News from Asia

Richard Maslen December 02, 2010

SKY’S THE LIMIT

Skymark Airlines, the low-cost operator based in Japan has announced two new services set to commence next February. Effective February1st, it will introduce a daily red-eye service from Tokyo Haneda Airport to Nagoya Chubu. There is no existing service between Haneda and Nagoya, however All Nippon and JAL operate multiple weekly flights from Narita, with Delta Air Lines also operating an extension flight.

Skymark will also begin operating a twice-daily service from Nagoya to Sapporo, a route that has seen nearly a million O+D passengers fly the route between July 2009 and July 2010. JAL has a 54% share of this traffic.

HONG KONG CONNECTION FOR JUNEYAO

Chinese low-cost operator Juneyao Airlines has announced new scheduled services from Shanghai (PVG) to Hong Kong effective December 17^th. The route will be operated once-weekly. The route has seen over 2.2 million O+D passengers fly the sector between July 2009 and July 2010 with low-cost operator Dragon Air enjoying a 54% market share.

SRILANKAN AIRLINES OFF TO GUANGZHOU

SriLankan Airlines has confirmed that it will commence service to Guangzhou from Colombo, effective January 28^th, 2011. The service will be operated via the Thai capital of Bangkok and will be operated on a thrice-weekly basis. The route will be operated with a mix of A340 and A330 equipment. The Bangkok to Guangzhou sector has seen nearly half a million O+D passengers fly the route between July 2009 and July 2010 with Thai Airways International having a 40% market share.

EVA AIR TO SERVE JINAN

Taiwan flag carrier, Eva Air has announced further route expansion from its Taipei (TPE) base with non-stop service to Jinan. The new route is slated to commence December 18^th and will be operated once-weekly with A330-200 equipment.

MALAYSIA AIRLINES BOOST FOR ADELAIDE

Effective March 27^th, 2011 Malaysia Airlines will increase its existing service from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide from a four to a six-times weekly. IATA BSP data shows that Malaysia Airlines has an 85% share of the existing market of nearly 30,000 O+D passengers.