Many new routes were announced in Asia and Oceania during March, as well as the inauguration of some connections within this market.
The addition of new aircraft is a common occurrence in this region, mainly in airlines from China, India and Japan.
We review the important highlights of the Asia/Oceania market in March:
- AirAsia will launch a new route between Malaysia and Thailand.
- Air China Cargo to add a new destination in the United Kingdom.
- 6 new aircraft for Air India, also including its express subsidiary.
- Air Macau will return to Fukuoka, and Hawaiian will expand frequencies to the Japanese city.
- Air New Zealand, the temporary suspension of its services to Chicago, and the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines issues.
- All Nippon Airways takes delivery of its fourth Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner. The first this year.
- China Eastern inaugurated a new connection to Malaysia.
- Delta boosts operations between Detroit and Shanghai.
- Fly91 started flights in India.
- FlyArystan schedules a third connection to Uzbekistan.
- Hong Kong Airlines adds another daily frequency to Tokyo Narita.
- IndiGo will begin operations to Colombo from Mumbai.
- Juneyao Airlines will have two new international routes.
- Qantas will resume services between Sydney and Port Moresby after nearly 40 years.
- Starlux and the start of flights to Phu Quoc.
- Tianjin inaugurated two connections between China and Seoul.
- VietJet will launch its first route from Hanoi to Australia.
- Virgin Australia began using its Boeing 737 MAX 8 on other international routes to/from Brisbane.
Aero Mongolia
The Ulaanbaatar-based company will increase its flights to Seoul from March 31st. Aero Mongolia, which operates with Airbus A319-100 jets, will expand from three to five per week.
Monday, Wednesday and Saturday
- M0 601 Ulaanbaatar UBN 09:30 · 13:35 ICN Seoul
- M0 602 Seoul ICN 14:35 · 17:00 UBN Ulaanbaatar
New flights on Thursdays and Sundays.
Aero Mongolia routes

China
- Hohhot (HET)
Japan
- Tokyo Narita (NRT)
South Korea
- Seoul (ICN)
Vietnam
- Hanoi (HAN)
AirAsia
As of June 17th, AirAsia is scheduled to resume regular services between Kuala Lumpur and Utapao. In line with its website, flights will be three weekly, as follows:
Tuesday, Friday and Sunday
- AK 840 Kuala Lumpur KUL 11:00 · 12:05 UTP Utapao
- AK 841 Utapao UTP 12:35 · 15:30 KUL Kuala Lumpur
Air China Cargo
The cargo subsidiary of Air China will launch operations to Manchester on April 2nd. According to its website, the airline will have two services a week with Boeing 777s.
Tuesday and Saturday
- CA 3147 Beijing PEK 06:55 · 10:50 MAN Manchester
- CA 3148 Manchester MAN 13:20 · 08:15+1 CAN Guangzhou
Air China will be the only company to offer cargo flights from/to Manchester with wide-body freighters.
Air Macau
The carrier confirmed the resumption of its operations to Fukuoka, which will be performed from Macau starting July 12th with Airbus A320-200 aircraft.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday
- NX 818 Macau MFM 08:30 · 13:00 FUK Fukuoka
- NX 817 Fukuoka FUK 14:00 · 16:40 MFM Macau
Air New Zealand
The airline announced that it will temporarily suspend services between Auckland and Chicago effective March 31st. Currently, Air New Zealand has two weekly flights on the 302-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Why is Air New Zealand discontinuing this route? It is related to the aircraft used, the 787-9.
Until at least October 25th, operations will be suspended due to ongoing challenges with the availability of serviceable Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines which is impacting airlines around the world. These are the engines used on Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787s.
What is happening with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines?
Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines normally require heavy maintenance, where they are taken off the aircraft and sent to the offshore manufacturer for inspection, after 1000 engine cycles (take-offs and landings). During regular inspections, Air New Zealand engineers identified that the engines required maintenance after 750-850 cycles. Rolls-Royce has been unable to provide Air New Zealand with spare or replacement engines to deliver the level of service needed, leading to a reduction in the amount of flying Air New Zealand can deliver via its 787 fleet.
Air New Zealand’s route schedule in the U.S.

