Corporate Travel News For South Pacific

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Bangkok Airways entered (04-Sep-2023) a codeshare partnership covering travel between Singapore and Thailand, as well as other cities in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Bangkok Airways will codeshare on SIA services from Singapore to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Phuket, Adelaide, Sydney and Auckland. SIA will codeshare on Bangkok Airways services from Singapore to Koh Samui, Phuket to Koh Samui and from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Phuket, Luang Prabang, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. [more - original PR]

Qantas Group announced (05-Sep-2023) CEO Alan Joyce will bring forward his retirement by two months to help the company "accelerate its renewal". CEO designate Vanessa Hudson will assume the role of MD and group CEO from 06-Sep-2023. Mr Joyce stated: "In the last few weeks, the focus on Qantas and events of the past make it clear to me that the company needs to move ahead with its renewal as a priority". He added: "The best thing I can do under these circumstances is to bring forward my retirement and hand over to Vanessa and the new management team now". Qantas Group shareholders will formally vote on the appointment of Ms Hudson as MD at Qantas' AGM in Nov-2023. [more - original PR]

LATAM Airlines resumed (01-Sep-2023) three times weekly Santiago (Chile)-Melbourne service, operating with Boeing 787-9. The service was suspended in Apr-2020 due to COVID-19. The carrier expects to transport 80,000 passengers on the route in its first year of operation. The service is the carrier's longest route, exceeding 11,000km. [more - original PR - Spanish] [more - original PR]

Flight Centre Travel Group announced (30-Aug-2023) the following highlights from its corporate travel business in FY2023:

• New total transaction value (TTV) milestones were established in all geographic segments, with Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business topping its previous record by 59%, Asia by 24%, the Americas by 15.6% and Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) by 10.5%;
• The Americas business was the largest corporate operation, generating 31% of group corporate TTV, just ahead of ANZ (30%), EMEA (28%) and Asia (11%);
• Corporate transaction volumes exceeded pre-COVID-19 levels, "well ahead" of the estimated industry wide recovery of 70% to 75% of FY2019 transaction levels;
• FCM secured new, contracted accounts with annual spends in the order of AUD1.6 billion (USD1 billion) with wins typically coming from competitors;
• More than half of Corporate Traveller's wins (uncontracted) were previously unmanaged accounts;
• Bottom line results were impacted by significant upfront costs incurred in winning and onboarding a large volume of accounts secured, with around 1000 new sales and support staff added to the corporate workforce during FY2023. The business also invested in leading tech platforms, with Melon deployed in the UK and new features added to the global FCM platform. [more - original PR]

Flight Centre Travel Group MD Graham Turner stated (30-Aug-2023) sales "more than doubled" group wide in FY2023, as both leisure and corporate divisions delivered over AUD10 billion (USD6.5 billion) in annual total transaction value (TTV) for the first time. Mr Turner said corporate TTV reached AUD11 billion (USD7.1 billion), "comfortably surpassing" the previous record and broader sector recovery. He said: "Our transformed leisure business is also on a steep TTV recovery trajectory, with several businesses, including online and the independent agency network, delivering record sales". Mr Turner added: "Looking ahead to FY2024, we are well placed to capitalise on opportunities that will arise as industry recovery continues". He noted: "Already, we have seen further solid TTV and profit growth in early trading in a resilient travel market that seems to be holding up reasonably well compared to other sectors". [more - original PR]

Regional Express (Rex) announced (30-Aug-2023) group revenue is expected to increase due to the following:

• Passenger demand benefitting from a reset of corporate travel budgets and partnerships with travel agency groups and corporate accounts;
• Frequent flyer programme to be launched in Q1FY2024;
• Additional operations with two to four Boeing 737-800s to be introduced;
• Influx of foreign cadets at pilot academies with the ramping up worldwide of pilot training;
• Commencement of a new Ambulance Victoria contract and the induction of two Pilatus PC24 aircraft into the NSW Ambulance contract;
• New fly-in-fly-out and charter contracts. [more - original PR]

India and New Zealand signed (29-Aug-2023) an MoU to boost cooperation in civil aviation. The agreement will cover the scheduling of new routes, codeshare services, air traffic rights and capacity entitlement. Airlines in New Zealand will be permitted to operate any number of services with any aircraft, with third and fourth freedom traffic rights, to and from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Indian airlines will be permitted to operate any number of services with any aircraft, with third and fourth freedom traffic rights, to Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and three more points in New Zealand to be named by India's Government. The airlines of both countries may also operate any number of all cargo services with any type of aircraft, with third, fourth and fifth freedom traffic rights, any points in the other country via any intermediate point. Carriers can also operate to any beyond points, regardless of the points specified in the route schedule. The MoU builds on an air services agreement signed between the countries in 2016. [more - original PR]

China Eastern Airlines, via its official Twitter account, announced (25-Aug-2023) plans to increase Shanghai Pudong-Sydney frequency from daily to 11 times weekly, commencing 08-Sep-2023, and further increase frequency to 18 times weekly from 29-Oct-2023. The airline also plans to increase Shanghai Pudong-Melbourne Tullamarine frequency from daily to 10 times weekly, commencing 09-Sep-2023, further increasing to 17 times weekly from 29-Oct-2023. The airline is the sole scheduled operator on both routes, according to OAG.

Air New Zealand announced (24-Aug-2023) plans to redeploy Boeing 787-9 aircraft on daily Auckland-Perth service from 29-Oct-2023. [more - original PR]

Air New Zealand confirmed (23-Aug-2023) New Zealand's Government updated the New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD), allowing all airports to process passengers who have completed a digital NZTD. As previously reported by CAPA, the Government introduced the digital option at Queenstown Airport in Jul-2023. [more - original PR]