China Eastern increases Kunming - Kolkata and Kunming - Dhaka

by Vinay Bhaskara

Chinese full service carrier China Eastern Airlines is increasing its service to the Indian subcontinent from its Southwestern Chinese hub of Kunming. From 27th October 2013, its offering on each of Kunming - Kolkata and Kunming - Dhaka will increase from daily to 10x weekly, using Boeing 737-700 aircraft configured in a 134 seat, two class configuration (8J / 126Y). Flight schedules for the new and existing flights to Dhaka are as follow:

Flight Number	Route	Depart	Arrive	Frequency
MU 2589	KMG-DAC	0810	0820	246
MU 2035	KMG-DAC	1255	1310	Daily
MU 2590	DAC-KMG	0910	1320	246
MU 2036	DAC-KMG	1410	1815	Daily
MU 2599	KMG-CCU	1425	1420	246
MU 555	KMG-CCU	2355	2345	Daily
MU 556	CCU-KMG	0030	0510	246
MU 2600	CCU-KMG	1510	1935	Daily

Kunming is China Eastern's third largest hub after Hongqiao and Pudong, Shanghai's two airports, with more than 180 daily departures. China Eastern will be able to offer passengers from Kolkata and Dhaka onwards connections to 67 domestic destinations within China, as well as to 16 international destinations around Asia (though these connections require a transit visa). It serves as China Eastern's primary gateway to the Indian subcontinent, with  services to Colombo, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Kolkata, and Male. The airline also serves Delhi from its largest hub at Shanghai.

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Analysis: SpiceJet to launch Delhi-Macau

by Vinay Bhaskara

A report in the Macau Business Daily states that Gurgaon based low cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet is planning on launching nonstop flights between Delhi and Macau. SpiceJet has already won approval from the Indian government to launch Delhi-Macau, likely using Boeing 737 equipment. But it has not yet filed for approval from the Macau government. A Macau airport statesman had this to say about a potential SpiceJet application:

We have been aware of communications [about the route] between the Macau International Airport Company Ltd and the airline. SpiceJet had previously contacted us to obtain some initial information on the application procedures, which is a common practice for any interested airlines.

No airline currently serves Macau nonstop from India. The current bilateral air service agreement (ASA) between India and Macau allows each side's airline to operate up 600 seats per week with 2 return flights per week. However, both governments have agreed in principle to negotiate an expansion of the ASA later this year.

Macau, China's largest gambling center in the vein of Las Vegas in the United States, is an important and growing leisure destination for the increasingly affluent Indian upper middle class, and India's wealthy. However, demand for Macau is more concentrated in Bangalore and Mumbai than in Delhi, which may bode poorly for SpiceJet's chances on the route. The Macau international market is currently dominated by flag carrier Air Macau, a subsidiary of China's national carrier Air China, who serves 22 destinations on a fleet of 15 aircraft.

If the reports are true, it would mark just the latest step in SpiceJet's international growth track. The carrier now serves five international destinations from Delhi (Dubai, Guangzhou, Kabul, Kathmandu, and Riyadh) with 32 flights per week. Overall, SpiceJet serves nine international destinations (the aforementioned five plus Colombo, Muscat, Sharjah, and Male) with 87 flights per week. And along with the regional operation using Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprops, the international growth has been an important contributor to SpiceJet's swing to profitability.

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GMR Maldives CEO refutes claims of Maldives government on handover of Male airport

The CEO of GMR Male International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (GMIAL), Andrew Harrison has put out a statement refuting claims of the Maldavian government of a smooth and orderly take over of Male airport operations by the government.

I categorically refute the version of events being portrayed to the media in relation to the meeting this morning with GoM officials and outline the true meeting content as follows:

1.
I received a telephone call from a Colonel of Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) at 1103 to advise me that the Acting Transport Minister who is also the Defence Minister is meeting with MACL at the airport and would like to call upon me personally. The meeting took place at 1145 in our Boardroom at Male' airport. The meeting was attended by the Acting Transport Minister, the Chairman of Maldives Civil Aviation Authority, our Lawyer in Maldives and 3 members of MNDF.

2.
The meeting was cordial and the Acting Transport Minister outlined the following:

• MACL would be operating the airport from Saturday morning in line with the Government of Maldives communication to GMR-MAHB.
• The Minister would like a smooth transition as the airport operations should not be affected and suffer in any way. Passengers should not be inconvenienced and therefore all activities including Duty Free would be allowed to continue as is.
• According to their legal advisors he injunction issued by Singapore High Court does not prevent them from taking over the airport and the injunction cannot be applied to a sovereign state.
• They propose offering 100% employment in MACL to all staff currently working for GMIAL and an announcement to that effect would be made tomorrow by the MACL Board. The offer includes both local and foreign staff at their existing terms and conditions including salary.

Our position, which I communicated to them, remains crystal clear. The Singapore High Court has issued an injunction which clearly prevents MACL or the Government of Maldives or any of its agents from taking any action that interferes with GMIAL operating the airport. The injunction clearly prevents them from taking the action outlined in their notice issued to us stating that the airport would be taken over at the end of the 7 day period. We remain resolute in our position and there is no question of an offer being made and certainly no question of any alleged offer being accepted as we will simply not agree to our rights nor the injunction being undermined in any way.

Our Lawyer further clarified that the injunction was to be honoured as their representatives and Attorney General were party to those proceedings and were present during the proceedings in the Singapore High Court. Further to this we have issued a communication to their lawyers to confirm that their client (MACL/GoM) will not ignore the injunction and outlining the consequences as well as the disturbing media reports that they will ignore the injunction and take over the airport as planned.

The Acting Transport Minister explained that he was not a legal person and he would therefore arrange for his legal team to meet our Lawyer tomorrow to go discuss the legal matters and in the meantime he stated that we should maintain dialogue. We will always maintain dialogue but our legal position is very clear and we will not compromise on our legal position which is clearly supported by the injunction.

Any version of the meeting being described any differently to my response is categorically untrue and we maintain that we have been granted the right to continue operating the airport in line with the injunction. There is and has never been any change in our position.

Regards,

Andrew Harrison
Chief Executive Officer
GMR Male' International Airport Pvt. Ltd.

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SpiceJet to commence three new international routes

Gurgaon based low fare carrier SpiceJet will expand its international network by opening three new sectors Kochi Male, Kochi Dubai, and Ahmedabad Dubai.

Male is a new destination for the airline. SpiceJet already operates daily flights to Dubai from Mumbai and Delhi.

Flight	From	Destination	Departure (Local Time)	Arrival (Local Time)	Frequency	First Flight
SG 3901	Kochi	Male	1250 hrs	1440 hrs	Daily	29th Nov’ 12
SG 3902	Male	Kochi	1515 hrs	1705 hrs	Daily	29th Nov’ 12
SG 017	Kochi	Dubai	1710 hrs	1950 hrs	Daily	10th Dec ‘ 12
SG 018	Dubai	Kochi	2045 hrs	0225 hrs	Daily	10th Dec ‘ 12
SG 015	Ahmedabad	Dubai	1700 hrs	1825 hrs	Daily	19th Dec’ 12
SG 016	Dubai	Ahmedabad	1925 hrs	2330 hrs	Daily	19th Dec’ 12

The Male flight will be operated with the 78 seat Bombardier Q400 turbo prop, and Dubai with the 189 seat Boeing 737-800.

At present SpiceJet flies to Kathmandu (Nepal), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Kabul (Afghanistan) and Dubai (UAE)

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