On October 27th at 19:00 local time, the first Lufthansa Cargo flight from Frankfurt landed at Chennai International Airport. This service was carried out by the Boeing 777F with registration D-ALFL, named “¡Hola, Argentina!”, which the German airline incorporated on August 17th, new from the factory.

Lufthansa Cargo will fly two times weekly between Frankfurt and Chennai, expanding the Indian city’s connectivity with European markets. On Fridays, operations will be shared with Mumbai, while on Sundays with Hyderabad.

The airline recently launched its winter 2024/25 regular schedule, planning 50 frequencies per week to Asia among its 17 destinations in the market. As well as the start of Chennai, Lufthansa Cargo will increase services to Ho Chi Minh City, Mumbai and Taipei.

Considering other new routes, last August, the carrier added Shenzhen and Zhengzhou to its network of freighter destinations.

Friday

• LH 8360  Frankfurt FRA 04:50 · 17:25 BOM Mumbai
• LH 8361  Mumbai BOM 19:40 · 21:30 MAA Chennai
• LH 8361  Chennai FRA 23:30 · 05:20+1 FRA Frankfurt

Sunday

• LH 8374  Frankfurt FRA 05:05 · 18:40 MAA Chennai
• LH 8375  Chennai MAA 20:40 · 21:50 HYD Hyderabad
• LH 8375  Hyderabad HYD 23:50 · 05:15+1 FRA Frankfurt

With respect to passenger flights, Lufthansa operates five weekly services between Frankfurt and Chennai using Airbus A340-300 airplanes for 279 passengers in three classes (30 Business, 28 Premium Economy and 221 Economy).

Air India commenced operations to the US with Airbus A350s

Air India’s first Airbus A350-900 transatlantic scheduled flight departed Delhi on November 1st.

The airline began operating with these planes between India and the United States, being Delhi – New York the first regular route.

In accordance with our database, Air India will have a daily frequency to John F. Kennedy Airport by A350-900 jets, which are configured for 316 passengers. The A350s replaced the Boeing 777-300(ER) on this service.

Daily

• AI 101  Delhi DEL 02:30 · 06:55 JFK New York
• AI 102  New York JFK 10:55 · 11:05+1 DEL Delhi

Delhi and Mumbai are Air India’s routes from JFK, offering seven flights a week to BOM on 777-300(ER) aircraft.

Chicago, New York, Newark, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington DC are the company’s North American destinations.

ITA Airways inaugurated flights to Thailand

At 08:22 local time on November 17th, ITA’s inaugural service from Rome arrived in Bangkok. The Italian company will perform five weekly flights on this route with Airbus A330-900neo airplanes.

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

• AZ 758  Rome FCO 15:15 · 07:40+1 BKK Bangkok

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

• AZ 759  Bangkok BKK 12:15 · 19:15 FCO Rome

The Thai capital becomes ITA’s sixth destination in Asia, joining Delhi, Jeddah, Riyadh, Tokyo Narita and Dubai, the latter being another new route recently launched from Rome Fiumicino.

• Bangkok (BKK): 5 weekly · Airbus A330neo
• Delhi (DEL): 7 weekly · Airbus A330neo
• Dubai (DXB): 7 weekly · Airbus A321neo
• Jeddah (JED): 3 weekly · Airbus A321neo
• Riyadh (RUH): 5 weekly · Airbus A321neo
• Tokyo (NRT): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900

Qantas retired its Boeing 717s

The Australian airline retired its Boeing 717-200 after 15 years of operations.

On October 26th at 18:08 local time, the last scheduled flight of a Qantas’ Boeing 717, which was operated by National Jet Systems, landed in Canberra. The aircraft has the registration VH-YQS, and had been incorporated in October 2013.

The retirement of the Boeing 717-200 was due to the fleet renewal program, adding new Airbus A220-300s. It currently has four, and plans to introduce more in the near future.

As per our database, Boeing 717 VH-YQS departed Canberra for Victorville on November 5th at 07:56 local time. Apia and Kailua-Kona were the stopovers, arriving at VCV on Thursday, November 7th.

We review other highlights of the Asia and Oceania market

Aero Dili

The carrier intends to start operations to Australia in November, with two routes from Dili.

