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American Airlines to Add Dallas – Brisbane Using Premium 787-9s

On February 2, 2024, American Airlines announced that it will add non-stop seasonal flights between its Dallas Ft. Worth hub and Queensland’s capital Brisbane in October 2024. The flights will only operate during the winter schedule.

The flights are not available for sale yet and the exact schedule has not been announced either. That said, with the 2024 winter schedule starting on October 27, 2024, and ending on March 29, 2025, the route might operate throughout that period, and if not than in a subset of that period.

In addition to offering a non-stop link between the two cities, the new route will also enable connecting itineraries from Brisbane to “more than 100 destinations across the United States that currently require at least two stops” according to the airline’s statement.

American Airlines will use the Boeing 787-9 on the new route. Rather than using its existing 787-9s, though, it will use airframes that are yet to be delivered. The reason behind that is the 30 787-9s American Airlines currently has on order will be equipped with a premium-heavy configuration first announced in 2022. The airline is expected to take delivery of the first 787 with the new interior later this year.

While current American Airlines 787-9s are equipped with 285 seats including 30 in business, 21 in premium economy, and 234 (including 27 with extra legroom) in economy class, the new 787-9s will be equipped with just 244 seats including 51 in business, 32 in premium economy, and 161 (including 18 with extra legroom) in economy class.

Passengers traveling on the new 787-9s will also be able to enjoy improved seats in all classes including reverse herringbone seats with doors in business class.

American Airlines, on the other hand, will be able to operate the ultra-long-range route non-stop thanks to the premium-heavy configuration and thus lighter weight of the new airframes. If range wasn’t an issue, chances are American would deploy the aircraft on a more premium route instead.

The Dallas – Brisbane route will be, at 8,303 miles, American Airlines’ longest. For comparison, Dallas – Sydney is, at 8,578 miles, slightly longer, and Qantas blocks the flights at just over 15 hours eastbound and just over 17 hours westbound.

American Airlines and Qantas Transpacific Joint Venture

The new seasonal Dallas – Brisbane route will be a part of American Airlines and Qantas joint venture which connects multiple cities in Australia/New Zealand and the US/Canada, mainly using Qantas metal.

As part of the joint venture, Dallas already has non-stop flights to Sydney and Melbourne in Australia on Qantas and Auckland in New Zealand on American Airlines.

Qantas additionally connects Sydney with New York JFK (via Auckland), San Francisco, and Vancouver, as well as Brisbane with Los Angeles. Los Angeles also has daily service to Sydney by both American Airlines and Qantas. Lastly, American Airlines offers non-stop flights from Los Angeles to Auckland as part of the joint venture.

In both the US and Australia, the two airlines’ customers have the opportunity to continue to dozens of domestic and international destinations on American Airlines’ and Qantas’ regional flights.

Summary

During the 2024-2025 winter schedule, American Airlines will launch its second route to Australia, Dallas – Brisbane. The route will be operated seasonally using the airline’s yet-to-be-delivered premium-heavy 787-9s.

The route will be part of a transpacific joint venture between American Airlines and Qantas, which offers a wide variety of non-stop connections between the United States (and Vancouver in Canada) and Australia (and Auckland in New Zealand).

The post American Airlines to Add Seasonal Dallas – Brisbane Route, Strengthening Joint Venture with Qantas appeared first on KN Aviation.

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Melbourne to Become Turkish Airlines’ First Destination in Australia

Turkish Airlines will start flying between Istanbul and Melbourne on March 1, 2024. More precisely, the Istanbul – Singapore portion of the inaugural flight will depart on March 1, 2024, while the inaugural Singapore – Melbourne sector, as well as the return flight, will take place on March 2, 2024.

While originally the route was scheduled to launch on March 15, 2024, that has been moved up by two weeks as reported by Aeroroutes on January 28, 2024.

