Recently in news Category

 Emirates already has a significant presence in Philippines with three daily flights to Manila and it has been well known that the carrier was keen to add more capacity to this fast growing city. Yet, Manila (MNL) at present is one of the most crowded airports in Asia - and getting a slot, specially one at your preferred timings is proving to be no easy task. Emirates has found an answer - and one that is both risky and innovative at the same time.

 Effective 1st October, the Middle Eastern mega carrier will add a daily nonstop service to Clark in Philippines. Clark, situated 90km from the main Manila Ninoy Aquino International airport, is presently predominantly served by Low Cost Carriers with Asiana as the sole Full Service Carrier.

Emirates will be entering the market with a two class Boeing 777-300, configured with over 400 seats - and fitting into one of its key hub banks which will offer very good connectivity.

 

EK338 DXB CRK 0400 1640

EK339 CRK DXB 1835 2305

 

Clark itself offers Emirates an advantage over the crowded Manila International as Luzon, the area where Clark is situauted, is home to a large community working in the Middle East. And Emirates launch of services into Clark could not be more timely with Philippine's own Cebu Pacific planning to launch Manila - Dubai services also in October.

Japan Airlines today announced that it is postponing until further notice, the launch of its recently announced new route between Tokyo and Helsinki, due to the grounding of Boeing 787 aircraft.

The airline originally planned to start this route on 25th February, with Boeing 787 aircraft.

 

Originally planned schedule:

JL413 NRT HEL 1145 1505HEL x357

JL414 HEL NRT 1725 1015+1 x357

 

 Due to the grounding of Boeing 787 fleet worldwide, JAL is currently substituting its Boeing 767 and 777 fleets on existing 787 routes - while some routes have been temporarily suspended.

The airline will be offering affected passengers alternate flights with other airlines. Fellow oneworld member Finnair already operates on the Helsinki - Tokyo route.

Alitalia will be cancelling its four-times weekly Rome - Beijing service from 6th March 2013. The airline presently operates the route with an Airbus A330-200.

 

Schedule:

 AZ790 FCO PEK 1335 0655+1 x246

AZ791 PEK FCO 0940 1415FCO x357

Ukraine's eighteen year old flag carrier Aerosvit entered into bankruptcy on the 3rd of January, continuing the list of European large airline bankruptcies, and becoming the first airline to declare bankruptcy in 2013.

 AeroSvit operates as a Closed Joint Stock Company and is owned by the Privat Group - which also owns Dniproavia and Donbassaero. The owner of the Privat Group is Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who also owned Cimber Sterling as well as Skyways Express.  Several of the above route transfers had already been announced late last year. It is as yet not clear whether Aerosvit will transfer any of its aircraft to UIA.

Vietnam Airlines, from April 2013, plans a service increase to its recently launched London Gatwick service - however will now add a Frankfurt stop in both directions.Hanoi - London Gatwick

 The U.S Department of Transportation last week tentatively awarded Delta Air Lines the right to serve Tokyo Haneda from Seattle, after a toughly battled contest among the major US airlines. The following post sums up in brief the reasonings made by each airline, and the grounds on which their competitors contetsed it. United States has four pairs of slots at Haneda as per the bilaterals, to be used between 2200-0700 L at Haneda. The original request was made by Delta, to move its Detroit - Haneda rights to Seattle, which led other airlines to file proposals to use the slots.

 

American Airlines : Los Angeles - Tokyo Haneda, daily Boeing 777

American proposes its service on the grounds that Los Angeles is the largest U.S mainland O&D market to Tokyo. It argues that the LAX-HND market is presently served by Star Alliance as well as SkyTeam alliance, thus the approval of oneworld member AA's service on the route will pave way for better inter-alliance competition.

The competing carriers contended that the LAX - Tokyo market is already adequately served. United Airlines argued that the LAX - Tokyo market already has nearly twice the amount of service as the San Francisco - Tokyo market does, and that hence its proposal for a San Francisco - Haneda service would be of more benefit. Delta stated that in the event American launches a new daily service between LAX and HND, it will have to reduce its own service on the route. Hawaiian argued that AA's track record of repeated cancellations on its New York JFK - HND service suggests that approving American for a LAX - HND service could be a waste of resources.