Darwin and Melbourne are scheduled to be served by Aero Dili from/to East Timor’s capital with 165-seat Airbus A320-200s.

DIL – DRW

• 8G 271  Dili DIL 07:45 · 09:30 DRW Darwin (Wednesday)
• 8G 272  Darwin DRW 10:15 · 11:00 DIL Dili (Wednesday)

DIL – MEL

• 8G 291  Dili DIL 18:00 · 00:20+1 MEL Melbourne (Monday)
• 8G 292  Melbourne MEL 02:30 · 06:50 DIL Dili (Tuesday)

Note: based on our database, flights are listed as of October 26th, although, apparently, none have been operated so far.

Air India

In addition to the first A350 service to the United States, Air India launched several domestic routes between late October and early November, which will be flown on Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.

• Delhi (DEL) – Indore (IDR): 7 weekly · October 27th · 737 MAX
• Cochin (COK) – Pune (PNQ): 6 weekly · October 27th · 737 MAX
• Visakhapatnam (VTZ) – Vijayawada (VGA): 7 weekly · October 27th · A320neo
• Chennai (MAA) – Jaipur (JAI): 7 weekly · November 1st · 737 MAX
• Chennai (MAA) – Pune (PNQ): 7 weekly · November 1st · 737 MAX
• Chennai (MAA) – Goa (GOI): 7 weekly · November 1st · 737 MAX
• Chennai (MAA) – Cochin (COK): 2 weekly · November 6th · 737 MAX

On the other hand, the company will commence flights to Indore and Port Blair from Kolkata in December using Airbus A320neo airplanes.

Air Tahiti Nui

Changes in its operations to Europe.

The airline will increase frequencies on the Papeete – Los Angeles – Paris Charles de Gaulle route and vice versa, and will suspend the Seattle – Paris Charles de Gaulle leg of the original Papeete – Seattle – CDG service.

• PPT – Los Angeles (LAX) – Paris (CDG): from 3 to 4 weekly · February 9th, 2025
• PPT – Seattle (SEA) – Paris (CDG): service suspended effective January 5th, 2025

Air Tahiti Nui will continue to operate between Papeete and Seattle, two times per week, and is scheduled to resume Seattle – Paris CDG in April 2025.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines

The carrier expanded its flights between Bangladesh and Canada, boosting from two to three times weekly as of October 31st.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines serves Dhaka – Istanbul – Toronto and vice versa with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• BG 305  Dhaka DAC 03:35 · 09:30 IST Istanbul
• BG 305  Istanbul IST 10:45 · 13:40 YYZ Toronto

• BG 306  Toronto YYZ 17:30 · 11:15+1 IST Istanbul
• BG 306  Istanbul IST 12:30+1 · 22:35+1 DAC Dhaka

New operation on Thursdays.

Cathay Pacific

Cathay will commence services between Hong Kong and Hyderabad from March 30th, 2025, a route it will operate three times a week by Airbus A330-300s.

Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday

• CX 673  Hong Kong HKG 21:35 · 00:45+1 HYD Hyderabad
• CX 672  Hyderabad HYD 01:50 · 09:50 HKG Hong Kong (Mon, Thu, Sun)

Cebu Pacific

Effective January 16th, 2025, Cebu Pacific Air intends to launch flights between Manila and Sapporo CTS. Operations are scheduled to be flown three times weekly on 180-seat Airbus A320neo aircraft.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• 5J 5128  Manila MNL 11:15 · 17:25 CTS Sapporo
• 5J 5129  Sapporo CTS 18:25 · 23:20 MNL Manila

China Southern

The Chinese company will initiate services to Nagoya from Guangzhou by Airbus A320-200 aircraft, starting December 20th. Based on its website, China Southern Airlines will have one daily frequency, as follows:

Daily

• CZ 6055  Guangzhou CAN 09:05 · 13:45 NGO Nagoya
• CZ 6066  Nagoya NGO 15:00 · 19:05 CAN Guangzhou

Fly91

Two new domestic routes in India.

The airline inaugurated on October 27th a new connection to/from Goa, its hub, and the other from/to Pune, which will be offered with 70-seat ATR 72-600 planes.

