Air France announces long haul expansion
Air France has officially announced that it shall be increasing its frequencies on 4 long haul routes as the carrier looks to aggressively tackle its competition in helping to retain market share especially where P2P demand to France is high. The four routes are as follows:
MLE - frequencies increased from 2 to 3 weekly nonstop using a B789 effective 10DEC
DXB - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly effective 01JAN
NBO - frequencies increased from 3 to 5 weekly nonstop effective 31MAR using a B789
GRU - frequencies increased gradually from daily to 10 weekly from Nov followed to a further 12 weekly effective 31MAR all using a B772ERs
Comments:
In 2017, the P2P round trip passenger demand between CDG and the above 4 cities were as follows:
MLE - 52,000
DXB - 441,000
NBO - 38,000
GRU - 230,000
KLM 2018 and 2019 network adjustments
KLM has announced a variety of network capacity adjustments for the upcoming IATA W18 and S19 seasons already as it looks to streamline its service on more cash positive routes. The main highlights are as follows:
IKA - all 3 weekly flights suspended effective 22SEP18
CMB - frequencies reduced from 3 to 2 weekly nonstop using a B789 effective 01NOV18
BOM - frequencies increased from 3 to 4 weekly nonstop using a B789 effective 01NOV18
BOS - new 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A333 effective 31MAR19
NRT - frequencies increased from daily to 10 weekly i.e. 3 wk B789 + daily B77W effective 31MAR19
Jet Airways - some network adjustment suggestions
India's Jet Airways has officially reported a mega loss of US$ 188 million for only Q1 2018 of its financial year causing the airline to undertake serious 'yet to be disclosed' cost cutting measures to help it remain at least cash flow positive.
Though nothing has been discussed in any media article on how they should rationalize their network, some proposals that they should seriously consider to reduce overall costs are as follows:
1. Suspend YYZ-Toronto and instead code share via AMS/CDG with KL-AF. 9W already code shares with AC via LHR so this would be an added benefit offering two more options via AMS/CDG.
2. Suspend MAA-CDG as its a loss making low yielding service
3. Defer the launch of BOM-MAN and BOM-SYD to IATA W19 season to save on costs as both these two routes in their first few years will bleed heavily
4. Wet/Dry Lease out 2 B77Ws to interested parties to guarantee constant cash flow
5. Defer all new aircraft deliveries due in 2019 to 2021 to save on delivery associated capital costs
Emirates increases Stockholm to double daily
Emirates has officially announced that it will be increasing its services to ARN-Stockholm, Sweden effective 01DEC18 as the carrier adds incremental capacity on a winter seasonal basis on selected EU routes.
Last winter, EK operated 10 weekly DXB-ARN flights using a B77W, however this winter between 01DEC-31MAR, it will increase it to a double daily service using the same aircraft type (3 class version).
P2P traffic between DXB and ARN in 2017 was 132,000 passengers round trip and the top feeder markets for EK on the ARN route are BKK, ARN, HKT, SYD, KUL, CMB, MLE, DEL and China.
Biman reveals Boeing 787-8 details
Biman Bangladesh has officially announced details of its Boeing 787-8 interior layout of which the carrier will take delivery of 4 units spread between Q3 2018 and Q3 2019.
A total of 271 seats shall be on board spread across 2 cabin classes i.e. 24 business + 247 economy. Initially the airline will deploy them on high demand Southeast Asian routes to SIN, KUL followed by selected Middle East destinations.
Comments:
The carrier has once again looked at the silly possibility of operating to New York JFK via Manchester using the B788 three times per week as it believes the cost efficiency of the plane will make the route look favorable. Unfortunately, high demand for DAC-JFK and DAC-MAN does not translate into decent yields which in turn will further increase the overall airline net losses.
BG should instead focus on trying to operate a daily B788 into LHR from DAC (presently flown 4wk B773s) and offer good 2 way connections via DAC to CCU, SIN, KUL, BKK and domestic Bangladesh instead of wasting resources by dedicating one B788 to fly 3 weekly DAC-MAN-JFK.
Emirates announces suspension of Multan flights
Emirates has officially announced that it will be suspending all of its current 4 weekly flights into MUX-Multan, Pakistan effective 27OCT. The route will be taken over by Fly Dubai who currently flies a double daily service using a B738.
All flights on major GDS systems are now shown cancelled from the IATA W18 season.
In 2017, the total P2P demand between DXB and MUX was 168,000 passengers. The main beyond markets feeding EK's MUX flights were JED, RUH, KWI, DMM and MED.
