SRI Lanka’s debt-ridden national carrier is offering three A330s to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) under a wet lease arrangement, officials said last week.

Sri Lanka’s minister of public enterprises development Kabir Hashim announced last week that SriLankan Airlines’ representatives were in Islamabad finalising negotiations.

“PIA will use the A330 aircrafts, which is to be handed over on a wet lease, to fly the London-Lahore-Islamabad routes,” the minister, whose ministry controls the airline, said.

The planes were formerly being used on routes to Paris, Rome and Frankfurt. The airline terminated flights to Rome in May and will be discontinuing flights to Paris and Frankfurt from November in a cost-cutting exercise.

The airline has been struggling with a US$3.5 billion debt and is now seeking a foreign partner to pull it out of the woods.

Hashim also said the airline’s budget subsidiary, Mihin Lanka, will be brought under the parent wing and operated under one single brand, again as a cut-cutting move.

Battambang’s bamboo train

A BID to add three emerging tourist destinations in Cambodia to the UNESCO World Heritage list has been welcomed by tour agents.

Detailed plans outlining steps required for Kratie, Kampot and Battambang to attain the accolade are expected to be approved by the government this September.

Battambang – dubbed Cambodia’s rice basin – has been gaining a reputation as the country’s cultural hub, as well as home to ancient temples, the country’s only surviving bamboo train, a vibrant art scene and stunning architecture.

Kratie boasts a hive of endangered wildlife, with Irrawaddy dolphins and Cantor’s giant softshell turtles calling the 190km stretch of the Mekong River home.

The quaint riverside town of Kampot is renowned for its world famous Kampot pepper, and boasts a collection of stunning colonial buildings.

The process for these sites to get on the short-list will take at least five years, with restoration work in the three towns completed before then.

Industry experts predict that being awarded the titles will be a huge boon.

Anita Ngai, general manager, Viator General Pacific, said: “The draw of tourists by Angkor Wat in the past few years shows the scale of impact that the UNESCO listing could bring.”

Added Kimhean Pich, CEO of Discover the Mekong: “This would show visitors there is so much more to Cambodia than Angkor Wat.”

Geoffrey Kent, founder of Abercrombie & Kent

CHINA’s Zhonghong Group has agreed to purchase a majority of the equity in luxury travel agency Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) from its current owners.

One of A&K’s current owner is a company owned by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, whose co-chairman Wes Edens said in a statement that the partnership with Zhonghong will help open more doors for A&K.

Meanwhile, founder of A&K Geoffrey Kent will remain in the company as chairman and CEO, and will maintain a meaningful ownership interest alongside other partners and Zhonghong, which is principally engaged in the development and operation of tourism-related properties and commercial real estate.

“My time with Fortress has been amazing for A&K, especially my relationship with Wes Edens, who has been a wonderful mentor and friend,” said Kent.

“Looking forward, the relationship with Zhonghong and their experience in real estate development and tourism positions A&K to continue to innovate by offering immersive and exhilarating experiences in uncharted destinations. It will give us access to capital to finance new investments in the expanding luxury and adventure travel markets.”

Added Zhonghong chairman Yonghong Wang: “A&K is a legendary brand. The quality of their service is unrivalled, which presents many exciting growth opportunities globally. Geoffrey Kent introduced the first African luxury tented photographic safaris in 1962 and brought that same sense of adventure to destinations around the world. He will continue to lead the business as a true visionary in travel and tourism.”

A&K currently operates in more than 100 countries worldwide with 52 local offices.

WITH global GDP generated by aviation forecasted to more than double in the next 20 years, aviation industry players are calling on policymakers to put in place frameworks that will support and sustain growth.

The Aviation: Benefits Beyond Borders report by the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) states that aviation currently contributes US$2.7 trillion in GDP worldwide and the number is expected to increase to US$5.9 trillion in the next two decades.

In Asia-Pacific, air transport contributes US$626 billion to the region’s GDP. Aviation in the region has the highest share of global traffic at 33 per cent, and is expected to grow at 5.1 per cent per annum over the same time period.

The report also projects aviation-supported jobs worldwide will increase from 62.7 million to over 99 million.

Aviation players in Asia-Pacific are thus appealing for greater government involvement in light of these growth trends and their implications on broader social and economic development.

“Governments have an important role to play in providing a stable policy framework and coordinating the necessary investments in associated aviation infrastructure to match the projected growth in travel and tourism demand, spurring further income growth and job creation, as well as strengthening regional integration and global connectivity,” said Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).

Representing the airport sector, Patti Chau, regional director for Airports Council International Asia-Pacific, “calls on governments in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East to continue to develop aviation policy that will support the growth of air transport, (while) respecting the balance between growth and sustainability”.

Hai Eng Chiang, director of Asia-Pacific affairs for the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation, stresses the need for efficient and cost-effective air traffic management to cope with rising demand.

“States in the Asia-Pacific region have a key role to play by cooperating and breaking down national barriers towards the common vision of a seamless sky,” he said.

In the more immediate term, Michael Gill, executive director of ATAG, wants governmental participation in the drafting of the association’s climate action plan.

“We need support from governments around the world to agree on a key part of that plan at the upcoming International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly, where we hope an agreement can be reached on a global offsetting scheme for air transport.”

NORTH Korea has allegedly started printing counterfeit US$100 bank notes and is passing them off to travellers and in business transactions, according to media reports.

Travel companies with operations in North Korea told TTG Asia e-Daily that they are aware of reports more than 10 years ago that Pyongyang was involved in printing high-quality “supernotes”, but say that they have not come across any fake currency recently.

“If these reports are true, then I think we should probably warn our clients,” said Sabrina Wong, spokesperson for Explore North Korea, based in Dandong.

In mid-June, South Korean media reported that a North Korean national was arrested in Dandong after exchanging US$5 million for Chinese currency at two banks and then depositing the funds.

Counting machines at the banks determined that a number of the notes were fake and the man was arrested and the accounts frozen.

In another case, South Korea’s Yonhap News reported that a Hong Kong-based businessmen was given a US$100 bill as change when he was leaving his hotel in Pyongyang, but only discovered that it was fake after returning to Hong Kong.

A number of other local businessmen have reported being given counterfeit US$100 and US$50 notes in North Korea.

US financial authorities estimate that North Korea started producing fake notes in the 1970s, but began manufacturing notes that were almost indistinguishable from genuine bills in the late 1980s.

Dubbed “supernotes”, Washington estimated that Pyongyang managed to slip at least US$45 million worth of notes into circulation, primarily through its embassies overseas.

But the fake notes began to disappear around a decade ago, after the US introduced new security features, including a three-dimensional security ribbon and microprinting.

North Korea is under stringent UN sanctions and it has been suggested that the regime is seeking ways to obtain hard currency now that many of its traditional money-making operations have been blocked.