Saturday, March 1, 2014

Vanilla Air adds Seoul to its network.

Today on March 1st, Vanilla Air (JW/VNL) launched service to Seoul's Incheon Airport (ICN/RKSI), its fourth destination from Tokyo/Narita (NRT/RJAA) and its second international route. The inaugural flight was operated by Airbus A320-216(SL) JA01VA, its so far only aircraft in their full livery, and departed Narita at 0659 local time as JW201 with 173 passengers on board.
Airbus A320-216(SL) JA01VA takes off from Narita. (Photo: Aviation Wire)

Narita - Incheon new 2 daily with 32A/320. *4 daily March 15 - 29. 
JW201 NRT 0705 – 0950 ICN 32A/320 Daily
JW203 NRT 0845 – 1130 ICN 32A/320 Daily *March 15 - 29. 
JW203 NRT 1600 – 1835 ICN 32A/320 Daily *March 30 - June 30.
JW205 NRT 1320 – 1555 ICN 32A/320 Daily *March 1 - 29.
JW207 NRT 1515 – 1800 ICN 32A/320 Daily *March 15 - 29.
JW202 ICN 1035 – 1250 NRT 32A/320 Daily
JW204 ICN 1215 – 1430 NRT 32A/320 Daily *March 15 - 29.
JW204 ICN 1920 – 2155 NRT 32A/320 Daily *March 30 - June 30.
JW206 ICN 1645 – 1900 NRT 32A/320 Daily *March 1 - 29.
JW208 ICN 1855 – 2110 NRT 32A/320 Daily *March 15 - 29.

Just a few days ago, Vanilla Air took delivery of their fourth aircraft, Airbus A320-211 JA8385, a secondhand machine transferred from sister All Nippon Airways (NH/ANA). It debuted on March 1st on flight JW901 from Narita to Sapporo/New Chitose (CTS/RJCC). Its fifth will also come from ANA (rumors point out at JA8391) later this month. Unlike the first three, which seat 180, these two aircraft retain ANA's 166-seat configuration. Starting tomorrow, JA8385 is expected to serve primarily the Incheon route.

Meanwhile, Vanilla Air reported statistics for December and January. From December 20th, when they launched service, to December 31st, 6,088 out of 7,200 seats were filled for their Narita - Okinawa/Naha (OKA/ROAH) service for a load factor of 84.6%, and 4,065 out of 4,320 seats were filled for their Narita - Taipei/Taoyuan (TPE/RCTP) route for a load factor of 94.1%. January saw Sapporo/New Chitose (CTS/RJCC) added to their network, and 18,673 out of 33,840 seats were filled for domestic flights resulting in 54.9%, while its Taoyuan service remained popular at 91.6%, filling 10,716 out of 11,700 seats. For December, their in-service rate was 100%, on-time departure rate was 62.5%, and on-time arrival rate was 78.1%, while these figures for January were 93.3%, 82.9%, and 84.9%, respectively. 

Present at the inaugural departure, Vanilla Air's President Tomonori Ishii said they are working hard to achieve its first profitable year for fiscal year 2015, in contrast to 100%-parent ANA Holdings' forecast of fiscal year 2016. Fleet plans call for a total of six by the end of March, three additions in fiscal year 2014, and two more in fiscal year 2015. A formal announcement to start Guam and/or Saipan, both of which sister ANA does not serve, is expected to be made later this year.

Source: Vanilla Air, February 26th. (in Japanese)
Source: Aviation Wire, March 1st. (in Japanese)

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