January 2011 Archives

The aircraft will be operated on select flights to Bangalore, Chennai, Male and Tiruchirapally.

Full schedule below ( CMB - Colombo, BLR - Bangalore, MAA - Chennai, MLE - Madras, TRZ - Tiruchirapalli ) ( See the following section for the new schedule effective Summer 2011 )

UL131/2 CMB 0735 - 0835 TRZ 0925 -  1025 CMB

UL133/4 CMB 1200 - 1300 TRZ 1350 - 1450 CMB

UL123/4 CMB 1835 - 1955 MAA 2055 - 2215 CMB

UL107/8 CMB 2335 - 0030+1 MLE 0130+1 - 0325+1 CMB

UL131/2 CMB 0735 - 0835 TRZ 0925 -  1025 CMB

UL105/6 CMB 0100 - 0200 MLE 0300 - 0500 CMB

UL131/2 CMB 0735 - 0835 TRZ 0925 -  1025 CMB

U;171/2 CMB 1550 - 1715 BLR 1805 - 1930 CMB

UL109/10 CMB 2030 - 2125 MLE 2225 - 0020+1 CMB

UL171/2 CMB 1840 - 2005 BLR 2055 - 2220 CMB

UL127/8 CMB 1250 - 1410 MAA 1510 - 1620 CMB

UL171/2 CMB 1840 - 2005 BLR 2055 - 2220 CMB

UL171/2 CMB 1840 - 2005 BLR 2055 - 2220 CMB

UL123/4 CMB 1835 - 1955 MAA 2055 - 2215 CMB

UL171/2 CMB 1340 - 1505 BLR 1555 - 1720 CMB

UL107/8 CMB 2335 - 0030+1 MLE 0130+1 - 0325+1 CMB

UPDATE: New schedule effective 27 March

UL105/6 CMB 0100 - 0155 MLE 0245 - 0440 CMB 1234567

UL131/2 CMB 0720 - 0820 TRZ 0910 - 1010 CMB 1234567

UL133/4 CMB 1200 - 1300 TRZ 1350 - 1450 CMB 124

UL127/8 CMB 1250 - 1410 MAA 1510 - 1620 CMB 5

UL123/4 CMB 1830 - 1950 MAA 2115 - 2235 CMB 12357

UL171/2 CMB 1835 - 1955 BLR 2055 - 2215 CMB 46

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

                            

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16-22 January

China Southern Airlines announced that it will be launching new flights to Vancouver and Amsterdam. The Vancouver route will operate thrice weekly aboard Boeing 777-200ER aircraft w.e.f 15 Jun while the new nonstop Guangzhou - Amsterdam service will operate thrice weekly w.e.f 7 Jun. The carrier already operates a daily service to Amsterdam via Beijing.

Alitalia from 27 Mar launches six weekly Rome - Touluse service on board CRJ900 aircraft. 

Qatar Airways network update, previously posted.

AerLingus Express from 27 Mar launches five times weekly Shannon - Edinburgh service onboard ATR72 aircraft.

Bangkok Airways from 27 Mar launches daily Bangkok - Dhaka service onboard A320 aircraft

MEA from 27 Mar will increase Beirut - Erbil service to daily A321, from the current five times weekly service.

Emirates launches daily Dubai - Copenhagen service from 1 Aug onboard A330-200. Equipment switches to Boeing 777-300ER w.e.f 1 Feb 2012.

Swiss International from 27 Mar launches six weekly Copenhagen and daily Rome service from Basel.

 

Photo by 54north

All routes are from Doha, DOH

The new route to Budapest and Bucharest launches today. The route operates DOH-OTP-BUD four times a week on board A320 aircraft.

Bangalore,BLR capacity increased from daily A320 family aircraft to daily A330 variant effective 1 March

Barcelona capacity increased from daily A319LR  to daily A330 effective 27 March

Copenhagen increased from six weekly to daily, A330, effective 27 March

Dar Es Salaam increased from 12 to 14 weekly A320 effective 27 March

Muscat increased from 21 to 24 weekly flights ( EQV ) effective 27 March

Kuala Lumpur increased from 11 to 14 weekly, A330, effective 27 March

Paris, CDG increased from 14 to 16 weekly, A340-600, effective 27 March

Munich increased from 7 to 11 weekly, A330, effective 9 March

New flights to Brussels begin on 31 Jan, to be operated five times weekly on board A330.

New flights to Stuttgart begin on 6 Mar, to be operated three times weekly on board A319.

New flights to Aleppo begin on 6 Apr, to be operated four times weekly on board A320.

