Hawaiian to Upgrade Osaka to A330
US carrier Hawaiian Airlines has announced that it will increase capacity on the Honolulu – Osaka route from April 21, 2012 when it upgrades the daily service from a Boeing 767-300ER to one of its new 294-seat Airbus A330-200s. This will add more than 30 additional seats on every flight, generating nearly 11,000 additional seats over a full year. The announcement comes just six months after the carrier inaugurated flights on the route. Hawaiian Airlines launched the Honolulu – Osaka service on July 12, 2011 and has witnessed strong ticket sales from the outset and reports that demand has been increasing steadily over the past months. An estimated 421,000 O&D passengers flew on the route during the last year and Hawaiian Airlines has already carved out an 8 per cent share of the market, despite only flying for two and a half months during this statistics range. The route is also served on a daily basis by Delta Air Lines and Japan Airlines (JAL). “Six months ago we introduced a completely new way to enjoy flying to Hawaii for people in the Kansai region and the response has been extremely strong,” said Mark Dunkerley, President and CEO, Hawaiian Airlines. “Introducing our new A330 aircraft to Osaka service will further improve the travel experience for our customers traveling from Kansai and help meet growing demand.” The past year was one of growth for Hawaiian Airlines as it recorded record passengers numbers. The airline says it carried 8,666,319 passengers during the 2011 calendar year, up 2.9 per cent on the previous year, although loads slipped slightly due to its capacity growth from 85.5 per cent to 84.3 per cent.
Delta to Add Third Daily Rotation on New York – San Juan
US major Delta Air Lines is to add a third daily rotation on the New York JFK – San Juan from March 2, 2012, and it appears the carrier will maintain the expanded schedule through the Northern Summer schedule increasing competition with American Airlines and JetBlue Airways on the route. The carrier will offer morning, afternoon and evening rotations using Boeing 737-800 and 757-200 equipment, a significant increase on its single daily offering during summer 2011. This market was formally dominated by American Airlines but over the last five years JetBlue Airways has increased its share of the traffic on the route from 31 per cent to 57 per cent for the last two years. Delta’s own share has remained rather static – increasing from 13 per cent to 16 per cent at the expense of American Airlines. In the past year an estimated 878,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route, up 3.2 per cent on the previous 12 months, although this figure is still around a third lower than the figures recorded five years ago. Yields have also weakened with average one-way fares falling from $235 in 2006 to $209 in 2011 despite increasing costs, although Delta’s own average tickets have actually increased in price from $235 to $268 during the same period.
American Gets Green Light for LAN Ecuador Codeshare
US carrier American Airlines has received approval from United States Department of Transportation (DOT) and Ecuadorean authorities to begin a codeshare cooperation with LAN Ecuador. The agreement will provide new options to all the oneworld alliance members and will offer more choice and greater connectivity between the US and Ecuador with effect from January 9, 2012. The arrangement will allow American to place its ‘AA’ code on LAN Ecuador flights to and José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil from New York John F Kennedy International and Miami International Airport and to Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO) in Quito from Miami International. It will also be able to offer ‘AA’ connections on to Baltra and Cuenca from Quito and to Baltra and San Cristobel from Guayaquil, as well as between Guayaquil and Quito. Meanwhile, LAN Ecuador will be permitted to place its own code on American’s international link between Miami International Airport and the cities of Guayaquil and Quito, as well as connecting services between Miami and New York, expanding its offering across the US. “By strengthening and broadening our relationship with oneworld partner LAN, we are able to offer our customers more travel options and are better positioned to deliver enhanced benefits across our respective networks,” said Kenji Hashimoto, Vice President – Strategic Alliances, American Airlines. “This agreement will improve connectivity between the two countries with access to more destinations by providing flight connections and therefore promoting trade and tourism,” added Maximiliano Naranjo, General Manager, LAN Ecuador. In the past year an estimated one million O&D passengers travelled between the US and Ecuador. The two oneworld partners currently dominate the market with a 70.8 per cent share of the total traffic between the two countries with American holding a 37.1 per cent share and LAN 33.7 per cent. Continental Airlines also serves Quito on a daily basis from its Houston hub; Delta Air Lines has a daily link to the city from Atlanta, while Aeorgal offers a daily service between New York JFK and Guayaquil.
