Airline News - Asia / Pacific

Feb 4, 2008

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand will launch twice-weekly Auckland-Beijing on July 18 with a 777-200ER. Jan 31, 2008

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand gets award for service. An aviation publication has awarded Air New Zealand for having the world's best passenger service. Air Transport World magazine says the national carrier has been innovative and consistently superior in providing outstanding quality passenger service at a fair price. Spokesman Perry Flint says Air New Zealand's customer service staff are known for their warmth and cheeriness and they are empowered to go the extra mile for their passengers. Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe says the award is justified recognition for the hard work Air New Zealand staff have put in the over the last few years. Jan 29, 2008

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand slashed its standard domestic fares 9%-27% to stimulate travel and tourism. The changes, effective from Feb. 23, are for lead-in "smart saver" fares on 40 domestic routes. These will be introduced alongside reductions of 20%-30% in top-end fares on a number of regional routes popular with business customers and cuts of 15% in top-end fares on main trunk routes. The restructuring comes after a two-year, NZ$350 million ($268.6 million) buildup of the regional fleet that has seen average seat capacity increase 46%. Some popular destinations have seen bigger increases such as Nelson (69%), New Plymouth (60%) and Tauranga (67%). The fare initiative follows the successful daily grab-a-seat program, which since its launch 15 months ago has sold 155,000 domestic seats at prices ranging from NZ$1 to NZ$39. Separately, ANZ announced suspension of its thrice-weekly Nadi-Los Angeles service effective April 26. It will extend its codeshare agreement with Air Pacific to cover six weekly Fiji-LAX flights, up from the current four. Jan 28, 2008

EVA Air

EVA Launches Taipei-Osaka-Los Angeles Route. EVA Air is launching a Taipei-Osaka-Los Angeles route on March 30, giving passengers an alternative to its Taipei hub and nonstop service between Los Angeles and Osaka, Japan. EVA is presently the only airline with scheduled nonstop flights between Osaka and Los Angeles. The flights will utilize new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, and will be operated three days a week on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Flight BR167 will depart Los Angeles at 12:10 p.m. and arrive in Osaka 4:05 p.m. the next day, and then continue on to Taipei, arriving at 7:25 p.m. Flight BR168 will depart Taipei at 10:30 a.m. and arrive in Osaka at 2:00 p.m. and then continue on to Los Angeles, arriving at 9:45 a.m. Jan 29, 2008

Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines expands domestic first class. Japan Airlines will start taking reservations on February 1 for the first class cabin it is introducing on the Tokyo-Fukuoka route from 1 April. The new service will be available on two return daily flights morning and afternoon departures between Tokyo Haneda and Fukuoka, the largest city in Kyushu and an important business centre. It is the airline's second busiest domestic route after Tokyo-Osaka. It costs just Y8,000 (u38) to upgrade from economy to first class, which features seats 133cm (52 ) wide and reclined at 132 degrees on Boeing 777-200 aircraft configured in a 2-2-2 format. Jan 29, 2008

Japan Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Mexicana

Japan Airlines will link its loyalty program to those of China Eastern Airlines and Mexicana from Feb. 1. JAL has similar agreements with Air France, Emirates and its oneworld partners. Jan 28, 2008

Pacific Blue

Pacific Blue pushes punctuality to the max. The temptation for any airline executive getting a public roasting for flight delays is to keep the head down and hope the bad press will go away. It's not a tack Pacific Blue's Adrian Hamilton-Manns is taking. Instead he's getting in behind the push to have airline punctuality made a legal requirement. The airline says it has written to the Government calling for the establishment of a reporting standard for airlines to state how often they are on time and the frequency of delays. Around Christmas Pacific Blue came under fire from passengers who faced delays - in some cases stretching overnight - following a tough month in November when the on-time performance for Pacific Blue and its Australian parent Virgin Blue was at 78 per cent. It was the worst it had been in three years. Jan 28, 2008

Qantas Airways

Qantas Airways will increase Melbourne-Hong Kong service to 10-times-weekly from daily from April 1 aboard an Airbus A330-300. Twice-weekly Melbourne-Shanghai begins March 11. It will increase weekly Sydney-Canberra frequencies by 15 to 157 in March and Melbourne-Canberra by 11 in March and an additional four in June to 89. New frequencies will be operated by 737-400s. Feb 3, 2008

ZZ

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