 

 The route starts on 16 May 2011 and will be the world's third longest nonstop flight, and the longest to be operated by a 747. In return, Qantas' flights to San Francisco ( SFO ) will be discontinued from 14 May.

 Dallas, DFW, is a hub of American Airlines, Qantas' alliance partner. The flights are to be operated by a three class Boeing 747-400. However, GE powered Boeing 747-400ERs will be used as and when necessary, stated a source to The Networker. The flight will make a stop at Brisbane in the inbound leg, making the Dallas - Brisbane leg world's sixth longest nonstop flight.

 Schedules below.

 QF007 SYD 1325 - 1350 DFW Mo, We, Fr, Su

 QF008 DFW 2200 - 0500+2 BNE 0630+2 - 0805+2 SYD Mo, We, Fr, Su

 Additionally, Qantas' Los Angeles - New York sector ( QF107/8 ) will increase to daily from June 2011,

Last week on The Networker, we covered the proposed PIA Turkish JV in detail. Today, we have got some extra details on the proposed broad ranging codeshare pact.

* The arrangement would be to allocate seat capacity and revenues of both parties in the applicable routes under one pool arrangement, where the earnings would be shared on the basis of seat capacity floated and prorated revenue.

* The proposal by Turkish ( TK ) was to offer PIA a 20 percent commission on PIA sales for sectors beyond Istanbul, if it overlaps the prorated fare on the sector ( excluding fuel surcharge ).

* PIA's proposal was to stop operations to its present destinations in USA ( New York, JFK and Chicago, ORD ), Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands. Instead PIA and TK would operate 21 weekly frequencies ( seven each out of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi ) to Istanbul for onward carriage by Turkish.

* PIA further proposed to have the codeshare under said agreements on 15 percent commission to the marketing carrier on prorated fare ( including fuel surcharge ).

* At the end, the decision has been finalized to operate 21 weekly frequencies between Pakistan and Istanbul as follows

 
Karachi, KHI - IST
Four weekly TK. Three weekly PK.

Islamabad, ISB - IST
Three weekly TK. Four weekly PK.

Lahore, LHE - IST.
Seven weekly PK.

The frequencies could be re-evaluated and changed as fit with the cooperation of both carriers.

* Upon the JV's implementation, PK will be suspending its flights to

New York, JFK
Chicago, ORD
Amsterdam, AMS
Barcelona, BCN
Frankfurt, FRA
Milan, MXP

However PK will be retaining its sales personnel at these stations.

* Regulatory authorities of Turkey and Pakistan would be approached for permission to operate the frequencies of the proposed routes under a Temporary Operating Permit subject to implementation and continuation of the commercial agreement.

* PIA will be also launching a new thrice weekly flight between Karachi and Houston via Istanbul. It is expected PK will receive freedom rights between Turkey and USA.

* PIA will be operating seven weekly frequencies between Istanbul and mutually agreed points in Europe under agreement with TK, in addition to or replacing TK's existing frequencies.

* TK will be codesharing on PIA flights to Kathmandu, Bangladesh, Mumbai, Colombo, Malé ( see the Conclusion section below for note ) and other selected points east of Pakistan.

* The two airlines will be the respective reciprocal GSAs for each other in their home countries.

* The two airlines will also provide reciprocal ground handling and technical services to each other's flights in their respective home countries.

* Where applicable, the airlines will exclusively use catering facilities of the partner airline.

* Where applicable, the airlines will have the right to position their cabin crew on the operating airline's aircraft.

* The two airlines will occupy a joint Revenue Management on the agreed routes and will immediately integrate interjine e-ticketing.

* The two airlines will provide all lounge/transit/assistance facilities to each other's passengers in their home bases.

Conclusion

From the outlook of it, this seems to be a much needed push for PIA which it had been long seeking for. But there remains great doubts as to the actual implementation of this JV due to a number of reasons.
Although there is a lot to be desired for PIA from this deal, it remains to be seen which benefits TK will gain from it. Not only does TK have a far better reputation for service than PIA, but also Pakistan emerges as a less than desirable point of transit to most passengers due to the nation's security issues. A passenger will have a lot more hassle free, and more comfortable transit experience at the competing hubs of Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Doha.
Most of the destinations covered in this agreement by PIA ( the routes that will be operated by PIA and codeshared by TK ) are destinations either TK already has the capacity to serve ( eg: Houston ) or destinations TK had been planning to serve ( eg: Colombo ). Not just that, Malé - a point agreed to be codeshared by TK - is still not even served by PIA.
Last, but not least, PIA unions are known to be very powerful politically and have been able to revert many decisions by the management in the past - as a result of which, the carrier remains heavily overstaffed. The most notable of these is overturning PIA's retirement plan of the ageing Boeing 747-200s and 747-300s, opposing the layoff of engineers who had been working on the types. Although, sources to The Networker inform that the PIA's present MD is quite more politically powerful than the unions.
From the outset, the deal appears as if Turkish is giving away its stuff to PIA. However, if put through, this would be a miracle to PIA, giving it a much needed boost and the possibility to finally restructure its network. Miracles are known to happen, so let's wait and see what will happen to this JV.