- Houston (IAH): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
- Los Angeles (LAX): 10 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
- New York (JFK): 4 weekly · Boeing 787-9
- San Francisco (SFO): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
China Eastern
Last March 16th, China Eastern Airlines began flights between Kunming and Kuala Lumpur. Services will be carried out on Airbus A320-200 planes with a capacity of 186 passengers in single class.
Daily
- MU 9629 Kunming KMG 17:25 · 21:40 KUL Kuala Lumpur
- MU 9630 Kuala Lumpur KUL 22:40 · 01:55+1 KMG Kunming
In addition, the company operates once a day to Hangzhou from Malaysia’s capital city with the same jets.
Delta Air Lines
The airline will boost its services between Detroit and Shanghai beginning May 22nd. Operations, which are performed with Airbus A350-900s, will increase from three to seven weekly.
Daily
- DL 389 Detroit DTW 11:05 · 15:20+1 PVG Shanghai
- DL 388 Shanghai PVG 17:30 · 19:35 DTW Detroit

Delta currently offers daily service between Seattle and Shanghai on Airbus A330-900neo aircraft:
- DL 281 Seattle SEA 12:30 · 17:00 PVG Shanghai
- DL 282 Shanghai PVG 19:10 · 15:42 SEA Seattle
Fiji Airways
The company confirmed that it will make changes on the Nadi – Hong Kong route, that operates with Airbus A330-200 and Airbus A330-300 jets.
Fiji Airways will reduce its frequency between the two cities for short periods from June to December.
Reductions (from 5 to 4 weekly)
- June 5th to June 19th
- July 3rd to August 14th
- September 4th to September 25th
- October 9th to November 13th
- December 4th to December 11th
- FJ 391 Nadi NAN 08:20 · 14:50 HKG Hong Kong
- FJ 392 Hong Kong HKG 16:55 · 07:10+1 NAN Nadi
Fly91
The new Indian airline, which introduced its first ATR 72-600 in February, confirmed its first scheduled routes within the country.
Fly91 will have these connections:

- Goa Mopa (GOX) – Bengaluru (BLR) – Sindhudurg (SDW)
- Goa Mopa (GOX) – Hyderabad (HYD) – Sindhudurg (SDW)
The company’s first flight, between Goa Mopa (Manohar Airport), Bengaluru and Sindhudurg, was on March 18th.
FlyArystan
Effective June 3rd, the carrier plans to add its third destination in Uzbekistan. The flights, already listed in its booking system, will be conducted three times per week from/to Almaty, FlyArystan’s hub.
Almaty – Nukus
Monday
- KC 7111 Almaty ALA 01:00 · 03:45 NCU Nukus
Wednesday and Saturday
- KC 7111 Almaty ALA 00:01 · 02:45 NCU Nukus
Nukus – Almaty
Monday and Friday
- KC 7112 Nukus NCU 04:45 · 07:20 ALA Almaty
Wednesday and Saturday
- KC 7112 Nukus NCU 03:45 · 06:20 ALA Almaty
FlyArystan’s website schedules three weekly on the Almaty – Nukus route and four weekly on the Nukus – Almaty segment.
Hawaiian
The airline will increase its flights between Honolulu and Fukuoka on August 6th. According to its website, Hawaiian will boost from three to four services a week.
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
- HA 827 Honolulu HNL 13:05 · 18:40 FUK Fukuoka
Monday, Wednesday and Friday
- HA 828 Fukuoka FUK 20:40 · 09:25 HNL Honolulu
New flight on Wednesdays departing from Honolulu, and from Fukuoka on Thursdays.
Hawaiian routes to/from Japan

