September , 2022 Asia/Pacific
In the past month, Darwin – in Australia’s Northern Territory, hosted the Australasian RoundTable for the first time with eight airlines presenting. A new format inclusion was our C-Suite Fireside Chat, with Bonza Airlines (IATA: AB) CEO Tim Jordan, who provided some illuminating insights, in addition to our passenger and airfreight airline speakers that presented. For an overview of the event, see our round-up below.
The gift from the event is the ubiquitous moments where insights are revealed that don’t come from formal meetings or regular discussions – like the optimal flying time of Bonza’s aircraft, or the target number of frequencies they hope to achieve from their network, or the number of eyeballs 😶 🌫️ they have forecast that will cast they discerning view over the aircraft each day, per flying airframe. Our airfreight presenters, each presenting at different times, all commented on the humanity of their services, often providing critical health and medical devices to some very grateful patients. Understanding their challenges, and the symbiotic nature of airports and airlines working around BAU challenges, or one-off events often is crucial for these services to continue to function.
DATA Insight: New Zealand Customs Service – NZ Resident v’s International Visitors
Smarter Data – the theme for the upcoming Air Service Data Analytics Symposium – allows us to track the relative performance of some destinations compared to others. Opening of borders, and current challenges aside, some destinations are seeing travel rebound strongly, but regionally, there is still a long way to go yet.
Awareness of restrictions on travelling to New Zealand has confused some travellers & the volume of travellers to New Zealand is still well off its previous levels, while NZ residents are returning to travel, closing in on past highs quickly. In Australia, in recent months, the Sydney & Melbourne hubs have begun to see returning volumes from various markets – but still well off previous highs due to some key visitor markets not yet travelling in any significant volume, including those from North Asia, and capacity on other markets not yet back at pre-COVID levels.
In the US, the TSA filings showed August finished at 91.4% versus 2019 levels. This is the best recovery month since the pandemic began and 0.9 points above April 2022. The first five days of September are at 99.7% of 2019 levels! In Asia, scheduled seat capacity in August was still down -17% on 2019 and capacity to/from Asia was off still by -30%. The only region doing worse was Australasia – within the region seats were still down -14%, but seat capacity to/from the region was down by almost half at -49%. Globally, we have a long way to go.
Australasia RoundTable: DARWIN 2022, Event Round-up
Thanks to our Hosts Tourism NT and Airport Development Group. Get ready for the 2023 RoundTable, being hosted by Cairns Airport. Some key highlights from the Fireside Chat with Tim Jordan at the Darwin RoundTable included:
“Bonza will serve ‘infrequent travellers’ – akin to Jet2, Flair, Frontier etc.”
“CASA last went through an approval process 15 years ago. Once we go through the proving flights process in Sept., we’ll be in an appropriate window to start flying soon after and have confidence we’ll operate & serve our customers when we put our network on sale.”
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Join us 2-4 November at the Air Service Data Analytics Symposium – register now and join our Hosts Tourism Western Australia & Perth Airport and organisations that have already registered including Gold Coast Airport, Tourism Australia, Melbourne Airport & Singapore Airlines!
Earnings Results
Air New Zealand – August 25 - Link
Auckland Airport – August 18 - Link
Qantas – August 25 - Link
Insightful Aviation News In Recent Days
Asia Pacific
- Govt committed to Air Vanuatu says minister – Sept. 7
- Cancelled Jetstar flights leaving international students late to class in Gold Coast – Sept. 7
- China mostly shut off from world with flights near record low: Report – Sept. 7
- ITA Airways to start Asia Pacific Routes – Sept. 6
- Korean Air brings back Asia flights – Sept. 6
- Inside the Qantas-Singapore Airlines merger that almost happened – Sept. 6
- Price war in the sky: Airfares tumble after government lifts fare caps – Sept. 6
- Changi Airport Terminal 2 to resume departure operations on Oct 11, starting with Singapore Airlines flights – Sept. 5
- Asia-Pacific Airlines Down But On The Way Back To Better Times – Sept. 2
- Korean Air receives green light from Australia on combination with Asiana – Sept. 2
EMEA
- German carrier Lufthansa avoids another strike as pilots reach wage deal – Sept. 7
- Bankruptcy Risk Seen Higher for Europe’s Airlines This Winter – Sept. 6
- IndiGo adds 6 more flights to enhance connectivity between India & Middle East – Sept. 5
- Saudi Arabia to launch new airline to compete with Emirates – Sept. 2
- easyJet trials free lounge access at Gatwick airport – Sept. 2
- Europe short-haul flying won't match pre-COVID peak until 2025: Ryanair CEO – Sept. 1
The Americas
- Startup Northern Pacific Airways unveils its Boeing 757 cabin – Sept. 6
- Nonstop Flights From The U.S. To Top Asian Destinations This Fall – Sept. 6
- Hundreds Of Flights Delayed Or Canceled Over The Labor Day Weekend – Sept. 5
- 90,421 Flights Are Scheduled Sept 5: The Top 10 Airports & Airlines – Sept. 5
- Winners & Losers: The USA’s Least & Most Recovered Airports – Sept. 1