Corporate Travel News For Asia

London Stansted Airport CEO Ken O'Toole commented (16-Mar-2018) on the airport's growth potential, stating: "Over the next decade, runway capacity in the south east will be at a premium and Stansted will be responsible for delivering 50% of London's expected passenger growth and make a greater contribution to improving the UK's connectivity with the rest of the world". Mr O'Toole added: "We are all really excited at the prospect of welcoming Emirates to Stansted in June [2018], in addition to Primera Air adding direct flights to New York, Boston, Toronto and Washington. Our ambition now is to secure new services to key markets in China and India and more routes to the USA". [more - original PR]

Tourism Australia reported (15-Feb-2018) visitor arrivals to Australia for Jan-2018. Details include:

• Visitor arrivals: 702,500, -3.0% year-on-year;
  • China: 118,100, -29.2%;
  • New Zealand: 87,800, +0.1%;
  • UK: 77,100, +6.2%;
  • US: 70,000, +17.4%;
  • Singapore: 15,500, -17.6%.

According to the CAPA Tourism Database, Jan-2018 marked the country's first decline in visitor arrivals after 10 consecutive months of growth. [more - original PR]

Hainan Airlines announced (15-Mar-2018) plans to launch twice weekly Beijing-Dublin-Edinburgh-Beijing and twice weekly Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin-Beijing services with A330 aircraft on 12-Jun-2018. Hainan Airlines signed cooperation agreements with Dublin Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Tourism Ireland and VisitScotland. Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said: "I'm pleased to see that Hainan Airlines will launch the first non-stop service between Beijing and Dublin, providing the convenience of a direct route between the two countries for tourists, students studying abroad and business travellers going to China and Ireland". Edinburgh Airport CEO Gordon Dewar, who said the new route is a culmination of many years of work, added: "Edinburgh is second only to London as the most popular UK destination for Chinese tourists, and we have worked incredibly hard with partners across the city and country to get to this point". Chinese travellers can visit the UK and Ireland on a single visa from either country. Around 120,000 passengers travelled between Ireland and mainland China in 2017, with journeys to and from Beijing accounting for more than a quarter of those trips. Ireland is the largest travel market in Europe for Chinese traffic that does not currently have a nonstop service. Tourism Ireland estimates around 70,000 Chinese visitors came to Ireland in 2017, up from 60,000 in 2016. [more - original PR - Hainan Airlines] [more - original PR - Dublin Airport] [more - original PR - Edinburgh Airport]

Air France-KLM stated (14-Mar-2018) in order to offer customers an "extensive network and the best connecting opportunities", the group is "actively pursuing its policy of strengthening its existing alliances and exploring new partnerships". The company added:

• A wider choice of destinations and connections will be available for customers travelling between India and Europe via Paris and Amsterdam thanks to the enhanced cooperation agreement recently signed with Jet Airways;
• JV with Alitalia and Delta Air Lines provides customers with access to more than 270 destinations beyond 27 North American cities and offers more than 215 destinations beyond the 28 European gateways;
• Air France-KLM to continue its strategic JV with China Eastern Airlines from Paris CDG and Amsterdam to Shanghai, while maintaining JV agreements with China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines on services from Paris and Amsterdam to Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Beijing and Xiamen;
• Offer new Paris CDG-Taipei service in cooperation with China Airlines;
• KLM integrated in the JV between Air France and Air Mauritius. KLM and Air Mauritius will share a coordinated schedule throughout 2018 on the Amsterdam-Mauritius route. [more - original PR - English/French]
  

Atlas Air applied (14-Mar-2018) for the reallocation of a US-Hong Kong fifth freedom all-cargo frequency from Doha to Chennai. The carrier plans to launch weekly Hong Kong-Chennai service on 30-May-2018. Atlas Air said it believes the new service will not disadvantage other US carriers as it will still only operate three Hong Kong fifth freedom frequencies. [more - original PR]

US Department of Transportation (DoT) approved (14-Mar-2018) Air China's application for fifth freedom service on Beijing-Houston-Panama City route. The authority is effective from 14-Mar-2018 to 14-Mar-2019. [more - original PR]

Air Belgium, via its official Facebook and Twitter accounts, announced (13-Mar-2018) it received an AOC. "It won't be long before you'll be able to book your tickets from Brussels South Charleroi to Hong Kong", the carrier said. The company is reportedly aiming for a mid Apr-2018 inaugural service (RTL/AIN Online/De Tijd, 13-Mar-2018). Air Belgium's initial operating capital is EUR20 million.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce reported (13-Mar-2018) Singapore is Qantas' largest hub outside of Australia "carrying more than 20% of our widebody fleet". Mr Joyce stated Singapore is a "cornerstone city in our international network strategy and plays an important role in our ability to respond to the incredible growth we are seeing in travellers from Asia". Qantas plans to resume Sydney-London service via Singapore from 25-Mar-2018 and in Apr-2018 the carrier will operate over 50 return services in and out of Singapore Changi Airport per week, making it one of the largest foreign airlines to operate out of Singapore. [more - original PR]

Qantas, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) signed (13-Mar-2018) a SDG5 million (USD3.8 million) partnership to promote Singapore as a destination and a connecting gateway to Asia, Europe and Australia. Under the three year tripartite MoU, the parties will work together on a series of joint marketing campaigns in Australia, the UK and Southeast Asia to promote travel on Qantas services via Singapore. Qantas plans to resume Sydney-London service via Singapore from 25-Mar-2018. Qantas Group CEO Mr Alan Joyce said the partnership is aimed at boosting the number of people travelling through Singapore from key markets in Australia and the UK. Mr Joyce added that the deal will allow Qantas to "better leverage our powerful partner network in the region", including through the three Jetstar branded carriers that connect with Qantas via Singapore. [more - original PR]

Lufthansa confirmed (13-Mar-2018) the first of five A380s to be based at Munich Airport will relocate from Frankfurt to Munich on 17-Mar-2018. As previously reported by CAPA, Lufthansa will operate A380 aircraft on routes from Munich to Beijing, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. [more - original PR - German]