News for Asia

Qantas Airways announced (02-Dec-2022) plans to resume the following services in Dec-2022: 

• Adelaide-Hobart;
• Adelaide-Gold Coast;
• Canberra-Sunshine Coast;
• Canberra-Cairns;
• Brisbane-Launceston;
• Melbourne-Merimbula;

Other schedule adjustments:

• Sydney-Queenstown frequency to increase from 10 to 14 times weekly, effective mid Dec-2022;
• Sydney-Fiji frequency to increase from mid Dec-2022;
• Sydney-Bali: A330 to replace Boeing 737 from 05-Dec-2022 to 26-Jan-2023;
• Sydney-Cairns: A330 to operate up to 19 times weekly in Dec-2022/Jan-2023, up from 11 times weekly with 737. [more - original PR]

Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines signed (02-Dec-2022) an MoU to form a strategic partnership, under which the carriers will progressively codeshare on each other's services and explore a wide-ranging commercial collaboration. In the initial phase, Thai and SIA will codeshare on each other's services between Singapore and Bangkok. Thai will also codeshare on SIA's flight services to Cape Town and Johannesburg, Houston, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Newark, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver by 1Q2023, subject to regulatory approval. Additional codeshare arrangements to points in both airlines' networks will be explored to support increased air connectivity to Thailand and Singapore, as well as points in Europe, India, and South West Pacific routes. [more - original PR]

Philippine Airlines announced (01-Dec-2022) the Philippines' Government has transitioned from the old e-Arrival CARD Registration to a new e-Travel Registration, which travellers may access via a new portal. The transition is effective immediately. [more - original PR]

Singapore Changi Airport announced (01-Dec-2022) Jetstar Asia and Jetstar Airways confirmed they will operate from the airport's Terminal 4 from 22-Mar-2023. The relocation will enable Changi to optimise the use of its aircraft gates to meet growing demand for air travel, while creating headroom for Jetstar to grow at the global hub. [more - original PR]

Hong Kong Tourism Board reported (30-Nov-2022) the following tourism highlights for Sep-2022:

• Tourist arrivals: 80,524, -98% compared to Oct-2019;
  • Mainland China: 47,607, -98%;
  • Short haul markets: 15,335, -96%;
  • Long haul markets: 14,651, -95%;
  • New markets: 2931, -93%. [more - original PR]

China Airlines announced (30-Nov-2022) plans to increase Taipei-Brisbane-Auckland frequency from three to five times weekly, effective 01-Jan-2023. The service will operate with 306 seat A350-900. The expansion has been secured under the AUD200 million (USD133.89 million) joint State Government and industry Attracting Aviation Investment Fund, which was created to boost Queensland's tourism sector. [more - original PR]

Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center announced (28-Nov-2022) that the mask mandate for indoor settings such as onboard aircraft, will remain in place, effective 01-Dec-2022. The mask mandate for outdoors settings will be removed from 01-Dec-2022. [more - original PR]

Etihad Airways announced (28-Nov-2022) the termination of its codeshare agreement with Malaysia Airlines effective 30-Oct-2022. Select Malaysia Airlines services no longer operate under an Etihad flight number. Passengers travelling with Etihad are still able to transfer directly onto Malaysian Airlines flights from Kuala Lumpur on the same ticket, with connecting flights able to be booked through the carriers' interline agreement, which remains in place. Etihad stated it has been working with Malaysia Airlines to rebook affected passengers on the same Malaysian Airlines flight as originally purchased, as an interline booking. [more - original PR]

Malaysia Airlines announced (24-Nov-2022) plans to suspend Kuala Lumpur-Brisbane service from 27-Mar-2023 as part of a "route rationalisation exercise". The carrier added customers travelling to Brisbane can leverage on its codeshare and oneworld partner, Qantas Airways, and connect from Sydney and Melbourne to Brisbane after the suspension of the nonstop flight. Operations on nonstop flights between Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne will continue without change, providing up to 43 nonstop services per week between Australia and Malaysia. Group CEO Izham Ismail stated: "After a thorough business review, we have made a difficult decision to suspend our operations into Brisbane to ensure we operate and utilise our fleet at an optimum level, as well as maximising revenue on every route we fly to". Mr Izham added forward booking to the other Australian cities is "very encouraging", with strong demand up to and beyond 1Q2023, with forward bookings "significantly" ahead of the same period in 2019. To date, the carrier has deployed capacities at 76% year-to-date, and anticipates ending 2022 with 82% capacity of pre-pandemic level networkwide. Excluding the suspension of Brisbane, Malaysia Airlines' Australia network will be at 98% capacity of pre-pandemic levels by Mar-2023. [more - original PR]

Singapore Changi Airport, via its official website, reported (23-Nov-2022) the following traffic Oct-2022:

• Passengers: 3.7 million, -35% compared to Oct-2019;
• Cargo: 152,000 tonnes, -11%;
• Aircraft movements: 21,800, -32%.