Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport

New Denver-Tokyo 787 service to help boost United's sagging trans-Pacific performance

United’s plans to launch new flights from its Denver hub to Tokyo Narita Airport in Mar-2013 with its 219-seat Boeing 787 comes at fortuitous timing. While North Asia-North America traffic has been growing, primarily at the behest of Asian carriers, United is the best positioned of US carriers to take part in this growth since it achieves the highest trans-Pacific yields. Combined with anti-trust immunity with Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA), which is already showing benefits, and United's market leading position in the US, United will be able to grow the market.

Yet trans-Pacific yields are the lowest international ones for United, as it is with other US carriers. The trans-Pacific market does not have the strong corporate and leisure base of Europe or the VFR traffic of Latin America. With yield growth being more limited, the 787 will help the bottom line with its step change in efficiency, reducing costs. United will certainly not be the last carrier to take advantage of changing competitive dynamics.

Houston airport operator envisions Hobby offering international flights in 12 markets

Studies carried out on behalf of the Houston Airport System (HAS) to examine the viability of international flights from Houston Hobby airport contemplate a two-phased introduction of 12 markets to Mexico and Central America. Southwest Airlines is pushing for facilities at Hobby to support international flights, but research conducted shows that Mexican low cost carriers VivaAerobus and Volaris would also have an interest to operate international service from Hobby. It is not surprising United has mounted vehement opposition to Southwest’s campaign, as it enjoys majority carrier status in most of those markets with its service offerings from Houston Intercontinental Airport.

Earlier this year Southwest asked Houston Airport System (HAS) to conduct a feasibility study for the addition of a five-gate terminal at Houston Hobby Airport to support international flights. Houston is Southwest’s sixth largest city based on daily departures, and the city’s geographical location makes it an ideal destination for short-haul international flights to Mexico and Central and South America. Data in the study conducted on behalf of HAS show that Houston was the point of entry for 64% of Mexican visitors travelling by air to the US in 2010. Through its acquisition of AirTran, previously domestic-only Southwest is gaining knowledge of international operations now that it is managing AirTran’s network, which includes flights to the Caribbean and Central America.

United Airlines eager to tap expected growth in US-Africa market

United Airlines aims to further expand its network in Africa, the fast-growing market it only began serving last year and last month tripled its capacity in with the launch of Houston-Lagos service. But the rate of expansion will likely be relatively slow, reflecting some of the growing pains in Africa experienced by rival Delta Air Lines.

The opportunities in Africa for US carriers are huge given the current small number of flights in the market and the increasing economic ties between the US and several African countries. US-Africa has always been a modestly sized market that has traditionally been served primarily with connections via Europe. Slowly more direct services are opening up and over the next several years new flights are expected to be launched by US and African carriers.

Africa finally became the sixth and final continent to be added to United’s network in Jun-2010, when the carrier launched daily Boeing 767 service on the Washington Dulles-Accra route.

Why Singapore Airlines is reducing Houston to less than daily service

Singapore Airlines (SIA) decided earlier this week to reduce capacity to Houston, which in late March will become the carrier’s only US destination without daily service. The decision to drop two of the seven weekly Boeing 777-300ER frequencies SIA currently operates on the Singapore-Moscow-Houston route is a response to low demand. Houston has been the worst performing US destination for SIA since the carrier began serving the Texas city in 2008.

World Airport Rankings 2010: US airports dominate, Atlanta still biggest. Tokyo Haneda into Top 30

The world’s air traffic controllers had a slightly busier year in 2010, handling 0.8% more flights across the leading airports. But regional differences abound. Aircraft movements increased the most in Latin America-Caribbean (+6.2%), Middle East (+6.1%) and Asia Pacific (+5%) while movements continued to decline in Europe (-0.4%) and North America (-1.2%), according to Airports Council International.

World Airport Rankings 2010: Big changes to global Top 30. Beijing up to #2, Heathrow falls to #4

The rankings of the world’s busiest airports for 2010 have yielded some key developments in global aviation. Beijing Capital Airport has surged into second place behind Atlanta, leapfrogging London Heathrow, which has also dropped below Chicago O’Hare, according to Airports Council International (ACI).