JetBlue Airways plans to reduce New York JFK-London Heathrow frequency from daily to four times weekly from 02-Sep-2021 to 30-Sep-2021, as per a 27-Jul-2021 GDS inventory and timetable display.
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Eurowings Discover, Lufthansa Group's newest airline, operated its inaugural flight on 24-Jul-2021. An Airbus A330-200 flew from Frankfurt via a short stopover in Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast to Zanzibar in Tanzania.
The airline's name and livery are consistent with being a sub-brand of Lufthansa Group's Eurowings subsidiary.
However, Eurowings Discover has its own AOC, its own code (4Y) and its own CEO (Wolfgang Raebiger, who also served as captain on the inaugural flight). Moreover, it is a direct subsidiary of Lufthansa, rather than of Eurowings, and will operate on both long haul and short/medium haul.
It is positioned as a leisure airline, but with full service features. Frankfurt-based, it will add services from Munich from summer 2022. By the end of 2021 it plans to be operating seven medium haul and 10 long haul routes (competing with Condor on seven of these long haul routes). Its fleet plan targets 11 A330s and 10 A320s by mid 2022.
Eurowings Discover addresses the problem of Eurowings' withdrawn long haul network. It may also help to focus Eurowings on efficiency on short haul.
Premium Analysis
India's airline capacity rebounds after latest COVID waveAs India’s devastating second wave of COVID-19 subsides, domestic airline capacity is once again rebounding strongly. Airlines have been adding back service in response to easing travel and capacity restrictions, and load factors are also increasing.
The second wave spike began around Mar-2021, and quickly propelled India into a state of crisis. Daily cases were higher than in the first wave that struck in mid-2020, and the official death toll rose above 420,000 – although it is believed that the actual total may be higher.
The second wave stalled what had previously been an impressive traffic recovery in Indian domestic markets. Now the airlines are looking to return quickly to those levels, and eventually move beyond them.
In the past five weeks Europe has risen from worst-performing region ranked by seats as a percentage of 2019 levels to third out of six. The key driver has been an easing of international travel restrictions.
Europe's total seat numbers are 36.5% below 2019 levels in the week commencing 26-Jul-2021.
Although this is not very different from last week's -37.0%, Europe has moved from fourth to third in the regional ranking this week. The Middle East, where seat capacity is down by 46.8% versus 2019, remains at the bottom. This week (week commencing 26-Jul-2021), Africa is down by 39.8%, Asia Pacific by 38.7%, Latin America by 28.7%, and North America by 23.5%.
Yet Europe's progress on both capacity and easing travel restrictions has been stronger in the EU than in the UK.
In addition to providing more certainty and consistency over its green/amber/red lists, the UK needs to address the issue of testing – in particular the cost of testing and its necessity for fully vaccinated travellers.
Sometimes, the completion of even the first stage of a brand new international airport can mean problems for existing, competing airports, where infrastructure might not be considered adequate, or where they are in the ‘wrong part’ of a city.
There are few new airport projects anywhere that compete in size and scope with the new Istanbul Airport, which was built not only to improve on the capacity limitations of its predecessor, but also openly to challenge the Gulf airports for wider regional pre-eminence, also supporting a broader future for Turkish Airlines.
That might have meant curtains for Istanbul’s ‘other’ airport, Sabiha Gökçen, but it has established such a powerful position during the past decade that it can influence and decide its own fate, rather than being at the mercy of Istanbul Airport.
Although international travel recovery remains a distant prospect, some Asia-Pacific countries are looking ahead and developing scenarios for reopening borders. Such roadmaps will help give the airline industry clarity on how the international market might re-emerge when the COVID-19 pandemic finally subsides.
Australia, Singapore and Thailand have all revealed their approach to removing restrictions once vaccination rates reach certain levels – and in the case of Thailand, first steps have already been taken. All three countries have been hit by new COVID-19 outbreaks that have set back their recovery efforts, but they also recognise the importance of laying the groundwork to move to a new normal.
Key details are yet to be set for the Australia and Singapore plans, such as timelines and vaccination rates required.
However, these two and Thailand are some of the key Asia-Pacific aviation markets, and their planning moves may prompt others in the region to follow their example.
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CAPA Chairman’s Lounge: Surviving a pandemic - LCCs and Full Service Business Models
It has been suggested that LCCs will be better off in a post-CoVID-19 world as there is less of a reliance on business travel recovery to contribute to growth. However, Government support has allowed national Full Service Carriers to weather the COVID storm. In this discussion we ask which business models are going to work well in the future?
Speakers:
- CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Chairman Emeritus, Peter Harbison
- IESE Business School, Professor and former Chairman & CEO British Airways, Alex Cruz
- Indigo Partners, Managing Partner, Bill Franke
CAPA Live is the most sought-after monthly global aviation event. Taking place on the second Wednesday of each month, thousands of industry colleagues from across the globe tune in for their monthly dose of aviation and travel news, analysis, and in-depth interviews with industry leaders. Register here to be part of our growing community.
Etihad Airways, via the official Etihad Airways Guest Relations Twitter account, confirmed (26-Jul-2021) suspension of passenger services from India will continue until 02-Aug-2021. The carrier added its schedules remain uncertain as the ban may be extended according to UAE Government directives.
Singapore Airlines Group provided (27-Jul-2021) the following update on SilkAir's integration into Singapore Airlines (SIA):
- Almost all SilkAir stations have been transferred to SIA, and the integration will be completed within FY2022 subject to regulatory approvals;
- Nine of SilkAir's Boeing 737-800 aircraft have been transferred to the SIA fleet with enhancements to the cabin product.
The group added the integration will result in "greater consistency" in product and service across its full service business. it will also provide greater economies of scale and enhance flexibility in aircraft deployment to meet the demand for air travel as it returns. [more - original PR]
Turkish Airlines announced (27-Jul-2021) plans to commence scheduled operations to Cebu, "based on market conditions". Cebu will be the airline's second destination in the Philippines, after Manila. Turkish Airlines is the only carrier offering nonstop services between Turkey and the Philippines. [more - original PR]
Air Austral received (27-Jul-2021) its first of three A220-300 aircraft on 27-Jul-2021, becoming the first French A220 operator. The second and third aircraft are expected to join the airline's fleet in the coming days and the three aircraft (F-OLAV, F-OMER and F-OTER) are scheduled to arrive in Reunion on 12-Aug-2021. The A220s will replace one ATR 72-500 and two Boeing 737-800s. Air Austral is a new Airbus customer and operator and is expected to deploy its A220s on services to Mauritius and Mayotte, followed by Comoros, India, Madagascar, Seychelles and South Africa. Cabin details of the new aircraft include:
- 12 business class seats in three rows with a 2-2 layout and 102cm pitch;
- 120 economy class seats in 24 rows with a 2-3 layout and 76cm pitch;
- Panasonic eXW IFE system and individual seat power outlets. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - French]
AirAsia Group reported (27-Jul-2021) the following traffic highlights for its Malaysian, Indonesian and Philippine consolidated AOCs, in the three months ended Jun-2021:
- Passengers: 758,746, -94.1% compared to 2019;
- Seat capacity: 1.1 million, -92.6%;
- Passenger load factor: 68%, -17pp;
- RPK: -95.1%;
- ASK: -93.8%;
- Number of flights: 6114, -92.6%;
- Average stage length: 1026km, -16.8%;
- Fleet: 151, up by five aircraft. [more - original PR]
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