Mandarin Airlines Introduces South Korean Connection from Taichung
Mandarin Airlines is to launch the only direct connection to South Korea from the West Central Taiwanese city of Taichung, the country’s third largest city after Taipei and Kaohsiung with a population of just over 2.6 million people. The airline will offer a four times weekly connection to Seoul Incheon from April 06, 2012 adding to its existing five times weekly service to South Korea’s international gateway from Kaohsiung. An estimated 1.14 million O&D passengers travelled between Taiwan and South Korea in the past year, up 16.0 per cent on the previous 12 month period. The majority of traffic is flying between Seoul Incheon and Taipei Taoyuan, a route served by Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, EVA Air, Korean Air and Thai Airways International with almost 50 weekly frequencies. Mandarin Airlines, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Airlines, will utilise an Embraer 190 on the new route from Taichung. The airline is already the largest operator from the city’s airport with links to Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Kinmen, Makung, Ningbo, Wuhan and Zhengzhou.
Seair Receives Rights to Fly to Kuala Lumpur
Filipino carrier Southeast Asian Airlines has been given approval to launch flights to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur its President Avelino Zapanta has confirmed, although no formal launch date for the new international service has yet been announced. The expanding carrier is currently in the process of rationalising its activities as it focuses more on the low-cost market. Initially providing a focus on regional leisure markets Seair is now managed by Tiger Airways following the Asian budget carrier’s acquisition of a 32.5 per cent stake in the airline – the rest of its shareholding is controlled by three private investors. Since Tiger Airways’ arrival the airline has introduced its first short-haul jet airliners and now operates domestic services between Boracay, Batanes, Tablas (Romblon), Clark and Cebu and international routes to Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore from its Clark International hub. It plans to add up to ten more A320s to its fleet over the coming five years according to reports, with the first two additional units expected to be delivered before the end of the first quarter of this year. These will be used on existing routes to Cebu and Davao and to add more frequencies and possible new destinations in the future. As part of its revised business strategy, Seair has established a new affiliate company, Seair International, which is to take over the Dornier 328 turboprop operations of the company and maintain its leisure-oriented business under a separate licence, leaving Seair responsible for the low-cost services.
Garuda Adds Domestic Links from Medan
Garuda Indonesia has announced plans to introduce five new domestic routes from Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra, during the first quarter of 2012. The new flights to Bandung, Denpasar, Makassar, Pekanbaru and Surabaya are being introduced to meet growing demand for internal flights from the region for both business and leisure travel and will likely lead to Garuda establishing a mini-hub in the western city. The national carrier already has regional hubs in Denpasar and Makassar as well as its main operation in the capital Jakarta. The regional network expansion will be made possible by the expansion of the carrier’s fleet with new regional and both short- and long-haul equipment due for delivery this year. The latter will facilitate the launch of new international connections from Denpasar to Tokyo Haneda (from April 2012) and New Delhi (from the third quarter of 2012) and between Jakarta and the Taiwanese capital Taipei (from May 2012). Garuda currently has only a limited presence at Medan with up to ten flights a day from Jakarta and a twice daily connection from Banda Aceh, although it is the second largest operator by available capacity with a 19.6 per cent share of the capacity. Lion Air is the largest carrier at Medan offering links to BTH, Banda Aceh, Batam, Jakarta, Padang and Pekanbaru and this month holds a 36.4 per cent share of the available seats.
Air Mauritius Goes Direct to Shanghai
Air Mauritius is to introduce a direct link from the Indian Ocean Island to Shanghai this summer, eliminating a previous stopover on the route in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. From March 26, 2012 the carrier will offer a weekly non-stop service to Shanghai Pu Dong, but in the process will reduce capacity to Kuala Lumpur from three to two flights per week. The airline currently uses an Airbus A330-200 on the Mauritius – Kuala Lumpur – Shanghai route, and although the Malaysian capital will continue to be served with the equipment, the new direct Shanghai flight will be operated by a larger Airbus A340-300. In the past year Air Mauritius has seen O&D traffic between the island archipelago and Shanghai (including those flying with Emirates Airline via its Dubai hub) more than treble to 5,300 passengers, while demand to and from Kuala Lumpur (a route also served by Malaysia Airlines) has seen a growth of 19.8 per cent to around 23,000 passengers. The network change is part of a stronger focus on emerging economies as the current European debt crisis is impacting visitors from its main markets such as France, Italy and the UK. Although Air Mauritius reported a strong first quarter, its second quarter performance was weak as a €4.8 million profit in this period last year translated into a €6.3 million net loss, increasing first semester losses to €17.7 million, compared with € 6.8 million last year. In November 2011 the airline acknowledged in a statement that the number of tourists travelling from Europe was “hardly growing” and even major markets such as Italy and the UK were down on the previous year. “France, which is the largest market for Mauritius and Air Mauritius, “seemed to be running out of steam,” according to the carrier.
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