Qantas reveals North American expansion plans
Qantas has officially announced further details on its ultra long haul strategy specifically geared towards its North America expansion plans which are as follows:
a) ORD-Chicago will be the next nonstop route to be launched by the carrier if the U.S Department of Transportation approves the joint venture between itself and American Airlines
b) If for some reason, the JV does not get approved which would stall the start of ORD, then QF will operate a daily B789 from Brisbane to Seattle in code share with Alaskan Airlines of whom closely partners with the Aussie carrier too.
c) The A350-900LR has been ruled out by QF to operate nonstop flights from SYD/MEL to LHR and JFK and instead it has asked Airbus to manufacture the A350-1000LR to compete effectively versus the Boeing 777-8X
Source: https://www.ausbt.com.au/qantas-plans-non-stop-boeing-787-flights-to-chicago-or-seattle
Comments:
In 2017, demand between ORD and Australia was as follows (P2P only)
SYD - 31,000
MEL - 14,000
BNE - 6,000
PER - 3,000
Total 54,000 round trip passengers
Whilst out of SEA it was
SYD - 29,000
MEL - 13,000
BNE - 11,000
PER - 3,000
Total 56,000 round trip passengers
Etihad Airways 2018 network adjustments
After announcing a second consecutive year of net losses totaling over US$1.5 billion, Etihad Airways has disclosed a wide variety of network changes for the remainder of 2018. The main highlights are as follows:
COK - frequencies reduced from triple daily to 18 weekly flights all operated by A321s exclusively effective 01OCT
CDG - capacity increased to double daily A380 effective 01OCT
BCN - new 5 weekly nonstop flights to be launched using an A332 effective 01NOV
MEL - capacity reduced to double daily B789s only effective 01OCT
MNL - frequencies reduced from 17 weekly to double daily only i.e. daily A332 + daily B77W
YYZ - frequencies increased from 3 to 5 weekly nonstop using a B77W
JFK - effective 01OCT, frequencies reduced from double daily to daily A380 only
CMB - frequencies reduced from double daily to daily A321 only effective 28OCT
KTM - frequencies reduced from double daily to daily A320 only effective 01DEC
DAC - all flights suspended effective 30SEP
DAR - all flights suspended effective 30SEP
EDI - all flights suspended effective 30SEP
SGN - all flights suspended effective 30AUG
PER - all flights suspended effective 30SEP
LAX - frequencies reduced from daily to 3 weekly nonstop using a B77W
Air New Zealand orders 7 more A321Neos
Air New Zealand has officially announced that it has ordered 7 additional A321NEOs as the carrier is convinced that this is the right aircraft to be used on high volume domestic + selected trans-tasman multiple daily services to Australia where it competes against wide body flights operated by Qantas.
ANZ thus joins a growing list of legacy carriers who have ended up ordering more A321Neos versus A320Neos to meet their narrow body fleet requirements for the 2020-30 period. In total, this will result in ANZ having 15 A321Neos operating along side 7 A320Neos.
The carrier also put forward a tender requirement to fully replace its aging fleet of B777-200ERs identifying the B787-10 and Airbus A350 family to be part of it.
Comments:
NZ's current wide body fleet consists of B77Ws, B772s and B789s. The B789 of NZ seats between 275-302 pax whilst their B772ER seats 312. Therefore with the airline already being used to operating the B789 which can also fly further than the B772ER, there is no logical reason for the carrier to consider adding a new type to the fleet mix i.e. A359 just so that it can operate nonstop flights to U.S. East Coast.
The B789 is perfectly suited for its entire Asian network along with selected North American services whilst the extra capacity of the B77W does the same job for the high demand LAX/LHR daily services.
Emirates 2018 expansion announcements
As a result of increased bilateral access + commercial reasons, Emirates has officially announced some additional medium/long haul expansion across its network for the remainder part of 2018. The main highlights are as follows:
YYZ - frequencies increased from 18AUG onwards i.e. from 3 to 5 weekly nonstop flights using an A380
AMS - frequencies increased from double daily to 19 weekly i.e. double daily A380 + new 5 weekly early morning service to/from AMS using a B77W effective Dec 2018
LAD - frequencies increased to daily nonstop service using a B77W effective 01DEC
DME - frequencies increased from double daily to triple daily effective 29OCT18 i.e. double daily B77W + daily A380
HAM - capacity increased from Oct 2018 i.e. from double daily B77W to daily A380 + daily B77W
Turkish Airlines announces Far East Asia expansion in 2019
Turkish Airlines has officially announced that it will be increasing its footprint across Southeast Asia by significantly increasing its capacity to Vietnam and Indonesia in the below mentioned manner:
SGN - capacity increased to a daily nonstop terminator service using an A333 effective Sept 2019
HAN - capacity increased to 6 weekly nonstop terminator services using an A332 effective Sept 2019
Currently, TK operates to Vietnam on a daily basis to the above 2 cities but in a triangular manner which is not commercially viable.
DPS - new daily nonstop flights effective August 2019 using an A333
The main target market for these 3 routes is pre-dominantly EU originating leisure and VFR (Vietnam) and the launch of DPS in particular would definitely impact the market share of the Gulf carriers + TG/SQ/CX on the EU-DPS-EU market segment.