Carry on: Kangaroo fares, Qatar laptop threat, new A380 services and more

Kangaroo route takes biggest hop
Qantas has launched year-round return fares for its new Melbourne-Perth-London direct service, which is the first time the Kangaroo route links Australia with Europe in one hop.

Economy fares start at $A2270 but are expected to drop below $A2000 during sale periods. Premium economy return fares start from $A4450 between Melbourne and London and from $A4250 between Perth and London. Business return starts from $A9890 return between Melbourne and London and from $A9725 between Perth and London.

Qantas will drop its A380 Melbourne-Dubai-London service for the new daily Boeing 787-9 Melbourne-Perth-London service, which launches on March 24. The Dreamliners will specially equipped and have fewer overall seats for the long, 17-hour flight, which will be the third longest passenger trip in the world. It will also be the longest for a Dreamliner. Meanwhile, Qantas alliance partner Emirates will upgrade its Melbourne-Dubai service to an A380 to complement the A380 service from Auckland to Dubai via Melbourne.

Qatar threatens to cut Auckland flights
Qatar Airways says it will consider cutting flights to New Zealand if the government implements plans to ban laptops on flights originating from the Middle East. 

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is assessing whether it will follow the US and the UK in stopping large electronic devices being taken on board. Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar al-Baker says a decision would need to be made on the viability of continuing flights from Doha to Auckland that only started on February 6 this year.

"It's performing well but you know if we are imposed with bans which would affect our traffic then we will have to reconsider," Mr al-Baker is reported as saying. "It is a very expensive route for us to operate."

 The CAA has not confirmed if or when a decision would be made.

Qatar adds Cardiff, San Francisco
Qatar has announced 12 new destinations from its Doha hub. They include San Francisco in the US despite the laptop ban there, as well as Cardiff in Wales. Others are Utapao (Thailand), Chittagong (Bangladesh), Mykonos (Greece), Málaga (Spain), Accra (Ghana), Lisbon (Portugal), Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Prague (Czech Republic), Kiev (Ukraine) and Mombasa (Kenya).  Qatar is also introducing a fifth daily non-stop service from Doha to Bangkok from June 1 using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

China Southern orders 20 A350s
China Southern Airlines could be the next carrier to put an Airbus A350-900 on to its Auckland service. It has signed a deal worth nearly $US6 billion to buy 20 of these aircraft. They will be delivered between 2019 and 2022. Cathay Pacific is the only airline flying A350s into New Zealand.

North Korean airline sells petrol, cigarettes
Air Koryo, North Korea’s airline, has begun diversifying its revenue streams as the country faces more international sanctions. These have forced it to reduce operations to China and Japan. So it has ventured into the retail market, according to Reuters. It now has its own cola, cigarette, petrol station and taxi brands and uses their revenues to sustain its operations.

Emirates, Etihad add A380 services
Emirates is putting an A380 double-decker on to both of its daily services between Dubai and Madrid from September 1. It already operates two daily A380 services to Barcelona. Etihad Airways says all its 14 weekly flights on the Abu Dhabi-Sydney route will be operated by A380 aircraft from October 29. Etihad’s A380s feature The Residence – the world’s first three-room suite on a commercial airliner.

Route news of the week
Iran Air has introduced its new Airbus A330 aircraft to scheduled services to Europe, initially to France and Sweden. These are the once-weekly Tehran-Gothenburg service and the twice-weekly Tehran-Paris Orly and 
Tehran-Stockholm Arlanda services. Singapore Airlines will add A350-900 aircraft to its Singapore-Rome route from October 29, initially three times a week. AirAsia will expand its Kuala Lumpur-Hanoi operation to 11 times weekly from May 18. The airline is also boosting Kuala Lumpur-Da Nang flights to 10 weekly from June 6 and Kuala Lumpur-Colombo to twice daily from August 8. Cathay Dragon is cancelling its daily Hong Kong-Tokyo Haneda service after the return flight on October 29.