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.eceIf 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 A333YYZ/MXP - capacity increased from daily B763ER to daily A333YVR/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 B77WYYZ/MAD - capacity increased from daily B763ER to daily B788YYZ/ZRH - capacity increased from daily B788 to daily B789YYZ/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 10JUNYVR/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+1OS 876 Dep IFN 0550 Arr VIE 0815This 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 dailyCOK - 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 economySource: 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 1920EY 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 1710VL 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!