Honolulu
- Fukuoka (FUK): 3 weekly · currently
- Osaka (KIX): 7 weekly · Airbus A330
- Tokyo (HND): 16 weekly · Airbus A330
- Tokyo (NRT): 6 weekly · Airbus A330
Kona
- Tokyo (HND): 3 weekly · Airbus A330
Hong Kong Airlines
As of March 31st, the carrier will expand its services on the Hong Kong – Tokyo Narita route, with the addition of a fourth daily flight. Hong Kong Airlines will operate with Airbus A320-200s and Airbus A330-300s with 174 and 292 seats respectively.
Daily
- HX 606 Hong Kong HKG 02:20 · 07:35 NRT Tokyo
- HX 607 Tokyo NRT 09:05 · 13:30 HKG Hong Kong
- HX 608 Hong Kong HKG 09:15 · 14:30 NRT Tokyo
- HX 609 Tokyo NRT 15:30 · 19:50 HKG Hong Kong
- HX 610 Hong Kong HKG 14:55 · 20:05 NRT Tokyo
- HX 611 Tokyo NRT 21:05 · 01:25+1 HKG Hong Kong
Daily · new flight
- HX 604 Hong Kong HKG 07:25 · 12:55 NRT Tokyo
- HX 605 Tokyo NRT 14:00 · 17:50 HKG Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific, Greater Bay Airlines, Jet Linx Aviation and HK express have services between the two airports, as well as Hong Kong Airlines.
IndiGo
The Indian low cost announced it will launch a new route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 12th. IndiGo will offer three weekly flights using Airbus A320-200 and Airbus A320neo aircraft.
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
- 6E 1185 Mumbai BOM 06:55 · 09:35 CMB Colombo
- 6E 1186 Colombo CMB 10:35 · 13:10 BOM Mumbai
Currently, SriLankan Airlines and Vistara operate this route, with this schedule:
SriLankan
Daily except Monday and Tuesday
- UL 143 Colombo CMB 17:10 · 19:45 BOM Mumbai
- UL 142 Mumbai BOM 20:45 · 23:10 CMB Colombo
Daily except Wednesday and Thursday
- UL 141 Colombo CMB 23:45 · 02:10+1 BOM Mumbai
Except Thursday and Friday · Daily
- UL 142 Mumbai BOM 03:10 · 05:35 CMB Colombo
Vistara
Daily
- UK 131 Mumbai BOM 12:25 · 15:00 CMB Colombo
- UK 132 Colombo CMB 16:00 · 18:40 BOM Mumbai
On Wednesdays, flights take off from Mumbai at 08:10 and 11:50 from Colombo.
Jetstar
Effective March 27th, Jetstar will boost its operations between Sydney and Avarua, Cook Islands. The airline currently has three flights per week with the 238-seat Airbus A321neo.
Tuesday, Friday and Sunday
- JQ 141 Sydney SYD 21:30 · 06:30 RAR Avarua
- JQ 142 Avarua RAR 09:00 · 12:30 SYD Sydney
New flight on Wednesdays.
Jetstar’s international routes from Sydney to Oceania

Cook Islands
- Avarua (RAR): 3 weekly · Airbus A321neo (currently)
Fiji
- Nadi (NAN): 3 weekly · Airbus A321neo
New Zealand
- Auckland (AKL): 9 weekly · Airbus A320
- Queenstown (ZQN): 5 weekly · Airbus A320
Juneyao Airlines
The company confirmed the addition of two new international routes between April and May. These operations will be performed from/to Shanghai with Airbus A320-200 planes.