Week from 1 Jan - 8 Jan

.

• Pakistan International Airlines from 19FEB resumes thrice weekly A310 service to Colombo, Sri Lanka from Karachi.
• Asiana Airlines from 29MAR is launching thrice weekly 777 service to Istanbul, from Seoul.
• flydubai from 14FEB launches four times weekly service to Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its second destination in Bangladesh, after Chittagong.
• Volaris from 30MAR launches daily service to Las Vegas from Guadalaraja aboard A319 aircraft. Las Vegas is its fifth US destination.
• Dutch charter carrier ArkeFly from 24JUN launches twice weekly Orlando/Miami triangular service from Amsterdam.
• Gulf Air from 28MAR resumes service to Geneva ( three weekly ) and Milan ( four weekly ) from Bahrain, aboard PrivatAir Boeing 737 aircraft.
• China Eastern Airlines from 18JUN launches thrice weekly 73G service to Kathmandu, Nepal from Kunming. The carrier has been steadily expanding international service out of Kunming recently.
• China Southern Airlines will be launching its Auckland service, nonstop from Guangzhou, on 08APR.
• Korean Air announced its intention to launch its first A380 services to Tokyo ( NRT ), Hong Kong and Bangkok. The carrier has the lightest yet of, configuration for the A380, with only 407 seats onboard.
• Norwegian announced that it hopes to conclude a codeshare agreement with Finnair by Q1 of 2011
• LANChile from 1APR cancels service to Toronto. It currently operates the route five times weekly.
• Alaska Airlines from 4JAN ended mainline service on its Seattle - Vancouver route. The route is now operated with Horizon Air Bombardier Q400s.

More links of interest

Pakistan International Airlines planned network changes

Delta Air Lines planned network changes

 

DN1 DKR 1100 - 1345 ABJ D 

DN2 ABJ 1445 - 1730 DKR D 

Bamako, BKO

DN3 DKR 0745 - 0930 BKO Except Sun.

DN4 BKO 1030 - 1215 DKR Except Sun.

DN5 DKR 1845 - 2030 BKO Except Sat.

DN6 BKO 2130 - 2315 DKR Except Sat. 

Banjul, BJL
DN11 DKR 0710 - 0750 BJL 24

DN12 BJL 0850 - 0930 DKR 24

 
DN15 DKR 1850 - 1930 BJL Except 2,4,7

DN16 BJL 2030 - 2110 DKR Except 2,4,7 

Conakry, CKY
DN21 DKR 1300 - 1425 CKY Except Wed, Sat

DN22 CKY 1515 - 1640 DKR Except Wed, Sat 

Nouakchott, NKC
DN7 DKR 0700 - 0800 NKC Except 2,4,7

DN8 NKC 0850 - 0950 DKR Except 2,4,7
DN9 DKR 1830 - 1930 NKC 247

DN10 NKC 2030 - 2130 DKR 247

Ouagadougou, OUA

DN23 DKR 1100 - 1345 OUA Wed, Sat

DN24 OUA 1445 - 1730 DKR Wed, Sat

The airline's official website is available at senegalairlines.aero . Let's see how well does this modern looking new airline cope on the increasingly competitive African market.

31 destinations in 18 months is no mean feat. But there's one LCC that did it successfully. Flydubai. What does the future hold for them ? Let's find out.

Having launched on 1st June 2009, flydubai ( IATA: FZ ) currently has 31 destinations available for booking, with a network that ranges from Yerevan to Chittagong. Flydubai's 31st destination, Chittagong, will come online on 17th Jan.

Flydubai Route Map

Flydubai placed an order for fifty 737-800s at the 2008 Farnborough Air Show, and leased an extra four from Babcock & Brown to launch operations. The airline launched its operations with a first flight to Beirut ( BEY ), and has since grown tremendously.

