Miyuru Sandaruwan: April 2011 Archives

TAM presently approved GIG-LHR flights ( effective August 2011 )

JJ8089 LHR 2115 GIG 0515+1 123-567  332

JJ8107 LHR 2115 GIG 0515+1 ---4---  332

BA249 LHR 1315 GIG 2055 1--4-6- 777

BA248 GIG 2245 LHR 1400+1 1--4-6- 777

BMI British Midland International airline presently codeshares with TAM on its GIG-LHR flights.

 Let's start with the Load Factor.

 I'm sure that you have heard of the term load factor at some point. What does load factor mean ?

The load factor is the actual number of seats utilized on a single flight. This could be calculated by dividing the number of revenue passengers carried on a flight by the number of seats that were available on the flight.

 For example, if a flight was flown on an aircraft with 100 seats and only 75 passengers flew on that flight, the flight's load factor is 75%.

 On a more wider scale, the load factor could be referred to as the proportion of airline capacity output that is actually consumed. On this scale, the load factor could be calculated by dividing the Revenue Passenger Miles (1) by the Available Seat Miles (2).

(1) - The actual number of passenger miles sold and flown.

(2) - The available number of seat miles, whether passengers fly them or not.

 The load factor is always expressed as a percentage.

 The load factor is often used to describe an airline's performance, however it is not one of the most accurate. An airline may sell its tickets at deep discounts and fill its seats. However the actual revenue may be low. Another airline on the same route can sell its tickets at a higher price and have a lower load factor, but still earn a higher revenue than the first airline.

 Nevertheless, the load factor remains one of the industry's most noticeable benchmarks and will continue to be so.

Photo by randomecho

AK243 KUL0630 - 0745MAA 320 Daily

AK244 MAA0830 - 1455KUL 320 Daily

 The route already has daily flights by Jet Airways ( 737 ) and Malaysia Airlines ( A330 ) each, code-shared by each other.

 The route is now being served 107 times a week ( 105 KWI-DXB ) by six airlines with local traffic rights.

Emirates Airline, UAE - 28 weekly flights . EQV.

flydubai, UAE - 28 weekly flights. 73H.

Jazeera Airlines, Kuwait - 23 weekly flights. 320.

Kuwait Airways, Kuwait - 16 weekly flights. EQV.

Mihin Lanka, Sri Lanka - 5 weekly flights. 32S.

SriLankan Airlines, Sri Lanka - 7 weekly flights. 332.

 Interestingly, three of the six airlines operating on the route are LCCs - namely, flydubai, Jazeera and Mihin Lanka. The route recently had a reduction of capacity when the Kuwaiti luxury carrier Wataniya Airways, that had been operating two daily flights, went out of business.

 The largest aircraft presently operating on the route is the Boeing 777-300ER of Emirates while the smallest is Jazeera's A320 with 162 seats ( whereas Mihin Lanka's A320 has 180 seats ). Emirates is the largest carrier on route with 8564 weekly one-way seats on offer.

 How will this route's future turn out ? That sure would be something interesting to watch.

 The airline presently operates five weekly services on the Abu Dhabi - Nagoya - Beijing route. The Abu Dhabi - Beijing sector will go up to daily from June.

 The only airline to operate on the route till 1 April was Air China on board Boeing 737 aircraft offering 1139 weekly one way seats.

 Etihad now offers 1155 weekly seats on the route on board its Airbus A330 aircraft.

Dubai - Jeddah

FZ 834 JED 0815 - 1205 DXB Mo, Th, Sa, Su

FZ 847 DXB 1945 - 2035 RUH Mo, Fr

FZ 848 RUH 2135 - 0015+1 DXB Mo, Fr

FZ 847 DXB 0755 - 0845 RUH Tu, Th, Sa, Su

FZ 848 RUH 0930 - 1220 DXB 0930 1220 Tu, Th, Sa, Su

FZ 847 DXB 1555 - 1645 RUH We

FZ 848 RUH 1730 - 2020 DXB We

flydubai already serves Gassim, Yanbu and Abha ( Khamis Mushayat ) in Saudi Arabia.

Flights to Colombo, Sri Lanka will start on 1st November 2011 following a hiatus of a few years, and will operate twice weekly. The flights will operate nonstop on board Boeing 767-300ER aircraft.

SU589 Moscow, SVO 2115 - 0720+1 Colombo, CMB 763 Tue, Fri

SU590 Colombo, CMB 0850 - 1700 Moscow, SVO 763 Wed, Sat

 Sri Lanka's national carrier SriLankan Airlines too is due to launch flights to Moscow from 23rd December. The flights will operate three times weekly on board Airbus A330-200 aircraft to Moscow Domodedovo airport.

