Corporate Travel News For South Pacific

New Zealand Air Line Pilot's Association (NZALPA) urged (19-May-2017) the Civil Aviation Authority (NZ) to review and tighten regulation for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) in light of growing number of drone users. NZALPA president Tim Robinson stated: "Currently they offer little or no protection to either other RPAS users or the public", the authority should mandate "the registration of devices and the application of the rules currently being followed by conventional manned flights". Mr Robinson believes this needs to be done "quickly" and communicated widely to prevent more cases of near misses between drones and helicopters in heavily populated tourist areas. [more - original PR]

Air Tahiti announced it was resuming services across French Polynesia as a protocol had been signed to end part of the dispute between the civil aviation authorities and publicly employed firefighters (Radio NZ, 22-May-2017). Although services have resumed, it is expected to take at least 24 hours for normal services to be re-established, as hundreds of travellers have been stranded by the five day strike.

Qantas responded (21-May-2017) to an incident which occurred on 19-May-2017 on an A380 service Los Angeles-Melbourne which was turned back to LA due to an issue with one of the aircraft's four engines. Qantas stated: "Pilots followed standard procedure, shut down the engine, and the flight landed normally in LA. Reports that the engine was 'on fire' aren't correct; passengers may have seen some sparks before it was safely shut down by the flight crew". A replacement service departed LA at around 14.30 on Saturday 20-May-2017, and arrived in Melbourne the following evening. [more - original PR]

Tourism Australia concluded (19-May-2017) the 38th annual Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) in Sydney. The event welcomed more than 2500 delegates, including 800 travel wholesalers and retailers from 548 companies from more than 30 countries and 555 Australian tourism businesses. Tourism Australia MD John O'Sullivan said the connections made at ATE help deliver around three million visitors each year to Australia, spending up to AUD8.5 billion (USD6.3 billion), thereby helping to further grow the visitor economy. [more - original PR]

Virgin Australia launched (21-May-2017) its new premium economy service, Economy X across its entire fleet. Economy X includes the following features: A minimum of three inches (7.62cm) extra legroom; preferred overhead locker space; priority boarding and
priority security screening. [more - original PR]

Sydney Airport reported (18-May-2017) a 12.1% year-on-year increase in international passenger traffic for Apr-2017, contributed by "a busy Easter and school holiday period". The airport welcomed a total of 3.5 million passengers during the month, a 4.7% increase, held back by a relatively stagnant domestic operation. [more - original PR]

American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) announced (12-May-2017) six of the top 10 cities outside Asia Pacific for business travel to Australia are US cities. North American cities dominate the top 10 rankings beyond Asia Pacific, with New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco the top three US cities. London, Paris, Amsterdam and Dubai comprise the remaining cities in the top 10 outside of Asia Pacific. According to the results, Australia's strong business ties to the US, particularly San Francisco and New York, continue to remain a key travel driver. In addition a weaker Australian dollar has increased tourism to Australia and resulted in greater connectivity, further enabling business travel. [more - original PR]

Infratil, Wellington Airport's majority owner, CEO Marko Bogoievski stated he is optimistic Wellington Airport's runway extension project will receive approval (Stuff, 18-May-2017). As previously reported by CAPA, the Supreme Court is evaluating the regulation for a runway end safety area (RESA) following the Court of Appeal's decision that cost should not be a factor in considering the practicality of RESA length. The airport insists a 90m RESA is sufficient for Wellington airport's operation, as is the case at Queenstown and Auckland airports.

Australia's Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) reported (18-May-2017) the overall domestic on-time performance for participating airlines averaged 85.1% for on-time departures and 85.4% for on-time arrivals for Apr-2017. Details include:

• On-time departures: 85.1%;
  • Jetstar: 73.5%;
  • Qantas: 89.6%;
  • QantasLink: 87.0%;
  • Regional Express: 87.3%;
  • Tigerair: 77.4%;
  • Virgin Australia: 88.0%;
  • Virgin Australia Regional Airlines: 91.6%;
• On-time arrivals: 85.4%;
  • Jetstar: 77.6%;
  • Qantas: 88.9%;
  • QantasLink: 87.8%;
  • Regional Express: 84.7%;
  • Tigerair: 78.1%;
  • Virgin Australia: 87.6%;
  • Virgin Australia Regional Airlines: 91.5%;
• Cancellations: 2.1%;
  • Jetstar: 1.6%;
  • Qantas: 1.2%;
  • QantasLink: 3.9%;
  • Regional Express: 0.8%;
  • Tigerair: 1.4%;
  • Virgin Australia: 2.5%;
  • Virgin Australia Regional Airlines: 0.6%. [more - original PR]

Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP) announced (18-May-2017) the addition of Regional Express (Rex) to its airline merchant base. Effective immediately, Rex accepts UATP as a form of payment for corporate travel through all distributions channels. Rex GM of network strategy & sales Warrick Lodge stated "partnering with UATP will help Rex gain a competitive edge in the corporate travel market and give our clients more choice when traveling by allowing them to use their preferred payment method". [more - original PR]