From then on, the flights will operate three times a week with the following schedule:

• TK168 / Istanbul – Singapore / 5:30PM – 8:50AM+1 / Mon, Wed, Fri
• TK168 / Singapore – Melbourne / 10:20AM – 8:40PM / Tue, Thu, Sat
• TK169 / Melbourne – Singapore / 10:30PM – 3:00AM+1 / Tue, Thu, Sat
• TK169 / Singapore – Istanbul / 4:30AM – 11:15AM / Wed, Fri, Sun

On the first two flights, Turkish Airlines will use the 777-300ER.

Then, Turkish Airlines will deploy its 787-9s on the route. Those are equipped with 30 staggered business class seats in a 1-2-1 layout and 270 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 layout for a total capacity of 300 passengers.

Finally, starting from March 31, 2024, the route will switch to the A350-900. Turkish Airlines operates the type in two configurations – one with a total of 316 seats (28 in business class and 288 in economy class) and the other 329 seats (32 in business class and 297 in economy class.

Once the flights to Melbourne launch, Turkish Airlines will adjust its current schedule on the Istanbul – Singapore route in such a way that there will be two daily roundtrips between the cities. The airline will also have fifth freedom rights on the Singapore – Melbourne route meaning it will be able to sell tickets for just that portion of the flight.

Turkish Airlines will be the first airline to offer direct (expected to become non-stop in the future once the airline receives A350-1000s) flights between Istanbul and Melbourne.

That said, as indicated above, the airline already operates the Istanbul – Singapore segment, 13 times a week. Singapore Airlines offers four weekly flights on the route too.

The Singapore – Melbourne route is already operated multiple times a day by Singapore Airlines, more than daily by Scoot and Qantas, and daily by Emirates.

Turkish Airlines’ Future Expansion in Australia

Announcing the new route, Melbourne Airport’s Chief of Aviation Jim Parashos noted “It’s no surprise that Turkish Airlines has chosen Melbourne as its first Australian destination, given we are home to the nation’s largest Turkish community…” Not only that indicates that Turkish Airlines has ambitions to expand its Australian network further.

In April 2024, Turkish Airlines revealed its targets for 2033 – the 100th anniversary of the airline’s founding. One of the key targets is growing its passenger network to 400 destinations.

According to Turkish Airlines’ chairman Ahmet Bolat, Melbourne will be the airline’s 346th destination. Australia will be the 130th country and sixth continent on Turkish Airlines’ route map.

With the airline already offering an extensive network of flights around Europe, Asia, and Africa, adding further destinations in Australia is likely going to be one pillar of the airline’s strategy to reach the target 400 destinations. As Executive Traveller reported:

• The Australian government increased the number of flights permitted to operate between Australia and Turkey from seven to 21 a week
• In addition to Melbourne, the expansion above also covers Sydney, Western Sydney (airport scheduled to open in 2026), Brisbane, and Perth
• The approved frequency is expected to increase further, to 28 flights per week from October 2024 and 35 from October 2025
• Eventually serving Melbourne and Sydney daily is one of Turkish Airlines’ strategic targets

Summary

In mid-March 2024, Turkish Airlines will launch direct flights between Istanbul and Melbourne, becoming one of the few airlines in the world (like Emirates) to serve all six inhabited continents.

The flights will initially operate three times a week using the 787-9, switching to the A350-900 at the end of March 2024. Eventually, once it receives some A350-1000s, Turkish Airlines intends to serve the route daily and non-stop. For the time being, the flights will operate via Singapore.

First published on 2024/01/19. Updated on 2024/01/29 with the latest launch date and equipment information.

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Air China to Add an Extra Beijing – Budapest Rotation in April 2024

Until February 19, 2024, Star Alliance member Air China is scheduled to operate one weekly rotation, every Monday, between Beijing Capital Airport and Budapest. From February 23, 2024, a Friday frequency will be added for a total of two weekly rotations, the same as the airline planned when it first resumed the route post-COVID in the summer of 2022.

In the coming summer, Air China now plans to increase capacity on the route even further by adding an extra rotation on Thursdays for a total of three a week.

Separately from connecting the two capitals, Air China also serves Budapest non-stop from Chongqing once a week, every Wednesday (albeit some weeks the flight does not operate).