Flights to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, are resuming after ten years and will operate twice weekly effective 30th October 2011.

SU543 Moscow, SVO2135 - 1030+1 Ho Chi Minh City, SGN 763 Wed, Sun

SU544 Ho Chi Minh City, SGN1200 - 2005 Moscow, SVO 763 Mon, Thu

Bangkok, BKK - frequencies to be tincreased from 7 to 9 times per week effective 01JUN

Colombo, CMB - frequencies will be increased from 7 to 8 times per week effective 17MAY. All flights operate on board Airbus A320 aircraft. Two flights operate on day 6.

Kathmandu, KTM - frequencies will be increased from 11 to 12 times per week effective 21MAY. All flights operate on board Airbus A320 aircraft.

Larnaca, LCA - frequencies will be increased from 5 to 6 times per week effective 05JUN. All flights operate on board Embraer 190 aircraft.

Manila, MNL - frequencies will be increased from 10 to 12 times per week effective 11MAY. All flights operate on board Airbus A330 aircraft.

Milan, MXP - frequencies will be increased from 4 to 6 times per week effective 01JUL. The service moves from the PrivatAir Boeing 737 aircraft to the airline's own Airbus A320 aircraft, due to the former operating the new Copenhagen service. The schedule will be divided into two different times in order to provide better connectivity to the Indian Subcontinent and Far East.

The new schedule

GF 21  Bahrain International (BAH), Bahrain, Bahrain 02:15 - Malpensa (MXP), Milan, Italy Terminal 1 07:35 Non-stop 320 Monday Thursday Sunday

GF 25 Bahrain International (BAH), Bahrain, Bahrain 10:05 - Malpensa (MXP), Milan, Italy Terminal 1 15:25 Non-stop 320 Tuesday Wednesday Friday

GF 20 Malpensa (MXP), Milan, Italy Terminal 1 12:00 - Bahrain International (BAH), Bahrain, Bahrain 18:50 Non-stop 320 Monday Thursday Sunday

GF 24 Malpensa (MXP), Milan, Italy Terminal 1 16:25 - Bahrain International (BAH), Bahrain, Bahrain 23:15 Non-stop 320 5:50 Tuesday Wednesday Friday

The destinations include Abu Dhabi, Singapore and London Heathrow. The connecting points are Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

 The service to Copenhagen will begin on 1 July and will operate four times a week on board PrivatAir Boeing 737 equipment. The Bahrain - Milan flights presently operated by PrivatAir will hence move to airline's own Airbus A320 aircraft.

Schedule

GF27 BAH 0130 - 0730 CPH Mo, We, Fr, Su

GF28 CPH 1100 - 1850 BAH Mo, We, Fr, Su

The Nairobi service will begin on 5 July and operate four times a week on board Airbus A320 aircraft. GF 713 BAH - NBO 2015 0200+1 Th, Su

 Let's start with the North and South America.

 Who launched the most routes this Summer ? Let's find out.