Surinam Airways to Link Georgetown with Miami
Surinam Airways is to introduce a new connection linking Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana with Surinam’s own capital, Paramaribo, and Miami International in the US. The twice weekly service will operate on the Paramaribo – Georgetown – Miami – Georgetown – Paramaribo routing from April 3, 2012 and will be flown using a Boeing 737-300. State-owned Surinam Airways already offers flights to Miami from Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport in Paramaribo on a three times weekly basis via Aruba and these will continue to operate alongside the new twice weekly rotation via Georgetown’s Cheddi Jagan International Airport. An estimated 35,000 O&D passengers travelled between Paramaribo and Miami in the past year and Surinam Airways currently has just a 52 per cent share of this traffic. There are already limited links between Georgetown and the US – Delta Air Lines and start-up EZ Jet offer flights to New York while Caribbean Airlines has links to both New York and Miami, the latter a market of around 26,000 O&D passengers a year and which has grown at a rate of 15.3 per cent over the past year.
American to Drop Burbank and Delhi Flights
AMR Corporation, the parent of US carrier American Airlines, has announced that the carrier will suspend flights on the Dallas Fort Worth – Burbank domestic route and Chicago – New Delhi international link over the next two months as it begins a cull of unprofitable routes. The company says the airline will continue to evaluate its operations and streamline its network and didn't rule out further service cuts in the coming months. The airline’s daily Chicago – New Delhi route will close from March 1, 2012, due, according to an internal memo, to “the historical financial performance of the route and its future outlook given the global economic climate and high oil prices.” The link, launched in November 2005, is currently the longest in the American Airlines network with a flying time of around 15 hours. Air India also serves the route on a daily basis, but American will instead offer links to the city in partnership with oneworld partners via European hubs. According to AMR, the airline’s flights from Dallas Fort Worth International to Burbank, California will close on February 9, 2012. American Airlines is the sole operator on the route with a twice daily service using a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and this is the carrier’s only flight into the Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, which serves the wider Los Angeles County. “Our objective is to make our company competitive and more efficient in an increasingly challenging industry,” AMR said in the statement. “We will continue to respond to operational and market changes, as we always have, and to make adjustments to ensure we are competitive.”
Frontier Announces Knoxville – Orlando Service
Frontier Airlines is to launch a new direct service between Knoxville, Tenn. and Orlando, Fla. expanding its network map from the two locations to two and seven destinations, respectively. The carrier will offer a three times weekly service using a 138-seat Airbus A319 from March 15, 2012, a route currently served by AirTran Airways and Allegiant Air. An estimated 173,000 O&D passengers travelled between Knoxville and Orlando in the past year, up 13.8 per cent over the previous 12 month period. However, AirTran Airways recently revealed in November last year that it will close its twice weekly service from June 1, 2012 as part of its network restructuring with Southwest Airlines. “We’re very pleased to bring Frontier’s low-fare, high-value service to this route,” said Robert Westgate, Senior Director of Planning and Scheduling, Frontier Airlines. “While other airlines are abandoning this route, we’re confident that our better and different service will appeal to both leisure and business travelers.” Meanwhile, the carrier has confirmed it will discontinue Frontier Express service between Milwaukee and Flint, Mich. with effect from March 8, 2012. The airline currently offers twice-daily weekday only flights on the route using 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 equipment. “Unfortunately, continuing high fuel prices have made it unprofitable to operate small regional jets on this route,” explained Daniel Shurz, Vice President of Strategy and Planning, Frontier Airlines. “Additionally, the schedule reductions we recently made in Milwaukee have led to reduced connections on our Flint flying, making it even more unprofitable.” An estimated 44,000 O&D passengers have travelled on the route in the past year, around 25 per cent of the total on Frontier Airlines’ flights. Midwest Airlines also provides flights on this route.
JetBlue Inaugurates Hartford – San Juan Connection
US carrier JetBlue Airways has launched flights between Hartford-Springfield's Bradley International Airport and San Juan's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. The airline is offering a daily schedule on the route, the inaugural flight being operated on January 5, 2012. "We are proud to support the strong business and family ties between Hartford and San Juan with this new non-stop service," said John Checketts, Director of Route Planning, JetBlue Airways. Puerto Rico had a 4.1 per cent increase in tourist arrivals in 2010/2011 fiscal year and tourist officials expect this figure to grow in the subsequent two years. San Juan will be JetBlue's third nonstop destination offered from Bradley, New England's second-largest airport, in addition to its twice daily service to both Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida.
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