News From Asia 亚洲新闻

Richard Maslen April 20, 2011

VIETNAM AIRLINES TO LAUNCH HANOI – KAOHSIUNG

Vietnam Airlines, part of the SkyTeam global alliance, is to introduce flights to Kaohsiung from Hanoi, supplementing its current link from Ho Chi Minh City. The carrier has a daily service to the southern Taiwanese city from Ho Chi Minh City, a route in which it holds a 59 per cent share of the 134,000 O&D passengers that travelled in the past year. This market has been fairly stagnant over the past couple of years with little change in traffic, although yields have strengthened with average fares rising to $317 each way. In addition to the O&D traffic between Ho Chi Minh City and Kaohsiung, Vietnam Airlines carried an estimated 6,400 passengers whose journey commenced or ended in Hanoi. This gave it a 14 per cent share of the 45,000 passengers that are believed to have travelled to and from Kaohsiung from the city in the past year. It will introduce its three times weekly schedule on the route from June 17, competing with UNI Airways which offers three flights per week in a codeshare arrangement with its parent EVA Air.

GARUDA INDONESIA MODIFIES HONG KONG SCHEDULES

Asian carrier Garuda Indonesia is to alter its planned schedules to Hong Kong from Denpasar and Surabaya from the beginning of June. With effect from June 1 it will increase the frequency of its link from Denpasar from four flights per week to a daily rotation, however, its existing Surabaya service will be suspended. Garuda Indonesia currently utilises Boeing 737-800s on both of these services and carried an estimated 41,000 O&D passengers between Hong Kong and Denpasar in the past year and 24,000 between Hong Kong and Surabaya. Both routes are currently dominated by Cathay Pacific Airways, which offers a daily schedule to each destination using widebodied aircraft equipment. Hong Kong Airlines also has a daily link between Denpasar and Hong Kong, and like Garuda uses a 737-800.

AIRASIA ADDS SECOND DAILY BANDUNG – SINGAPORE ROTATION

AirAsia Indonesia will introduce a second daily link to Singapore from Badung, the country’s third largest city and capital of the West Java province. The new morning departure will be introduced from May 6 and will be flown using a Boeing 737-300. The airline is currently the sole provider of non-stop flights between the two destinations, carrying an estimated 62,000 O&D passengers in the past year, a 16.8 per cent decline on the previous 12 month period. Alongside a growing business demand, Bandung is a popular weekend break destination, with the cool climate of the highland plantation area, the varieties of food and cheaper fashion outlet shops among the main attractions of the city.

KINGFISHER AIRLINES BOOSTS BANGALORE – PUNE LINKS

Independent Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines will this week add a third daily frequency between the cities of Bangalore and Pune. The aircraft will depart Bangalore in the late evening, arriving back at the Indian city in the early hours of the following morning. An estimated 413,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two destinations in the past year, a 25.3 per cent increase on the previous 12 month period. Alongside Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways offers 13 flights per week, while IndiGo Airlines and Spicejet each offer one flight per day. Kingfisher has held a 36 per cent share of this traffic for the past two years and this network growth will help it to develop its presence in an expanding market. However, as capacity increases the strain on yields is apparent with average fares falling by 3.3 per cent in the past year.

EVA AIR TO INTRODUCE TAIPEI – GUAM LINK

Taiwanese carrier EVA Air is to inaugurate flights from its Taipei Taoyuan base to Guam. The route will initially start with a daytime rotation on June 18, but from June 21 the twice weekly service will operate with an overnight flight on the outbound leg and a morning return. EVA Air plans to utilise its Airbus A330-200s on the route, a market already served by China Airlines on a twice weekly basis. In the past year an estimated 240,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two destinations, with numbers stable, increasing just 0.3 per cent last year after an 8.4 per cent growth over the previous 12 month period. Interestingly, yields have strengthened with average ticket prices increasing by 7.4 per cent to $509 each way in the past year.