Malaysia Airlines

The A380 becomes mainstream, with 103 now in service: which airlines, destinations, stage lengths?

There are 103 A380s in service as of early May-2013. Emirates has 33 and Singapore Airlines has 19, so when assessing network scheduling, these two and their hubs predominate: of the 1,048 weekly A380 flights, 402 are from Emirates alone. Dubai and Singapore airport see the most A380 flights.

But there are some less predictable statistics. The airport to see the most A380 operators is Hong Kong followed by Paris and Los Angeles. The largest A380 destination that is not (yet) an A380-hub is London Heathrow. The UK and USA are the most common A380 destinations after Australia, Singapore and the UAE. Asia, not the Middle East, sees the most A380 flights; South America sees none. Guangzhou-Shanghai Pudong is the shortest A380 route at 1,202km while Los Angeles-Melbourne is the longest at 12,751km. Qantas and Lufthansa have the highest average sector length while Thai Airways is placing the most number of cycles – about two – on its aircraft per day. Qantas and Air France are placing the least (just over one).

Australia needs to negotiate expanded bilateral agreements with Malaysia and the Philippines

This is the second of a series of articles on Australia’s need to urgently negotiate expanded bilateral agreements. The first part looked at bilateral constraints in some key North Asian markets, in particular mainland China and Hong Kong, as well as with the United Arab Emirates. This part looks at constraints in Australia currently facing carriers from Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and the Philippines.

Australia is an important and generally profitable market for airlines from Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as other Southeast Asian countries that have fewer or no limitations on expansion. Australia needs to negotiate new air service agreements with Malaysia and the Philippines or risk having their airlines focus expansion on other destinations.

Lion's Malindo breaks AirAsia-MAS duopoly in Malaysian domestic market. Next stop: Delhi...and Asia

Lion Air Group affiliate Malindo launched services on 22-Mar-2013 with seven daily flights spread across Malaysia’s two largest domestic routes – Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. With its hybrid business model and low fares, Malindo will impact both AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines (MAS), which were previously the only two carriers on domestic trunk routes within Malaysia.

Malindo is planning rapid domestic and international expansion, leveraging Lion’s huge order book for 737s. India is poised to become Malindo’s first international destination with service to Delhi starting in Jun-2013, exploiting a market which is under-served due to cuts last year at AirAsia X. Several planned destinations in India and China will allow Malindo to increase aircraft utilisation and tap into the lucrative Malaysia-India and Malaysia-China markets. It also seeks to tap the fast-growing Indonesia-India and Indonesia-China markets, which Malindo will serve by offering connections to Lion.

Malaysia Airlines 2013 outlook clouded by increasing competition and launch of Malindo

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) faces a challenging 2013 as low-cost carrier competition intensifies in the Southeast Asian market. The new oneworld member is back in the black, having posted profits for 3Q2012 and 4Q2012. But MAS remained in the red for the full year and will struggle to meet its goal of returning to full year profitability in 2013.

MAS operates in a highly competitive home market, competing against AirAsia on a majority of its routes. Competition will intensify after new Lion Air Group affiliate Malindo launches services in late Mar-2013, becoming the second LCC in the Malaysian market. Meanwhile challenges remain on long-haul routes, where MAS one year ago reduced capacity significantly as part of a new business plan, due to rising fuel prices and unfavourable global economic conditions.

Airlines' tangled alliances evolve: British Airways-Cathay Pacific codeshare to Australia - for now

Implications continue to emerge from the Sep-2012 landmark Emirates-Qantas alliance, the latest development being a codeshare covering Australia for British Airways and Cathay Pacific. Although the two are members of the oneworld alliance and at first blush may be considered partners, they had the most minimal of ties, owing to significant competition between them.

That competitive situation still exists but other factors have changed: BA's once deep partner Qantas is now a competitor, aligned with Emirates, and is establishing a Jetstar franchise on Cathay's home turf in Hong Kong. BA and Cathay are united by a common enemy – not the first occasion this reasoning has spawned an alliance – but also other factors. BA has lost its Australian network access and Cathay fits in; meanwhile Cathay will be receptive to feed to sustain its positioning after China Southern and Singapore Airlines have made large capacity increases in Australia.

Alliances are evolving, and this partnership will surely change – or go extinct – as BA becomes more familiar with new oneworld members Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways, with whom it will have more in common than it does with Cathay.

SriLankan Airlines focuses expansion on North Asia as it prepares to join oneworld

SriLankan Airlines is planning to focus expansion on existing and new markets in Asia ahead of the carrier’s ascension into the oneworld alliance. SriLankan is now on course to formally become oneworld’s smallest member in Nov-2013.

The government-owned carrier is currently focused heavily on South Asia, which accounts for 41% of its international seat capacity. SriLankan’s network in South Asia, particularly India and the Maldives, is its main draw to oneworld. But North Asia is SriLankan’s target growth market, with more capacity to greater China and the likely launch of flights to South Korea. SriLankan’s North Asia expansion could be boosted by a relationship with Cathay Pacific, which is sponsoring SriLankan’s membership into oneworld.