- Vladivostok (VVO): 2 weekly · April 30th
- Penang (PEN): 4 weekly · May 31st
Helsinki, Hong Kong, Denpasar, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo (Haneda and Narita), Macau, Singapore, Jeju, Kaohsiung, Taipei, Bangkok (Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi), Chiang Mai and Phuket are the international connections of Juneyao in Shanghai Pudong.
Qantas
The airline will commence services between Sydney and Port Moresby starting April 1st. In accordance with the Qantas reservation system, flights will be operated twice weekly with 174-seat Boeing 737-800 airplanes.
Monday and Friday
- QF 191 Sydney SYD 09:50 · 12:50 POM Port Moresby
- QF 192 Port Moresby POM 13:45 · 18:45 SYD Sydney

Qantas already operates to Papua New Guinea from Brisbane:
Daily
- QF 57 Brisbane BNE 09:25 · 12:35 POM Port Moresby
- QF 58 Port Moresby POM 13:25 · 16:35 BNE Brisbane
SalamAir
The carrier will begin two new international connections from Muscat between May and June.
According to SalamAir’s website, New Delhi and Islamabad will be these routes, which will start on May 2nd and June 19th respectively.
New Delhi
Daily
- OV 727 Muscat MCT 23:10 · 03:40+1 DEL New Delhi
- OV 728 New Delhi DEL 04:25 · 06:05 MCT Muscat
Islamabad
Daily except Tuesday and Saturday
- OV 563 Muscat MCT 23:50 · 03:30+1 ISB Islamabad
Daily except Wednesday and Sunday
- OV 564 Islamabad ISB 04:15 · 06:10 MCT Muscat
As we announced in the European edition, Tirana, in Albania, will be a new destination for the company as of June 17th.
Starlux
Phu Quoc, Starlux’s new connection in Vietnam.
The airline will inaugurate flights from/to Taipei effective June 26th.
Daily except Tuesday and Saturday
- JX 705 Taipei TPE 15:00 · 17:55 PQC Phu Quoc
- JX 706 Phu Quoc PQC 18:55 · 23:55 TPE Taipei
Starlux in Vietnam

- Da Nang (DAD): 14 weekly · Airbus A321neo
- Hanoi (HAN): 7 weekly · Airbus A321neo
- Ho Chi Minh City (SGN): 5 weekly · Airbus A321neo
Thai AirAsia
The company will modify its services between Bangkok Don Mueang and Kaohsiung, with an extension to Tokyo Narita in both directions. These flights, which will maintain the same frequency, will start next June 16th.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
- FD 234 Bangkok DMK 02:45 · 07:15 KHH Kaohsiung
- FD 234 Kaohsiung KHH 08:00 · 12:55 NRT Tokyo
- FD 235 Tokyo NRT 13:55 · 17:05 KHH Kaohsiung
- FD 235 Kaohsiung KHH 17:50 · 20:15 DMK Bangkok
Tianjin
The Chinese carrier inaugurated two new routes between China and Seoul during early March. Services will be conducted using Airbus A320-200 jets, twice a week.
Yulin
Monday and Friday
Tuesday and Saturday
Linyi
Tuesday and Saturday
VietJet
The airline will launch a second route between Vietnam and Sydney effective June 8th.
In accordance with its website, VietJet will fly twice weekly to/from Hanoi with 326-seat Airbus A330-300 planes.
Wednesday and Saturday
- VJ 95 Hanoi HAN 17:10 · 06:10+1 SYD Sydney
Thursday and Sunday
- VJ 96 Sydney SYD 08:30 · 16:00 HAN Hanoi
Current VietJet routes in Australia

- Adelaide (ADL) via PER: 5 weekly · Airbus A321
- Brisbane (BNE): 5 weekly · Airbus A330
- Melbourne (MEL): 7 weekly · Airbus A330
- Perth (PER): 5 weekly · Airbus A321
- Sydney (SYD): 7 weekly · Airbus A330
It will be VietJet’s first route between Hanoi and Australia.
Virgin Australia
In March, Virgin Australia introduced the Boeing 737 MAX 8 on three international routes from/to Brisbane.
Fiji, Indonesia and Samoa are the markets in the region that have added operations of the Australian carrier’s aircraft:

