News for Asia

Virgin Atlantic Airways announced (24-Mar-2023) a new codeshare agreement with Korean Air, launching 25-Mar-2023. Under the first phase of the agreement, Virgin Atlantic will codeshare on Korean Air's Seoul Incheon-London Heathrow service. By Jun-2023, the agreement will be expanded to include further destinations throughout Japan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. According to OAG, Korean Air currently operates Seoul Incheon-London Heathrow service eight times weekly. [more - original PR]

Qantas Airways commenced (26-Mar-2023) four times weekly Melbourne-Tokyo Haneda service on 26-Mar-2023 with A330 aircraft. The service is the first nonstop between Melbourne and Tokyo Haneda Airport by any airline, saving passengers around two hours travel to downtown Tokyo compared with Tokyo Narita Airport. The route will add to Qantas existing flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Tokyo Haneda, which together offer over 420,000 seats between Australia and Japan p/a. Qantas domestic and international CEO Andrew David stated: "We've seen the demand for our Tokyo flights bounce back very strongly, and our research shows that it is one of the top tourist destinations that Australians plan on visiting in the next 12 months". [more - original PR]

Shenzhen Airlines, via its official Weibo account, announced (23-Mar-2023) the following international schedules changes:

• Shenzhen-London: Resume five times weekly from 26-Mar-2023;
• Shenzhen-Seoul Incheon: Daily service from 26-Mar-2023 and increasing to 12 times weekly from 03-Apr-2023;
• Shenzhen-Taiwan Taoyuan: Resume on 26-Mar-2023, increasing to daily from 29-Mar-2023;
• Wuxi-Osaka Kansai: Resume weekly from 06-Apr-2023;
• Shenzhen-Tokyo Narita: Increasing from weekly to daily from 14-Apr-2023;
• Shenzhen-Phuket: Increase from three times weekly to daily from 19-Apr-2023;
• Shenzhen-Ho Chi Minh City: Resume daily service from 02-May-2023.

Brazil's Government announced (13-Mar-2023) plans to reintroduce visa requirements for citizens of Australia, Canada, US and Japan, effective 01-Oct-2023. The electronic visa requirement had been removed in Mar-2019. [more - original PR - Portuguese]

Qantas Airways stated (20-Mar-2022) Jetstar Airways and Jetstar Asia will move to Terminal 4 from Terminal 1 at Singapore Changi Airport from 22-Mar-2023. This will increase the minimum connecting time from 60 to 90 minutes. Qantas Airways amended its commercial policy following the terminal change. Passengers may rebook onto another Jetstar Airways or Jetstar Asia service. Or for connections Singapore-Kuala Lumpur and vv sector, rebook on a connecting Malaysia Airlines operated flight. Passengers may also retain the value of the ticket in credit or receive a refund. [more - original PR]

UK's Department of Health and Social Care, Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Department for Transport (DfT) announced (17-Mar-2023) UKHSA's voluntary on-arrival testing programme of travellers arriving from China to London Heathrow Airport will end on 17-Mar-2023. Additionally, travellers flying from mainland China to England will no longer be required to provide proof of a negative pre-departure test, effective 05-Apr-2023. The UK Government stated the removal of measures comes as China has "increased information sharing regarding testing, vaccination and genomic sequencing results, providing greater transparency on their domestic disease levels". [more - original PR]

Public Health Agency of Canada announced (16-Mar-2023) Canada's Government plans to ease COVID-19 testing requirements and arrival screening for inbound travellers arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau, effective 17-Mar-2023. The Government noted data from China, the international community, and wastewater sampling conducted in Canada have not detected any new variants of concerns since the border measures were introduced in Jan-2023. This represents the removal of all federal COVID-19 border restrictions in Canada. [more - original PR]

Air Premia announced (17-Mar-2023) plans to commence four times weekly Seoul Incheon-New York Newark service on 22-May-2023, operating with Boeing 787-9 equipment. The airline will be the sole scheduled operator on the route, according to OAG. [more - original PR - Korean]

Emirates Airline scheduled to upgauge equipment on daily Dubai-Taipei service to 516 seat A380-800 aircraft from 01-Aug-2023, according to OAG. The service is currently operated using 367 seat Boeing 777-300ER equipment. No other carriers operate the route.

Ethiopian Airlines announced (15-Mar-2023) plans to commence four times weekly Addis Ababa-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur service with Boeing 787 on 25-Mar-2023. The airline previously served Kuala Lumpur from 2012 to 2021. [more - original PR]