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
