Corporate Travel News For Asia

AirAsia X and Melbourne Avalon Airport reportedly intend to make an announcement on 04-Feb-2018 regarding the airline's plans to transfer twice daily Kuala Lumpur-Melbourne service from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport to Avalon in late 2018 (Sydney Morning Herald, 01-Feb-2018). The service would be Avalon's first international operation, requiring development of international terminal facilities, including immigration, quarantine and Border Force operations.

Air Belgium confirmed (31-Jan-2018) the selection of Brussels South Charleroi Airport as its base. Air Belgium stated the airport has committed to "undergo a metamorphosis" to serve the airline's international aspirations. Air Belgium will operate a fleet of four A340-400 aircraft, due for delivery from Feb-2018, and will serve routes to China and other Asian destinations. The inaugural route is Brussels Charleroi-Hong Kong, to be served from the end of Mar-2018. Air Belgium CEO Niky Terzakis noted the share of international passengers totals 60% at Charleroi. "We are convinced that our passengers will benefit from a great service, especially because Brussels South is starting to adjust its current infrastructure", he concluded. [more - original PR]

Copa Airlines CEO Pedro Heilbron acknowledged the potential for establishing the connections of the airline with the new direct service scheduled for Mar-2018 by Air China on the China-Panama route (Xinhua, 30-Jan-2018). "The idea is that when their flights [from Air China] come to Panama, they can connect with the Copa network, ensure that they are successful and that in the future they can increase it... if this Air-China- Copa works well, we can surely see those flight frequencies increasing towards the future", he said. He said the concept in the "hub of the Americas", or the hub of Copa Airlines that operates in Panama City Tocumen International Airport, "is to work with other airlines with the connectivity of other regions of the world, such as they have done it very successfully with European airlines". Mr Heilbron said that they are already exchanging documents to close the codeshare agreement, stating: "Panama is a great opportunity, since China is one of the origins of travellers with more growth of travelers worldwide". Our region is a different and attractive region that is not well connected with China".

Emirates president Tim Clark commented that Qantas' decision to embark on ultra-long haul operations, such as its upcoming Perth-London nonstop service, will need to be worked through in the context of their partnership (The Age, 31-Jan-2018). Sir Tim said he expects Qantas will move more European traffic onto nonstop flights via Perth, and other Australian cities once newer ultra-long haul equipment becomes available, although it is "anyone's guess" what the effect the introduction of these operations will have on Emirates' operations into Australian cities. If traffic "flatlines or goes south, all of us have to go into a reset mode", said Sir Tim. Emirates and Qantas announced changes to their partnership relationship in late 2017, with Qantas abandoning Dubai as its stop-over for Australia to Europe operations in favour of Singapore, from Mar-2018, and Emirates announcing it will end trans Tasman operations.

Hainan Airlines, via its official Weibo account, announced (30-Jan-2018) it launched twice weekly Haikou-Sydney service with A330 aircraft on 30-Jan-2018, marking the first intercontinental service from Hainan Province.

IAG CEO Willie Walsh called (29-Jan-2018) on UK Prime Minister Theresa May to introduce a new 10 year visa for Chinese visitors, first proposed in Oct-2015. Mr Walsh said: "We need a step change on China. We make it hard for Chinese tourists to visit. The USA charges GBP119 for a 10 year visa while Britain charges GBP767. Making it easier for Chinese businesses and tourists to come to the UK is critical to boosting our economy and enhancing global trading links, especially post Brexit. We continue to lose out on the new jobs that Chinese investment and affluent tourists bring". IAG also called on the government to implement two proposals from the UK China Visitor Alliance, new biometric visas issued by Schengen countries to be recognised by the UK and the granting of visas to the parents of Chinese students studying in the UK. Ms May is due to visit China in Jan-2018. [more - original PR]

IndiGo reportedly plans to commence low cost services from New Delhi to London, Paris, Hong Kong and Madrid from winter 2019 (Moneycontrol.com, 29-Jan-2018). The carrier reportedly sought regulatory approval to operate the services with A330 aircraft.

Tourism WA (TWA) outlined (Jan-2018) details of its business promotion campaign with Ctrip.

• Campaign objectives:
  • Increase destination awareness of WA's products and stimulate travel demand to key West Australian regions among Free Independent Travellers (FITs) in China;
  • Encourage and assist WA industry operators to work in conjunction with key distribution partners in China to promote their products and experiences on Ctrip;
  • Leverage partnership opportunities available through Ctrip in order to drive overnight bookings to WA industry operators;
  • Support and generate ticket sales to Perth on China Southern Airlines.
• Target audience:
  • Free Independent Travellers from first tier cities in China (Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai) and second tier cities (Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Chonqqing, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Changsha);
  • Affluent couples between 30 to 49 years of age and who travel overseas at least once or twice a year, and have had long-haul travel experiences in the past two years;
  • Repeat visitors to Australia and potential first time travellers to Australia;
  • Adventure seekers, younger generation travellers who seek "unique and authentic" Australian experiences.

China is Western Australia's largest inbound market for visitor expenditure and sixth largest in visitor arrivals, with 57,000 Chinese visitors for the year ending Sept-2017. [more - original PR]

New Zealand Taxpayers' Union reported (26-Jan-2018) Singapore Airlines' (SIA) Wellington-Canberra route averaged a passenger load factor of 60%, compared to an average of nearly 80% for all flights in and out of Australia, according to the group. Taxpayers' Union economist Joe Ascroft commentated that it is "no surprise that Singapore had to move their flight route to Melbourne" as earning a profit with these load factors "was never realistic", even after subsidies provided by the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency. Mr Ascroft said he believes that switching the route to Melbourne "is unlikely to be successful either", noting that Jetstar was forced to discontinue their Wellington-Melbourne route in 2016 "because it was unprofitable to compete with Air New Zealand and Qantas". The Taxpayers' Union is calling on the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency to cancel its subsidy deal with Singapore Airlines. [more - original PR]

Philippine Airlines announced (25-Jan-2018) plans to commence three times weekly Manila-Brisbane service on 27-Mar-2018 and increase frequency to four times weekly, effective 01-May-2018. The airline will initially operate the service with 254 seat A340 equipment, before deploying A321neo equipment later in 1H2018. The duration of the nonstop service will be less than seven hours, compared to nine hours and 20 minutes for existing Manila-Darwin-Brisbane service. The carrier will temporarily suspend Darwin service, effective 25-Mar-2018, and stated: "A stand-alone Manila-Darwin service would be uneconomically sustainable. The airline will revisit this decision in the near future as market conditions improve". [more - original PR]