The Marina Bay Street Circuit

EVENTS are being held in the lead up to the 2016 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix, set to take place from September 16-18.

An aptly-named Rev Up Singapore! truck will travel to heartland spots, beginning from June 25 at SAFRA Punggol, bringing with it a race-themed exhibition. Racing simulators are among the highlights at the roving event, which will be heading to different communities until August 24.

Members of the public can also register for a complimentary 2.5-hour tour of the Marina Bay Street Circuit and gain behind-the-scenes access, from viewing the racing team garages and hospitality homes to visiting restricted areas such as the media centre and race control room.

As well, 3,000 pre-race VIP slots are up for balloting this year, an increase of 500 from 2015, where the public can stand a chance to walk the pits to see race crews in action at the team garages a day before the circuit opens to ticketholders.

Also open to the public is the Fit For Racing Challenge happening on June 25, where participants go through a workout regime that simulates those that F1 drivers go through. Registration for this is priced at S$12 (US$8.90) with proceeds going to the Community Chest.

THE European Commission has lifted three Indonesian carriers – Lion Air, Batik Air and Citilink – from its safety blacklist.

This means the airlines are now allowed to fly to European Union (EU) destinations. The lift was announced by the EU’s transportation commissioner Violeta Bulc yesterday.

Albert Burhan, president director of Citilink, told Indonesian media that the airline managed to be on the whitelist after two assessments by the EU.

He said: “We (have shown that we) can follow the steps of (sister airline) Garuda Indonesia and present Citilink as an international class airline.”

Meanwhile, Edward Sirait, general affairs director of Lion Group said the EU decision has proven that Lion Air and Batik Air, both part of the Lion Group, is in line with international standards and procedures.

Out of 65 airline companies in Indonesia today, only seven airlines are allowed entry to EU countries. They are Garuda Indonesia, Airfast Indonesia, Premiair, Indonesia AirAsia, and now Lion Air, Batik Air and Citilink.

ORIGINALLY planned for 2018, when Singapore Airlines (SIA) is to receive seven ultra-long-range variants of the Airbus A350, the national carrier is now set to launch a non-stop Singapore-US service from October 23 this year, pitting itself directly against Chicago-based United Airlines.

SIA yesterday made public intentions to fly Singapore-San Francisco direct daily, a route United just launched on June 1, operated by a 787-900 Dreamliner.

The two airlines are also members of the Star Alliance, but competition is understandably strong in a bid to capture a slice of the lucrative Singapore-US route, which, if United’s inaugural launch earlier this month is any indication, will receive keen uptake from high-yield corporate travellers.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily prior to this announcement, Laurence Chin, country manager Singapore and offline sales, United Airlines, said competition is “welcome”, when asked if SIA’s plans to launch non-stop flights in 2018 from Singapore to Los Angeles and New York pose any threat.

“We welcome competition because we believe that by having good, robust and fair competition, everybody benefits. The consumer obviously benefits and we benefit by being forced to come up with better products to compete effectively,” he said.

But SIA is taking steps to make sure its North America business stays solid with several upcoming changes to its routes.

It currently also flies direct to San Francisco from Hong Kong and Seoul, but the service from Seoul will be discontinued and rerouted to Los Angeles instead, from October 23, coinciding with the Singapore-San Francisco debut. This is seen as a move to optimise capacity since SIA already operates Tokyo-Los Angeles.

At the same time, SIA is detracting from South America with the cessation of its thrice-weekly Singapore-Barcelona-Sao Paulo services, after October 20, instead flying only from Singapore to Barcelona without a connecting flight to Brazil.

A lingering concern remains if SIA’s choice of aircraft, the Airbus A350-900, will suffice to ply the miles between Singapore and San Francisco, but the carrier assured in a statement that “the A350-900 is able to operate nonstop San Francisco flights on a year-round basis, although depending on headwinds there will be some payload restrictions which will result in some seats not being offered for sale.”

SIA was the first airline to launch direct flights between Singapore and the US, but suspended the services to New York and Los Angeles back in 2013.

Unlike its former Singapore-US ventures however, SIA will be offering 253 seats in business, premium economy and economy class, which should be more commercially viable compared to the 100 all-business class seats it previously offered aboard an Airbus A340.

TRAVEL from the Middle East during this year’s end-of-Ramadan season has seen a 6.4 per cent drop compared to 2015, according to reservations data gathered by ForwardKeys.

The traditionally busy travel period, which this year falls between June 29 and July 10, has suffered declines due to plunges in bookings to Europe (-32 per cent) and the Americas (-17 per cent). According to ForwardKeys, this is likely due to recent terrorist attacks in Europe and the spread of Zika in Latin America.

Within Europe, the popular destinations of France, the UK and Turkey are down 36 per cent, 24 per cent and 40 per cent in Middle East arrivals respectively.

