Airline briefs
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Asiana expects surge in travel
Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's second-largest carrier, will add three new routes and increase weekly flights as it anticipates a surge in travel demand from the World Cup soccer games in June and an economic recovery.
The Seoul-based airline will offer 67 additional weekly flights to cities in the United States, Europe and Asia starting as early as next Sunday, Asiana said in a statement. Many of the flight increases have already been announced.
Asiana and its rival Korean Air Co. have been increasing flights this year as the monthlong World Cup tournament, which is being co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, is expected to draw about 400,000 overseas visitors to Korea.
An economic recovery is also likely to spur travel demand as Asia's third-largest economy is forecast to grow about 4 percent this year, from 3 percent in 2001.
Asiana filled 74.5 percent of available seats with paying passengers on its international flights in January, an increase from
74.3 percent in the same month last year because of growing travel demand.
Cathay Pacific adds Tokyo flight
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Asia's No. 6 carrier, will add one daily flight to Tokyo on June 1 after a new runway opens at Narita airport, raising to five the number of flights to the Japanese capital each day.
Hong Kong's dominant long-haul carrier will add a daily
10:40 a.m. flight to Narita international airport, Cathay said in a faxed statement. Each morning, the carrier will operate two direct flights and one via Taipei, and two every afternoon.
The airline, which also flies to the Japanese cities of Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and started a service to Sapporo in early December, will operate 90 passenger and cargo flights a week between Hong Kong and Japan after the latest addition. The increase is linked to the opening of a new runway at Narita on April 18, which will add 50 percent to the airport's capacity.
Cathay is adding flights at a time when airlines are beginning to recover from lower demand after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Cathay reported a drop in North Asian traffic of
7.1 percent in January, based on a gauge of passengers carried multiplied by the distance flown, compared with the year-earlier month.
Singapore resumes more U.S. flights
Singapore Airlines Ltd., Asia's third-biggest carrier by sales, said it will resume more flights to the United States and Europe, and add services in Asia, because of a pickup in travel demand.
The airline is resuming flights to locations including Chicago, San Francisco, New York and Frankfurt. This is the second time this year that Singapore Airlines has said it will reinstate flights to the United States that were suspended after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"In the past few months we have seen a steady recovery in passenger traffic across many routes, particularly in the leisure segment," said Michael Tan, the airline's senior executive vice president commercial, in a statement. "Business travel is also recovering in tandem with the economic recovery, albeit at a more measured pace."
Aviation recovery slow for Japan
Japan, Asia's biggest economy, is among the laggards in reporting a recovery in its aviation industry.
Japan Airlines Co. has been slow to resume suspended services as Japan's third recession in 10 years and safety worries deter many travelers from vacationing abroad.
Asia's largest carrier by sales said in January seat capacity for services to North America would fall 19 percent after it reduced the number of flights to the region by a quarter. Still, the carrier said last month it will resume a third daily flight from Tokyo to Honolulu in May.
"In November, JAL traffic to Hawai'i dropped by 61 percent year on year, but by February 2002 it had picked up to the level of 75 percent" from the same period a year earlier, said spokesman Geoff Tudor. "March is almost back to normal."
Japan Airlines said after the attacks it introduced business-class discounts up to 30 percent on transpacific and European routes.
Arrivals climb in Australia
The number of visitors to Australia rose for the third-straight month in February as the tourism industry recovered from a slump after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
People arriving for a short-term stay rose 2.3 percent to 402,300 in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. That followed a 2.2 percent rise in January. Still, arrival numbers in February were 8.4 percent lower than a year earlier. The Sept. 11 attacks, coupled with the collapse of Ansett Holdings Ltd., the second biggest airline, saw visitor numbers fall 16 percent in October and November. The number of international visitors in December was 10.7 percent lower than a year earlier.
