced from daily A346 to daily A333
HKT - capacity increased from daily A332 to daily B773ER (2 class)
NRT - capacity increased from daily A345 to daily A346
BKK - all 4 daily flights to be exclusively operated by B773ERs
EDI - frequencies reduced from daily to 5 weekly nonstop using an A332
Emirates has officially announced that due to high demand for its Phuket bound flights, it shall be increasing frequencies on the DXB-HKT route effective 01DEC15. Current daily nonstop services will be upgraded to 11 weekly nonstop all operated by a two class 427 seater B777-300ER.
The new flight allows excellent connections in both directions via DXB to/from Europe which is the main market for HKT.
The schedule of the new 4 weekly services are as follows:
Days - 2/4/5/6
EK 396 Dep DXB 2255 Arr HKT 0800+1
EK 397 Dep HKT 0930 Arr DXB 1320
Air Asia X, the long haul subsidiary of the popular low cost airline has announced that due to below par financial performance of its wide bodied operations (more like overly optimistic expectations), the airline will be undertaking major restructuring which are as follows:
- 14 A333 CEOs on order with Airbus are to be cancelled
- Delivery of 2 new A333s in 2016 to be deferred
- Q2 2015 loss increased to US$ 35 million
- Order for 55 A339NEOs to remain as per status quo but this is likely to be reduced in due course to around 40 units maximum
- Passenger traffic on D7 has dropped 20% year over year
KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) has officially announced that as part of an exchange deal with Boeing, it has placed an order for 6 of the largest B787 family member i.e. B787-10Xs.
KLM originally had ordered 10 B789s but exchanged 6 of these for the larger -10X variant with deliveries starting in 2021. The remaining 4 are still B789s but one should not be surprised if all 10 get switched to the larger model.
British Airways has officially announced that it will be significantly increasing capacity on its USA bound services during the next IATA S16 season. The main highlights are as follows:
LAS - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly nonstop flights all operated using a B744
SEA - frequencies increased to 12 weekly nonstop flights i.e. daily B773ER + 5 weekly B772ER
SJC - new daily nonstop flights to be launched effective 04MAY16 using a B789
Japan Airlines (JAL) has officially announced that it will be launching new 4 weekly nonstop flights to DFW-Dallas, Texas effective 30NOV15 in code share with its One World partner member American Airlines.
AA currently operates its own daily service on the DFW-NRT sector. JAL will use the B787-800 for this new service with the below mentioned schedule:
Days: 1/3/5/7
JL 12 Dep NRT 1055 Arr DFW 0720
JL 11 Dep DFW 1145 Arr NRT 1625+1
Saudia Airlines has officially released details of the cabin configuration + routes its upcoming Boeing 787-900s are going to be deployed on. The main highlights are as follows:
Cabin layout - 298 seats i.e. 24 business + 274 economy class
Initial routes include -
RUH-CAN
JED-CDG
JED-MAN
JED-CAN
Korean Air has officially disclosed the configuration of its soon to be delivered inaugural Boeing 747-800 of which the airline has ordered 10 units of. The layout is as follows:
6 first class + 48 business class + 314 economy class seating a total of 368 seats in total.
Comments:
KE
should have configured their B748s with only a dual class layout to
realize better commercial performance. This would mean a layout of 48J +
384Y totaling 432 overall which would have been better for high density
routes to YVR, YYZ, SYD and ORD. In total, KE has 10 B748s on order which is enough to use on these 4 routes.
Emirates has officially announced that it will be increasing capacity on its popular daily Dubai-Singapore-Melbourne service effective 01MAR16. Currently, this route is operated using the B777-300ER but from 01MAR onwards it will be upgraded to an A380 on a daily basis.
A large portion of passengers it gets on this flight originates from Colombo as it connects its daily DXB-CMB-SIN service conveniently via SIN in both directions to MEL. Overall, EK will therefore fly to MEL triple daily i.e. daily B77W + double daily A380 !
Delta Airlines has disclosed that due to low yields, it will be reducing its services into Dubai effective 01OCT15 as despite seeing above 80% seat factor on its Atlanta-Dubai nonstop service, the service realizes a big loss. DL is unjustifiably blaming the GCC carriers for this when it has a monopoly position on this route but fails to acknowledge the extreme low pricing tactics of TK, OS, LH, KL and RJ from USA to DXB which in turn hurt its bottom line even more.
Effective 01OCT15, DL will henceforth be reducing ATL-DXB from current daily nonstop to 4 weekly only using a B777-200LR exclusively.
Qatar Airways has announced that due to high demand for its flights to Bangkok from Europe in particular during the winter season, it shall be significantly increasing capacity on this route effective 25OCT15. Currently, it operates DOH-BKK four times daily i.e. daily A380 + triple daily B77W, however from the on set of the IATA W15 season, it will be flying 19 weekly A380s + 9 weekly B77Ws.
Another reason is due to QR not being able to find viable alternate routes for its 500 seater A380s as Europe cannot sustain it during the IATA Winter season, India is bilaterally restricted, the airplane is too large for USA plus no other Asian city in its network is feasible with this aircraft type in terms of consistent high demand. Beijing and Shanghai could justify an A380 commercially (since its bilaterally constrained) but filling it at 80% consistently will be a huge challenge for QR + it would fore go a lot of belly cargo currently on board its B77W.
Turkish Airlines has revealed that due to high demand from Europe to Kuala Lumpur during the IATA Winter season as well as a big decline in MAS's presence on the continent, it will be increasing frequencies on the IST-KUL route effective 25OCT. Current daily nonstop flights will be increased to 10 weekly nonstop using an A333 exclusively.
With regards to Kathmandu, TK has disclosed that it will be reducing its presence in the Nepal market from current daily nonstop to 4 weekly only using an A332. KTM does not see high volume demand year round from West Asia and Europe like KUL does plus has strong competition from QR, AI, 9W and WY.
