AirAsia X Confirms Sydney Expansion
Low-cost, long-haul carrier AirAsia X has confirmed it will launch daily flights between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Sydney’s Kingsford Smith International Airport, as revealed by The HUB last week. The airline will offer a daily service on the route from April 1, 2012 increasing its network in Australia to four destinations alongside existing links to Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth. “Our entry into Sydney is a culmination of a dream of everyone involved with AirAsia X, in particular our Group CEO, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes. Over the last four years, ‘We’ve believed the Unbelievable. Dreamt the Impossible. Never took No for an Answer’. We are finally here in Sydney and we are here to offer guests the opportunity to experience our growing network across Australia.” said a delighted Azran Osman-Rani, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia X at the official announcement of the route from the rooftop of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). The new route will be operated using an Airbus A330-300 configured with 12 Premium fly flatbed seats and 365 Economy seats and will see AirAsia X compete with partner carrier Malaysia Airlines. The national carrier currently offers a twice daily service on the route operated with Boeing 747-400s and 777-200ERs. In the past year an estimated 145,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two cities, up 28.8 per cent on the previous 12 month period. Interestingly, average fares on the route have also increased dramatically between these two periods, up 14.8 per cent to an estimated $737 each way. The confirmation of the Sydney route follows less than a week after AirAsia X announced a revised network strategy that will result in the closure of its existing routes to Mumbai, New Delhi, London Gatwick and Paris Orly in the months ahead. The airline will instead concentrate capacity in the core markets of Australasia, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea where the carrier intends to open up new routes and add frequencies on existing flights. AirAsia X launched in Australia in November 2007 with Gold Coast as its first destination with services to Perth and Melbourne following a year later. The airline’s affiliate carrier Indonesia AirAsia also flies daily flights to Perth from Bali as well as offering a four times weekly link to Darwin.
China Eastern to Offer Double Daily Link to Paris
China Eastern Airlines is to offer two daily flights between Shanghai Pu Dong and Paris CDG this summer an increase on the frequency it offered last summer. The carrier currently offers a single daily rotation on the route during the Northern Winter schedule but will introduce a second rotation from June 30, 2012 – it had offered ten flights per week during summer 2011. According to the latest update of the airline’s GDS inventory, the two flights will be operated using Airbus A330-200 equipment, representing a 50 per cent increase in capacity over the current schedule and a 40 per cent growth on last summer. China Eastern Airlines co-operates with its SkyTeam alliance partner Air France on the route with each carrier codesharing on the other’s flight. The French national carrier currently offers 12 flights per week and holds a 43 per cent share of the estimated 287,000 O&D passengers that travelled on the route. China Eastern has a smaller 32 per cent share and notably offers average fares that are around a third cheaper than its partner. Like most routes between China and Europe demand on this city pair is growing with traffic up 12.9 per cent in the past year.
Peach Aviation Confirms More Routes
Start-up Japanese low-cost carrier Peach Aviation has announced it will introduce services on five additional routes during the Northern Summer schedule. The carrier, a joint venture between All Nippon Airways (ANA) and A&F Aviation, is due to begin services, subject to approvals, on March 1, 2012 between its Osaka Kansai International base and Fukuoka and New Chitose. The airline has already taken delivery of its first two Airbus A320s and is using these for non-scheduled crew training ahead of its launch. A further five aircraft are due for delivery this year as it expands its coverage across Japan and into international markets such as China, Taiwan and South Korea. This second stage of its network growth includes its first international routes with plans to serve Hong Kong and Taipei Taoyuan as well as domestic flights to Kagoshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa (Naha). The Nagasaki and Kagoshima routes, not currently served by rival carriers, will be operated on a twice daily basis from March 25, 2012 and April 1, 2012, respectively. The other three routes, which see existing competition, will all start during 2012 although details of launch dates and frequencies have not been released. The Osaka – Okinawa link is currently flown four times daily by ANA and three times daily by Japan Airlines (JAL) with an O&D market of an estimated 885,000 passengers this past year. The Hong Kong route, a market of around 596,000 O&D passengers is served by Air India, ANA, Cathay Pacific Airways and Hong Kong Express Airways with offer five flights per day; while Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, EVA Air, JAL and Jetstar Airways offer 45 weekly frequencies between Osaka and Taipei, a market of around 822,000 O&D passengers.
Virgin Australia Introduces A330 on Domestic Sectors
Virgin Australia has announced it will introduce the Airbus A330 into its domestic schedules at Melbourne from May this year as it expands its Coast-to-Coast network. The aircraft will operate a double daily service to Perth from May 14, 2012 and a daily morning peak-hour service to Sydney from May 15, 2012. “Melbourne is Virgin Australia’s second largest port and continues to grow as a popular destination for business, events and tourism,” said Liz Savage, Commercial Executive, Virgin Australia Group. “Our new widebody Airbus A330 services will add extra capacity in and out of Melbourne at times of peak demand.” Virgin Australia is the second largest carrier at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport with a 26.0 per cent share of the available capacity. It is also the number two carrier on the two domestic routes with a 19 per cent share of the traffic between Melbourne and Perth and 30 per cent of the traffic between Melbourne and Sydney.
Singapore Airlines and Qantas Launch New A380 Routes
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Qantas have expanded their Airbus A380 networks during the past couple of days as the arrival of additional aircraft have enabled them to introduce the Superjumbo on further routes. SIA is now using the type on its route from Singapore Changi to New York JFK via Frankfurt. The aircraft replaced a Boeing 747-400 on the daily rotation from January 16, 2012 representing a 25 per cent increase in capacity on the route. Frankfurt and New York are SIA’s ninth and tenth destinations to be served by the A380, which already includes destinations in both Europe - London, Paris and Zurich – and North America - Los Angeles. The airline was the launch customer for the A380, introducing the type into service in October 2007, and it now has an operational fleet of 15 aircraft with four more on order. It says it has carried more than six million passengers on A380 flights over the subsequent four-plus years. Meanwhile, Qantas has launched A380 services to Hong Kong, its fourth destination to be served using the type. The airline’s inaugural flight operated between Sydney and Hong Kong on January 15, 2012, arriving back in the Australian city the following day. The A380 is currently being used on four of the eleven rotations Qantas offers on this route each week. The Australian carrier now operates 12 A380s and the arrival of two aircraft late last year has supported the introduction of the Super Jumbo to Hong Kong as well as on additional flights between Melbourne and London (via Singapore) – up from six flights per week to daily – and between Melbourne and Los Angeles, up from four flights per week to daily.
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