Asia Pacific Airline News

March 24, 2009

(U.S. ASIAN WIRE via Pyramid Media Group) Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Air Canada began rerouting flights that normally pass through North Korean airspace after Pyongyang said it was "compelled to declare that security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean civil airplanes flying through the territorial air of our side." Korean and Asiana began rerouting an estimated 15 daily flights that approach South Korea from the east to new flight paths that take aircraft over Japan, adding an estimated 40 min. and $2,500 in operational costs to each flight. South Korea's Unification Ministry estimated that 33 flights pass through North Korean airspace daily, 18 of which are operated by non-Korean airlines. Mar 9, 2009

Air New Zealand, Boeing

Air New Zealand was expected to operate a "tailored arrival" into Los Angeles yesterday as part of a trial to prove the procedure's viability into one of the world's busiest airports. NZ Flight 2, a 777-200ER, was due to complete the tailored arrival at 3 p.m. local time. It is approximately 30 mi. shorter than the conventional arrival and features a customized, efficient descent from cruise to runway, eliminating a stepped approach and saving time and fuel. ANZ operates 747s and 777s on 14 flights per week into Los Angeles from New Zealand, so the potential fuel savings are substantial, ANZ Chief Pilot David Morgan said yesterday, estimating annual savings of at least 600,000 liters of fuel and 1,500 tons of CO2. Last summer ANZ used a tailored arrival into SFO as part of the Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions program. On that flight alone it saved 4,600 liters of fuel and 12 tons of CO2. Mar 10, 2009

Bangkok Airways, Malaysia Airlines

Bangkok Airways and Malaysia Airlines has either suspended or planned to suspend their daily Macau-bound flight services, the Macau Daily Post reported on Monday, quoting official information from the two airlines. The daily quoted an official of the Thai flag-carrier's office in Macau as saying that the daily services between Macau and the capital of Thailand will stop operating starting from March 28 this year. The Malaysia Airlines opened its direct route to Macau in November 1995, but suspended it in March 1998 due to low demand and unpredictability during the then Asian financial crisis. The airline resumed its Macau-bound service in November 2007. Mar 10, 2009

China Eastern Airlines

China Eastern Airlines is considering joining a global airline alliance in an effort to improve its financial performance, according to Chairman Liu Shaoyong, who told reporters in Beijing that the Shanghai-based carrier is scheduled to evaluate the three global alliances in June in order to find the most "suitable" fit. Mar 10, 2009

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines confirmed Thursday that it will use Boeing 747-400 aircraft for some flights between Hartsfield-Jackson ATL and Tokyo. The second daily non-stop flight from Atlanta to Tokyo starts May 4. The flights will be Delta's first to originate from Atlanta using the jumbo jets. Delta obtained 16 Boeing 747-400s in last October's acquisition of Northwest Airlines and the last time it operated one was in the 1970s. Mar 13, 2009

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines dropped a route between Mumbai and New York. Mar 11,2009


North Korea

North Korea has allowed commercial flights to pass through its airspace since 1998, after more than 40 years of prohibiting civil flights. According to JoonAng Daily, South Korean carriers submit flight plans to North Korea for each flight that will pass through its airspace and the nation collects an average of $870 for each. The Unification Ministry said 5,260 flights per year use the route, adding that South Korean carriers annually pay nearly $4 million to Pyongyang for airspace access. North Korea's threat was condemned widely. South Korea's government said in a statement. "It can never be justified under any circumstance. Tensions are high on the peninsula, with North Korea stating that it plans to conduct missile tests and South Korea and the US planning to conduct annual military exercises this week that Pyongyang condemns. The US and South Korea said they plan to carry forward with the exercises that North Korea cited as the reason for its threat against airlines. Mar 9, 2009

Qantas Airways, Airbus

ATSB said exhaustive tests of the Qantas Airways Airbus A330's malfunctioning air data inertial reference units proved inconclusive.
However, an ATSB spokesperson said further electromagnetic interference testing simulating transmissions from passenger laptops and other electronic devices is about to start. While testing has been completed using the same frequency (19.8 kHz) as the Harold E.Holt Naval Communication Station near Learmonth with no faults, interference from the base has not been ruled out. ATSB found that the A330's primary ADIRU sent erroneous data (spikes) on many parameters to systems in the aircraft, including the primary flight computers, that resulted in the autopilot disconnecting and two violent pitch-down events. Disassembly of the units will not be done until EMI testing is complete in order to prevent disturbance to the hardware. After disassembly, individual modules will be tested separately. Mar 9, 2009

Qantas Airways, Airbus

Reports fail to identify causes in separate Qantas Airways incidents. Investigators in Australia remained baffled by two major incidents involving Qantas. On Friday, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau issued interim factual reports into both the violent upset of QF Flight 72, an A330 operating last fall from Singapore to Perth on which some 70 passengers were injured, and the August explosion of an oxygen bottle that crippled QF Flight 30, a 747-400 flying between Hong Kong and Melbourne. Mar 9, 2009

Qantas Airways, Boeing

ATSB said regarding Qantas Airways flight QF30, Boeing 747-400 flying between Hong Kong and Melbourne, investigators said that because the oxygen bottle, which blew a 2-m. hole in the fuselage, has not been found, the exact reason for the explosion probably never will be determined. Examination of cylinders from the same production batch did not identify any verifiable deficiencies. Mar 9, 2009

Shenzhen Airlines

Shenzhen Airlines subsidiary Kunpeng Airlines is expected to replace Shandong Airlines as the operator of the first ARJ21-700, which is scheduled to obtain its domestic airworthiness certificate next year.
A Shenzhen spokesperson said that the first -700 will be delivered to Kunpeng in the second half of 2010. It ordered 100 ARJ21s at the end of 2007. Mar 12, 2009

Thai Airways

Thai Airways will move its remaining 23 domestic flights to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi from Don Muang by March 29. Mar 9, 2009

United Airlines

United Airlines eliminated its Los Angeles LAX to Hong Kong HKG and Frankfurt FRA flights, and United pared Tokyo-Chicago flying by a third. Mar 11, 2009

United Airlines

United Airlines is cutting international flying 15% in the first quarter alone. Delta Air Lines and United are by far the largest U.S. carriers to Asia. And while airlines can shrink domestic flying by shifting to smaller jets on certain routes, that's harder to do with international flights, where they only have so many planes capable of long-haul trips. Mar 11, 2009


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