Both of Air China’s routes to Budapest are operated using the airline’s 787-9s. These are equipped with 30 lie-flat business class seats in a 2-2-2 layout, 34 premium economy class seats (in the same nine-abreast layout as in economy class), and 229 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 layout for a total of 293 seats.

With that, once the extra Beijing – Budapest rotation is added, Air China will offer a total of 1,172 weekly seats between China and Hungary in each direction, spread across four roundtrips.

Shanghai Airlines to Serve Budapest Daily in the Summer

In addition to Air China, SkyTeam member China Eastern’s subsidiary Shanghai Airlines offers non-stop flights between China and Budapest too. Like Air China, Shanghai Airlines serves Budapest from two gateways: Shanghai and Ningbo.

The flights between Shanghai Pudong Airport and Budapest currently operate three times a week, every  Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

That said, during the 2024 summer schedule, i.e. between March 31, 2024, and October 25, 2024, Shanghai Airlines plans to increase the route’s frequency to daily, making Shanghai the best-connected Chinese city with Budapest.

Once the winter schedule sets in at the end of October, the flights will return to three weekly rotations.

Shanghai Airlines also offers two weekly flights (each Monday and Thursday) between Ningbo, a city just a couple of hundred kilometers away from Shanghai, and Budapest. The airline plans to continue operating the route with the same frequency throughout the year.

Both of Shanghai Airline’s Budapest routes are served using 787-9s. Being equipped with 30 staggered business class seats in a 1-2-1 layout, 28 proper premium economy class seats in a 2-3-2 layout, and 227 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 layout, the aircraft can, at 285 total seats, carry slightly fewer passengers than Air China’s 787-9s.

During the 2024 summer schedule, Shanghai Airlines will offer a total of 9 weekly rotations between China and Hungary for a total of 2,565 weekly seats in each direction.

China Southern Reported to Be Considering Adding Budapest

With Chinese tourists able to hit the road again now that the country’s COVID-related travel restrictions have been lifted, “the number of tourists from South Korea and China quadrupled in 2023 compared to 2022,” according to Hungary Today.

“From China, millions can be attracted by a TV show. A good example is the Chinese reality show Chinese Restaurant, filmed in Budapest last year between June and July. The first episode was watched by more than 160 million people in the first week of its launch,” the report added.

As such, it should come as no surprise that both Air China and Shanghai Airlines are planning frequency increases during the busy summer season.

Additionally, there are also reports of China Southern Airlines planning to serve Budapest. BUD Flyer reported that the airline filed an application with the Chinese authorities to get permission to operate Urumqi – Budapest four times a week starting from March 2024.

Whether that route will come to fruition or not remains to be seen.

Summary

Hungary is perhaps the country most friendly with China within the European Union. That definitely contributes to the fact that Budapest is served non-stop from four Chinese cities including Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Ningbo. While the former two routes are operated by Air China, the latter two are operated by Shanghai Airlines.

While currently, there are eight weekly rotations between the two countries. During the 2024 summer schedule, when Air China will add an extra weekly frequency from Beijing and Shanghai Airlines four extra from Shanghai, there will be a total of 11 weekly frequencies and 3,737 weekly seats available between the two countries.

That is, unless China Southern Airlines launches flights to Budapest too. In that case, the capacity will be even higher.

The post Air China and Shanghai Airlines to Increase Budapest Capacity During 2024 Summer Schedule appeared first on KN Aviation.

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VietJet’s Upcoming Hanoi – Hiroshima Route

As mentioned in the introduction, VietJet first announced it would be adding Hanoi – Hiroshima flights on May 19, 2023, at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. The announced July 2023 launch was then postponed to October 2023 but ultimately did not happen.

That said, VietJet has now filed a schedule for the route with the inaugural flight set to take place on Sunday, March 31, 2024. The flights are loaded into VietJet’s booking system but at this point are not yet available for sale, all showing as sold out.