 

Hawaiian Airlines : Kona - Tokyo Haneda, daily Airbus A330

 

 Hawaiian asserted that of the four US airline services to Haneda, its Honolulu - Haneda service has been the most successful, and hence an award for its proposed Kona - Haneda route will make the best use of the slot pair. It further states that Kona - Tokyo is the second largest US - Tokyo O&D market without nonstop service from Tokyo, and is in fact the only city out of the proposals which does not have a nonstop service to Tokyo. While acknowledging that its proposal will largely serve passengers originating from Tokyo, it asserts that the introduction of a Kona - Haneda service will have a substantial positive impact on Hawaii's tourism based economy.

The competing carriers argued that granting the slot pair for a Kona - Haneda service will place half of the limited Haneda slot opportunities in the stat of the Hawaii, and will thus not serve the public interest. Delta and United also argued that Hawaiian does not need a Haneda slot to start a Kona - Tokyo service since it can access Tokyo Narita more easily, and also questioned the timeline for the proposed service since Kona airport needs several updates to its facilities to enable a Tokyo flight.

 

United Airlines - San Francisco - Tokyo Haneda, daily Boeing 767

 

United stated that its San Francisco - Haneda proposal would maximize public benefits by combining the SFO gateway with numerous other online connection opportunities. It also argued that this will provide Haneda service in the second largest West Coast - Tokyo market, which is nearly three times larger than the Seattle market. It further argued that it is presently the only US airline serving Japan that is not permitted to serve Haneda using own aircraft and crews, and thus approving its service will establish competitive parity among US carriers at Haneda.

 

American argued that United should not receive an award since United and its Star alliance partner ANA already command the largest presence in the U.S.-Japan nonstop market, operating a combined 210 weekly nonstop frequencies compared to oneworld's 118 weekly nonstop frequencies. Hawaiian argued that the San Francisco-Tokyo market already has abundant service, and that the market is not large enough to accommodate United's proposed service addition. Delta contended that, if United were awarded a San Francisco-Haneda slot pair, it would reduce its San Francisco-Narita service, while Delta's proposal would inject true new capacity to Tokyo.

 

Delta Air Lines : Seattle - Tokyo Haneda, daily Boeing 767

 

Delta mentioned that its proposal would make the most productive use of a US - Haneda slot pair, since Seattle is the largest US - Tokyo O&D market without any nonstop Haneda service. It also stated that through its own services, as well as the partnership with Alaska Airlines, it will provide one-stop service to Haneda from 42 points in the U.S. It further argued that given American - JAL and United - ANA were awarded Antitrust Immunity, they are able to access Haneda through the metal-neutral transpacific joint venture flights of their partners and that Delta is the sole independent network competitor against the two alliances in the US - Haneda market.

 

The competing carriers argued the viability of Delta's proposed service given the size of the Seattle - Tokyo market and that its service will rely heavily on code-share service of Alaska Airlines. American argued that Seattle is the sixth largest Tokyo O&D market and the smallest market proposed in this proceeding, and points out that Los Angeles is the largest O&D market proposed in this proceeding.Hawaiian asserted that the Seattle market is not large enough to support additional Tokyo service and that Delta's Seattle - Haneda proposal too would face the same fate as its earlier Detroit - Haneda service. United called Delta's arguments based on metal neutrality misguided as the consumers would benefit from the antitrust immunity JV.

 

The DoT tentaive decision was:

We have tentatively decided that it is in the public interest to grant the motion of Delta to move its Detroit-Haneda slot pair to provide daily scheduled services between Seattle, Washington and Tokyo's Haneda International Airport, rather than select an alternative use for that slot pair.

