MEL International bonanza!

[soorox]

2017 is shaping up to be one of MEL's strongest with alot of new international destinations and airlines operating to MEL, so far there has been 10 new international route launches/announcements!

Here's a highlight, if you have missed the good news! 2017 has not ended yet, so there might be alot more to come!

​

 

[levelnine]

I agree. Excellent year for MEL travelers from a range of airlines. A notable exception being QF, which downgraded capacity from MEL to Europe. But it's wonderful to see so many other airlines stepping up to the plate. Eg as mentioned in another thread, the new JAL flights to NRT will make a great alternative way of getting to Europe (though not so great on the way home due to timings).

 

[serfty]

Also there's VA HKG service ... which is more to do with China connections.

 

[Melburnian1]

MEL is however still poorly served to some destinations.

No nonstops to or from ICN on KE or OZ, despite South Korea being a large trading partner.

Only three a week to MNL on PR compared with 16 a week from SYD on a choice of PR, 5J or QF.

No nonstops to DFW, unlike QF's SYD offering.

No nonstops to KIX although MEL is not alone in that.

Fewer nonstop flights to DEL if I recall than SYD with AI despite Melbourne having a larger Indian population than Sydney.

And that's without mentioning SCL, to which LA and QF both fly ex SYD although LA is not nonstop,but via AKL.

Nothing to the admittedly rather minor destination of POM.

QF flies SYD - JNB nonstop but declines to do so from MEL, although at present even if it wanted to it would lack sufficient long range aircraft unless something else was cut. MEL lacks a single nonstop to anywhere in Africa, although SYD and PER's offerings are pretty sparse.

There will be many I have missed, including some large but so-called secondary cities in mainland China that are served by various mainland Chinese carriers ex SYD.

And the biggie for many on AFF, the reduction by half of seating capacity to LHR (admittedly not a non stop either now or in the immediate future) when QF9?QF10 via DXB cease and are (sort of) replaced by the much lower capacity B789 via PER.

 

[dajop]

No nonstops to DFW, unlike QF's SYD offering.

The other big one is SFO. Whilst LAX has 4 services some days of the week.

 

[yohy?!]

11 x a week to the Pearl River Delta! (SZX + HKG)

 

[soorox]

^ From no airlines to 2! I find it amazing that SZX saw this much competition from the start.

There's still alot of room for improvement, however what we are seeing now is that airlines are starting to notice MEL as a destination more, the recent announcements is a great start. MEL needs to prove itself, it needs to sustain these new services, it will get more and more recognition as a destination by airlines. I think we need to stop the mind set of having QF serve every demanded route, their main hub is in SYD, even though they have presence in MEL, their main focus is in SYD, they wont replicate whats in SYD as they don't need to, that is what a hub is for - its frustrating, but that is the reality!

I don't think we need to compare what SYD has to MEL, both destinations have their own strengths, I don't see SYD gaining a service to CMB or have daily flights to BWN. There are holes in the network, ICN being a big one, though KE left and apparently has no intention of returning according to a recent Ausbt article so something is up. AI should have increased both SYD and MEL to x5 weekly by now and hopefully we might be hearing something from 5J soon. I don't think POM is a priority destination, do we really need a connection to Papua New Guinea? I feel like theres other destinations in the Pacific that could be considered like Apia before POM.

The only way is up! MEL hasn't seen this much international growth in a long time, so let's hope this is a start of something big!

 

[desafinado74]

I would be very happy if both ANA and Asiana have services to and from Melbourne in the near future.

 

[jb747]

Has the number of people flying out of Melbourne actually grown that much, or will they all be flying lots of empty seats?

 

[TomVexille]

And that's without mentioning SCL, to which LA and QF both fly ex SYD although LA is not nonstop,but via AKL.

Although LA are launching a nonstop SCL-MEL later this year as soorox​ rightly pointed out

 

[Melburnian1]

Has the number of people flying out of Melbourne actually grown that much, or will they all be flying lots of empty seats?

Yes, there has been good growth in passenger numbers.

It's moderating with lower consumer confidence for Australians, but growth has tended to be eight or nine per cent per annum in many months which is impressive. mainland Chinese visitors have led the charge btut southeast Asians are also increasingly visiting MEL, and Victora's strong tertiary education sector assists.

That said, jb747, travel agents still suggest that for overseas visitors, Sydney is a much easier sell as the Opera House and Habour stand out more than the Great Ocean Road and Penguin Parade.

MEL however attracts fewer high yielding passengers than SYD flights, so in terms of the all important yield per seat your query is very legitimate.

 

[badseed]

There have also been a number of other changes, such as capacity increases on CX from 3 x A333s (251pax ea) to 1 x A333, 1 x A359 (280pax) and 1 x 77W (340pax). So that's an increase of 118 seats each day. An when they change out the last A333 next year it'll be up by another 29 seats. I'm also doing my part - already booked on JL to NRT and AC to YVR Will possibly get a HKG swing on VA too.

