Corporate Travel News For Asia

Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr stated he plans to discuss a potential service to Canberra from Hong Kong with Hong Kong Airlines (the-riotact.com, 13-Jun-2018). The Hong Kong meeting would be initial discussions in what the Chief Minister has called a medium to long term project to attract more airlines to Canberra. "The capacity of Canberra Airport, our large student population and our tourism attraction is all part of these discussions," a Ministerial spokesperson said, adding: "The Government was working with Canberra Airport on attracting airlines both domestic and international to Canberra and we are hoping that they can attend the meeting with Hong Kong Airlines".

China Airlines and Airbus signed (13-Jun-2018) the Airbus MRO Alliance (AMA) agreement, becoming the first initial member to sign the contract with Airbus. China Airlines and Airbus signed a MoU in Dec-2016 to cooperate in engineering and maintenance. The goal is to comprehensively upgrade China Airlines engineering, MRO and technology capabilities through Airbus support, and to join Airbus' maintenance and training network to increase sales of related services. [more - original PR - English/Chinese]

Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) confirmed (13-Jun-2018) a rejection of AirAsia's application for more Kuala Lumpur-Haikou and Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan traffic rights. MAVCOM said:

• The allocation of air traffic rights follows a process that has been discussed in close consultation and finalised after taking into consideration airlines' views, including AirAsia;
• In allocating the rights, MAVCOM aims to facilitate "orderly growth". MAVCOM said the traffic rights sought by AirAsia created "the risk of overcapacity" which "could lead to flight cancellations and merging of flights, which will inconvenience consumers".

MAVCOM said AirAsia can resubmit its application for both routes in Oct-2018. [more - original PR]

Air Niugini acting CEO Tahawar Durrani said (13-Jun-2018) there is "huge tourism potential" to Papua New Guinea, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Pacific "which all stakeholders must continue to work hard to tap into and increase the volume of Japanese and long haul travellers to the region". The statement follows the May-2018 signing of a new air services agreement between Japan, Papua New Guinea and FSM, and the announcement that Air Niugini will operate Tokyo Narita-Port Moresby-Chuuk service from 01-Sep-2018. [more - original PR]

Juneyao Airlines Group reported (14-Jun-2018) the following traffic highlight for May-2018:

• Passengers: 1.5 million, +11.5% year-on-year;
  • Domestic: 1.3 million, +11.6%;
  • International: 139,780, +10.9%;
  • Regional: 26,130, +6.5%;
• Cargo: 7341 tonnes, +2.3%;
  • Domestic: 6803 tonnes, +3.7%;
  • International: 396 tonnes, -22.7%;
  • Regional: 143 tonnes, +35.2%. [more - original PR - Chinese]

Boeing, via its official Weibo account, reported (07-Jun-2018) China has around 60 787 aircraft in service, transporting more than 22.0 million accumulated passengers. As previously reported by CAPA, China Southern Airlines took delivery of China's first 787 on 02-Jun-2013, with the aircraft commencing commercial operations on 07-Jun-2013.

CAAC reported (13-Jun-2018) the following preliminary traffic highlights for May-2018:

• Passengers: 50.1 million, +11.4% year-on-year;
• Cargo: 626,000 tonnes, +4.1%;
• Number of flights: 471,181, +11.4%. [more - original PR - Chinese]

Singapore Airlines stated (12-Jun-2018) tourist arrivals in Singapore topped 17.4 million in 2017, the second year in a row with a record high with particular growth from China, India and Indonesia. "That's half as many as visit the UK... to a country barely 0.003% the size", Singapore Airlines said. Visitors spent a record USD20.1 billion in Singapore in 2017. Singapore Airlines stated the country "has shaken off its reputation as a staid stopover spot and positioned itself as one of Asia's most dynamic destinations". [more - original PR]

Japan Airlines (JAL) strategy development VP Hiroyuki Uehara, speaking at the CAPA LCCs in North Asia Summit, stated (12-Jun-2018) JAL plans to outfit Boeing 787-8 aircraft with more than 300 seats for its start up low cost long haul airline, significantly more than the number of seats on 787-8 aircraft deployed on JAL services. Mr Uehara said potential destinations for the start up LCC include "everything in range of the 787-8", including destinations already operated by JAL and new destinations.

Air Premia CEO Dr Jong Chul Kim, speaking at the CAPA LCCs in North Asia Summit, stated (12-Jun-2018) the start up LCC aims to launch its first service in early 2020. Dr Kim confirmed Air Premia will be based at Seoul Incheon International Airport and said the LCC plans to commence operations with three aircraft and take delivery of two additional aircraft p/a.