Arik Air has officially confirmed that it will be implementing another round of capacity expansion into the lucrative West African market place in the following manner:
DKR - frequencies increased to daily one stop service from LOS with 4 flights operated via ABJ and 3 via ACC all with 5th freedom traffic rights. This increase is effective 22FEB and all flights are operated using a B737-700.Schedule is as follows:Days - 1/3/5/7Aircraft - B737-700W3 394 Dep LOS 2045 Arr ABJ 2115W3 394 Dep ABJ 2200 Arr DKR 0055+1W3 395 Dep DKR 0345 Arr ABJ 0640W3 395 Dep ABJ 0730 Arr LOS 1000Days - 2/4/6Aircraft - B737-700W3 388 Dep LOS 2045 Arr ACC 2045W3 388 Dep ACC 2130 Arr DKR 0045+1W3 389 Dep DKR 0315 Arr ACC 0630W3 389 Dep ACC 0730 Arr LOS 0930
BJL - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly flights; all operated from LOS via ACC using a B737-700. This increase is effective 14MAR and will result in W3 being the only carrier offering nonstop service between ACC and BJL. Schedule is as follows:Days - 1/3/5/7Aircraft - B737-700W3 310 Dep LOS 2045 Arr ACC 2045W3 310 Dep ACC 2130 Arr BJL 0035+1W3 311 Dep BJL 0325 Arr ACC 0630W3 311 Dep ACC 0730 Arr LOS 0930 As a result of the above, Arik Air becomes the preferred choice for Ghana residents flying to the major cities of West Africa as the airline will be connecting 6 cities nonstop i.e. Dakar, Lagos, Abuja, Monrovia, Freetown and Banjul.
Ethiopian Airlines has officially confirmed that as part of its strategy of ensuring the best option for its India based passengers to connect with the growing economies of Africa, it shall be increasing its frequencies to Delhi from the on set of the IATA S16 season.Frequencies shall be raised from the current daily Boeing 767-300ER service to a double daily nonstop one using the B737-800 exclusively. The flight schedules are as follows:ET 688 Dep ADD 1510 Arr DEL 0035+1ET 689 Dep DEL 0240 Arr ADD 0710 ET 686 Dep ADD 2315 Arr DEL 0840+1ET 687 Dep DEL 0930 Arr ADD 1400 Other capacity adjustments that it has made across its network for the S16 season are as follows:ABJ - capacity increased to 5 weekly nonstop terminator flights using a B788 exclusivelyCPT - frequencies increased from 2 to 4 weekly nonstop flights using a B788 COO - frequencies reduced from 5 to 3 weekly nonstop flights using a B737-700FIH - capacity increased to a daily nonstop terminator flight using a B788KUL - capacity increased from 3 weekly B763ER to 3 weekly B788sBKK - capacity increased from daily B763ER to daily B788PNR - frequencies increased from 5 weekly to daily flights via BZV using a B788
United Airlines has officially announced that it will be launching the longest ever scheduled flight of the Boeing 787 family jet when it starts operating a new daily service between San Francisco and Singapore effective 01JUN16.
These will be operated exclusively by the larger Boeing 787-9 and its flying time from SFO to SIN is 16 hours 20 minutes.As a result of the above, UA will suspend operating a daily round trip flight between SIN and NRT but shall maintain daily ORD-HKG-SIN.
Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/united-airlines-operate-longest-scheduled-010000485.html
Gulf Air has officially announced at the recently concluded Bahrain 2016 air show that it has placed a significant order with both Boeing and Airbus to fully replace its current fleet of narrow and wide bodied aircraft going into the next decade. This order is expected to see the airline through to 2030 at least. The breakdown is as follows:
a) 16 previously ordered B788s have been converted to the larger B789s that will in turn replace 6 A332s. According to an interview published in Flight Global magazine, GF CEO stated that these B789s will seat 280 pax in a dual class configuration.
b) 17 A321NEOs to replace the current 6 A321-200s (1ACT) as well as to cater for expansion + capacity upgrade of currently operated A320 routes
c) 12 A320s to replace the current 16 A320s (4 of which have 1ACT used for European flights)Analysis:Like many large and significant orders placed by carriers worldwide, each have their unique positive and negative aspects. Over here, they are as follows:Positivesa) Ordering 17 A321NEOs - the best aircraft in GF's current fleet ideally suited to the high density regional + Indian subcontinent labor market segment. For GF to order 17 it means plans are in place to hopefully make all ISC routes operated exclusively by the A321NEO as well as provide growth to reintroduce previously suspended markets (DAC/CMB) in a less risky manner by using this aircraft type rather than a wide body. The A321NEO can also in turn be used to upgrade GF's current FRA/CDG services from the A320 (1ACT) as there is no way commercially the airline can continue to operate this small aircraft type well into the next decade on these two routes and claim to be competitive.b) Converting the original B788 order to the larger B789 - this was another excellent move as the B789 offers more range, on board capacity (pax + cargo) and lastly commands a better resale value in the market place down the road. As CEO Maher stated, the configuration calls for 280 seats in a dual class layout which means it is likely to have 30-36 seats in business class + 244-250 in economy! However, one strong suggestion that I have for GF is to consider configuring at least 4 of these B789s into a high density layout designed specifically for high volume routes (that do not see great J class demand) which offer very good return margins + for the high yielding Hajj/Arafa/Arabeen/Umrah/Teachers movement season. The configuration of the high density B789 should be 12 business class (flat beds) + 315 economy (3-3-3 layout) giving a total of 327 seats approximately. Such a configuration is ideal for routes to MNL, ISB, LHE, JED, COK and CAI as well as in the future to operate to DAC and KTM on a single daily basis only rather than multiple daily on an A320/A321 which would see fog related payload capacity restrictions out of KTM/DAC into BAH. Negatives16 B789s in the fleet - what has enabled GF to significantly reduce its losses over the past two years has been its move away from the low yielding EU-Asia market segment + reduce its wide body fleet from nearly 15 A343s/A332s to only 6 A332s. When the order conversion was announced at the BAH air show, it was stated that these B789s would also be used to relaunch nonstop flights to USA in 2019 for which a minimum of 3 units are required for a daily BAH-JFK-BAH service to be sustained. If oil jumps back up to $70-90 per barrel, it will be extremely difficult for GF to sustain such a large scale wide body operation as it has shown in the past it is unable to do so commercially at sustainable yields as the Bahrain Govt does not have the large cash flow of Qatar and UAE to absorb the losses. If all 16 B789s get delivered and fly for GF, it will result in GF going back to the old strategy of wanting to connect EU via BAH to Asia against the competition who would by 2020 be operating at least triple daily nonstop A380s/B77Ws from all major EU cities (bare minimum). Yes Boeing must have played hard ball with GF by not allowing an outright cancellation nor another reduction of the original order placed in 2008. Ideally speaking, GF can manage with 10 B789s in the long term but not 16. Maybe it can lease or sell the remaining 6 to its franchise carrier Saudi Gulf to be used on high volume regional flights from JED/RUH airports respectively.