From March 31, 2023, onward, the flights are expected to operate twice a week with the following schedule:

• VJ952 / Hanoi – Hiroshima / 06:00AM – 12:30PM / Thu, Sun
• VJ953 / Hiroshima – Hanoi / 1:30PM – 4:20PM / Thu, Sun

VietJet plans to use the A320 on the route. The aircraft is the smallest type in VietJet’s fleet and comes in two configurations. One has a total of 162 seats including 12 in business class and the other has a total of 180 economy class seats. It is not yet clear which one will fly to Hiroshima.

VietJet will be the only airline to offer a nonstop link between the two cities.

Hiroshima Will Be VietJet’s Sixth Destination in Japan

Currently, VietJet serves five Japanese airports including Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka Kansai, Tokyo Haneda, and Tokyo Narita. As such, Hiroshima will be its sixth destination in the country.

VietJet’s current Japan network consists of the following seven routes, all operated using the airline’s A321neo with 230 economy class seats, linking Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh with the airports listed above:

• Hanoi – Fukuoka (3x week)
• Hanoi – Nagoya (4x week)
• Hanoi – Osaka Kansai (double daily)
• Hanoi – Tokyo Narita (daily)
• Ho Chi Minh – Osaka Kansai (daily)
• Ho Chi Minh – Tokyo Haneda (daily)
• Ho Chi Minh – Tokyo Narita (daily)

In addition to VietJet, SkyTeam member Vietnam Airlines also flies from Hanoi to Fukuoka, Nagoya, and Osaka Kansai. The Vietnamese flag carrier also connects the last of those with Ho Chi Minh.

The Tokyo routes are much more competitive with not only VietJet and Vietnam Airlines connecting Japan’s capital with both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh but also Star Alliance’s ANA and oneworld‘s JAL serving the markets. Unlike VietJet, the three full-service carriers are using widebodies on the routes.

Summary

At long last, VietJet appears to be ready to launch flights to Hiroshima, which were first promised at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima last spring. The airline will operate the route twice a week starting from March 31, 2024, using the A320.

Unlike on the seven current Japan routes, VietJet will be the only airline offering non-stop flights between Hiroshima and Hanoi.

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Royal Jordanian’s Embraer E-Jet E2 Family Order

On May 18, 2023, Embraer announced that Royal Jordanian Airlines would be adding eight E-Jet E2 family aircraft including four E190-E2s and four E195E2s to its fleet, with deliveries planned to start in 2023’s fourth quarter.

While Royal Jordanian ordered two of the E195E2s directly, the remaining six aircraft were ordered through Azorra, a leasing company that already had an existing backlog with Embraer at the time. The two direct orders were first listed in Embraer’s Q4 2022 backlog as being from an undisclosed customer.

Royal Jordanian chose the E-Jet E2 for, among other reasons, a degree of commonality with its existing fleet of E175s and E190s from the original E-Jet family.

When announcing the order, Royal Jordanian’s Vice Chairman and CEO Samer Majali noted “RJ has been operating Embraer aircraft for 15 years, and the E2 reduces the investment cost of pilot training and spare parts provisioning significantly, whilst also lowering crew scheduling and maintenance costs.”

Both the Royal Jordanian E190-E2 and E195-E2 will be equipped with 12 business class seats. The E190-E2 will additionally have 80 economy class seats for a total capacity of 92 passengers. The larger E195-E2 will have 108 economy class seats for a total capacity of 120.

The aircraft will be equipped with onboard wi-fi.

Royal Jordanian’s First Two E195-E2s Ferried to Amman

While Royal Jordanian was originally expecting to take delivery of its first E-Jet E2 family aircraft in Q4 2023, the airline ended up taking delivery of the first two E195-E2 on January 25, 2024. The first two are airframes leased from Azorra and are the first aircraft to wear the airline’s new livery.

Both of the aircraft, registered JY-REA and JY-REB, were ferried from Recife in Brazil to their new home in Amman via Spain’s Canary Island’s Gran Canaria, with the first leg of the almost 6,000-mile delivery flight taking about five hours and the second leg about seven hours.

