Growing air links pave for more creative ASEAN packages

THE recent addition of new airlines and services into the ASEAN aviation landscape has greatly increased regional connectivity by linking up secondary destinations.

Following the announcement of Air KBZ in starting flights between Yangon and Chiang Mai,Apex Airlines is now the latest entrant to South-east Asian skies, launching services between Nay Pyi Taw, Dawei and Myeik in the south, and between Yangon and Sittwe in the west.

Buyers at ATF welcomed these developments, saying the growing air connectivity will help to open up the region and create new products.

“In 2013, Vietnam Airlines opened direct services between Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta and it immediately boosted traffic between the two countries,” said Elgin Agrigento, managing director of Itrarep.com Indonesia, adding that Garuda Indonesia’s recent codeshare agreement with Myanmar Airlines has enhanced connectivity between Jakarta and Yangon too.

Komsan Suwannarat, operations and product manager of Thailand-based Smart Travel, which has been packaging Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam into one itinerary since last year for high-end travellers from the US and UK, said the increased flight connectivity will provide better options and pricing for its 20-day itineraries.

Monika Tigges, product manager Asia and Arabica, Explorer Fernreisen Germany, said: “With better connectivity, we can be more creative (with itineraries).”

“Some major cities are still not connected,” Itrarep.com’s Agrigento remarked. “There are no direct flights from Cambodia and Laos to Indonesia, or from several countries to the Philippines.”

Despite the “good interest in Bali” among Nepalese, Arjun Sharma, managing director of Kathmandu-based Shiva Travels, pointed out that the company has to package Indonesia with Malaysia due to the lack of direct connections from Nepal.

Shirish Trivedi, president, Travel Leaders US, agreed: We want to combine countries, instead of staying 10 days in one country like Thailand. We want to recommend Cambodia and Myanmar, but, for example, if you are in Chiang Mai, you need to return to Bangkok to connect to Yangon.”

Andy Carroll, global head of sales and marketing of Exotic Voyages Vietnam, cautioned that with new airlines, or domestic airlines going regional, there are always concerns about reliability and quality.

Additional reporting from S Puvaneswary and Paige Lee Pei Qi.

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