• Goa (GOX) – Pune (PNQ): 7 weekly · October 27th
• Pune (PNQ) – Sindhudurg (SDW): 2 weekly · October 27th

In green, its other routes in India.

Greater Bay

Tunxi, Greater Bay Airlines’ new destination in China.

Flights between Hong Kong and Tunxi, Mainland China, will commence from December 4th and will be conducted by Boeing 737-800s with a capacity of 189 passengers.

HKG – TXN

• HB 856  Hong Kong HKG 17:00 · 19:00 TXN Tunxi (Wednesday)
• HB 856  Hong Kong HKG 17:00 · 19:00 TXN Tunxi (Friday)
• HB 854  Hong Kong HKG 09:25 · 11:25 TXN Tunxi (Sunday)

TXN – HKG

• HB 857  Tunxi TXN 20:15 · 22:30 HKG Hong Kong (Wednesday)
• HB 857  Tunxi TXN 20:15 · 22:30 HKG Hong Kong (Friday)
• HB 855  Tunxi TXN 12:15 · 14:25 HKG Hong Kong (Sunday)

IndiGo

The Indian low cost will launch a new route to Malaysia, to be served using 180-seat Airbus A320neo aircraft. These operations will start on December 16th:

Daily

• 6E 1043  Bengaluru BLR 03:40 · 10:25 LGK Langkawi
• 6E 1044  Langkawi LGK 11:25 · 12:55 BLR Bengaluru

Kuala Lumpur is its only current destination in Malaysia, with a daily service to/from Chennai with the same airplanes.

Iran Air

Changes to its flights to Europe.

The Iranian company plans to keep several routes suspended between Tehran and Europe until early January 2025. 

According to the current schedule, these are the tentative restart dates:

Tehran IKA

• Frankfurt (FRA): 2 weekly · January 1st, 2025 · Airbus A330
• IKA – Milan (MXP) – Rome (FCO) – IKA: 1 weekly · January 1st, 2025 · A330
• Hamburg (HAM): 2 weekly · January 2nd, 2025 · Airbus A330
• Paris (CDG): 2 weekly · January 3rd, 2025 · Airbus A330
• Vienna (VIE): 1 weekly · January 4th, 2025 · Airbus A330
• IKA – Rome (FCO) – Milan (MXP) – IKA: 1 weekly · January 5th, 2025 · A330

Jin Air

The South Korean airline expands capacity on the Seoul Incheon – Phu Quoc route.

Beginning November 16th, Jin Air switched from 189-seat Boeing 737-800s to Boeing 777-200s, configured for 393 passengers. The company will maintain its daily frequency between the two cities, as per our database.

Daily

• LJ 91  Seoul ICN 17:05 · 21:00 PQC Phu Quoc
• LJ 92  Phu Quoc PQC 22:10 · 06:05+1 ICN Seoul

Lao Airlines

Lao started flying between Vientiane and Fontaine (Laos) on October 27th, a domestic route in the country. Operations will be provided on ATR 72-500s and ATR 72-600s, seven times per week.

Daily

• QV 901  Vientiane VNE 15:00 · 16:15 BOR Fontaine
• QV 902  Fontaine BOR 16:55 · 18:10 VNE Vientiane

Bokeo (Fontaine) International Airport has 21 weekly flights to Vientiane, its only regular route.

LATAM

After four and a half years, LATAM resumed non-stop services between Santiago de Chile and Sydney.

On October 28th at 06:12 local time, the airline’s first flight from the Chilean capital arrived at Kingsford Smith International Airport. LATAM will serve four times a week with 313-passenger Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner planes.

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

• LA 809  Santiago SCL 01:40 · 06:30+1 SYD Sydney

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• LA 810  Sydney SYD 12:35 · 11:20 SCL Santiago

Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney are LATAM’s destinations in Oceania.

The non-stop flights between SCL and SYD complement the airline’s operations on the Santiago – Auckland – Sydney route and vice versa, which it performs with the same aircraft.

• Santiago (SCL) – Auckland (AKL) – Sydney (SYD): 5 weekly
• Santiago (SCL) – Melbourne (MEL): 3 weekly
• Santiago (SCL) – Sydney (SYD): 4 weekly

Furthermore, Qantas has four weekly services between Sydney and Santiago de Chile on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets.

