Bali beckons, so does Bangkok and more

Auckland-Bali flights to double
Air New Zealand will nearly double capacity on its seasonal Auckland-Denpasar service in 2018 while also extending the period by almost two months. The next season will start on April 7 with two flights a week. This will build up to three a week from May 14, a fourth from June 29 and five during July.  The service will use Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The seasonal service ends in mid-October.

Thai steps up Auckland link
Thai Airways will launch daily flights between Bangkok and Auckland later this year, Trade Minister Todd McClay has revealed after signing a new trade agreement with Thailand. “This new service will be a welcome addition for travellers, international students and business people. More than 100,000 Kiwis travelled to Thailand last year and tens of thousands of Thai tourists visited New Zealand,” Mr McClay says. No details were given on when the extra flights will start.

Qatar unveils Canberra date
Qatar Airways is stepping up its presence in the Australasian market with a new Doha-Canberra service from February 12 next year. Last September, Singapore Airlines became the first international carrier to fly into the Australian capital with its Capital Express service that also has an onward leg to Wellington. The Qatar service will go via Sydney in both directions, effectively doubling the daily Doha-Sydney flights. The new service awaits final regulatory approvals.

US bans North Korea travel
The US will ban American citizens from travelling to North Korea starting next month. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson authorised the decision “due to mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement.” This follows the death of Otto Warmbier just days after being released from custody. He was arrested while on a trip at New Year organised by Young Pioneer Tours, which has already suspended bookings by Americans. The other major operator of foreign visitors is China-based and UK-run Koryo Tours, which was established in 1993.  It accounts for about 40% of the overall volume of 5000 Western tourists annually to North Korea. About 20% of these are US citizens. The US ban will take effect in late August, 30 days after the public notice issued on July 27.

Dubai scores 43 million passengers in first half
Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport surpassed 43 million in the first half of 2017, up 6.3% on the corresponding period in 2016. The UK was the destination for three million, just behind Saudi Arabia. India was by far the largest destination at six million. The region with the biggest growth was South America at 36.4%, followed by Eastern Europe (28.7%). By comparison, Auckland Airport’s June figures show a 10.9% annual increase to 19 million in the 12 months.

Route news of the week
China Airlines will increase Taipei Taoyuan-Rome service during October with the addition of third weekly flight from October 5 to October 26 using an A350-900XWB. (This week, the Taiwanese carrier took delivery of Airbus’ 100^th A350, above.) AirAsia will launch a new four times weekly service to the Philippines, Kuala Lumpur-Davao, from December 21. Singapore Airlines has moved forward its planned Airbus A350 service entry on Singapore-Rome to September 1. The replacement of the Boeing 777-200ER service was previously scheduled from October 29 and will operate four flights a week. Qatar Airways has accelerated its planned service increase for Doha-Belgrade to August 1. It was previously set for October 1 and will operate daily, up from four times a week. Hainan Airlines will be the first Chinese airline to resume a service to Belgrade. The last time a Chinese airline flew there was in October 1992. Air China ran that Beijing-Karachi-Bucharest-Belgrade service. Two of Hainan’s three weekly Beijing-Prague flights will extend to Belgrade using an A330-300 aircraft.

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