Fiji
- Nadi (NAN): mix 738/7M8
Indonesia
- Denpasar (DPS): mix 738/7M8
Samoa
- Apia (APW): operates only with Boeing 737 MAX
West Air
At 17:24 local time on Tuesday (12), China West Air’s inaugural flight from Changsha arrived in Vientiane. The carrier will operate three weekly flights on 180/186-passenger Airbus A320s until March 30th, at the time of publication.
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
- PN 6561 Changsha CSX 14:55 · 16:45 VTE Vientiane
- PN 6562 Vientiane VTE 17:55 · 22:05 CSX Changsha
During the last month, the Asian market, mainly, received the incorporation of many new jets.
The amount of brand new aircraft delivered from the factory is similar to the US-Canada market, as we could see in the edition published earlier this month.
Europe tends to receive many new airplanes, but less than the Asia/Oceania region. Meanwhile, in Latin America, the quantity is much lower.
These are the new aircraft added to Asian and Oceania airlines:
- Air Busan
- 9 Air
- Air China
- Air India x3 – Air India Express x3
- All Nippon Airways x2
- Cebu Pacific x2
- Donghai Airlines x2
- Hong Kong Airlines
- IndiGo x2
- Shandong Airlines
- Silkavia
- Starlux Airlines
- Virgin Australia
- Vistara x2
- Xiamen Air
Aircraft | Airline | Registration | Ferry flight | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
Airbus A320-251N | Air India | VT-RTK | TLS-DEL | Feb 27th |
Airbus A321-251NX | Hong Kong Airlines | B-KKE | XFW-DWC-HKG | Feb 27th |
Airbus A320-251N | IndiGo | VT-IQY | XFW-DEL | Feb 27th |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Shandong Airlines | B-224R | BFI-HNL-GUM-TNA | Feb 28th |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Donghai Airlines | B-224A | BFI-JRF-GUM-SZX | Feb 28th |
Airbus A330-941 | Cebu Pacific | RP-C3905 | TLS-MNL | March 1st |
Airbus A350-941 | Starlux Airlines | B-58505 | TLS-TPE | March 1st |
Airbus A321-251NX | Air Busan | HL8525 | XFW-ALA-PUS | March 2nd |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | 9 Air | B-224V | BFI-JRF-RUM-PVG | March 3rd |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Air China | B-223X | BFI-HNL-GUM-PEK | March 4th |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Air India Express | VT-BXL | BFI-KEF-KWI-HYD | March 5th |
Airbus A320-251N | Air India | VT-RTS | TLS-DEL | March 7th |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Xiamen Air | B-224X | BFI-HNL-GUM-XMN | March 10th |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Air India Express | VT-BXN | BFI-KEF-KWI-HYD | March 12th |
Airbus A321-271NX | China Airlines | B-18112 | XFW-DWC-BKK-TPE | March 14th |
Airbus A320-251N | IndiGo | VT-IQU | TLS-DEL | March 14th |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Donghai Airlines | B-224C | BFI-HNL-GUM-SZX | March 15th |
ATR 72-600 | Silkavia | UK-76205 | TLS-SAT-TAS | March 15th |
Airbus A350-941 | Air India | VT-JRE | TLS-DEL | March 16th |
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner | All Nippon Airways | JA927A | PAE-HND | March 16th |
Airbus A320-251N | Vistara | VT-TQX | TLS-RKT-BLR | March 16th |
Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner | All Nippon Airways | JA981A | CHS-LAX-HNL-HND | March 19th |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Air China | B-223Y | BFI-HNL-GUM* | March 20th |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Virgin Australia | VH-8ID | MLB-PHX-KOA-NOU-BNE | March 20th |
Airbus A321-271NX | Cebu Pacific | RP-C4142 | XFW-MCT | March 20th |
Airbus A320-251N | Vistara | VT-TQW | TLS-RKT* | March 21st |
Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Air India Express | VT-BXO | BFI-KEF* | March 21st |
*The aircraft continues with the delivery flight.
To read the other reports we have published during March, you can click on the following links:
Cover photo: Music Home – JetPhotos (Shanghai, China).