CBR-DOH flights foreshadowed

[Strategic Aviation]

Some peripheral comments from Qatar Airways adds 12 cities; perhaps time for Emirates to combine with flydubai - CAPA

There is a different rhythm in Doha with Qatar Airways. As Emirates trims US flights by 19% and Etihad cuts global destinations and capacity, on 24-Apr-2017 Qatar Airways announced its intent to add 12 new destinations in 2018. This is on top of eight destinations for 2017 that it announced in late 2016. These cities still need to be realised, but are characterised by thinner markets with a leisure focus.

In late-2016 Qatar Airways announced eight new destinations for 2017. Of the eight, two – Dublin and Yanbu (Saudi Arabia) – have schedules. The other six destinations have not launched or do not yet have schedules. These markets include Las Vegas, Canberra, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago (Chile), Tabuk (Saudi Arabia) and Medan (Indonesia). Qatar has given press reports indicating Canberra is still expected, while Las Vegas will be delayed due to unspecified technical reasons – the airport was surprised to hear that Qatar had selected it; Las Vegas' heat and altitude pose problems for the return journey.

Despite being overall smaller than Emirates, from 2011 to 2014 Qatar dovetailed with Emirates as the airline with the largest number of destinations. Qatar took a wide lead in 2015, and since then has been growing destinations faster than Emirates.

A wider destination footprint is theoretically important since Gulf airlines largely overlap on destinations and major O&D traffic flows. There are some factors that allow one airline to have stronger market reception, even if it has a similar overlap with a competitor: Emirates has strong reception in Australia (a major market) because of its partnership with Qantas, while globally Qatar Airways benefits from its membership in the oneworld alliance and British Airways links.

In practice, a wider destination footprint is not productive if the destination is loss making, even after taking into account total network contribution. Qatar's large growth in station openings adds direct cost, as well as ongoing costs, assuming the destinations need at least two years of service if they are to be profitable.

Qatar's 158 destinations in 2017 exclude six that in 2016 it said that it would launch but has not yet put schedules in for. If all six destinations from 2016, as well as all 12 announced in Apr-2017, are launched, Qatar's destination count would grow to 176 airports. Although it appears unlikely all of the destinations will be added, as time progresses other markets will be added instead.

 

[Franky]

Re: Qatar to Canberra

The sceptic in me says this has all the makings of a greek trajedy....

And a tragedy as well...

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Singapore Airlines trimming several flights from capital express service | Stuff.co.nz

Singapore Airlines is cancelling several flights from its capital connect services later this year, in response to low demand during the off season.

the airline is dropping three return flights over three months. The flights were due to land and take off from Wellington on August 14, September 5 and October 24.

The cancelled flights appear to be equivalent to just over a 5 per cent cut in capacity over the August-October period.

A slight change in frequency did not mean a service was in jeopardy, Thomas said, however because of the organisation involved and the potential disruption to customers, changes suggested demand was low.

Singapore Airlines cuts three Canberra flights during August-October low season

In January, Canberra Airport's head of aviation Matthew Brown said federal government figures showed load rates (the number of passengers per flight) averaged 83 per cent capacity for the Canberra-Singapore flight.

"Based on these figures, the viability of the route shows that it is well established and becoming more popular," Mr Brown said.

"We are in constant dialogue with Singapore Airlines and are pushing for the addition of the fifth service in the near future, but understand that this will be a commercial decision by the airline."

 

[earlyriser]

Singapore Airlines trimming several flights from capital express service | Stuff.co.nz

Singapore Airlines cuts three Canberra flights during August-October low season

Hopefully, this doesn't affect my award booking in January!