The problem with all of the extra traffic is that the morning peak is getting ridiculous in terms of gates. A complete rethink on the international terminal is required. Time for major investment. It'll also be interesting to see if the draft Major Development Plan is filed for the new runway (27L/09R) next year as I thought they wanted it operational by 2022. Given they'll also have to close 34/16 periodically for works at the intersection point, I wonder if they'll extend the existing RW 27/09 first?

There must be constraints on additional runway traffic utilising the current setup. On mornings when they go down to single runway operations there are often banks of holding aircraft backed up to southern NSW.

 

[Melburnian1]

...The problem with all of the extra traffic is that the morning peak is getting ridiculous in terms of gates. A complete rethink on the international terminal is required. Time for major investment. It'll also be interesting to see if the draft Major Development Plan is filed for the new runway (27L/09R) next year as I thought they wanted it operational by 2022. Given they'll also have to close 34/16 periodically for works at the intersection point, I wonder if they'll extend the existing RW 27/09 first?

There must be constraints on additional runway traffic utilising the current setup. On mornings when they go down to single runway operations there are often banks of holding aircraft backed up to southern NSW.

One of our aviators implied more than a year ago that the new (third) runway was poorly sited for the prevailing winds.

I also asked in another thread about 'bussing' to and from international flights in Oz. It occurs, but the response from AFFers was less in terms of frequency (for our most avid flyers who make in some cases more than five international trips ex Oz annually) than I'd thought. It's only happened to me once in MEL, and that was on a winter morning when there had been at least some fog and hence from memory delayed departures.

 

[badseed]

Xiamen Airlines has applied to CAAC for authority to operate Xiamen - Hangzhou - Melbourne 3 times a week from December: https://twitter.com/Airlineroute/status/870124509784821760

This is in addition to their current twice weekly Xiamen - Melbourne direct flights.

 

[JessicaTam]

Although LA are launching a nonstop SCL-MEL later this year as soorox​ rightly pointed out

There goes my hope of a MEL-AKL tag flight with LA.

One of our aviators implied more than a year ago that the new (third) runway was poorly sited for the prevailing winds.

I also asked in another thread about 'bussing' to and from international flights in Oz. It occurs, but the response from AFFers was less in terms of frequency (for our most avid flyers who make in some cases more than five international trips ex Oz annually) than I'd thought. It's only happened to me once in MEL, and that was on a winter morning when there had been at least some fog and hence from memory delayed departures.

QR(?) were bussing arriving pax this morning. I have to admit it was an unusual sight.

 

[Melburnian1]

...QR(?) were bussing arriving pax this morning. I have to admit it was an unusual sight.

badseed's implication that this will increase in future must be on the money.

For numerous reasons, most importantly passenger preferences in terms of departure and arrival times, the international airlines do not like to evenly spread scheduled flights out throughout the day. Melbourne for international has two main peak periods: morning 0500 - 0900 or a bit later, and roughly 2200 to 0100. Interestingly a small number of years ago there was always a gap of two and a half or three hours in the mid to late arvo when no international departures were timetabled. That has started to disappear, and we now have an EY arrival at around 0415 and an EK 0500 or so departure (at this time of year), although the latter replaces that previous horribly timed EK (KUL?) bound departure.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

an EK 0500 or so departure (at this time of year), although the latter replaces that previous horribly timed EK (KUL?) bound departure.

EK409 (MEL-KUL-DXB) departing 0335, which was enhanced to become MEL-DXB (departing 0600) from 30 Oct 2016 onwards.

 

[badseed]

badseed's implication that this will increase in future must be on the money.

It is indeed happening more and more frequently. Last time I was out at YMML for non-travel purposes a couple of months ago QF29 was boarding via stairs out at one of the spots on the Southern Freight Apron (Gates H1/2/3). I've also seen Garuda arrive into those gates too.

 

[soorox]

2 more new China Connections for MEL:

Xiamen Air to launch x2 weekly Melbourne - Hangzhou - Xiamen from 14DEC

MF814 MEL 11:35 - 19:05 HGH 788 47
MF813 HGH 20:15 - 09:45+1 MEL 788 36

Jetstar to launch x2 weekly Melbourne - Zhengzhou services from 09DEC

JQ67 MEL 14:00 - 21:30 CGO 788 36
JQ68 CGO 23:00 - 12:30+1 MEL 788 36

 

[Melburnian1]

2 more new China Connections for MEL:...

soorox, I've not calculated the numbers, but if MEL and SYD were compared, wouldn't SYD still be way ahead of MEL in nonstiop flights each week to and from mainland China?

Also let's not forget the great democracy in the Republic of China (Taiwan.) 'China' in the case to which you're referring needs a 'mainland' inserted before it, noting that it is an at times brutal Marxist dictatorship where freedom of religion and movement is either not permitted or not guaranteed.