SEVEN Malaysian carriers have joined forces to form the Association of Malaysian Air Carriers (AMAC), in the wake of a sudden 10-fold hike in operator fees by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) proposed earlier this week.

If approved by the respective airline boards and the Registrar of Societies, the founding airlines of AMAC will comprise Malaysia Airlines, MASwings, Firefly, AirAsia, AirAsia X, Malindo Air and Berjaya Air. Membership is open to all Malaysian air carriers.

According to a joint statement released by the airlines, the purpose of AMAC is to provide a common platform for discussion of issues affecting the aviation industry.

With all the main operators represented, the association also hopes to provide a singular voice for the airlines while at the same time represent common industry interests among institutions such as the Ministry of Transport, DCA and the Malaysian Aviation Commission.

The statement further adds that AMAC will engage in subjects such as enhanced air traffic control services, aeropolitical concerns, safety and security standards in airports and other related issues.

It concludes that by joining forces, the airlines will be in a better position to promote growth for the industry and to create jobs for the sector and for the broader aviation ecosystem.

The Costa Concordia when it was sinking near the island of Giglio in 2012

THE Spanish Supreme Court has awarded 22 passengers who were aboard the Costa Concordia cruise liner when it sank in 2012 moral damages amounting to 12,000 euros (US$13,500).

They were among 177 Spanish citizens who were rescued from the ship when it ran into rocks near the Italian island of Giglio during the night, resulting in the loss of 32 lives.

The Association of Spaniards Affected by Concordia 2012 was consequently formed by the 177 rescued Spaniards to seek a much higher compensation than that offered by the ship’s operators, Costa Crociere, for their physical and moral suffering.

They had asked for 60,000 euros in compensation each, but the Spanish Supreme Court, the highest appeal court in Spain, upheld a lower court decision to award just 1,000 euros more than Costa Crociere’s offer of 11,000 euros per passenger.

In a statement, the appeal judge said the lower court had been correct in deciding that all passengers should be treated equally in compensation for moral damages.

However, 17 of the rescued will receive varying additional levels of compensation for physical injuries suffered while escaping the sinking ship, as verified by medical reports prepared by Costa Crociere’s doctors.

The Italian captain of the Costa Concordia was given a jail sentence of 16 years for manslaughter in February 2015, after acknowledging he steered the ship too close to the island.

Santosh Kumar, director of corporate solutions, HRS India

CORPORATE hotel booking platform HRS has opened an office in Mumbai, its first in India, with hopes to better support the Indian business community as well as its corporate customers there.

“We believe that having a local office will facilitate more focused work and we are investing in building a strong local team,” said Santosh Kumar, director of corporate solutions for HRS in India.

The Global Business Travel Association expects the business travel market in India to enlarge at a rate of 11.5 per cent annually until 2019, and HRS is keen on better serving this growth segment by opening an office in Mumbai.

As part of its India expansion plans, HRS had also recently signed an exclusive partnership with India’s Oberoi Group, a luxury hospitality provider.

HRS has an existing inventory base of over 4,000 international chain brands and independent hotels in India, part of its global stock of 300,000 properties across 190 countries.

LCC Vietjet will commence new daily services linking Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City from June 1. It will be using its three-year-old fleet of 180-seater A320 aircraft to ply the route.

Halal food will be served alongside non-halal offerings on the route, according to Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh, Vietjet’s vice president, to better accommodate Muslim travellers.

While it is the norm for budget carriers to use klia2, Vietjet is flying into the main terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, said Nguyen, as “it offers better convenience to our customers.“

The airline has also engaged Reliance Travel as its general sales agent in Malaysia.

To celebrate the new route, Vietjet is giving away 50,000 promotional tickets at no cost during the ongoing campaign period which ends on April 18 for air tickets purchased between 1pm and 3pm daily for travel from June 1 to October 30, excluding public holidays.

Vietjet is also slated to launch on June 22 flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Tainan City every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

ALITALIA will commence four-weekly flights between Rome and Beijing beginning July 18 as part of plans to expand its network in East Asia.

Beijing will be the third East Asian city serviced by the Italian national carrier, after Tokyo and Seoul.

“The new route to Beijing represents a crucial investment for Alitalia as we continue to expand our network through increased longhaul flying to strategic markets,” said Cramer Ball, CEO, Alitalia.

The airline will ply the route using an Airbus A330 with 250 seats spread across three cabin classes: Business, Premium Economy and Economy.

It will depart from Rome Fiumicino Airport every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 14.20, arriving in Beijing at 6.20 local time the next day. Departure from Beijing takes place every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 9.15 local time, arriving in Rome at 14.25.

Alitalia currently also serves China with Etihad Airways codeshare flights, via Abu Dhabi, to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

Currently, only Air China flies direct between China’s and Italy’s capital cities.

MALAYSIA’s Transport Ministry will not be revising airline fees and charges on April 15 as announced earlier, and will instead be engaging with airlines to discuss further actions.

At a press conference yesterday, transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said: “The ministry has decided that implementation will be staggered to create a win-win situation for all stakeholders.”

Liow added that he would issue a statement with specific time frames once a consensus has been reached.

He also revealed that airlines had requested that the new fees and charges be spread out so that they can plan their budget and so it will not impact airfares.

Airlines had been given less than a week’s notice over the proposed rise in fees and charges.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia

EXPEDIA is switching gears to better serve the Chinese outbound market following the sale of its majority stake in OTA eLong to Ctrip last year, which massively downsized Expedia’s presence in China.

Ctrip and Expedia will still be offering certain travel products on each other’s platforms as part of the US$671 million transaction.

Speaking at a global tour for the media at the Expedia headquarters today, Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia, said: “We found that we added more value to the outbound Chinese traveller versus (serving) the local Chinese traveller as they can be better served by the local companies.”

When asked if the eLong sale was a huge relief given how it was weighing down on Expedia’s profits, Khosrowshahi said: “Frankly, it was mixed feelings for us selling it off. Financially, it was a terrific transaction, but we (still) very much believe in the Chinese travel market.”

Khosrowshahi pointed out that their partnership with Ctrip to sell Chinese travellers outbound packages is an indication that Expedia is not giving up on the China market.

Mark Okerstrom, CFO, Expedia, explained: “We are promoting Ctrip products on Expedia’s website and vice versa over a long period of time and that is the general nature of the deal.”

He elaborated on the decision, saying: “China is a huge market and the ability for local players to compete is absolutely extraordinary. It is hard to compete with (local players) especially as they are only focused on one thing, which is to build the best product for the Chinese consumer.”

Nonetheless, Khosrowshahi said Expedia will continue to expand in Asia-Pacific organically rather than through acquisitions.

Last November, the company launched an Expedia-branded website in China, which followed shortly from the launch of other Expedia-branded websites in South Korea and Taiwan.