Nigel Mayes is the senior vice president, consulting & product development at ASM. Nigel has more than 15 years’ experience in route development and is responsible for product development at ASM.

The sister company to Routes, ASM is the world‘s leading route development consultancy and has supported the creation of new air services since 1993.

Route 1: Beijing – Copenhagen

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Airbus A330-200
Frequency	Four weekly
Start date	30 May 2018
Distance	7,212 km
O&D traffic demand (year to November 2017)	80,264
Growth % YOY	-1.3%
Average one-way fare $ (year to November 2017)	$337.18

Insight

Air China's inventory update has opened reservation for its planned service resumption on Beijing – Copenhagen, which is scheduled to start on 30 May 2018. The airline previously planned to resume this route from June 2012 with four weekly frequencies, but the launch was cancelled prior to the start date. Beijing – Copenhagen is currently operated by Air China's Star Alliance partner SAS Scandinavian Airlines. The launch comes amid a sharp rise in the number of Chinese tourists to Denmark, with VisitDenmark reporting that 262,000 people visited the Scandinavian country in 2017. Tour operator Tuniu said the number of Chinese visitors to Denmark was only 50,000 in 2009.

Route 2: Kuala Lumpur – Brisbane

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Airbus A330-300
Frequency	Four weekly
Start date	6 June 2018
Distance	6,466 km
O&D traffic demand (2016)	21,833
Growth % YOY	5.4%
Average one-way fare $ (2016)	$525.79

Insight

Qantas partner Malaysia Airlines will resume non-stop flights between Routes Asia 2018 host city Brisbane and Kuala Lumpur in June 2018, two years after cancelling the route. The four times weekly service will be provided using an A330-300 with up to 290 seats. Flights in each direction will run on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Since its departure in August 2015, Brisbane has been without any non-stop flights to Kuala Lumpur. However, the new the flights are expected to bring more than 60,000 international visitors to Queensland each year.

Route 3: Tel Aviv – Tenerife South

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Boeing 737 MAX 8
Frequency	Weekly
Start date	27 March 2018
Distance	4,942 km
O&D traffic demand (year to November 2017)	4,509
Growth % YOY	-31%
Average one-way fare $ (year to November 2017)	$240.86

Insight

Czech carrier Smartwings plans to launch a Tel Aviv – Tenerife South service from March 2018, alongside flights from the Israeli city to Madrid. The weekly Tenerife service will be operated by Boeing 737 MAX 8.

Source: Sabre Market Intelligence