The Network

Flydubai's network consists of mostly regional destinations that are within five hours of reach from its hub in Dubai. With a network that largely consists of Persian Gulf, Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, the young LCC has dared to go to places that most other airlines will not.

Destination	Weekly Frequency
Abha, AHB	7
Aleppo, ALP	4
Alexandria, HBE	13
Amman, AMM	7
Ashgabat, ASB	2
Assiut, ATZ	3
Bahrain, BAH	17
Baku, GYD	7
Beirut, BEY	19
Chittagong, CGP	4 ( eff. 17 Jan )
Colombo, CMB	4
Damascus, DAM	11
Djibouti, JIB	3
Doha, DOH	35
Erbil, EBL	4
Gassim, ELQ	3
Istanbul, SAW	4
Kabul, KBL	7
Karachi, KHI	7
Katmandu, KTM	7
Khartoum, KRT	9 ( 10, eff 22 Feb )
Kuwait, KWI	25
Latakia, LTK	3
Lucknow, LKO	3
Luxor, LXR	3
Muscat, MCT	16
Samara, KUF	3
Sulaimaniyah, ISU	2
Yanbu, YNB	6
Yekaterinburg, SVX	2
Yerevan, EVN	3

Frequencies valid till end of Winter from January 2011.

Of these destinations, most are ones that never had any major carriers to serve them and were hindered from connectivity. At six of them - namely, Ashgabat, Djibouti, Erbil, Gassim, Samara and Yanbu - flydubai is still the only active LCC.

At eleven of its destination airports, flydubai's network overlaps with that of its big brother, Emirates. The airports are Alexandria, Amman, Bahrain, Beirut, Colombo, Damascus, Doha, Karachi, Khartoum, Kuwait and Muscat. The count goes up to twelve if you include the city of Istanbul, where flydubai serves the new, largely LCC, Sabiha Gökçen International Airport and Emirates serves the established Atatürk International in the European side of the city.

Flydubai has a lot in common with Emirates, from which it gets its current CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith. Emirates and flydubai provide connection opportunities to select destinations in its network. The two shares a common owner, Chairman and also some aspects such as catering, but that's where the cooperation ends, says the CEO.

Rather than cannibalizing each other, it is reported that on most routes, flydubai's entry has helped grow the market. An example given by the carrier is the Dubai - Amman route that grew 40% with flydubai's entry.

The Internet, The Ancillary and The Challenges

The Middle East currently has less than a 10% share of the market in LCC hands. Ghaith would like to see this figure go up to as much as 35% as in Europe, and believes that this can be done. But this is not without challenges of its own. The traditional Mid Eastern social landscape is low on internet and credit card penetration, and is far more lower among females - hence the carrier cannot rely on internet distribution like its European counterparts. Hence flydubai is having to recruit a network of distributors and travel agents, with partners ranging from post offices to currency exchanges. If that's not enough, flydubai is also having to compete with the red tape traditional to these parts of the world. This is especially high in India, where Emirates is the largest foreign carrier thus triggering backlash from both the competition and the government. Flydubai has still managed to serve only Lucknow in India, after one previous failed attempt.

Although the carrier is yet to publish any financial data, it can be expected that flydubai may not achieve as high an ancillary revenue as its continental counterparts, due to the same social reasons. But the carrier says that its passengers are happy with the unbundled approach and offers an incentives program to its crew for onboard sales.

Most of the airports in flydubai's network, including developing nations, are naturally high of travellers with heavy baggage. Perhaps reflecting this tough landscape, flydubai recently reduced its free baggage allowance from 10kg to a more moderate 7kg per passenger. The airline also revised its excess baggage fees, and has introduced three new, more simpler fare types - consisting of No Change, Pay to Change and Free to Change.

The Future

Photo by Andrew W. Sieber

Flydubai is due to receive ten 737-800s in 2011 and the airline has signalled that it will launch less new routes in the year and instead look at consolidating its network. With more underserved, regional and secondary destinations added to its network, flydubai seems to be pursuing a strategy of tapping untapped markets and complimenting its big brother's network for its hometown's success. The airline, like Emirates, has made some remarkable moves on the IFE front, by introducing the fibre-to-the-seat Lumexis IFE, which will come pre-installed on its future aircraft. Unlike many other LCCs, flydubai actively promotes connecting traffic - a key cornerstone of its hub's strategy - and has even partnered with fare search engine dohop to provide a lowest-fare-finder service. This connecting traffic is sure set to become a larger part of the carrier's network as it matures. With all the new experiments, and tremendous growth, the future sure looks interesting for young flydubai.