Since we last examined the allocation of Haneda slots in the 2010 U.S.-Haneda Combination Services Allocation Proceeding, we have had the benefit of two years of U.S. carrier experience operating within the limited arrival/departure-time window at Haneda. We also now have the benefit of knowing which U.S. gateways Japanese carriers have chosen to serve with their limited slot pair allocations - Honolulu and Los Angeles for ANA; and Honolulu and San Francisco for JAL.

Against this background, and having considered the entire record before us, we tentatively select Delta's proposed Seattle-Haneda service. We tentatively find that Delta's proposal would best serve the public interest by providing the first nonstop Haneda service on a significant mainland U.S.-Tokyo route that currently lacks any such service, thereby establishing a new U.S. gateway to Haneda. We tentatively find that Delta's proposed service would further serve the public interest by providing a number of western cities with a first one-stop connecting opportunity to Haneda.

 

It is not yet clear whether the DoT has placed any restrictions on Delta as for the usage of the slot, following its withdrawal from the Detroit - Haneda services earlier. The full report is available here, and makes for a fascinating read of how important this coveted slot pair was for each of the airlines.

The Indian DGCA announced today, that it has suspended the license (AOC) of cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines (IATA: IT).
The airline was asked by the regulator earlier this month to submit an explanation on why its AOC should not be revoked, after its engineers and pilots went on strike in late September. The airline is several months behind in its salary payments and had had the majority of its fleet repossesed earlier this year.
Following the strike action of its staff, the airline announced a partial lockout - that has since been extended till 23rd October.
While its AOC has not been revoked yet - the airline's inability to provide a satisfactory plan for resumption of operations within a reasonable timeframe may very well lead to that happening.
The Indian business tycoon Vijay Mallya led Kingfisher had been operating for several years without a named CEO, till it appointed ex SpiceJet chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal in late 2010. The airline which operated over 60 aircraft an year ago, is now down to ten aircraft - and had suspended all of its international operations earlier in 2012 following the repossesion of a vast majority of its fleet by the lessors. Kingfisher began operations in 2005, when the Indian government's liberalisation of the aviation industry was launched under then Civil Aviation minister Mr. Praful Patel.

KLM has revealed on the GDS that it plans to launch service to Fukuoka in Japan, in Summer 2013. Fukuoka will be the airline's third Japanese destination after Tokyo and Osaka.
The new service will begin on 3rd April, 2013 and will operate thrice weekly.

Schedule:
KL869 AMS FUK 1440 0820+1 772 D357
KL870 FUK AMS 1025 1505 772 D146

KLM's new service to Amsterdam, will become the longest flight out of Fukuoka when it starts operating. Presently this title is being held by the Hawaiian Airlines service to Honolulu. The KLM flight is well timed to connect with domestic flight babjs at Fukuoka.
The KLM service will be the first nonstop route linking Fukuoka with Europe in over a decade. Prior to year 2000, Fukuoka used to cater to a number of long haul airlines - including the likes of British Airways and Air Lanka - and has recently shown a resurgence of new international services.

Maldivian (IATA: Q2), (Island Aviation Services) the national airline of Maldives, has added an Airbus A320 to its fleet and will be shortly launching three new international destinations.

Photo credit: YPspotter32

The airline will be launching new service to Chennai and Mumbai in India, and Dhaka in Bangladesh. It's first Airbus A320, pictured above, will be configured with 14 Business Class, 24 Premium Economy and 114 Economy Class seats.

Chennai - Dhaka

There has historically been significant O&D traffic between Dhaka and Maldives, albeit not sufficient to warrant a non-stop service. Maldivian is using the Chennai stop to cater for this, and also appears to hold fifth freedom rights between Chennai and Dhaka - another city pair presently without direct service. The route begins on 18th November.

Male - Chennai - Dhaka vv

Q2 550 MLE Dep 0700 - 0940 MAA 1040 - DAC Arr 1340 320 D246

Q2 551 DAC Dep 1440 - 1640 MAA 1740 - MLE Arr 1920 320 D246

Mumbai

Mumbai is a new addition to Maldivian's international network and will launch with three weekly services beginning on 15th November.

