Carry on: Cheapest to Europe, Garuda's $US4b order and more

China Eastern drops Europe fares below $1000
Economy airfares to Europe have sunk below $1000 for the first time – about half the going rate five years ago. Flight Centre NZ says it’s offering the $999 fare through China Eastern Airlines to Amsterdam via Shanghai. The cheapest fares to Europe typically range between $1300 and $1600, depending on the time of travel and airline carrier.

The China Eastern fares are available for travel between September 8 and October 16 and are on sale until midnight on April 23, 2016. Flight Centre NZ general manager product Sean Berenson says five years ago the average cost of a return airfare to Europe was between $2000 and $2500.

“The market is very competitive right now, which has been driven by increased competition on popular routes. This has driven a frenzy of sales activity which is great for the consumer while it lasts,” he says.

Garuda signs $US4 billion Airbus deal
Indonesia’s Garuda, tipped to one of the next international airlines to put New Zealand in its network, has signed an order for 14 of Airbus’ new A330-900neo airliner. The deal, worth $US4 billion, was sealed in London in the presence of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Airbus says the order, for delivery from 2019, replaces and extends an existing one for seven of the earlier version A330-300 planes. Garuda intends to use the A330neo to develop its medium and long haul network.

Saudi launches budget carrier
Saudi Airlines Corporation will next year launch a new low-cost carrier based in Jeddah to serve both domestic and regional Gulf markets. It will operate as FlyADeal and offer “more affordable airfares choices throughout the kingdom and through its international network.”

Russia talks up challenge to Airbus, Boeing
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin says its aviation industry intends to displace Boeing and Airbus long-haul aircraft from the domestic market. Airbus and Boeing provide 80% of the aircraft used in Russia. But the government is backing the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) to supplant them. It is a single-aisled regional passenger airliner, which completed its maiden flight in 2008 and was first commercialised in 2011. It can transport up to 98 passengers over a distance of up to 2700 miles. Some 64 SSJ100s are in operation.

Route news of the week
Malaysia Airlines has re-introduced Boeing 747-400 aircraft on the Kuala Lumpur-London Heathrow route, The new schedule will operate twice weekly from May16 to June 27. Turkish Airlines has cancelled a planned expansion of its Istanbul Ataturk-Taipei Taoyuan operation. It had previously planned to increase from seven to 10 weekly from July 12 to October 29.

Codeshare deals of the week
American Airlines and Alaska Airlines will strengthen their codeshare partnership in the domestic US market. This will see AA and AS codes appearing on 11 routes operated by Alaska and 127 operated by American Airlines.

Alitalia and Virgin Australia have commenced partnership covering services between Australia and Italy via Abu Dhabi, as well as selected domestic routes. Alitalia operated by Virgin Australia:
Sydney-Abu Dhabi and
 Sydney-Brisbane. Virgin Australia operated by Alitalia:
 Abu Dhabi-Milan Malpensa,
 Abu Dhabi-Rome and 
Rome-Venice.

Malaysia Airlines and Emirates have added destinations including Kuwait, Germany and Austria to their codeshare. Emirates will further also expand its partnership with Canada’s WestJet on the latter’s services to London Gatwick from Calgary, Edmonton, St John’s (Newfoundland), Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

Tune into NBR Radio’s Sunday Business with Andrew Patterson on Sunday morning, for analysis and feature-length interviews.