Corporate Travel News

Tigerair Australia launched four times weekly Melbourne-Townsville service on 22-Jun-2017, utilising A320 equipment (Townsville Bulletin, 22-Jun-2017). The service will provide more than 1400 seats each week and is expected to inject AUD12.5 million (USD9.43 million) p/a into the Townsville economy. Tigerair Australia head of communications Vanessa Regan stated the carrier is thrilled by the way Townsville had embraced Tigerair since the new services were announced earlier in 2017.

Australia's Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) reported (22-Jun-2017) overall domestic on-time performance for participating airlines averaged 87.4% for on-time departures and 87.5% for on-time arrivals for May-2017. Details include:

• On-time departures: 87.4%;
  • Jetstar: 77.8%;
  • Qantas: 91.3%;
  • QantasLink: 89.8%;
  • Regional Express: 88.2%;
  • Tigerair: 79.0%;
  • Virgin Australia: 88.6%;
  • Virgin Australia Regional Airlines: 87.0%;
• On-time arrivals: 87.5%;
  • Jetstar: 82.3%;
  • Qantas: 90.8%;
  • QantasLink: 89.7%;
  • Regional Express: 86.3%;
  • Tigerair: 80.0%;
  • Virgin Australia: 88.1%;
  • Virgin Australia Regional Airlines: 84.7%;
• Cancellations: 1.0%;
  • Jetstar: 0.6%;
  • Qantas: 0.6%;
  • QantasLink: 1.3%;
  • Regional Express: 1.2%;
  • Tigerair: 0.7%;
  • Virgin Australia: 1.4%;
  • Virgin Australia Regional Airlines: 0.3%. [more - original PR]

Air New Zealand passenger numbers up 9% - traffic highlights for May-2017:

• Passengers: 1.2 million, +8.7% year-on-year;
  • Short-haul: 1.0 million, +9.4%;
  • Domestic: 785,000, +9.8%;
  • Tasman/Pacific: 243,000, +8.2%;
  • Long-haul: 137,000, +4.0%;
  • North America/UK: 85,000, +7.2%;
  • Asia/Japan/Singapore: 52,000, -0.7%;
• Passenger load factor: 81.1%, +0.7ppt;
  • Tasman/Pacific: 83.2%, +1.7ppts;
  • North America/UK: 82.7%, +0.8ppt
  • Short-haul: 82.2%, +0.8ppt;
  • Domestic: 80.5%, -0.8ppt;
  • Long-haul: 80.3%, +0.6ppt;
  • Asia/Japan/Singapore: 76.2%, +0.1ppt. [more - original PR]

Air New Zealand: "For the financial year to date, Short Haul passenger revenue per ASK (RASK)* decreased 4.4% and Long Haul RASK* decreased 13.6%. Removing the impact of foreign exchange, Group-wide RASK* decreased 6.8%, and Group-wide yields for the financial year to date decreased 5.4% on the same period last year." Source: Company statement, 20-Jun-2017.

Batik Air commenced (21-Jun-2017) twice daily Denpasar-Perth service on 22-Jun-2017, operating with Boeing 737-900 aircraft. The new service will add 5040 seats per week on the route. Perth Airport CEO Kevin Brown stated Indonesian visitors to Perth increased 17.8% year-on-year for the 12 months ending Apr-2017, adding: "it's important that we continue to facilitate growth through greater flight options". [more - original PR]

Tourism Research Australia released (21-Jun-2017) results of the National Visitor Survey, which determines travel by Australians, for the year ending Mar-2017. Key highlights of the report include:

• Domestic travel by Australians:
  • Overnight trip spend increased 6% to reach a record AUD61.7 billion (USD46.6 billion);
  • Overnight trips increased 3% to reach a record 91.7 million;
  • Nights increased 4% to reach 335.5 million;
• Interstate travel vs intrastate travel:
  • Average trip expenditure for an interstate trip was AUD1150 (USD868.4), compared to AUD444 (USD335.3) for intrastate;
  • Average length of stay for an interstate trip is five nights, compared to three nights for intrastate;
• Overnight trips and regional expenditure by state:
  • New South Wales:
    • 29.4 million visitors, up 4%;
    • AUD16.7 billion (USD12.6 billion) spend, up 3%;
  • Victoria:
    • 22.5 million visitors, up 6%;
    • AUD12.7 billion (USD9.6 billion) spend, up 12%;
  • Queensland:
    • 21.2 million visitors, up 4%;
    • AUD15.3 billion (USD11.6 billion) spend, up 6%;
  • South Australia:
    • 6.1 million visitors, up 1%;
    • AUD3.9 billion (USD2.9 billion) spend, up 8%;
  • Western Australia:
    • 9.5 million visitors, down 5%;
    • AUD7.3 billion (USD5.5 billion) spend, down 2%;
  • Northern Territory:
    • 1.5 million visitors, down 7%;
    • AUD1.9 billion (USD1.4 billion) spend, up 2%;
  • Tasmania:
    • 2.5 million visitors, up 7%;
    • AUD2.3 billion (USD1.7 billion) spend, up 30%;
  • Australian Capital Territory:
    • 2.5 million visitors, up 3%;
    • AUD1.6 billion (USD1.2 billion) spend, up 16%. [more - original PR]

AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes, speaking at the 2017 Paris Air Show, commented on the potential resumption of Adelaide service by AirAsia X, stating: "We had it, we pulled out of it, but at that time were were a different airline. Now I think we are in much better shape, so I hope we can do it in the not too distant future" (AAP, 21-Jun-2017). Mr Fernandes aims to create connectivity to "smaller destinations in Australia" such as Broome. Mr Fernandes added: "I think it is much more important to go to Adelaide than London right now. There are places begging for more connectivity, and South Australia is one of them".

Tourism Council WA urged (20-Jun-2017) the Western Australia Government to reconsider submerging Tourism WA into a new department, as the latest visitor statistics show a decline in the number of people travelling to and within the State. The State Government announced plans to absorb Tourism WA, the independent agency responsible for promoting WA, into the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation as part of its Machinery of Government changes. Following the announcement of the restructure, tourism businesses and industry bodies across WA voiced significant concerns with the potential impact of the changes. Tourism Council WA CEO Evan Hall stated: "States that are performing well in domestic tourism, such as Queensland, have specialist tourism marketing organisations solely focused on increasing visitation and jobs. Every state that has submerged their tourism marketing organisation within a department has regretted and later reversed the decision." [more - original PR]

Australia's Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) welcomed (20-Jun-2017) the NSW Government's record investment in the tourism and transport sectors in its 2017/18 Budget. TTF CEO Margy Osmond stated "the Berijiklian Government's $193 million investment in tourism and major events is an almost 10% increase on last year's Budget, and will ensure NSW cements its position as Australia's number one visitor economy and place to visit". Ms Osmond also stated the 2017/2018 Budget continued the Government's transport revolution with yet another record investment in public transport and transport infrastructure across Sydney and regional NSW. [more - original PR]

Western Australia (WA) Government plans to evaluate the cause of high airfares on regional routes in WA and offer recommendations to improve the situation (The West Australian, 20-Jun-2017). Broome Airport CEO Paul McSweeney said the main reason is low traffic volume on these regional routes and Broome Airport retains competitive aeronautical fees despite the "high operating costs in this region".

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) announced (19-Jun-2017) from 01-Jul-2017 most organisations directly involved in any aviation occurrence investigated by the ATSB will be identified in the report and on the investigation web page. The change in policy will ensure ATSB's compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization's recommended practices. It will also ensure that the ATSB has a consistent and transparent approach across all of its aviation, rail and marine safety investigations. [more - original PR]