News for Asia

Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths responded to Qantas' decision to transfer from Dubai back to Singapore, stating he does not believe it represents a growing challenge for the airport (Bloomberg, 26-Sep-2017). He said services through Dubai between Europe and Australia will grow as a result of Emirates' increased frequencies, which will occur when Qantas moves some of their traffic to Singapore in Mar-2018. He said Dubai is "very well spread", with the airport expecting approximately 1.3 billion additional passenger journeys to terminate or originate within Asia by the mid 2030s. Dubai Airports is "very bullish about growth", Mr Griffiths, noting growth has continued unabated. Mr Griffiths said "we have not lost anything to Singapore", adding the airport is growing is much faster than airports in its peer group and Dubai Airports "are very very confident that our growth will continue to outstrip all of the competitor airports around the region". 

Papua New Guinea Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Rimbink Pato reported Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "responded positively" to proposals during a meeting, including enhancing airline connectivity and discussions between aviation officials from Japan and Papua New Guinea (looppng.com, 26-Sep-2017).

Beijing Capital Airlines revised planned Qingdao–Sydney frequency from 29-Oct-2017 (Routes Online, 25-Sep-2017). Upon service launch, the airline will operate four times weekly with A330 aircraft, instead of previously scheduled twice weekly service.

Kyrgyzstan's Department of Tourism director Azamat Zhamankulov stated (22-Sep-2017) tourism is one of the priority sectors in the national development strategy in the period to 2040. Mr Zhamankulov said an inflow of tourists is expected from the CIS, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf. Mr Zhamankulov added it is necessary to launch nonstop air services to destinations in these regions. [more - original PR - Russian]

El Al Israel Airlines plans to replace Boeing 767-300ER aircraft currently deployed on three times weekly Tel Aviv-Beijing route with 777-200ER aircraft from 30-Jun-2018 (Routes Online, 24-Sep-2017). As previously reported by CAPA, Israel's Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin stated China was Israel's fastest growing source of tourists in seven months to Jul-2017, amid an increase in nonstop services from Tel Aviv to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong and an enhanced cooperation with Ctrip. Over 64,000 Chinese tourists visited Israel over the seven month period, a 66% year-on-year increase.

Avolon CEO Dómhnal Slattery stated Hainan Airlines plans to launch Beijing-Dublin service with final government approvals pending (Irish Independent, 23-Sep-2017). The planned route has been in development for over 12 months. Mr Slattery also noted that Ireland needs to significantly expand its diplomatic presence in China if it is to capitalise on opportunities the country presents.
"The size of our representation, diplomatically, in China is de minimis", he said. "(Denmark's) trade and diplomatic representation is about 100 times larger than Ireland's. That's just not good enough. There are 1.4 billion people in China who want to drink Irish milk and eat Irish meat. We need to be the primary supplier there".

Air New Zealand announced (25-Sep-2017) it will continue to operate seasonal nonstop Auckland-Ho Chi Minh City service, following strong customer demand. For the 2018 season (23-Jun-2018 to 23-Oct-2018), the airline will operate twice weekly, using its Boeing 787-9 equipment. This will be the third consecutive year of Vietnam operations. Air New Zealand chief revenue officer Cam Wallace says there has been a huge appetite for travel to Vietnam by New Zealanders, with travel "particularly strong in the July school holidays". [more - original PR]

Finavia SVP Joni Sundelin, speaking at World Routes, revealed (24-Sep-2017) Lucky Air will introduce a twice weekly Kunming-Chengdu-Helsinki service. The first regular flight into Finland from a Chinese carrier will commence on 10-Jan-2018, operated with A330-200 equipment. The Finnish airport operator has invested heavily in serving Chinese passengers and improving the customer experience at Helsinki Airport. "Having the first Chinese airline in Finland supports our goal to develop Helsinki Airport as an important air traffic hub between Europe and Asia", he said. Helsinki is already linked to Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Hong Kong by Finnair.

Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) entered (22-Sep-2017) into a 'Sister-Airport' agreement with Chongqing Airport Group to share expertise on operational and commercial development and tourism market development. The agreement aims to work cooperatively toward a direct service between the two cities. BAC GM airline and retail management Andrew Brodie stated: "Government support is essential to our success in developing more direct aviation ties with China". Brisbane Mayor Graham Quirk added this agreement "comes at a time when securing more direct flights from our largest international visitor market, China, remains a priority for Brisbane". Chongqing has a population of over 30 million. [more - original PR]

Cebu Pacific reported (20-Sep-2017) the highest passenger market share on Manila-Sydney route, based on data from Australia's Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. Details include:

• 44% of passenger market share during first five months of 2017;
  • 175,782 passengers handled on all carriers, +12% year-on-year;
• May-2017:
  • 14,039 passengers handled, +33% year-on-year;
  • 32,017 passengers handled on all carriers, +11% year-on-year;
• Freight:
  • May-2017: 950 tons, +88% year-on-year;
  • Jan-2017 to May-2017: 4064 tons, +54% year-on-year.

Cebu Pacific VP for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog added: "Australia is one of our strongest international performers and we continue to see enormous growth and opportunities in the region". Cebu Pacific is the only LCC operating on the route and plans to increase frequency from five times weekly to daily for southern summer, effective 01-Dec-2017. [more - original PR]