ASIANA BOOSTS SEOUL – TOKYO CONNECTIONS
South Korean carrier Asiana Airlines is to significantly increase flights on the Seoul Incheon – Tokyo Haneda route from two to seven rotations per week from April 28. The airline offers an all-Economy service that will operate with a mix of Airbus A320 and A330-300 models. In 2010, Asiana held a 72 per cent share of traffic on the route, an O&D market of approximately 51,000 passengers but it now faces greater competition from Korean Air which will offer a daily schedule using a Boeing 737-900 this summer.
DRAGONAIR TO INTRODUCE FOURTH DAILY HONG KONG – XIAMEN ROTATION
Hong Kong-based Dragonair is to introduce a fourth daily flight to Xiamen in China from March 27. The carrier was the market leader between Hong Kong and China last year handling over 38 per cent of the 7.9 million O&D passengers travelling between the two countries, more than double its closest rival. During the Northern Summer schedules it will offer more than 300 weekly flights to 17 destinations in China with almost 55,000 seats available to customers. Dragonair competes with Xiamen Airlines on the Hong Kong - Xiamen route although its rival currently only plans to offer a twice daily service this summer using narrowbody Boeing 737-800s. Dragonair uses a mix of Airbus A320s and A330s on the route with its new rotation night-stopping in the Chinese city and returning to Hong Kong the following morning.
VIETNAM AIRLINES LAUNCHES DAILY ON HANOI – KUALA LUMPUR
Vietnam Airlines is to introduce a daily Hanoi – Kuala Lumpur service, a market it had previously served via Ho Chi Minh. This will mean that from June 16 it will offer three daily flights to the Malaysian capital, two from Ho Chi Minh and the new service from Hanoi. Approximately 790,000 O&D passengers travelled between Vietnam and Malaysia in 2010, with Vietnam Airlines handling just a 16 per cent share of this traffic. Low-cost carrier AirAsia is the market leader with a 53 per cent share of the market while Malaysia Airlines has a 27 per cent share. Vietnam Airlines will compete directly with the two Malaysian carriers on these routes and will expect to secure a greater share of the Vietnamese traffic. The airline is also to boost frequencies on its routes from Ho Chi Minh to Melbourne and Sydney. From March 27 it will add a sixth weekly rotation to Melbourne, increasing to seven from June 13, although a smaller Airbus A330-200 will be utilised rather than a Boeing 777-200ER. This will mean that overall capacity will not actually increase. On the Sydney link, flights will increase from five a week to a daily schedule, also from June 13. Approximately 420,000 O&D passengers travelled between Vietnam and Australia in 2010.
AIR NIUGINI INCREASES LINKS TO MANILA AND SINGAPORE
Air Niugini is to offer additional flights on its routes from Port Moresby to Manila and Singapore from March 27. The carrier is to add a third weekly rotation to the Filipino capital, while Singapore will see frequencies doubled from two to four per week. Around 34,000 and 24,000 O&D passengers travelled between Niugini and Philippines and Singapore last year, respectively with Air Niugini the dominant carrier to both markets
CHINA EASTERN REVISES EUROPEAN FLIGHTS
China Eastern Airlines is to revise capacity on two of its routes to Europe during the first half of the Northern Summer schedules. A proposed increase in frequencies between Shanghai Pu Dong and Paris CDG from seven to ten weekly has been delayed from April 1 until June 1, while its new route to Rome will not see a fourth weekly rotation until July 3 rather than from its March 29 launch. China Eastern currently uses an Airbus A330-200 on its link to the French capital but plans to use a larger A340-300 on the three additional flights as well as on the new link to Rome Fiumicino. The Chinese carrier competes with Air France between Shanghai and Paris, a 273,000 passenger O&D market in 2010 but will be the sole operator between Shanghai and Rome. Last year around 44,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route, with around 6,000 of these routing via the airline’s existing Paris CDG service. China Eastern is to also inaugurate a new Monday flight on its regional Nanjing – Osaka route from March 28, increasing frequencies to three per week. It is currently the only operator on this route.
MALAYSIA AIRLINES INCREASES INTERNATIONAL LINKS FROM KOTA KINABALU
Malaysia Airlines is to add an additional weekly rotation on flights from Kota Kinabalu to Kaohsiung and Tokyo Haneda. The route to Taipei will now be served six-times every week, while the Japanese link will see four flights a week. Kota Kinabalu is the airline’s second largest base in the country with over 300 weekly flights due to be operated during the summer season to 18 destinations. Its main focus is on the domestic market but alongside these two expanding routes it also serves Hong Kong, Osaka, Perth, Seoul Incheon, Taipei Taoyuan and Tokyo Haneda. More than 5.2 million O&D passengers travelled between Kota Kinabalu and destinations in Asia and Australasia in 2010, with Malaysia Airlines carrying just over a third of these.
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