Airline News - Asia / Pacific.

Aug 30, 2009

Air Asia

Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia said Tuesday it will launch its seventh route into mainland China in October as part of its regional expansion despite the economic slump. AirAsia will be the first airline to fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province in southwestern China, with four weekly flights from October 20, it said in a statement. The carrier said the new route would be operated by its long-haul affiliate AirAsia X. Aug 26, 2009

All Nippon Airways

All Nippon Airways has partnered Mori Building City Air Services to provide complimentary helicopter rides for first-class passengers from Tokyo Narita airport to central Tokyo using a VIP-configured Eurocopter EC135 Hermes. Aug 29, 2009

China Southern Airlines, Air France 

China Southern Airlines and Air France have expanded their codeshare agreement to another six routes. Air France will place its code on China Southern's Guangzhou-Kunming, Guangzhou-Xiamen and Guangzhou-Wenzhou services, say the SkyTeam alliance members. China Southern's code will be placed on Air France's services on the Paris-Madrid, Paris-Milan and Paris-London routes, they add. Aug 28, 2009

EVA Air. UNI Air

EVA Air and UNI Air have started scheduled flights to China. The two carriers will serve 12 destinations and fly 19 routes to ChinaOs major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Kunming, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Dalian, Ningbo, Chengdu and Qingdao. The airlines will add service to Wuhan and Chongqing on Sept. 28, bringing their combined frequency to 55 flights per week. Passengers can make reservations now through travel agents worldwide, by contacting an EVA office or with a few clicks on the airlineOs user-friendly website at www.evaair.com. In addition to Taoyuan International Airport, business and leisure travelers can also connect to destinations in China from TaipeiOs close-in Song Shan International Airport, Taichung International Airport in central Taiwan and Kaohsiung International Airport in southern Taiwan. Aug 26, 2009

Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines is reorganising its business structure from 1 October as part of a plan to improve passenger experience, consolidate various functions in the company, increase efficiency and competitiveness, and save costs. It is forming a 'customer experience division' to coordinate the work of its passenger marketing, airport, and cabin attendants divisions. It will manage the analysis, planning, implementation and feedback stages of customer service, says JAL. Aug 28, 2009

Jet Airways

India's Jet Airways plans to launch a daily direct service on the Mumbai-Dhaka route. It will begin the new service on 15 September using Boeing 737-800 aircraft, says Jet Airways. This will be Jet Airway's third daily service to Dhaka, adding to its Delhi-Dhaka and Kolkata-Dhaka routes. Aug 27, 2009

Jet Airways

Jet Airways will launch daily New Delhi-Hong Kong service on Sept. 30 aboard an A330-200. Aug 27, 2009

Qantas Airways, Airbus

Qantas yesterday took delivery of its fourth A380. It will use the aircraft to increase its thrice-weekly Sydney-Singapore-London Heathrow service to five-times-weekly and to operate a fourth weekly Sydney-Los Angeles flight from Sept. 7. Qantas's fifth and sixth A380s are due to arrive by year end, at which point flights to LHR and LAX will be daily and Melbourne-LAX will increase to thrice-weekly from twice. Aug 25, 2009

Qantas Airways, Boeing

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told The Australian that Boeing informed him that the 787's first flight will take place by year end, the newspaper reported Friday. Boeing declined to comment, saying a revised flight test program schedule will be issued by the end of September. Aug 24, 2009

Rex Regional Express

Australian regional carrier Regional Express (Rex) has posted a 6 percent fall in net profit in its last fiscal year due to lower passenger numbers. Net profit for the year ending 30 June was AUSD 23 million (USD 19 million), 6 percent lower than the USD 24.3 million posted the year before, says Rex. Passenger revenue fell 4 percent year-on-year to AUSD 204 million and total revenue fell 4 percent to AUSD 251 million. The airline's operating statistics show passenger traffic fell 13 percent to 1.3 million from 1.5 million, and ASKs fell 10 percent. This was insufficient to stop a two percentage point fall in passenger load factor to 66.1 percent from 68.1 percent. Rex says that it reduced pilot attrition, exited small AirLink routes and introduced six Saab 340B+ aircraft during the year. AirLink is a small subsidiary carrier Rex has in Dubbo. Aug 26, 2009

Solomon Islands

International flights in and out of Honiara, Solomon Islands, have resumed after a 12-hour stoppage following a nationwide strike by government workers of whom Civil Aviation officers are members. Domestic services have also resumed. The strike was called off after the issue was referred to the country's arbitrating panel, the Solomon Islands Trade Disputes Panel for Arbitration, which met Monday morning and made its ruling. The trade disputes panel has ruled that the parties be given a 21-day period for negotiations, against a 14-day period suggested by the public service union. Aug 26, 2009

Tokyo Narita

Papua New Guinea and Japan have signed a new air services agreement that increases the number of flights permitted between the countries. The agreement gives Papua New Guinea two flights per week to Tokyo Narita, up from one, says Colin Lyttle, general manager marketing at Air Niugini, the only carrier to serve the Tokyo-Port Moresby sector. Aug 24, 2009

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