news: March 2011 Archives

 The flight is expected to be LH462, departing Frankfurt at 0945.

 Final flight details will be uploaded to the GDS today, accordingly to which this post will be updated.

 The first air link between mainland China and Sri Lanka was initiated by SriLankan Airlines in 2005, when it was still under Emirates management. The carrier's first route into China, UL888, was a link between the two capitals - Colombo and Beijing. The flight operated three times a week on board Airbus A330-200 aircraft. What began there has grown remarkably in the recent years, specially after the end of Sri Lanka's war with terrorists.

 The present air services between China and Sri Lanka look as following, including new routes planned to begin.;

 Remarkably, SriLankan - the largest carrier between the two markets -, makes the best use of its 5th freedom rights out of Bangkok and routes all of its flights to China via Bangkok. The carrier reportedly gets a high demand for its China flights and has also made sure to connect all of its Chinese flights with its Subcontinent flight banks, both ways.

 The launch of Hainan Airlines' services too is an indicator of the growth this market is set to receive. China Eastern too has been mulling additional flights into Sri Lanka with new flights from Shanghai.

 With a 46.2% increase in tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in this January alone, things in this market are sure set to be interesting !

 The flights were blocked following comments by Austrian Airlines Chairman Mr. Peter Malanik that EK is a state project with cheap labor competing against Austrian Airlines. The Chairman had stated that the airline had been forced to cancel flights to Mauritius and Australia because of competition from Emirates and accused Emirates of trying to "kill" Austrian's link to Bangkok.

"The situation is similar to the production of T-shirts using child labour. AUA would need to hire 1,000 staff from Bangladesh immediately to be able to compete. Do we want that? Certainly not," he stated.

 Emirates had planned to increase flights to Vienna from 7 to 13 from this 27th of March.

 As of today the airline has been able to regain permission to operate the flight. An Emirates spokesperson stated to this website that

"Emirates currently operates a daily flight to Vienna. We can confirm that our 6 additional weekly flights will operate as planned from this Sunday, 27th March, having received all the necessary permissions from Austrian authorities. We would like to thank the UAE government, the Austrian authorities and our other stakeholders who have helped to resolve this issue."

 In this author's personal opinion, the advent pf new airline strategies have changed the competitive landscape of our industry. The time for artificial rules and regulations have passed and airlines must learn to reshape themselves and compete effectively with the competition, rather than protecting themselves, as this would best benefit the industry.

 The airline will instead focus its London strategy around Heathrow airport, where it flies four times a day. This will leave Emirates as the sole Gulf carrier operating to London Gatwick, with its three daily flights.

 The Gatwick route is one of Qatar's worst performing, with average loads reportedly ranging between 50%-60% and with a lower yield.

 Gatwick is the fifth airport to which Qatar has terminated service since its second incarnation in 1997, with the rest being Nagpur, Newark, Sharjah and Yangon.