Corporate Travel News For Asia

XL Airways France reportedly received investor interest from IAG, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Aigle Azur (Journal du Dimanche, 04-Feb-2018). XL Airways operates four A330s and merged with La Compagnie in 2017. XL Airways France is reportedly due to hold a board meeting in mid Feb-2018 to discuss reported interest.

Darwin International Airport stated (06-Feb-2018) it was "sorry" to learn of Philippine Airlines (PAL) intention to suspend air services to Darwin from 24-Mar-2018. Darwin International Airport noted that after nearly five years of continued service to the Northern Territory capital, the "travelling public and all stakeholders concerned were surprised to learn that PAL could no longer sustain the route, even though data available through Airport IS indicated the DRW-MNL service achieved the highest yields of all services connecting the Philippines and Australia". Together with other partners such as the Northern Territory Government, the airport is making a "concerted effort to encourage a new carrier to serve the Manila market; a market which is in easy reach of Darwin by a narrowbody jet". The airport stated it is "committed to improving the economic viability of a service, to serve one of the largest Filipino community catchment areas in Northern Australia, with an estimated ex-pat community of 15,000". Darwin Airport also commented that NT's significant gas reserves and other business aspects adds to the higher yielding market aspects, with the large presence of Japanese and other Asian interests in the top end, that provided high yielding traffic volumes. These higher yield business traffic volumes from near-to Asian markets, coupled with strong VFR frequencies and recent lift in capacity by SilkAir is at odds with what is a high yield market that Darwin is. Darwin Airport expects a new entrant will fill the PAL void, due to these and other significant revenue opportunities PAL's suspension offers.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari ratified (05-Feb-2018) air services agreements with Algeria, China, Qatar, the Republic of the Congo and Singapore on 05-Feb-2018. Senior special assistant to the President (media and publicity) Garba Shehu stated: "With the execution of these Instruments, it is expected that Nigeria's aviation links with the respective countries will improve significantly". [more - original PR]

Air China applied (05-Feb-2018) for an exemption from the US Department of Transportation to engage in scheduled service between Beijing and Houston and beyond to Panama City, for a period of at least one year. The carrier proposes to operate both passenger and "belly cargo" service on a twice weekly basis from 29-Mar-2018, using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. [more - original PR]

UPS commenced (05-Feb-2018) weekly Louisville-Dubai-Shenzhen-Anchorage-Louisville service with a new Boeing 747-8F aircraft. The carrier will increase frequency to five times weekly from 27-Feb-2018. The 12,400km Louisville-Dubai sector is the longest regular scheduled service ever operated by UPS and is expected to improve transit time from North and South America to key Middle East destinations by one business day. The carrier also increased Cologne-Dubai capacity to meet demand for connections from Europe to the Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa. UPS plans to expand its presence in Dubai by establishing capacity, technology and staff capabilities ahead of Expo 2020. The UAE is the US' largest export destination in the Middle East. [more - original PR]

Hainan Airlines, via its official Weibo account, announced (02-Feb-2018) plans to launch three times weekly Beijing-Tijuana-Mexico City service with Boeing 787 aircraft from 21-Mar-2018. Once launched the service will be Hainan Airlines' first nonstop between China and Latin America.

AirAsia X confirmed (04-Feb-2018) plans to move twice daily Kuala Lumpur-Melbourne service from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport to Melbourne Avalon Airport "later this year". The change forms part of a 10 year agreement between AirAsia X and Avalon Airport, which is "structured to accommodate AirAsia X's significant growth" and is "the first such deal in Australia", according to Avalon Airport CEO Justin Giddings. The airline will be the first international carrier at Avalon Airport. The airport is expected to handle 500,000 international passengers in the first year of operations. AirAsia Group CEO and AirAsia X Group co-CEO Tony Fernandes said the move "will help us maintain our cost edge and allow us to continue offering low fares to ASEAN, Asia and beyond". Linfox Airports executive chairman David Fox said: "I am particularly excited about the large volumes of freight capacity that AirAsia X has on each flight. We have received great interest from exporters in the region and this now provides the perfect platform for fresh food access to Asia". [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]

Western Global Airlines applied (02-Feb-2018) for an exemption and certificate of public convenience and necessity from the US Department of Transportation to operate scheduled service between the US and countries with existing open skies agreements, or countries that become US open skies partners in the future. The carrier anticipates expanding cargo service beyond its existing US-China/Hong Kong authorisation, noting the open-skies authority is "ideally suited to that purpose" as it would eliminate the need for multiple applications for noncontroversial authorities. [more - original PR]

Garuda Indonesia announced (02-Feb-2018) plans to increase Jakarta-Perth frequency from four to five times weekly, effective 04-May-2018. The airline operates the service with 162 seat Boeing 737-800 equipment. The extra frequency is expected to boost visitor numbers to Western Australia and will increase capacity on the route to 84,240 seats p/a. The Western Australia Government, through Tourism WA in partnership with Perth Airport, played "a pivotal role" in attracting the additional frequency. Indonesia is Western Australia's seventh largest inbound visitor market. [more - original PR - Perth Airport] [more - original PR - Tourism WA]

Japan Airlines (JAL) and Alaska Airlines agreed (02-Feb-2018) to expand their existing codeshare partnership. JAL initially entered a commercial partnership with Alaska Airlines in Jun-2016, which included codeshare agreements to provide new network opportunities in the US and enhanced the FFP to enable opportunities to accumulate mileage and redeem award tickets. With the merger of Alaska Airlines and Virgin America completed in Dec-2016, the carrier expanded its network out of San Francisco and Los Angeles, with this expanded network to feature in the new JAL agreement. Reservation and ticket sales for the new codeshare services will start from 06-Feb-2018, pending government approvals. [more - original PR]