Lion Air

At 16:35 local time on November 20th, the company’s inaugural flight to Denpasar will take off from Palembang. Lion Air will operate this route two times per week by 189-seat Boeing 737-800 single-class aircraft.

Monday and Wednesday

• JT 274  Palembang PLM 16:35 · 19:55 DPS Denpasar
• JT 275  Denpasar DPS 20:35 · 21:55 PLM Palembang

In addition, beginning in early December, the company will inaugurate another service to DPS (Medan with Boeing 737-900ER), which we will comment more about in the next Asia and Oceania report.

Nauru Airlines

More services to Brisbane.

Nauru Airlines will boost its operations from Nauru, a route currently offered three times weekly on Boeing 737-300s, Boeing 737-700s and Boeing 737-800s. From December 2nd, it will reach four flights a week.

INU – BNE

• ON 1  Nauru INU 21:45 · 00:20+1 BNE Brisbane (Monday)
• ON 1  Nauru INU 06:35 · 09:10 BNE Brisbane (Wednesday)
• ON 91  Nauru INU 15:55 · 18:30 BNE Brisbane (Wednesday)
• ON 1  Nauru INU 17:05 · 19:40 BNE Brisbane (Sunday)

BNE – INU

• ON 92  Brisbane BNE 08:20 · 14:55 INU Nauru (Wednesday)
• ON 2  Brisbane BNE 11:45 · 18:20 INU Nauru (Thursday)
• ON 41  Brisbane BNE 22:15 · 04:50+1 INU Nauru (Thursday)
• ON 2  Brisbane BNE 21:40 · 04:15+1 INU Nauru (Sunday)

New flight on Sundays.

Nepal Airlines

The carrier commenced operations between Siddharthanagar and the United Arab Emirates, with the Kathmandu – Siddharthanagar – Dubai – Kathmandu route as of November 9th.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• RA 229  Kathmandu KTM 21:35 · 22:20 BWA Siddharthanagar
• RA 229  Siddharthanagar BWA 23:25 · 02:40+1 DXB Dubai
• RA 230  Dubai DXB 04:10 · 09:20 KTM Kathmandu (Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat)

Nepal Airlines will fly Airbus A320-200 aircraft.

Qanot

Qanot Sharq continues to add new international routes, as we have been reporting in previous articles.

In this case, the airline began service between Tashkent and Sanya starting November 4th, by Airbus A321neo planes. Qanot will operate twice-weekly flights to China’s Hainan Island.

TAS – SYX

• HH 861  Tashkent TAS 19:00 · 04:30+1 SYX Sanya (Monday)
• HH 861  Tashkent TAS 19:20 · 05:00+1 SYX Sanya (Thursday)

SYX – TAS

• HH 862  Sanya SYX 05:55 · 10:30 TAS Tashkent (Tuesday)
• HH 862  Sanya SYX 05:55 · 10:35 TAS Tashkent (Friday)

Qantas

Effective January 27th, 2025, Qantas will launch operations between Melbourne and Darwin with 137-seat Airbus A220-300 aircraft. The A220s will replace the Boeing 737-800s on this route.

Daily

• QF 1268  Melbourne MEL 20:50 · 23:55 DRW Darwin
• QF 1269  Darwin DRW 00:55 · 06:55 MEL Melbourne

Royal Brunei

Balikpapan will return to Royal Brunei Airlines’ regular schedule.

Services between Bandar Seri Begawan and the Indonesian city will initiate on February 19th, 2025, using 180-seat Airbus A320neo jets.

BWN – BPN

• BI 771  Bandar BWN 19:00 · 20:30 BPN Balikpapan (Wednesday)
• BI 773  Bandar BWN 04:50 · 06:20 BPN Balikpapan (Saturday)

BPN – BWN

• BI 772  Balikpapan BPN 21:20 · 22:50 BWN Bandar (Wednesday)
• BI 774  Balikpapan BPN 07:10 · 08:40 BWN Bandar (Saturday)

Scoot

The Singapore-based airline will inaugurate three new routes by winter 2024/25.

