Airlines Active Despite Recession : Kathika Travel Website

If you read some of the headlines this week about airline expansion, new planes and new routes, you might be surprised, considering most of the world is in a recession. And while some airlines are limiting routes and cutting staff, others really are behaving as though the economy is running well. Here are just a few examples of airline activity this week:

America to Australia Route Heats Up

V Australia are starting their budget long-haul flights between the United States and Australia soon and have announced that they’ll fly from late February – tickets are already available and they actually are below $1000, with Los Angeles to Melbourne return fares on sale for $780. Qantas says they’ll compete with this and Delta Airlines are also ready to get into the action of this route, this week announcing Los Angeles to Sydney non-stop flights starting from July 2009. Travel industry insiders are predicting that come mid-2009 there will be a huge price war going on United States to Australia routes and perhaps prices will go even lower, so planning a trip Down Under could be a good New Year’s Resolution.

Emirates Getting More and More Planes

Emirates have started flying their A380 superjumbos on the Dubai to London route meaning they can fit 40% more passengers on to each flight. They’ve got a stack more A380s coming after ordering a total of 58 planes and as more are delivered they will put them into service on the Dubai to New York and Dubai to Sydney and Auckland routes. At the same time, Emirates are looking further ahead to their next plane of choice, the A350, with final designs expected to be ready in February.

Taiwan to China Travel Now Allowed

In yet another part of the world, political reasons have got airlines (and ferry companies, incidentally) suddenly active in providing new routes. Since 1949 direct travel between Taiwan and mainland China has been banned, but negotiations between the new Taiwanese president and the Chinese have gradually seen some relaxation of these rules with weekend flights occurring for the last few months. But this week some sense of normalcy returned to travel in the region and over a hundred direct passenger flights between Taiwan and various cities in mainland China will now be taking place every week. Since travelers previously had to travel through Hong Kong airspace, this cuts the travel time in half and opens up new possibilities for tourist routes, too.

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