Here’s our weekly roundup of new air routes and codeshare partnerships.

Thai AirAsia to start Bangkok-Malé route
Come August 11, Thai AirAsia will begin daily services between Bangkok and Malé on a 180-seater Airbus A320, breaking Bangkok Airways’ monopoly on this route.

FD177 will depart Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport at 09.30 and arrive in Malé at 11.40, while the return flight will depart Malé at 12.30 and arrive back in Bangkok at 19.00.

Xiamen Airlines begins flights to Los Angeles
Xiamen Airlines on June 27 launched the Xiamen-Los Angeles service, the airline’s third American route.

Utilising a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, MF829 departs Xiamen at 20.00 every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, and arrives in Los Angeles at 18.00 the same day. The return flight, MF830, departs Los Angeles at 00.15 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and arrives in Xiamen at 05.30 the following day.

With this route, Xiamen will operate a total of 10 flights weekly between China’s Fujian Province and the US. The carrier also plans to launch a Los Angeles-Qingdao-Xiamen service later this year in December.

SIA, Eurowings launch codeshare operations
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has signed a new codeshare agreement with Eurowings, a Dusseldorf-based subsidiary of Star Alliance partner Lufthansa.

The new codeshare partnership will provide Singapore Airlines customers access to 15 routes on Eurowings-operated flights, including Berlin, Budapest, Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig, Manchester, Nuremberg, Prague, Vienna, Warsaw and Wroclaw (via Duseeldorf); Edinburgh and Rome (via Munich); and Hamburg (via Manchester and Zurich).

The new codeshare flights will be progressively made available for booking through Singapore Airlines’ various booking channels.

Jet Airways expands codeshares with three airlines
Indian airline Jet Airways has announced codeshare enhancements with Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

In the first instance, Air France and Delta are codesharing on Jet Airways’ current service between Mumbai and Paris. Additionally, Air France, together with KLM and Delta, also codeshare on Jet Airways’ newly announced flight between Chennai and Paris, scheduled to begin October 29.

KLM and Delta will also codeshare on Jet Airways’ daily flight between Bengaluru and Amsterdam commencing October 29. Additionally, Delta will also codeshare on Jet Airways’ third frequency between Mumbai and London.

Jet Airways also codeshares on Air France services connecting Mumbai and Paris, as well as KLM’s thrice-weekly service between Mumbai and Amsterdam, beginning October 29.

Under the expanded scope, Jet Airways’ guests have access to as many as 43 European destinations via Amsterdam, 27 via Paris, and 34 in North America. Meanwhile, guests travelling from Europe or North America will gain easy access to 45 Indian cities on Jet Airways’ domestic network via Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.

Frequent flyer members of Jet Airways, Air France, KLM and Delta will continue to enjoy network-wide accrual and redemption of points on each other.

Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has announced its first project in Danang, scheduled to open in 3Q2019.

Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Danang Vietnam will feature 150 rooms and 354 branded residences on the banks of the Han River in the city’s commercial heart, six kilometres from Danang International Airport.

Leisure facilities include a swimming pool, fitness centre, spa and kids’ club, as well as a ballroom and state-of-the-art meeting rooms. For F&B, there’s a signature rooftop bar and restaurant, lobby lounge, Café and wine bar, pool bar and speciality restaurant.

“The property is specifically designed to serve Vietnam’s rapidly developing tourism and business and MICE sector while also meeting emerging demand for extended and long-term stays,” said Andrew Langdon, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts chief development officer and senior vice president Asia.

In Vietnam, the Swiss hotel management company is already operating the Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi. Other hotels in the pipeline are Mövenpick Resort Cam Ranh Bay (2018), Mövenpick Hotel Quảng Bình (2019), Mövenpick Resort Phu Quoc (2019) and Mövenpick Hotel Quy Nhon (2020).

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is the latest in a string of Asian hotel companies that recently announced new openings in Melbourne, as arrivals growth sends the city’s hotel occupancy and ADR on a steady uptrend.

Mandarin Oriental this week signed a management contract for a new luxury hotel and branded residences within a mixed-use 185-metre tower on Collins Street. Mandarin Oriental, Melbourne is expected to open in 2023 featuring 196 guestrooms and suites, in addition to 148 residences on the tower’s upper floors. The building was designed by the late renowned architect Zaha Hadid.

Within the space of a month, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts also announced a large-scale Melbourne slated for opening in 2022, while Pan Pacific Hotels Group (PPHG) revealed it will soon return to the city.

Come July 28, PPHG will take over management of the current Hilton Melbourne Sea Wharf, after its parent company completed acquisition of the property.

