This week: Royal Air Maroc eyes US expansion; BRICS aviation agreement; Ethiopian Airlines forms new cargo business; financial results from Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, WestJet and Indigo.
Routesonline provides an update on the operations of the Airbus A380. We also reveal the network size of each operator and the top destinations served by the aircraft type.
Our top five stories on Routes Weekly: Delta's return to India; SIA to launch world's longest flight; Nordica's niche; ANA's space ambitions; latest passenger stats and more.
Singapore Airlines has revealed plans to serve New York from Singapore, taking the crown from Qatar Airways as the operator of the world's longest commercial flight.
Routesonline provides an update on the operations of the Airbus A380. We also reveal the network size of each operator and the top destinations served by the aircraft type.
The world's biggest passenger plane completed its first commercial flight a decade ago this week. Routesonline looks back at the history of the double-decker A380 and questions what the future holds for the superjumbo.
The new Singapore - Moscow - Stockholm flight will commence from May 30, 2017, subject to regulatory approval, and will be operated with a five times weekly frequency using Airbus A350-900 equipment.
With the south of England facing capacity constraints, Stephen Turner of Manchester Airport Group believes his airport is in pole position to secure more long-haul routes.
As Airbus celebrates the milestone inaugural test flight of the new A350-1000, the largest variant of the A350XWB family, Routesonline looks at approaching two years of commercial operations with the smaller A350-900.
With the handover last week of an A350-900 to Singapore Airlines it underscored the company’s growth that has transformed a European upstart in the 1970s to a global performer now offering a modern and comprehensive product line ranging from 100 to more than 600 seats.
Scoot said the commencement of the service to Europe is part of the Singapore Airlines Group’s strategic move to “stimulate passenger traffic between Asia Pacific and Europe, as well as to boost connectivity through the Singapore hub”. It will be the only non-stop connection into the Asia Pacific region from Athens.
In a formal request to Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), the body responsible for slot allocation, schedules facilitation and schedule data collection at Manchester, Singapore Airlines has requested to double its operations at Manchester with two arriving and two departing flights each morning.
The new services to Amritsar, Chennai and Jaipur, will boost the SIA Group’s international network into India to 15 destinations, served by its mainline business, regional operation SilkAir, low-cost brand Tiger Airways and now its medium- and long-haul, low-cost unit, Scoot.
The Asian carrier has configured the A350-900 in a 253-seat arrangement across three classes – 42 in Business, 24 in Premium Economy and 187 in Economy. It currently has orders for 67 A350-900s having placed an additional order for four aircraft last year. Seven of these will now be delivered with an Ultra-Long Range capability for flights of up to 19 hours.
Dubbed the ‘Capital Express’ route, Singapore Airlines will introduce a four times weekly schedule on Singapore – Canberra – Wellington, subject to final regulatory approval and will be operated with a 266-seat retrofitted Boeing 777-200 fitted with 38 Business Class and 228 Economy seats.
The new flight will be the first direct offering between Singapore and the South Pacific Islands and will be operated using a 273-seat Airbus A330 configured with a two-class arrangement. The flight time of ten hours will save travellers at least three hours compared to current flight options which require a transfer stop in Australia or New Zealand.
Subject to regulatory approval, the new ‘SQ338’ will depart Singapore on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 23:30 (local time), with the return sector, operated as flight ‘SQ337’, departing Düsseldorf on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 11:30 (local time). Although launching with a three times weekly schedule, the carrier says it intends to increase frequency at a later date.
Optimised for non-stop flights to the US, the aircraft, designated A350-900ULR (Ultra-Long Range), will include a modified fuel system to increase the fuel carrying capacity, an increase in Maximum Take-Off Weight, plus aerodynamic improvements, enabling service to the US West Coast, as well as to New York.
The Singapore flag carrier will increase its daily service by 9-10 flights a week using a refitted Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, representing an additional 7290 seats into Christchurch – a 17.4 percent increase.
The “TAG Athens” project, which is a collaboration between AIA, Singapore Airlines and Aegean Airlines aims to promote Athens Airport as an intermediate point on a traveller’s route by highlighting the connecting opportunities at an “attractive price”.