The second airframe, JY-REB, took off from Recife at 1:44PM on January 24, 2024, and landed in Amman at 12:05PM on January 25, 2024. The first airframe, JY-REA, followed about ten minutes later.

Over time, Royal Jordanian is expected to put the E195-E2s on flights within the Middle East, to North Africa, and to Europe. Aeroroutes reported that the aircraft is scheduled to first make an appearance on the Amman – Baghdad route on February 1, 2024. The smaller E190-E2 is expected to enter into service in May 2024 according to the same report.

Summary

Royal Jordanian is one of the few customers of the Embraer E-Jet E2 family. The airline is planning to add a total of eight airframes to its fleet split equally between the E190-E2 and the larger E195-E2.

Earlier this week, the airline took delivery of the first two airframes from the order, both E195-E2s. The aircraft, wearing Royal Jordanian’s new livery, were flown from Recife in Brazil to Amman and are expected to enter into service shortly.

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Air France’s Upcoming Paris – Phoenix Route

The first Air France flight between Paris and Phoenix is set to operate on May 23, 2024. From then on, the airline plans to operate the route three times a week for the rest of the summer with the following schedule:

• AF68 / Paris CDG – Phoenix / 10:10AM – 12:10PM / Tue, Thu, Sat
• AF69 / Phoenix – Paris CDG / 2:10PM – 9:15AM+1 / Tue, Thu, Sat

It is not clear yet whether the route will also operate during the winter schedule, albeit filling those flights would be considerably more challenging than during the summer.

Air France plans to use its 787-9s on the Phoenix flights. The aircraft can seat a total of 279 passengers – it is equipped with 30 reverse herringbone business class seats in a 1-2-1 layout, 21 premium economy class seats in a 2-3-2 layout, and 228 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 layout.

You can see what the aircraft is like in my report from its inaugural flight.

Currently, the only year-round intercontinental destination out of Phoenix is London Heathrow, which is served by oneworld members British Airways and American Airlines, each offering a daily rotation. Condor also offers summer service between Frankfurt and Phoenix.

Because of the airport’s limited transatlantic connectivity, Air France’s flights will also have the opportunity to capture demand for travel to other European destinations, as well as to places in Africa and the Middle East.

Air France’s Extensive North American Network

When announcing the new route, Boaz Hulsman, Vice President of Commercial, North America at Air France-KLM, noted Phoenix will become “the 22nd North American gateway for Air France next summer season, this new service symbolizes our commitment to enhancing the transatlantic travel connection.”

Unsurprisingly, the US is by far the airline’s biggest market in North America. Currently, Air France serves 13 US destinations year-round from Paris CDG. Those include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York JFK, Raleigh/Durham, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

Additionally, it offers seasonal service to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Denver, and is planning to start flying to Minneapolis St. Paul in May 2024.

The second biggest market is Canada where Air France offers non-stop flights from Paris to four destinations including Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Air France also offers non-stop flights to Mexico City and Cancun, as well as a number of destinations in the Caribbean including Havana in Cuba, Port-au-Prince in Haiti, and Saint Martin.

Summary

Air France, one of the biggest players in the transatlantic market, is planning to expand its presence in North America in May 2024. In addition to adding flights to Minneapolis, a major hub for its transatlantic joint venture partner Delta Air Lines, it will also add three weekly flights to Phoenix, Arizona.

The Phoenix route will be operated by the 787-9 and will become the airline’s 17th destination in the US.

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Air Premia’s Upcoming Seoul – San Francisco Route

According to AeroRoutes, Air Premia filed schedule for a new Seoul Incheon – San Francisco route. Based on the filing, the airline will launch the route on May 17, 2024, and from then on will operate the flights four times a week with the following schedule:

• YP111 / Seoul Incheon – San Francisco / 5:30PM – 12:30PM / Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun
• YL112 / San Francisco – Seoul Incheon / 3:00PM – 7:50PM+1/ Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun

The flights cannot be booked yet.

The route will be operated by the sole aircraft type in Air Premia’s fleet, Boeing 787-9.

