Qantas, Emirates renew alliance, rejig Kangaroo route hubs

Kangaroo route gets three hubs
Qantas and Emirates have agreed to extend their partnership for another five years and have made major changes to their networks. These will see the airlines making better use of each other’s networks, by providing three options for the "kangaroo route" from Australia to Europe – via Dubai, Perth and Singapore.

Qantas will re-route its daily Sydney-London A380 service via Singapore rather than Dubai and upgrade its existing daily Melbourne-Singapore flight from an A330 to an A380. Qantas’ existing Melbourne-Dubai-London service will be replaced with its Dreamliner service flying Melbourne-Perth-London. All changes apply from March 25.

Emirates says Dubai will remain well-served by the 77 weekly flights that the airline operates to and from five cities – Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney – including seven daily A380 flights. It also says it is reviewing its operations in light of the planned Qantas changes.

Since the partnership was established in 2013, the airlines have carried eight million passengers over more than 65 billion kilometres. The 2000 routes on the joint network offer some 100 codeshare destinations around the world. These include 60 Australian ones not serviced by Emirates and 40 cities in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa not served by Qantas.

More flights from China to Christchurch
China Southern Airlines will increase its direct service from Guangzhou to Christchurch over the coming summer season. It has previously announced an increase to five flights per week from October 10. The service will go daily from December 2 to February 26, 2018. This means almost 12,000 extra international seats into and out of Christchurch over the peak summer season.

Dreamliners fly more often to Samoa
Air New Zealand is upgrading its operations to Samoa with a move to fly between four and six weekly Auckland-Apia flights from April and October 2018 using  Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. It will operate between November 20 and next March. Dreamliner aircraft will operate three services a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Other services use Airbus A320 aircraft. The changes represent 20% more seats a year.

Israel makes pilgrim plea to Saudi Arabia 
Israel is trying to persuade Saudi Arabia to allow direct special Hajj pilgrimage flights from Tel Aviv to Mecca for its Muslim citizens. Saudi restrictions mean they have to endure a 1610km bus route across the Jordan River and through the Saudi desert. Just two months ago, President Trump broke a longstanding taboo by flying between the two nations.

Qatar’s Al Baker to chair Iata
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) board of governors has elected Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker as chairman. He will succeed Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong in June 2018 for a one-year term.

Air Asia establishes new holding company
AirAsia plans to consolidate its various regional affiliates under one holding company to rationalise its scattered structure. The Malaysia-based budget carrier proposes a share swap and transfer of its stock exchange listing with a newly created company called AirAsia Group. The airline has just reported record-high quarterly revenues and a plan to expand its fleet by over 20% in the second half of this year. AirAsia began as a two-plane operation in 2002 and is now Asia's biggest low-cost operator, with affiliates in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Japan and plans to set up ventures in China and Vietnam.

Route news of the week
Samoa Airways has revealed its operational schedule, ahead of its November 14 launch. A two-class Boeing 737-800 aircraft will serve Apia-Auckland six times weekly and Apia-Sydney twice weekly. Cathay Pacific has opened reservation for three new European destinations in the northern summer 2018 season. They are: Hong Kong-Brussels from March 27, four times weekly; Hong Kong-Copenhagen from May 2 to October 12, three times weekly; and Hong Kong-Dublin from June 2, four times weekly. All services will use Airbus A350 aircraft. Thai Airways International has made additional changes to its Bangkok-Auckland service in October and November. From October 29 to November 14, Thai will continue to operate five weekly Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, instead of seven weekly -200ERs. 

The planned once daily B787-9 service from November 16 remains unchanged.

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