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: Miami – Cordoba

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Boeing 767
Frequency	Four weekly
Start date	2 April 2019
Distance	6,627 km
O&D traffic demand (2017)	91,879
Growth % YOY	-5.8%
Average one-way fare $ (2017)	$459.70

Insight

American Airlines will introduce Miami to Cordoba in Argentina from April 2019 as it continues to grow in Latin America. The Oneworld alliance carrier will operate the route four times per week on a 209-seat Boeing 767-300ER. Aerolineas Argentinas last operated Miami-Cordoba non-stop between 2013 and 2016, but the route has been unserved since. According to data from Sabre, more than 35,000 passengers in 2017 connected via Santiago International and almost 18,000 via São Paulo–Guarulhos. The Cordoba flight comes as American Airlines is to begin a three weekly service to Buenos Aires from its Los Angeles hub on 19 December.

Route 2: Hong Kong – Manila

Image: Aero Icarus

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Airbus A320
Frequency	Daily
Start date	1 June 2018
Distance	1,145 km
O&D traffic demand (2017)	1,763,651
Growth % YOY	11.3%
Average one-way fare $ (2017)	$113.94

Insight

Hong Kong Airlines will operate daily flights between its home base and Manila, the capital of the Philippines, from 1 June 2018. It will deploy an Airbus A320 on the new route, which will be outfitted with a single-class configuration and offer 174 seats in Economy Class. According to official figures by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, visitor arrivals from the Philippines climbed to 894,489 in 2017 – a 13 percent growth from 2016. The Hong Kong-Manila route is currently operated by five other carriers - Cathay Pacific, Cebu Pacific, Ethiopian Airlines, Philippine Airlines and Philippines AirAsia. Hong Kong Airlines previously served Manila until August 2010.

Route 3: Manchester – Antwerp

Data

Carrier
Aircraft	Fokker 50
Frequency	Two daily (one on weekends)
Start date	1 October 2018
Distance	520 km
O&D traffic demand (2017)	0.6
Growth % YOY	-99.9%
Average one-way fare $ (2017)	$78.50

Insight

VLM will serve the Manchester-Antwerp twice daily Monday to Friday, with daily flights over the weekend. It will also operate Manchester-Ostend/Bruges once a day from 1 October. Antwerp Airport’s chief executive Marcel Buelens, who also holds the same position at Ostend-Bruges, said the routes were part of a plan to “offer as many business destinations as possible from the Flemish regional airports”. Antwerp is one of Europe’s largest seaports and considered to be the world’s diamond capital. It also has the second largest petrochemical cluster in the world after Houston, Texas. Direct Manchester-Antwerp flights were last operated by BMI Regional in 2013.

Source: Sabre Market Intelligence