Air India announces GCC expansion

Air India announces a series of route network expansion details effective IATA W19 season (27OCT-19) for the GCC region: BOM-KWI new daily nonstop flights using an A321 DEL-DOH new 4 weekly nonstop flights using an A321 BOM-DXB frequencies increased from double daily to 17 weekly using an A321 daily + 10 weekly B788 Very good proactive moves by AI especially on the BOM-KWI route. AI should seriously consider operating to MED (Medina) nonstop from both BOM + DEL as the P2P market demand alone from each of these cities over the past 12 months was nearly 100,000 passengers + via BOM/DEL they can get feed for domestic India and most importantly they would have a monopoly on this niche market segment.

Kuwait Airways increases London Heathrow frequencies

Kuwait Airways publishes an increase of frequencies to LHR-London Heathrow effective 27OCT-19 from 10 to 12 weekly nonstop flights exclusively operated by the B777-300ER. The 2 new weekly flights are departing KWI at 1400 on Mon/Wed in addition to daily 0945 + 3 weekly at 0500 Wed/Fri/Sun. Over the past 12 months, the P2P demand between KWI and LHR was 320,000 round trip pax.

Lufthansa expands its long haul network effective Summer 2020

Lufthansa announces major long haul expansion plans effective April 2020: Munich-Bangalore new 5wk flights A359
Munich-Seattle new 6wk flights A359
Munich-Detroit new 5wk flights A359
Munich-Las Vegas new 2wk flights A330
Munich-Orlando new 3wk flights A330
Frankfurt-Anchorage new 3wk A330
Frankfurt-Phoenix new 5wk A330

South African increases Accra-Washington frequencies

South African Airways officially publishes Washington DC - Accra nonstop flights are increased from 5 weekly to daily using an A330 effective 06Sep-19. As a result of which, its 2 weekly Dakar-Washington DC flights are cancelled effective 02Sep-19. On the sector ACC-IAD-ACC, the p2p demand over the past 12 months was 60,000 passengers round trip. Beyond Accra, SAA receives good feed with Ghana’s AWA Airlines for traffic to LOS ABV ROB via a code share agreement.

Asiana increases Seoul-New York JFK frequencies

Asiana Airlines announces it shall be increasing its New York JFK-ICN (Seoul) nonstop services from daily to double daily effective 24NOV-19. The current daily A380 service will be complimented by a new daily A359 operated flight. Over the past 12 months, the P2P traffic alone between NYC (JFK + EWR combined) and ICN was 529,000 passengers.

United Airlines suspends 2 long haul routes

Due to high losses, United Airlines announces the suspension of 2 long haul services :

Hong Kong-Chicago daily effective 09SEP-19

Buenos Aires-Newark daily effective 26OCT-19.

Air Asia X orders 12 A330Neos + 30 A321XLRs

Air Asia X places a firm order for 12 additional A330-900Neos + a new order for 30 Airbus A321Neo-XLRs. This makes their total A339 commitment increase to 78 units and it will be interesting to see if the long haul LCC even ends up taking delivery of half these many aircraft (39) down the road. Currently, it operates 24 A333s. The order for 30 A321XLRs is a good move going forward as it allows them to be flexible in terms of reducing operating costs and matching demand with seasonal trends on routes less than 8 hours of flying. The A321XLR in Air Asia's 220 seat configuration could fly maximum (from Kuala Lumpur home base) to Bahrain westbound and Tokyo eastbound. It wont be able to operate to places such as Brisbane with a full payload of pax and baggage.