Wednesday's Route Development Briefs

October 19, 2011

Virgin Australia Builds Western Australia Network

Virgin Australia is to increase capacity on routes from Perth to Karratha and Port Hedland during the Northern Winter schedule. The airline will increase weekly flights to Karratha from 12 to 14 between November 23 and March 22, 2012, while Port Hedland services will grow from 14 to 17 a week during the same period. Virgin Australia competes with national carrier Qantas on both routes and has a 15 per cent share of the estimated 675,000 O&D passengers between Perth and Karratha and a 31 per cent share of the 375,000 O&D travellers between Perth and Port Hedland. Merren McArthur, Group Executive - Alliances, Network and Yield, Virgin Australia said the new services to the Pilbara region are in response to strong demand from the resources sector.

Delta Awaits Green Light for Pusan – Saipan Route

US major Delta Air Lines is awaiting a decision on an application to inaugurate flights from the Korean city of Pusan to Saipan, the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean. Delta is planning to offer a short-time twice weekly Pusan – Saipan link during January and February next year, adding to its existing twice daily flight from Tokyo Narita. An estimated 26,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year on the seasonal services of Asiana Airlines.

Insel Air Introduces Link to Barquisimeto

The acquisition of four Fokker 50s earlier this year has enabled Insel Air to expand its activities in the Caribbean. The 50-seat turboprops are currently used on twice daily flights from Curaçao to Aruba and up to five flights per day between Curaçao and Kralendijk. From next month they will also be used to launch a new connection to Venezuela, the airline’s fifth destination in the country. From November 16, Insel Air will offer a four times weekly service between Curaçao and Jacinto Lara International Airport in Barquisimeto, the capital city of the State of Lara located in west central Venezuela. The city currently has no international links with Aeropostal, Aserca Airlines and Avior Airlines offering just domestic links to Caracas.

Malaysia Airlines Takes Control of Firefly Flights

Malaysia Airlines has confirmed it will take over responsibility for some of the flights of its subsidiary Firefly as it positions the carrier solely as a regional provider offering turboprop services. This transition will take place over a two month period between now and December and is part of a wider network rationalization programme which will also see greater synergies with AirAsia and its long-haul, low-cost carrier AirAsia X. Firefly confirms it will cease to operate its links between Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu and Kuching from October 30, while services from the Malaysian capital to Sandakan and Sibu will stop from December 4. Its Boeing 737s will be redeployed into the mainline Malaysia Airlines fleet. “The takeover of jet services is an important part of the Group's business realignment exercise and is prompted by the need to address network and fleet restructuring plans for short-haul jet services,” explained Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Airlines Group. “With the consolidation of Firefly's jet operations under the Group, Malaysia Airlines will focus on the business of growing our premium full-service segment.”

Mandarin Airlines Considers Link to Wenzhou

Taiwanese carrier Mandarin Airlines is understood to be considering launching flights between Taipei Taoyuan and Wenzhou on behalf of its parent China Airlines. The city, in Zhejiang province in southeastern China, is currently only linked to 18 domestic destinations and this November there will be around 350 weekly flights from Wenzhou’s Yongqiang International Airport. Mandarin Airlines is believed to be planning a three times weekly service from March 25, 2012 using a Boeing 737-800 although reservations for the flights are not yet open and it is not currently displaying in the airline’s GDS inventory despite being displayed on the Amadeus timetable listing.

Condor Doubles Capacity to Panama City

German carrier Condor is to introduce a second weekly service between Frankfurt and Panama City next summer. The airline currently operates just a single weekly rotation via Santo Domingo, but will introduce the second frequency between June 25, 2012 and October 22, 2012 to support demand requirements on the route. An estimated 7,000 O&D passengers travelled between Frankfurt and Panama City last year and Condor, with the only ‘direct’ routing, carried around a 45 per cent share of this traffic. In the previous 12 months, prior to Condor’s arrival on the route less than 5,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two destinations, showing that Condor has stimulated the market, while at the same time attracting traffic that had previously flown via US hubs.