New routes for Asia 2007 ?

Does anybody know of any new routes planned for Asia for 2007. I see Beijing has been added ( maybe it was there and I never noticed):D.

Originally posted by porsche911
Does anybody know of any new routes planned for Asia for 2007. I see Beijing has been added ( maybe it was there and I never noticed):D.

PEK is a code share route operated by Air China. At the minute I believe the only Asian addition will be the 2nd HKG which still isn't confirmed as of yet. I think V-Ben said that this will be re-considered once the seasonal CPT service ends.....

[Neil]

Rob - I thought the 2nd HKG has been cancelled as mentioned in this thread[?]

Neil:)

It is stated by staff that the route was postponed by VS for various cost issues and in the short term CPT will yield more £ notes. I have read another post somewhere (cannot find at the min) that also backs this up.

I would expect the 2nd HKG to come back next year to allow the SYD section to support itself longterm.

[Neil]

Ah ok - that makes more sense, thanks for clarifying[y]

Melbourne looks as if it might be on the cards, and didn't VS want to start Beijing with their own metal?

http://www.travelweekly.com.au/dirplus/ ... 0_2006.pdf

Originally posted by tallprawn
It is stated by staff that the route was postponed by VS for various cost issues and in the short term CPT will yield more £ notes. I have read another post somewhere (cannot find at the min) that also backs this up.

I would expect the 2nd HKG to come back next year to allow the SYD section to support itself longterm.

I hope so...........I am waiting for that too...............

PEK wa announced years ago but then was quietly dropped and a codeshare with Air China was introduced. VS got PEK as BA was given PVG.

I am surprised that we havent seen VS start PEK with their own metal especially prior to the Olympics- I think it is less likely now they have the CA codeshare.

Rumours of Soeul a number of years back- when there was no LHR service- but it wont happen now.

Maybe BKK? Then onward to MEL?

BKK would be amazing - that would mean VS covering all the major hubs in Asia - HK/Shanghai/sINGAPORE (With SIA) - KL would also be ideal.

My personal tuppence?

Well BKK would give Vhols a great opportunity... but theres alot of capacity on the route and yields at the front are low... maybe Phuket would do better for Vhols, say 2x weekly from LGW?

ICN, alot more capacity these days, though very high yielding biz traffic... and one of the carriers on the route on the 'banned' list of many UK corporates... still not sure enough demand is there.

PEK, certain to be a big route one day... but when? Current market capacity to China is just a little beyond demand. And very price sensitive.

HKG 2nd... I've posted my thoughts on that before.

KUL... hideously low yields.. and mostly connecting traffic.

SIN... hmmm, doubtful with current ownership.

TPE... if political situation wasn't so, at least one UK Carrier could make decent money here.

MNL... very doubtful.

Osaka/Nagoya etc... Japanese economy still weak and very strong incumbents.

DPS... if history were a little kinder I could have seen this as a perfect 2X weekly LGW route... maybe in a few years.

But the biggest problem with Asia? Look at the route maps... you don't have to pay anyone to fly over water... but overfly rights for Eurasia are significant issues for any airline operating east of London.

Expansion will happen though... and there are still certainly more new planes scheduled to be entering the fleet!

Ben.

Please note all of the above are purely personal comments based on nearly 10years of industry knowledge of Aviation in Asia. Anything I know of VS route explansion is of course confidential and comments above are purely speculative of the UK industry as a whole.

Originally posted by V-Ben
My personal tuppence?


KUL... hideously low yields.. and mostly connecting traffic.

Are you sure? The MAS C class is often full and the route is regarded as one of the most profitable.

As for connecting traffic I would tend to agree

Originally posted by rwheatla
Are you sure? The MAS C class is often full and the route is regarded as one of the most profitable.

As for connecting traffic I would tend to agree

For MAS it will be one of their most profitable for sure.... but they have pretty much covered the market there... and much of what travels in their Jcl cabin travels at very heavilly discounted rates... also they have the economies of scale to make it work, and 3 or 4 daily frequencies. I very much doubt any other UK airline could make decent money on that route for quite some time.

Originally posted by V-Ben

Originally posted by rwheatla
Are you sure? The MAS C class is often full and the route is regarded as one of the most profitable.

As for connecting traffic I would tend to agree

For MAS it will be one of their most profitable for sure.... but they have pretty much covered the market there... and much of what travels in their Jcl cabin travels at very heavilly discounted rates... also they have the economies of scale to make it work, and 3 or 4 daily frequencies. I very much doubt any other UK airline could make decent money on that route for quite some time.

12-18 months ago BA scaled down their service to a 777 and then quickly withdrew not long after. KUL always gives me the impression of a huge facility without the amount of traffic that all the building work deserved.

I don't think that too many european airlines fly to KUL; there must be a reason for that. Anyway, doesn't VS codeshare with Malaysian or has that stopped now?

VS.

VS codeshare with MH stopped when they got rights to fly HKG-SYD.

Thanks, Juliet![y]

VS.

12-18 months ago BA scaled down their service to a 777 and then quickly withdrew not long after. KUL always gives me the impression of a huge facility without the amount of traffic that all the building work deserved.

It was stopped back in 2001

I believe MAS fly 18 times a week now.

V-Ben I'm not so sure that the premium class's are heaveilly discounted. Infact in the last year or so the fares have gone up about 30% and many here are complaining that they are too expensive and would like other airlines to fly direct to LHR. I know that when the VS code share happened the C class fare was less then MAS

China is a big place and a huge market.
LH and KLM have already started services to the "lesser" cities of Chengdu and Guangzhou.
I can see that China will have as many "gateway" city's as the US in the not too distant future. Even if the main revenue on return is having their holds stuffed full of socks and bras!

China is certainly a growing market (in most things;)) but I'm sure the aviation industry is going to er... take off[:I] there soon.

VS.

I still think BKK would be a winner for VS. Lest keep our fingers crossed on this route .