Q2 710 MLE BOM 0830 1200 320 D357

Q2 711 BOM MLE 1300 1530 320 D357

 

Map generated via Great Circle Mapper

 The airline has used the rest of the flying hours of its A320, to be utilized on flights to Trivandrum - its only other international destination, presently served on-board Dash 8 aircraft.

Q2700 MLE TRV 0800 0945 320 D1

Q2700 MLE TRV 1630 1815 320 D357

Q2700 MLE TRV 2020 2205 320 D246

 

Q2701 TRV MLE 1045 1130 320 D1

Q2701 TRV MLE 1915 2000 320 D357

Q2701 TRV MLE 2305 2350 320 D246

 

Success of Maldivian's foray into international jet aircraft operations - specially with a three class premium heavy narrow-body configuration - still remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure - that it is going to be an exciting period for the Maldivian aviation industry.

 It all began on a sunny Thursday, the 6th of September, in Sydney, and how far we have come in a little more than 30 days would have certainly been beyond imagination had we not experienced it firsthand. Beginning with the Qantas - Emirates alliance and on to Qatar joining oneworld to the Etihad tie-up with Air France - KLM, the recent events have very possibly shifted the global alliance axis forever.

 The initial announcement of an Emirates tie-up with Qantas, was unexpected by many - despite the fact having been a very badly kept secret in the last few days running up to the announcement. Qantas would end its JBA with British Airways, terminate its Frankfurt route, suspend its European services via Singapore and switch those to Dubai. The worst impacted from the announcement, appeared to be British Airways - which had been a faithful partner to the flying Kangaroo for several decades. Initially agreed for a ten year term, the EK-QF partnership was nothing short of revolutionary.

Even before the warmth of that news had gone away, the Emirates chief architect Tim Clark set the stage on fire by announcing that they were discussing a similar potential partnership with American Airlines, another oneworld member.

 This raised considerable concerns over the future of the global airline alliance axis - only for it to take an even more revolutionary tale a few days later.

 Rumours soon spread of a oneworld alliance event due in New York on the 8th of October. The rumour had it that the chiefs of American Airlines and British Airways would join to announce a new member to the alliance. Who that member would be? Many believed that this would be the long rumoured Qatar Airways partnership coming to fruition, while some others argued that it could well be Etihad or Emirates. And some others believed that it is the announcement of a merger between AA and US Airways, and the subsequent entry announcement of US Airways into oneworld. Proving many others wrong, it became Qatar Airways which was invited to the oneworld alliance on the 8th of October. The airline would be the first of the three largest Middle Eastern airlines to join an alliance and will bring with it fifteen new destinations to the alliance. The same event has elevated oneworld to a new position in the alliance scene, as it now appears to possess much superior connectivity opportunities in comparison to its rivals.

Stealing the show the same evening in another corner of the world was a four-airline-alliance led by unaligned Etihad. Fast growing Etihad together with oneworld member AirBerlin (in which it holds a stake) will link a code-share partnership with SkyTeam members Air France and KLM. The airlines plan to initiate their quad-directional partnership as soon as 28th October, the start of the Winter 2012 scheduling season.

The tie-ups of these giants have quickly made the airline world a different place. A British Airwasy passenger may now begin its journey in Kigali, transit at Doha and reach London. A Qantas passenger may start their journey in Warsaw and connect onto a Qantas Airbus A380 at Dubai. A KLM passenger may now fly on a KLM flight to Abu Dhabi and connect on an Etihad flight onto Seychelles. The consolidation and partnership scene in the industry seems to have taken to a new level, and the next logical partnership now appears to be possible between arch-rivals Emirates and Lufthansa. Emirates now lacks a European partner while both of its large Middle Eastern rivals do, while Lufthansa lacks a Middle Eastern partner which both of its large European rival groups now possess.

 The industry partnership axis has shifted, and it may not be over yet...

 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the author's own and do not reflect or represent those of his employers or clients. Every effort has been made to ensure that the facts are completely accurate.