Corporate Travel News

Air Kiribati, via its official Facebook page, announced (03-Jul-2017) it will commence international services with Tarawa-Honiara-Brisbane route on 30-Aug-2017. The weekly service is set to depart Brisbane each Wednesday and return from Tarawa on Thursday.

Qantas, via its official website, announced (05-Jul-2017) it will begin charging customers for additional legroom economy seats including emergency exit rows, on all domestic services. The cost of utilising these seats begins at AUD20 (USD15.2) or 3000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points.

Canberra Airport announced (04-Jul-2017) the appointment of Grahaem Duff as head of aviation. Canberra Airport MD Stephen Byron welcomed Mr Duff's extensive experience and expertise in team leadership, operational review, infrastructure delivery, commercial negotiations and stakeholder management, "this broad knowledge base, together with Mr Duff's solid people management skills, will help us further enhance our strong aviation and broader airport team". [more - original PR]

Paragon Premier Investment Fund (PPIF) chairman Alande Mustafa Safi stated a proposed third airport located southeast of Melbourne city between Koo Wee Rup and Lang Lang could commence operation in 2020, initially operating cargo services (Sydney Morning Herald, 04-Jul-2017). The proposal includes plans to develop passenger terminals in the future, followed by maintenance hangars.

Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi confirmed the government has signed a MoU with Fiji Airways as it prepares to resume services between Samoa, New Zealand and Australia (Radio NZ, 05-Jul-2017). The Prime Minister also confirmed the government would change the name of the current national carrier, Polynesian Airlines, to Samoa Airways.

Melbourne Airport welcomed (05-Jul-2017) the launch of Virgin Australia's inaugural Melbourne-Hong Kong service. Melbourne Airport chief of aviation Simon Gandy stated the route was an important connection for tourism, business travel and cargo. Mr Gandy continued: "We are delighted Virgin have chosen Melbourne to expand their international services creating more opportunities for Victorians to travel for business, leisure, education and renewing family ties. Hong Kong is one of our top ten international outbound destinations with around 115,000 people travelling between Melbourne and Hong Kong each year. This international service will make a significant impact on our local economy as each daily international service injects between AUD100-150 million (USD76-114 million) a year into Victoria. With five flights a week that's almost AUD2 million (USD1.5 million) flowing into the Victorian economy each week from this new service". [more - original PR]

Virgin Australia launched (05-Jul-2017) five times weekly Melbourne-Hong Kong service on 05-Jul-2017. Service operates with two class A330-200 aircraft through 28-Sep-2017, according to OAG. [more - original PR]

Qantas provided (04-Jul-2017) an update of its three month customer trial for onboard WiFi. Qantas stated the WiFi has been performing well and the trial will be expanded to an additional aircraft, another Boeing 737 with up to eight more to be fitted with WiFi by late Sep-2017. Key findings of the trial include:

• Up to 3500 passengers a week had the WiFi available to them;
• An average of 32% of passengers chose to log on at some stage in the flight. The industry standard is less than 10%, but the carrier is expecting between 30%-50% when the services is fully rolled out;
• Passengers spent most of the time using email and browsing the web, in particular news sites. This is followed by social media, streaming video and music services, messaging services and then online shopping;
• Reliability of the service has improved to above 98%;
• Download speeds now are routinely above 12 megabits per second;
• Overall customer satisfaction is positive, with the latest survey figures showing 88% of customers were happy with their WiFi experience. [more - original PR]

Australia's Government announced (04-Jul-2017) new air services arrangements with Italy, Greece and Cyprus. Carriers will be able to offer new and extended passenger services to Europe, as well as new airfreight service opportunities. Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester stated the new arrangements are part of the Government's plan to expand Australia's aviation footprint in the region. The new arrangements mean carriers of the countries can operate services to Australia either using their own aircraft or via codeshare with other airlines. [more - original PR]

Tourism New Zealand launched (04-Jul-2017) a new global 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, titled 'where one journey leads to another'. The new campaign will run until mid 2019, using digital marketing to find and convert people 'dreaming' about a New Zealand holiday, into booking a holiday. Tourism New Zealand CEO Stephen England-Hall stated the campaign is delivered in two parts and is supported by Tourism New Zealand's world-leading partnerships with Facebook and Google, WeChat and Qyer. [more - original PR]