Cathay Pacific boosts capacity to Chicago and Los Angeles
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific is taking advantage of the premium traffic rebound in North America by adding more flights to the region. After announcing a new route to Newark earlier this summer, CX will be adding a 4th daily flight to LAX on June 1, 2014 (big day for LAX!) and deploying an extra 3 weekly flights in addition to its daily services to Chicago O’Hare starting August 2, 2014.
Cathay launched services to ORD in 2011 and presently serves the market with a daily 77W aircraft. The extra 3 weekly frequencies will be timed to allow a late evening departure from Hong Kong and arrival into Chicago, and a 1 AM departure from Chicago and early morning arrival into Hong Kong on the inbound, facilitating connections on either end.
CX806 HKG1155 – 1350ORD 77W D
CX800 HKG1825 – 2020ORD 77W 246
CX801 ORD0115 – 0550+1HKG 77W 357
CX807 ORD1530 – 2020+1HKG 77W D
Rumors continue to circulate surrounding the impending announcement of a new Cathay Pacific route to Dallas/Ft. Worth, which would likely work well given that both DFW and HKG are large OneWorld alliance hubs. CAPA reported last month in an article that Cathay Pacific’s CEO-elect Ivan Chu had stated that CX is evaluating launching a DFW-HKG flight. This is very reminiscent of the circa-2010 buzz that Qantas was making arrangements to send the Red Kangaroo to Dallas/Ft. Worth, which indeed became reality in May 2011 and has been a major success story for Qantas.
Star Alliance partners Air Canada and Lufthansa strengthen transatlantic services
Air Canada has announced a major European expansion this summer from its Calgary, Toronto and Montreal hubs on its primary service line, along with its leisure subsidiary, Air Canada rouge, and Star Alliance Joint Venture partner Lufthansa.
From Toronto, Air Canada will be adding year-round service to Milan, Italy on a 5-weekly frequency basis. This was a former route operated by Canadian Airlines, which AC bought in 2001, and has not been flown since 2002. YYZ-MXP is slated to commence on June 18, 2014 utilizing a Boeing 767-300ER.
AC842 YYZ2020 – 1040+1MXP 763 x24
AC843 MXP1210 – 1530YYZ 763 x35
Air Canada will also be expanding its thrice-weekly Toronto to Istanbul service to daily, starting June 2014. Toronto – Istanbul, as well as Toronto – Seoul Incheon, were two major international trunk routes that Air Canda added back in June 2013. While the Seoul flight has been culled from a 3-weekly year-round service to a summer-only seasonal service (slated to terminate on 27OCT13), the Istanbul service seems to be a major success story despite competition alongside Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines.
THY presently operates a high-density configured 777-300ER aircraft to Toronto on a 5-weekly basis, and leverages a powerful connecting hub out of Istanbul capable of connecting traffic across the Middle East and Africa. United Airlines interestingly failed to compete effectively against Turkish in the NYC-Istanbul market, although arguably, Turkish was able to out-leverage United with 3x daily flights to JFK versus United’s single flight into Newark.
Air Canada will also add new service on its Rouge leisure subsidiary between Montreal and Barcelona, Montreal and Nice, Toronto and Lisbon, and Toronto and Manchester, UK.
eff 04JUN14 Montreal – Barcelona 2 weekly (until 11OCT14)
AC1912 YUL1850 – 0805+1BCN 763 35
AC1913 BCN1200 – 1415YUL 763 46
eff 05JUN14 Montreal – Nice 3 weekly (until 13OCT14)
AC1910 YUL2100 – 1035+1NCE 763 247
AC1911 NCE1205 – 1425YUL 763 135
eff 21JUN14 Toronto – Lisbon 3 weekly (until 21SEP14)
AC1916 YYZ2235 – 1055+1LIS 763 136
AC1917 LIS1225 – 1535YYZ 763 247
eff 26JUN14 Toronto – Manchester 5 weekly (until 13SEP14)
AC1930 YYZ2205 – 0955+1MAN 763 x36
AC1931 MAN1125 – 1410YYZ 763 x47
All of these routes have previously been flown by Air Canada or Candian Airlines in the past. The conversion to AC Rouge proves that AC has managed to find a ‘sweet spot’ allowing them to serve these markets on its own metal rather than cede them to competing carriers or charter airlines such as Air Transat.
Finally, Lufthansa will open up a new route from Montreal to Frankfurt, operating on a seasonal basis, to bolster Star Alliance capacity on the route. Air Canada presently serves Frankfurt from Montreal on a daily 777-300ER, and Lufthansa serves Montreal from its Munich hub, although hasn’t offered service to Frankfurt since 1995.
Frankfurt – Montreal 18MAY14 – 12OCT14 Service resumption with 5 weekly seasonal flights
LH478 FRA1330 – 1535YUL 333 27
LH478 FRA1330 – 1535YUL 343 345
LH479 YUL1710 – 0625+1FRA 333 27
LH479 YUL1710 – 0625+1FRA 343 345
It’s becoming more and more popular for joint-venture carriers to add seasonal seating upgauges on transatlantic routes between two hub airports during the high summer season, selling tickets to passengers on each others’ metal and splitting the revenue share equally. Air France – KLM added a daily summer seasonal service from Minneapolis to Paris this summer, along side its JBA partner Delta Air Lines, a move that Lufthansa and Air Canada are likely similarly testing out of Quebec.
Air Canada will also suspend its thrice weekly flight from Edmonton to London Heathrow for three months this winter. Currently, AC flies between YEG and LHR utilizing a Boeing 767-300ER:
Edmonton – London Heathrow seasonal suspension eff 08JAN14 to 30MAR14
AC898 YEG1750 – 0935+1LHR 763 357
AC899 LHR1105 – 1315YEG 763 357
Service will recommence on 29MAR14 on a 5-weekly basis and eventually move up to a daily summer seasonal flight eff 01MAY14.