However, flight bookings to Asia-Pacific, Africa and within the Middle East are all ahead of last year’s numbers, dominated by VFR travel intentions.

Commenting on the trend, Olivier Jager, ForwardKeys CEO and co-founder, said: “Concern over terrorism and health alerts are clearly factors in people’s travel plans. The regional pattern shows movement away from the Americas and Europe. Whether this trend becomes permanent will be determined by events.”

ForwardKeys points out that it remains to be seen if last-minute bookings could pull back some of the decline. Last year, 27 per cent of departures during the end-of-Ramadan period were made within the preceding four weeks.

(From left) Zhang Shaoyu, general manager of Baidu Global Map; Chen Jiang, culture counselor, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Thailand; Hu Yong, general manager, global business unit of Baidu; Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT governor; Srisuda Wanapinyosak, TAT deputy governor for international marketing, Asia and South Pacific; Visanu Jaroensilp, TAT deputy governor for tourism products and business 

THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Baidu have signed a MoU to work towards attracting more high-end Chinese travellers to Thailand.

Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT governor, said: “TAT aims to restructure the market by (targeting) high-end tourists from various cities of China like Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Chengdu. This cooperation will allow TAT to reach this target group directly and rapidly.”

Areas of collaboration discussed include the exchange of information on traveller trends and characteristics as well as public relations initiatives for 17,000 places of interest.

TAT and Baidu also plan to work together on a project in Thailand in July, aimed at highlighting locations related to love and romance, such as love-confession spots, honeymoon places and wedding destinations.

Smart Guide, an audio guide for use at major tourist attractions, is also being developed. So far, Baidu has tested the guide at Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok and The Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya City, which are attractions popular among Chinese tourists.

In addition, Baidu will be unveilling the new Baidu Map, a modern mapping service technology that will assist Chinese tourists in locating attractions, restaurants, products and services when travelling abroad, with an emphasis on Thailand.

In August 2016, the Women’s Journey project will also be deployed on Baidu Map, displaying information on privileges that female tourists can enjoy at participating shops and businesses.

Students from Xiamen University welcome officiating guests to the ceremony

A NEW hotel dedicated to training hospitality students at a tertiary level has been unveiled yesterday at Xiamen University in China.

The property, established with a donation made by Genting Hong Kong, is named Lim Goh Tong Building, in honour of Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, the late founder of Genting Group.

The three-storey building, located at the south entrance of the university, is now also the academic and research centre of Xiamen University’s School of Management’s Tourism and Hotel Management Department.

It houses approximately 82 demonstration hotel rooms offering students hands-on experience and training in a real-world setting.

“Through the establishment of China’s first teaching hotel in a top level tertiary educational institution, we hope to support Xiamen University in cultivating the next generation of tourism professionals and talent to further contribute to the development of this industry sector in China and in the region,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Genting Hong Kong, who attended the opening ceremony of the building.

Also commenting at the ceremony, Zhang Yan, secretary of party committee, Xiamen University, said: “The Lim Goh Tong Building is of great significance to Xiamen University because this marks the establishment of our very own academic and research centre for the Tourism and Hotel Management Department.

“It is our vision for Xiamen University’s School of Management to learn from Genting’s great experience and long history in hotel management and turn this facility into a platform to nurture a new wave of tourism students to better serve the community and to contribute to China’s economy.”

NOK Air is in desperate need of an internal shake-up if it is to keep its remaining credibility with passengers and travel agents, a leading analyst has warned.

Endau Analytics aviation analyst Shukor Yusof said while the airline had attempted damage control and rebranding after the pilot strike and mass cancellations earlier this year, “the damage has been done”.

“In my view they took a while to realise the gravity of the situation and the problems,” Yusof said.

“It’s an airline under the aegis of Thai Airways – the flag carrier – so it retains some form of credibility. But only just.

“Nok needs a real shake-up internally. Unless that happens it will continue to struggle to face the competition judging from its recent US$10 million losses.”

The airline was hit with another public relations headache this week as a co-pilot joked on social media about crashing a plane carrying former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand is seeking clarification after the Nok Air co-pilot described passengers as “victims” and wrote “do a CFIT”, or controlled flight into terrain, in a Line group chat.

Nok Air also last week changed its slogan from “We Fly Smiles” to “Smiling Across Asia” as it moved to capitalise on joining the Value Alliance.

CEO Patee Sarasin said the slogan reflected the airline’s efforts to raise its profile from a national to a regional level. However, Nok Air did not respond to questions about steps it had taken to avoid a repeat of the mass cancellations seen in February and March.

Yusof said Nok Air was hoping to piggyback on stronger partners through the Value Alliance, but it had always played second fiddle to Thai AirAsia.

Asked if the new slogan would help, Yusof said: “No, but a new CEO might.”