ROYAL BRUNEI CUTS LONG-HAUL ASIAN ROUTES
Royal Brunei Airlines is to reduce its network by around a quarter cancelling flights to Auckland, Brisbane, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuching and Perth ahead of the Northern Winter schedules. It will instead focus on its Asian network, with its new Melbourne route (launched in April this year) and its London link (operated via Dubai) set to be its only long-haul flights. The carrier, under its former management, had a focus on the Australasian market providing feed from within Asia, the Middle East and the UK via its Brunei International Airport in Bandar Seri Begawan. However, it is now expected to reduce its long-haul fleet and concentrate on providing frequent links within the Asian market. Its network from this winter will comprise 13 destinations - Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Jeddah, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, London, Manila, Melbourne, Shanghai, Singapore and Surabaya. The first route to end will be its weekly service to Kuching, in Malaysia, which will close from August 1. The other closures will take place from the end of October. Royal Brunei currently provides four flights per week to Auckland, six to Brisbane, three to Ho Chi Minh City and four to Perth, carrying an estimated 70,000 O&D passengers on these routes in the past year.
EVA AIR UPGRADES SEATTLE LINK
Taiwanese carrier EVA Air is to boost capacity on its flights between Taipei Taoyuan and Seattle for a ten weeks during the Northern Winter 2011/2012 schedules. The airline plans to operate a four times weekly link on the route during this period, but between November 16 and January 31, 2012 it will introduce a fifth weekly rotation and will use Boeing 747-400 rather than 777-300ER equipment. The airline is the only operator on the route and carried an estimated 72,000 O&D passengers in the past year, accounting for 84 per cent of the total traffic on the route. There is some leakage via Tokyo Narita with onward flights to the US by Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. EVA Air has seen passenger numbers on the route fall by around 11.5 per cent in the past 12 months, although its yield on the route has strengthened significantly with average fares increasing by 10.5 per cent to $950 per sector.
AIRASIA DROPS LINK TO BANGLADESH
Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia is to cancel its Kuala Lumpur – Dhaka route from the end of this month after just over two years of operation. The low-cost operator launched flights between the two destinations in March 2009 and currently offers a daily schedule. However, it has confirmed that it will suspend services from June 30. The airline currently dominates the market with a 34 per cent share of the estimated 319,000 O&D passengers that travelled on the route in the past year, but has been facing increasing competition from Biman Bangladesh Airlines, GMG Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and United Airways, which together offer 35 weekly flights.
JETSTAR ASIA TO BOOST CAPACITY ON SINGAPORE – TAIPEI
Asian low-cost carrier JetStar Asia is to almost double its capacity on the Singapore – Taipei Taoyuan route from August 6. With effect from August 6, the airline will introduce an additional six weekly flights, increasing to 13 the number of rotations it offers between the two cities. There are already over 65 flights per week on the route with China Airlines, EVA Air, Singapore Airlines, Tiger Airways and TransAsia Airways offering flights. JetStar Asia currently accounts for eleven per cent of the estimated 727,000 O&D traffic, a share that has slipped slightly despite a growth in traffic, due to increased competition on the route. This route is dominated by China Airlines and Singapore Airlines which have both seen a strengthening of yields despite the growing competition from low-cost rivals. The average one-way fare on the route is estimated to be $603, three times more than the $191 thought to be charged by JetStar Asia or fellow budget carrier Tiger Airways.
SICHUAN AIRLINES EXPANDS IN HARBIN
Sichuan Airlines is to expand its network from Harbin, the capital and largest city of the Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China. The carrier is to base a third Airbus A319 at Taiping International Airport from the end of this month to introduce new three or four times weekly links to Guilin via Taiyuan, Guiyang via Hefei, Hailar and Hehei. It already offers flights on nine routes to 14 destinations from Harbin and is the third largest carrier from the city based on weekly seat capacity. China Southern Airlines already offers daily flights to Hehei and Taiyuan, while Hainan Airlines has a daily service to Hefei and six flights per week to Taiyuan.
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