These will start between late December and early January 2025, adding connections to China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

• Phu Quoc (PQC): 3 weekly · December 20th · E190-E2
• Padang (PDG): 4 weekly · January 6th, 2025 · E190-E2
• Jieyang (SWA): 3 weekly · January 16th, 2025 · A320

Singapore

At 00:55 local time on November 11th, Singapore Airlines’ inaugural flight to Beijing Daxing departed Singapore. The company will provide daily frequency with 337-seat Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner.

Daily

• SQ 810  Singapore SIN 00:30 · 06:35 PKX Beijing
• SQ 811  Beijing PKX 09:25 · 15:50 SIN Singapore

Beijing PEK, Beijing Daxing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xiamen are its destinations in China.

Starlux

More services to Chiang Mai.

Starting January 15th, 2025, Starlux Airlines will increase from three to seven weekly operations from Taipei, which serves by Airbus A321neo.

Daily

• JX 751/1751  Taipei TPE 12:55 · 16:15 CNX Chiang Mai
• JX 752/1752  Chiang Mai CNX 17:15 · 21:45 TPE Taipei

The daily frequency is scheduled through late February 2025.

Tigerair Taiwan

Kaohsiung – Sapporo, Tigerair’s new route.

The carrier will operate two times per week between the two cities effective January 21st, 2025, expanding to three times weekly from February 2025.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• IT 260  Kaohsiung KHH 08:00 · 12:55 CTS Sapporo
• IT 261  Sapporo CTS 13:55 · 18:05 KHH Kaohsiung

As per its website, Tigerair Taiwan will fly Airbus A320-200s.

United

Recently, we announced United Airlines’ major expansion in Asia, adding new routes to Nepal, Palau and Taiwan.

On November 14th, the airline opened reservations on its new Tokyo Narita – Kaohsiung route, which will begin on July 11th, 2025.

Daily

• UA 837  Tokyo NRT 17:30 · 21:00 KHH Kaohsiung
• UA 838  Kaohsiung KHH 10:25 · 15:15 NRT Tokyo

VietJet

The company will boost its flights to Australia in December, on two routes from Ho Chi Minh City.

Brisbane and Perth will have the following updates:

• Perth (PER): increases from 3 to 4 weekly · December 10th
• Brisbane (BNE): increases from 4 to 5 weekly · December 14th

Melbourne and Sydney are other VietJet Air destinations in the country.

Xiamen Air

Xiamen Airlines doubled its operations between Xiamen and Vancouver on November 14th, increasing from one to two services a week.

According to our database, the Chinese carrier offers this route on 287-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Monday and Thursday

• MF 805  Xiamen XMN 22:40 · 17:40 YVR Vancouver
• MF 806  Vancouver YVR 00:40 · 06:00+1 XMN Xiamen (Tuesday and Friday)

New flight on Thursdays on the XMN-YVR leg and on Fridays in the reverse direction.

ZIPAIR

The Japanese carrier will expand its flights to Bangkok from Tokyo Narita as of January 26th, 2025. In line with its website, ZIPAIR will boost from 7 to 12 weekly services on this route.

Daily

• ZG 51  Tokyo NRT 17:00 · 22:15 BKK Bangkok
• ZG 52  Bangkok BKK 23:45 · 07:30+1 NRT Tokyo

Daily except Tuesday and Saturday (new flight)

• ZG 55  Tokyo NRT 14:30 · 19:45 BKK Bangkok
• ZG 56  Bangkok BKK 07:25 · 15:10 NRT Tokyo (daily except Wed/Sun)

This schedule will be until late February 2025.

Aircraft incorporated by airlines in Asia and Oceania

• AirAsia

• Cathay Pacific

• China Eastern Airlines (x2)

• China Southern Airlines

• IndiGo (x4)

• HK express (x2)

• Jetstar

• Korean Air (x2)

• Loong Air

• Pegasus (x3)

• Shanghai Airlines (x2)

• Singapore Airlines

• Starflyer

• VietJet Air (x2)

• Xiamen Air

*It’s not new from the factory.

Other reports we have published

• Africa and Middle East
• United States and Canada
• Latin America
• Europe

Cover photo: JonathanK – JetPhotos (Frankfurt Rhein-Main Int’l Airport – EDDF, Germany)