The contents are in the format of

Date of launch  Origin - Destination   Flights Per Week   Equipment

28 MAR  Oakland, OAK - Lihue, LIH 4 738

27 MAR San Jose, SJC - Lihue, LIH 3 738

4 APR Branson, BKG - Dallas Love Field, DAL 5 Do328

26 MAR Boston, BOS - London, LHR 14 763

26 MAR Miami, MIA - Jacksonville, JAX 28 CRJ200

26 MAR Miami, MIA - London, LHR 7 763

26 MAR Miami, MIA - Orlando, MCO 35 CRJ200

26 MAR Miami, MIA - Tampa, TPA 35 CRJ200

1 APR Boston, BOS - Norfolk, ORF 13 CRJ200

1 APR Boston, BOS - Pittsburgh, PIT 19 EQV

1 APR Los Angeles, LAX - Sacramento, SMF 28 CRJ200

1 APR Raleigh/ Durham, RDU - Albany, ALB 6 CRJ200

1 APR Raleigh/ Durham, RDU - Proidence, PVD 6 CRJ200

27 MAR Chicago, MDW - Newark, EWR 34 734

27 MAR St. Louis, STL - Newark, EWR 14 734

1 APR Chicago, ORD - Los Angeles, LAX 7 319

1 APR Lansing, LAN - Minneapolis, MSP 6 738

1 APR Lansing, LAN - Washington, DCA 6 738

3 APR Denver, DEN - Amarillo, AMA 14 ER4

3 APR Denver, DEN, Dallas Love Field, DAL 14 ER4

3 APR Denver, DEN - Lubbock, LBB 14 ER4

3 APR Houston, IAH - Bakerfield, BFL 13 CRJ700

3 APR Washington, IAD - Louisville, SDF 7 ER4

3 APR Washington, IAD - Minneapolis, MSP 14 E70

3 APR Washington, IAD - Salt Lake City, SLC 7 319

3 APR Washington, IAD - Tulsa, TUL 7 CRJ700

And now on to this Summer's airline with the most route launches

28 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Atlanta, ATL 4 734

28 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Daton Rouge, BTR 3 EQV

28 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Huntsville, HSV 2 Do328

28 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Macon, MCN 2 Do328

28 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - St. Petersburg, PIE 4 EQV

29 MAR Ft. Lauderdale, FLL - Louisville, SDF 3 734

29 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Louisville, SDF 4 734

30 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Greenville, GSP 3 734

30 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Knoxville, TYS 3 734

31 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Birmingham, BHM 3 Do328

31 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Little Rock, LIT 3 734

31 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Punta Gorda, PGD 2 Do328

31 MAR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Savannah, SAV 3 Do328

1 APR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Columbia, CAE 2 734

1 APR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Orlando, SFB 2 734

2 APR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Shreveport, SHV 2 734

3 APR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Asheville, AVL 2 734

3 APR Ft. Walton Beach, VPS - Chattanoogh, CHA 2 734

Rest of America

4 APR Aeromexico Guadalaraja, GDL - Fresno, FAT 7 734

1 APR LAN Mozambique Maputo, MPM - Lisbon, LIS 2 763

1 APR LAN Peru Lima, LIM - Montevideo, MVD 6 319

30 MAR Volaris Guadalaraja, GDL - Las Vegas, LAS 7 319

That's all for now, folks ! Let's meet with the next edition featuring another region.

Emirates Airline, effective 3 January 2012, will be launching flights to Buenos Aires (EZE) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG), its third and second destinations in South America respectively. It presently serves Sao Paulo in South America.

Virgin Blue Airlines has uploaded its planned A330-200 routes to the GDS

Service begins 26 May

DJ553 SYD 0800 - 1115 PER Daily

DJ560 PER 1300 - 1900 SYD Daily

From 6 June, the flights increase to twice daily with new flights as following

DJ565 SYD 1730 - 2045 PER Daily

DJ572 PER 2355 - 0605+1 SYD Daily

From 4 July, the flights further increase to thrice daily, with the following third daily flight

DJ571 SYD 2000 - 2315 PER Daily except Saturday

DJ552 PER 0545 - 1145 SYD Daily except Sunday

By this time, the full schedule will look as follows with some changes

PER - SYD

DJ552 0545 - 1145 x7

DJ560 1230 - 1830 D

DJ572 2355 - 0605+1 x6

SYD-PER

DJ553 0800 - 1115 D

DJ565 1730 - 2045 x6

DJ571 2000 - 2315 x6

On day 6 & 7, all but DJ553 and DJ560 will be operated by Boeing 737 aircraft.

This schedule is valid for Summer 2011 ( ending 29 Oct ).

If you want to have a look at how the aircraft may look in its paintjob, have a look here.

VH-XFA photo by EMD4301.

Ryanair, the world's love and hate airline, today announced that it will be introducing 'Child Free' flights from October 30th (winter) following a lengthy passenger survey which showed that over a half of the passengers would be willing to pay higher fares to avoid other people's children on a flight. The survey showed that a third of passengers (36%) have had flights 'ruined' by other people's noisy kids with one in five passengers (18%) urging Ryanair to restrict the number of children on flights.

 

While the survey found that passengers would prefer to avoid other people's children, it placed 'blame' firmly with parents with top gripes being:

 

1.      50% Parents who expect 'special treatment' because they have children.

2.      25% Parents who allow children to annoy those in seats behind.

3.      15% Parents who board late and expect others to accommodate them.

4.      10% Parents who allow children to run in the aisles or kick seats.

 

Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said:

 

"When it comes to children we all love our own but would clearly prefer to avoid other people's little monsters when travelling. While half our passengers would like us to divide our cabins up into 'adult' and 'family' areas it is not operationally possible due to our free seating policy, with optional priority boarding. However, with clear demand for 'child free' flights Ryanair will introduce child free flights on high frequency routes from the start of our winter schedule in October."

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No worries, it is yet another April fools joke.