Air Premia’s 787s come in two different configurations, one seating a total of 309 and the other a total of 338 passengers. Both of the configurations have a total of 56 premium economy class seats in a 2-3-2 layout, while in economy class they have 253 and 282 seats in a 3-3-3 layout respectively.

Multiple full-service carriers already operate the Seoul Incheon – San Francisco route. SkyTeam member Korean Air flies to San Francisco at least once a day. Star Alliance members Asiana Airlines and United Airlines each serve the route daily.

Air Premia’s Presence in the US

Currently, Air Premia serves three destinations in the US: Los Angeles, Newark, and Honolulu.

Los Angeles, launched in October 2022, was the airline’s first destination in the US. Air Premia currently operates the flights six times a week but is planning to increase the frequency to daily starting from May 16, 2024. The airline competes with Korean Air and Asiana Airlines on the route, both of which operate double daily flights.

The Newark route was launched in May 2023 and is served four times a week. Air Premia is the only airline serving the route.

Lastly, Air Premia started flying to Honolulu at the end of December 2023. The route is expected to operate until March 4, 2024. Whether it will be operated next winter again remains to be seen. Air Premia serves the route alongside Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, and Hawaiian Airlines.

Given that the Honolulu flights are not scheduled to operate beyond early March at this point, the Seoul Incheon – San Francisco launch will bring the number of Air Premia’s destinations in the US back to three after it briefly drops to two.

Summary

In May 2024, Air Premia will improve connectivity between Seoul and San Francisco by launching four weekly flights on the route already served by Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, and United Airlines.

Once the route is launched, it will become Air Premia’s third destination in the United States. While the airline already serves three destinations in the country – Los Angeles, Newark, and Honolulu – it currently has no plans to operate the last of those beyond early March 2024.

Air Premia will use the 787-9 on the new route, offering passengers the choice between premium economy and economy class.

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ANA’s Upcoming Routes to Milan, Istanbul, and Stockholm

While the exact date the three new routes will be launched is not yet known, The Nikkei reported that all three routes including Tokyo Haneda – Milan Malpensa, Tokyo Haneda – Istanbul, and Tokyo Haneda – Stockholm Arlanda will launch in the second half of 2024.

All three of these routes were originally meant to launch in the summer of 2020 but the pandemic postponed those plans. The schedules that were announced at the time are below.

The Milan route was planned to be operated as follows:

• NH207 / Tokyo Haneda – Milan Malpensa / 12:55AM – 6:20AM
• NH208 / Milan Malpensa – Tokyo Haneda / 12:10PM – 7:00AM+1

The Istanbul route was planned to be operated as follows:

• NH219 / Tokyo Haneda – Istanbul / 8:35AM – 2:15PM
• NH220 / Istanbul – Tokyo Haneda / 4:50PM – 10:25AM+1

Lastly, the Stockholm route was planned to be operated as follows:

• NH221 / Tokyo Haneda – Stockholm / 9:40AM – 1:00PM
• NH222 / Stockholm – Tokyo Haneda / 2:20PM – 7:10AM

The original plan had ANA using the 787-9 on the Milan route and the 787-8 on the Istanbul and Stockholm routes. It remains to be seen what aircraft the airline will deploy when it launches the flights.

ANA will be the only airline to offer non-stop flights from Tokyo to Stockholm and Milan. The latter will fit nicely into its recently announced partnership with ITA Airways. The Tokyo Haneda – Istanbul route is already served daily by ANA’s Star Alliance partner Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines also flies daily between Istanbul and Tokyo Narita.

ANA to Resume Vienna and Increase Frequencies to Munich and Paris

In addition to launching the new routes, The Nikkei says ANA will also resume flights between Tokyo Haneda and Vienna in August 2024.

The service launched on February 17, 2019, and was operated daily with the following schedule:

• NH205 / Tokyo Haneda – Vienna / 01:55AM – 06:00AM
• NH206 / Vienna – Tokyo Haneda / 11:50AM – 6:55AM+1

It was suspended when the pandemic brought Japanese (and global) aviation to a halt. ANA used the 787-9 on the route. What form the route will take – i.e. the exact schedule and the type that ANA will use – once the service is resumed remains to be seen.

