News From Asia 亚洲新闻

Richard Maslen March 17, 2011

SINGAPORE AIRLINES POSTPONES LOS ANGELES A380 INTRODUCTION

Singapore Airlines has announced that it will postpone the planned introduction of its Airbus A380s on its Singapore – Tokyo Narita – Los Angeles link. The carrier was due to use the ‘Super Jumbo’ from March 27 but revealed this week that falling demand to and from Japan following last week’s tragic earthquake and tsunami has meant that the aircraft will be used on alternate routes. The flight is currently operated with a Boeing 747-400 but Singapore Airlines confirms that from April 16 it will utilise a 777-300ER.

SPRING AIRLINES TO FLY SHANGHAI – MACAU ROUTE

Chinese carrier Spring Airlines is set to become the first budget operator to provide links into Macau following confirmation of its proposed flights from Shanghai. It will launch the daily Shanghai Pu Dong – Macau route from April 8, competing with Air Macau and China Eastern Airlines which will offer seven and 14 weekly flights this summer, respectively. Around 333,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route last year paying an average fare of $205 each way. Spring Airlines will expect to stimulate demand by offering lower fares, which could lead to price-sensitive travellers moving away from the existing operators. Across its entire Chinese market, Spring Airlines’ average one-way fare is $141.

AIR ASIA LAUNCHES KUALA LUMPUR – PALEMBANG

Budget carrier AirAsia has resumed a three-times weekly service between Kuala Lumpur and Palembang. The link was added on March 10 and is initially being flown during evening hours, but will be switched to an early afternoon schedule from March 29. The airline carried approximately 26,000 passengers on the route last year although yields are relatively soft with average one-way fares of just $76. Palembang is the capital city of South Sumatra Province in Indonesia, and is one of the oldest cities in the country with a long maritime history. Its Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin Airport was upgraded to international status in 2005 but the Air Asia service and SilkAir’s flights to Singapore are currently its only overseas links.

JET AIRWAYS TO SERVE THIRTEEN NEW ROUTES THIS SUMMER

Indian carrier Jet Airways is to offer flights on 13 new routes this summer as it further enhances its domestic activities. The additional services will all operated by its subsidiary companies Jet Airways Konnect and JetLite and will see growth from Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. New daily flights will be offered from Delhi to Aurangabad and Bhubaneswar; from Hyderabad to Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Indore and Jaipur and from Mumbai to Bhubaneswar. A new twice daily service between Chennai and Tiruchirapally and six-times weekly links from Hyderabad to Nagpur and Vijayawada will also be added, while a second daily rotation will be introduced on the Hyderabad – Vishakhapatnam route. Further network changes will see an existing Kochi – Bangalore link extended to serve Chennai and Vishakhapatnam, and the launch of daily Ahmedabad – Indore – Bhopal – Raipur – Kolkata and Mumbai – Ranchi – Patna – Mumbai links. Jet Airways is currently the largest airline in the domestic Indian market by capacity and handled a 26 per cent share of the 43 million passengers that flew on domestic services in India last year.

CHINA AIRLINES CHANGES REGIONAL SCHEDULES

Taiwanese carrier China Airlines is to introduce additional rotations on single international routes from Taipei Taoyuan and Kaohsiung. In the latest update to its Northern Summer schedules, the company has unveiled plans to offer a second daily service between Taipei and Singapore from May 12 using a Boeing 737-800 and to increase flights on the Kaohsiung – Seoul Incheon route from five a week to a daily schedule from May 15. Singapore Airlines is the market leader on the Taipei Taoyuan – Singapore route with up to 18 weekly services, while EVA Air, JetStar Asia and Tiger Airways also offer a weekly schedule. China Airlines currently holds a 24 per cent share of the 665,000 passenger O&D market. Meanwhile, China Airlines is the only operator on the Kaohsiung – Seoul Incheon route, with subsidiary Mandarin Airlines actually providing the flights using its Embraer 190s. It handled around 39,000 O&D passengers on the service in the year ending December 2010.

PACIFIC BLUE TO DROP SYDNEY – PORT VILA LINK IN MAY

Pacific Blue, the New Zealand-based subsidiary of Australian airline Virgin Blue, is to suspend flights between Sydney and Port Vila, the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. The twice-weekly link, operated by a Boeing 737-800, will close from May 6, although the carrier will continue to serve the destination three-times weekly from Brisbane. The airline carried around 24,000 O&D passengers on the route in 2010, accounting for a 32 per cent share of the market. Air Vanuatu, which continues to offer a six-times weekly service, is the market leader with a 50 per cent share, while Qantas carried 18 per cent of the traffic.

CHINA SOUTHERN UPS DELHI FREQUENCIES BUT CUTS KATHMANDU FLIGHTS

China Southern Airlines has made a couple of further network changes for its Northern Summer schedules, revising capacity on a couple of routes. From the end of this month it will increase its Guangzhou – Delhi link from five to seven flights per week, but services from Guangzhou to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu will reduce from six to three a week. China Southern is the only carrier to currently offer flights on the two routes. In 2010 it carried approximately 39,000 and 18,000 O&D passengers on the two routes respectively, and although the yield to Delhi is slightly weaker, the additional traffic explains the reasoning for the schedule change.

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