The 396-room Pan Pacific Melbourne is located along the Yarra River and enjoys direct access to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. It will also feature 400m² of flexible meeting and events space, two dining outlets, and a 24-hour fitness centre.

Hotel occupancy rates in Melbourne for the year ending March 2017 topped 84 per cent and average daily room rates rose to A$192 (US$146), according to a report released last week by CWT Solutions Group, the consulting arm of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, and CAPA – Centre for Aviation.

“Passenger numbers into Melbourne airport are increasing year-on-year, requiring more new accommodation options to satisfy demand. At present, the supply-demand dynamics give hotels the opportunity to charge higher prices as the occupancy rate is so high,” said Richard Johnson, director, Asia-Pacific, CWT Solutions Group.

“Melbourne offers a viable alternative to Sydney as a point of origin and destination for international travel. However, with more choice and the ability for more people to fly direct into Melbourne, there is potential for further pressure on accommodation availability.”

Airbnb has struck a deal to provide Flight Centre Travel Group’s (FCTG) corporate brands — including FCM Travel Solutions, Corporate Traveller, Campus Travel and Stage and Screen — with access to Airbnb for Business inventory as well as its third-party booking tool.

With this new accommodation offering, FCTG’s corporate customers now have access to more than Airbnb’s three million listings worldwide.

Airbnb’s Business Travel Ready listings offer essential amenities and services a business traveller needs like free Wi-Fi, laptop-friendly workspaces and 24 hour check-in.

Both the travel manager and the employee undertaking the trip will be able to see trip details, make changes to the reservation and message the Airbnb host with questions about the listing or neighbourhood.

Andrew Flannery, FCTG’s executive general manager of corporate travel, said the agreement will “deliver interesting new accommodation options that will appeal to sections of our customer base, particularly those who are looking to experience something a little different to a traditional hotel stay”.

“It will also benefit our corporate customers who are travelling to locations where there may currently be an under-supply of suitable hotel rooms,” he added.

A trial run with a FCTG client in recent months has already seen a positive impact, with employees included in the trial rating the experience 4.76 out of 5 stars and with an average daily rate of of A$80 (US$61).

Airbnb listings will be available to Campus Travel and Stage and Screen in the coming weeks, and then introduced soonafter to FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller.

Japanese online retail giant Rakuten and real estate information provider Lifull are teaming up on a vacation rental business, set for launch as soon as Japan’s Private Lodgings Business Law comes into effect in January 2018.

“Rakuten has been looking for opportunities in the sharing economy, and the recent passing of the law has been a great chance for us to enter the vacation rental industry,” said Munekatsu Ota, representative director of Rakuten Lifull Stay.

He added: “The new legislation allows businesses to contribute to the vitalisation of the tourism industry by creating new resources and employment in the industry without competing with the existing accommodation industry.”

The launch of this platform comes amid loosening rules on homesharing as Japan struggles to keep up with demand for accommodation, particularly in key cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto and during tourism peaks such as cherry-blossom season.

Available in a number of languages, Rakuten Lifull Stay will initially target business users in major Japanese cities, with plans to expand into more rural areas and more varied segments, Ota said.

The company will leverage Rakuten’s membership and group resources to attract guests and create awareness, and Lifull’s industry experience and real estate networks to bring in hosts. It also plans to develop outsourcing options with external partners to reduce operational burdens.

For inbound travel, the firm plans to partner major travel companies to acquire guests.

Rakuten has a user base of approximately 90 million members in Japan while Lifull has some eight million properties and a network of 22,000 affiliated real estate offices across the country.

Cambodia will debut its inaugural travel mart this November, an event backed by the tourism ministry.

At a press conference on Monday, tourism minister Thong Khon explained that it was time to launch Cambodia Travel Mart (CTM) 2017 as the country has started to “integrate itself in the region” and should demonstrate its “abilities to compete with neighbouring countries and attract tourist growth”.

CTM 2017 is a project two years in the making. It will be organised by SlickBooth Holding Event & Public Relations, with TTG Events – a business unit of TTG Asia Media – taking on media and buyer attendee acquisition.

To date, more than 400 companies have registered as attendees, but only 150 to 200 will be qualified finally – 80 per cent of which will be from Asia-Pacific and the rest from Europe.

Ooi Peng Ee, general manager of TTG Events, said efforts will be made to ensure all attending buyers are of quality.

More than 200 national and international sellers are also expected, alongside more than 50 media outlets.

Running from November 17 to 19, the event boasts a varied programme that takes in online business matching, trade seminars, pre- and post-show tours, exhibitions, friendly golf tournaments, workshops and a hosted dinner at one of Angkor’s temples.