Right now, there is no non-stop service between Tokyo and Vienna. That said, during the summer schedule, Austrian Airlines operates three weekly flights to Narita.

Once the three new routes are launched and Vienna is resumed, ANA will serve nine destinations in Europe. Currently, it operates flights from Tokyo Haneda to London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, and Munich, as well as from Tokyo Narita to Brussels.

According to The Nikkei report, ANA also plans to increase frequencies on two of the existing routes in July. Both the Munich and Paris routes are expected to go daily from the current four and three flights a week respectively.

Summary

Based on the new The Nikkei report, things will be exciting for ANA in the second half of 2024. It will grow its European network from the current five destinations to nine including three brand new destinations (Milan, Istanbul, and Stockholm) and one resumption (Vienna).

It will also add frequencies on its flights to Munich and Paris.

The post ANA to Expand European Network Massively in 2024H2: 3 New Routes, Vienna Resumption & More appeared first on KN Aviation.

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Starlux Airlines’ New Taipei – Chiang Mai Route

Starlux’s inaugural flight took off from Taipei Taoyuan Airport’s runway 05R at 1:01PM and landed on Chiang Mai Airport’s runway 36 nearly four hours later, at 3:54PM local time. The flight was operated by an Airbus A321neo registered B-58207.

Going forward, Starlux plans to operate the route three times a week (with some extra flights scheduled in January, February, and March) with the following schedule:

• JX751 / Taipei Taoyuan – Chiang Mai / 1:20PM – 4:15PM / Tue, Thu, Sat
• JX752 / Chiang Mai – Taipei Taoyuan / 5:15PM – 10:15PM / Tue, Thu, Sat

The flights connect relatively well to the airline’s US-bound flights with passengers traveling from Chiang Mai to both Los Angeles and San Francisco having about 90 minutes to transfer. In the other direction, however, the connecting time is, at about seven or eight hours, not ideal.

Starlux will continue to use the A321neo on the Taipei – Chiang Mai route. The aircraft is equipped with 8 lie-flat business class seats in a 2-2 layout and 180 economy class seats in a 3-3 layout for a total capacity of 188 passengers.

Starlux is the fourth airline to offer non-stop flights between the two cities. Both of the other two major Taiwanese full-service airlines – Star Alliance member EVA Air (daily) and SkyTeam member China Airlines (mostly 5x week) – fly to Chiang Mai. Thai AirAsia flies on the route daily too.

Starlux Airlines Also Serves Bangkok

As mentioned earlier, Chiang Mai is Starlux Airlines’ second destination in Thailand as the airline also serves the country’s capital, Bangkok. With the Bangkok route having much higher demand (albeit also supply), Starlux operates two daily flights.

On one of those, the airline uses the narrowbody A321neo – the same type as it uses on the Chiang Mai route – while on the other flight, it uses the widebody A330-900neo. The Starlux A330 is equipped with 28 staggered business class seats in a 1-2-1 layout and 269 economy class seats in a 2-4-2 layout for a total of 297 seats.

There are multiple daily EVA Air, China Airlines, Thai Airways, and Thai Vietjet Air flights on the route too.

In an effort to boost tourism between Thailand and Taiwan, Thailand temporarily offers visa-free access to Taiwanese tourists. The scheme is scheduled to run until May 10, 2024, at this point. It remains to be seen whether it will be extended or not.

Summary

Starlux Airlines continues to expand its network. In addition to launching flights to San Francisco, opening an office in Taichung ahead of launching operations from the city, and planning to launch flights to Hakodate in February 2024, the airline recently added flights between Taipei and Chiang Mai.

The Taipei – Chiang Mai is operated using A321neos and is scheduled to run mostly three times a week (with some extra flights over the next couple of months). Chiang Mai is Starlux’s second destination in Thailand after Bangkok.

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