In the first change to the Philippine - Canada Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) since December 2008, the two sides have agreed to increase the frequency entitlement for each side from seven flights a week to 14. Fifth freedom rights were also increased from four to five per week.
There has been a growing demand for air connectivity between China and the popular leisure destination with O&D demand rising massively over the past ten years from just 8,000 bi-directional passengers in 2004 to around 66,000 in 2013.
The initial tentative schedule shows the aircraft will operate twice daily on the Toronto - Halifax route from May 23, 2014 through to May 25, 2014 and then on various dates through to the end of June 2014. Alongside this domestic link, Air Canada also plans to use the aircraft on its flights from Toronto to Zurich (from May 25, 2014 to July 14, 2014) and London (from July 2, 2014 to July 13, 2014).
The flight will be operated using a four-class Boeing 777-300ER and will seek to take advantage of the strong business and leisure demand. Located right in the heart of Europe, Zurich is a top banking centre but is also the gateway to the scenic mountains and lakes of Switzerland.
The airline says the decision to close flights to these two destinations from the end of September 2014 is due to the “sustained weak performance of both routes”.
Our own analysis of MIDT data shows that last year around two thirds of the passengers flying with the airline from or to Auckland actually ended their journeys at other locations than Guangzhou.
The Star Alliance member has eight Dreamliners on order, all to be leased from International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). This includes six 787-8s due from this year (four in 2014 and two in 2015) and two of larger 787-9s, which will follow in 2017.
Emirates Airline began flights to Singapore in 1990 and it remains an important gateway in the Far East & Australasia region for the carrier, connecting passengers to Melbourne, Brisbane, Colombo and Dubai, and onward to destinations across Europe, the United States, Africa and the Middle East.
United will inaugurate the new route on October 26, 2014, subject to final government approval. Haneda Airport will be the tenth trans-Pacific destination that United serves nonstop from San Francisco, and the third new Asia-Pacific airport for the carrier this year.
Our data analysis shows that bi-directional O&D demand between Nigeria and India has seen an average annual growth of 25.3 per cent over the past ten years as traffic has more than trebled from around 46,000 passengers in 2004 to just under 150,000 in 2013.
Qantas launched flights between Sydney and Dallas in May 2011 and currently utilises a Boeing 747-400ER on the route. The additional range of the A380 over the 747 it replaces will see the return service operate direct to Sydney rather than via Brisbane.
Building on the momentum from last year, when 17 new destinations where added to the network, the airline has further cemented its commitment to enhance connectivity between different cultures.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline’s first Airbus A380 will operate commercially to London Heathrow from December 2014, while its first Boeing 787-9s will debut on routes to Düsseldorf from December this year and then to Washington DC and Mumbai from January 2015.
The airline’s first flight as an alliance member departed the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo to the Kuala Lumpur hub of oneworld partner Malaysia Airlines on the morning of May 1, 2014.
Etihad Airways' MoU with Philippine Airlines is an important milestone in the long-standing relationship between the two flag carriers as well as ties between Abu Dhabi and the Philippines. More than 700,000 Filipinos live in the UAE and account for much of the traffic on the Abu Dhabi - Manila route each year, one of the busiest routes in the entire Etihad network.
Qatar Airways is to introduce a non-stop link to the popular Indonesian leisure destination of Bali this summer. The direct link to Denpasar will reduce journey times to a destination that has seen growing demand from across the Qatar Airways network over the past couple of years.
The airline will launch flights on eight routes across six countries from Ras Al Khaimah International Airport from May 16, 2014 despite its own Sharjah International Airport hub being just 80km away.
Every year almost two million passengers fly between Kazakhstan and Europe, a market that the airline sees a good potential for further growth in the years ahead having grown 51.3 per cent in the past five years.
As part of a commercial cooperation agreement between Cargolux and HNCA, the freight carrier intends to develop a dual-hub strategy centered on Luxembourg’s Findel airport in Europe and on Zhengzhou’s Xinzheng International Airport in Asia.
