Corporate Travel News For Asia

Singapore Airlines announced (24-Jan-2018) plans to commence daily Singapore-Sydney-Canberra service on 01-May-2018 and four times weekly Singapore-Melbourne-Wellington service on 03-May-2018. The airline will suspend four times weekly Singapore-Canberra-Wellington service, effective 01-May-2018. The new service will increase year round Sydney frequency to five times daily. The carrier will operate Singapore-Sydney-Canberra-Singapore service with Boeing 777-300ER equipment configured with four first class, 48 business class, 28 premium economy and 184 economy class seats and operate Singapore-Melbourne-Wellington service with 777-200 equipment configured with 38 business class and 228 economy class seats. Singapore Airlines SVP marketing planning Tan Kai Ping reported growth in international travel to and from Canberra and Wellington since the launch of services in 2016. He commented: "These new routings will enable us to serve Canberra and Wellington better, and provide Canberra with a step-up in frequency". Regional VP Philip Goh said the changes will help meet growing demand in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney and added: "The changes we are implementing will be of greater benefit to both Canberra and Wellington in the long term". [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II] [more - original PR - Canberra Airport]

Qantas and China Airlines expanded (22-Jan-2018) their codeshare agreement to include premium economy class operated by China Airlines on flights to Taipei from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. China Airlines will operate its new three class A350 aircraft on these routes, now with the choice of business, premium economy and economy codeshare seats. Sydney-Taipei A350 services will commence 20-Feb-2018, followed by Melbourne-Taipei and Brisbane-Taipei from 25-Mar-2018. China Airlines already operates up to twice daily service between Sydney and Taipei, up to daily service between Brisbane and Taipei and three times weekly service between Melbourne and Taipei. [more - original PR]

Bulgaria's Ministry of Tourism announced (19-Jan-2018) plans to facilitate dialogue on tourism between EU and China, as part of the EU-China 2018 initiative, to further enhance tourism traffic and investment. Bulgaria's Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova added work is being conducted on the possibility of launching nonstop Sofia-Beijing service (FOCUS News Agency, 22-Jan-2018). Visitor arrivals from China to Bulgaria increased 43% year-on-year, to 25,000 in the 11 months ended Nov-2017. [more - original PR - Bulgarian]

Tourism Australia reported (22-Jan-2018) visitor arrivals to Australia for Nov-2017. Details include:

• Visitor arrivals: 776,900, +7.6% year-on-year;
  • New Zealand: 114,700, +4.7%;
  • China: 101,400, +4.4%;
  • US: 75,600, +9.9%;
  • UK: 74,800, +10.7%;
  • Singapore: 44,000, +4.3%.

According to the CAPA Tourism Database, Australia saw the highest November visitor arrivals since 2009 in Nov-2017. [more - original PR]

TAP Portugal expanded (22-Jan-2018) its codeshare with Beijing Capital Airlines to include services between China and Brazil. Beijing Capital Airlines will place its code on "selected" TAP Portugal Portugal-Brazil services. The extended codeshare will include services to Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador, and Recife. Portugal-China is already part of the codeshare signed in Jul-2017. [more - original PR - Portuguese]

Cathay Pacific reportedly plans to launch Hong Kong-Cape Town service before the end of 2018 (South China Morning Post, 22-Jan-2018). The year round service will provide Cape Town with its first nonstop service to Asia in more than six years. Singapore Airlines, the only Asian airline serving Cape Town at present, operates via Johannesburg.

Australian Bureau of Statistics reported New Zealand topped the list of destinations travelled to by Australian tourists, with more than 1.4 million in 12 months ended Nov-2017 (ABC News, 19-Jan-2018). Indonesia ranked second with 1.2 million Australian tourists. Visitor arrivals to Australia reached 8.8 million during the period, with China topping the list with an increase of 12.7% year-on-year to 1.4 million arrivals.

Hawaiian Airlines and Japan Airlines jointly applied (19-Jan-2018) for blanket statements of authorisation from the US Department of Transportation to engage in the following codeshare operations for an indefinite period, effective 25-Mar-2018:

• Hawaiian to initially display Japan Airlines' code on certain services within Hawaii with an international itinerary, as well as certain Hawaiian services between Hawaii and Japan;
• Japan Airlines to initially display Hawaiian's code on certain services between Japan with an international itinerary, as well as certain Japan Airlines between Japan and Hawaii, and certain services behind and beyond Japan in connection with an international itinerary;

Hawaiian also applied for exemption authority to serve Hong Kong and Vietnam on a third-country codeshare basis. All Hawaiian's services will be operated with stage 3-compliant aircraft, noting the approval will not result in the near-term consumption of 10 million or more gallons of fuel. [more - original PR]

Angola's Government announced (15-Jan-2018) an agreement was signed with China on 14-Jan-2018 on the facilitation of visas for ordinary passports. The agreement will come in to force within 30 days. [more - original PR - Portuguese]