JAPAN Airlines (JAL) is shifting a number of flight operations to Tokyo’s Haneda airport and will commence a new Tokyo (Haneda)-Ho Chi Minh City service from March 30.

The airline will increase its Bangkok and Singapore flights out of Haneda from seven to 14 weekly, while halving frequencies at Narita airport to seven.

London-bound flights will now depart Haneda instead of Narita, where the service will be suspended entirely except for British Airways codeshare flights. The Paris service from Haneda will be retimed for daytime departures.

JAL will launch a daily Tokyo (Haneda)-Ho Chi Minh City service on March 30. Flights leave Haneda at 01.25 and arrive in the Vietnamese city at 05.15, while return flights take off from Ho Chi Minh City at 13.55 to touch down in Tokyo at 22.00.

Over at Narita airport, JAL is doubling frequencies to New York from seven to 14 flights a week beginning March 30.

Moscow-bound services will increase from three to four times a week for the period March 30 to October 25.

THE Philippines and France have hammered out a new air service agreement that will see the return of Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) daily flights to Paris after 16 years, according to Philippines’ Civil Aeronautics Board.

The agreement also allows a third country codeshare, permitting a French or Philippine carrier to fly from Paris to Manila via another country.

PAL is in the process of resuming much needed flights to Europe after the EU rescinded its ban on the airline last year (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 11, 2013), beginning with a Manila-London flight last November (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 18, 2013). Further flights to Frankfurt, Rome, Milan and Amsterdam are in the works.

Currently, KLM is the only European carrier flying to Manila from Amsterdam via Taipei.

Welcoming the development, Maria Aurora Tadeo, general manager inbound, Baron Travel, said: “It’s very good news. A direct flight (between Manila and Paris) would be good instead of travelling for longer hours.”

“We’re happy about that. Paris and the neighbouring European cities are a good market,” she added.

Arnel Yaptinchay, general manager of Kirschner Travel Manila, said a flight to France will be a big boost to the longhaul market as presently Europe is best accessed via Hong Kong.

Yaptinchay added that other carriers like Etihad Airways serve Europe and Manila via a stopover in the Middle East.

Separately, PAL today also announced it would launch twice-daily flights from Manila to Tokyo’s Haneda airport on March 30. Haneda is the airline’s fifth gateway to Japan following Narita, Fukuoka, Osaka and Nagoya.

PAL president and COO, Ramon S Ang, said in a media release: “The new service makes PAL the exclusive operator on the Tokyo (Haneda)-Manila route. This route forms part of PAL’s network expansion aimed at providing our passengers more and better choices.”

BEST Western International is reaching into key growth markets of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with a slew of hotels announced for these destinations.

The company will launch its first hotel – a 60-key midscale Best Western property – in Sri Lanka’s capital of Colombo within the next few months.

Glenn de Souza, vice president of international operations for Asia and the Middle East, said: “The potential for tourism in Sri Lanka is huge…International arrivals are multiplying year after year, and with all parts of the beautiful island now open to tourists, the country offers incredible opportunities.”

Best Western had last year announced an agreement with Maple Leaf Hotel & Resorts to manage a 56-room Best Western Plus hotel beside the Dhaka airport, its second hotel in Bangladesh after the 51-key Best Western La Vinci Hotel (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 15, 2013).

It will also launch a 232-room Best Western Plus in the coastal resort town of Cox’s Bazar soon.

Two more hotels – a Best Western with 448 rooms and Best Western Premier with 720 rooms – will likely make their debut in Cox’s Bazar in 2015.

Said de Souza: “Bangladesh is one of the world’s new tiger economies, with strong GDP growth.

“With rising incomes, strong growth in domestic travel, and shortage of internationally-branded hotels, we believe Bangladesh represents a major opportunity for a global company like Best Western.”

EGYPT’S new constitution and forthcoming elections will improve political stability and support a recovery in the country’s travel trade, said tourism minister Hisham Zazou, who is also developing a range of incentives to win business back.

“All source markets have softened or removed their travel advisories,” Zazou told TTG Asia e-Daily. “However, we still have a lot of work to do about (the) perception (of safety in Egypt).”

Signs that the industry once again considers Egypt a safe travel destination include the launch of ITB Africa at Sharm el-Sheikh, which will be announced in March, he added.

Euromic, an international association of DMCs, also held its annual general meeting in Cairo this week. “(Euromic is) here in solidarity with Egypt to show people that the country is safe and open for business,” said Rajeev Kholi, managing director of Creative Travel.

However, some DMCs said the industry, especially sensitive markets such as the US, will want to see a period of stability before sending corporate groups back to the country.

Travellers have shied away from Egypt since political instability and violent clashes broke out in February 2011.

Egypt welcomed 14.7 million international arrivals in 2010, falling to 11.5 million in 2012 and 9.5 million last year, according to the minister.

“Arrivals have doubled since October,” he said. “I believe we will be in the neighbourhood of 12 million (arrivals) by the end of the year.”

INDIAN buyers are cheering Malindo Air’s new daily services from Kuala Lumpur to New Delhi and Mumbai, which will help them offer more competitive packages to Malaysia.

The Malaysian low-cost carrier, which has some full-service offerings, kicked off a New Delhi service on December 30, 2013, while flights to Mumbai will commence on February 15, 2014 (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 3, 2013). This will increase seat capacity on these routes and provide an alternative to flying on Malaysia Airlines (MAS), which has enjoyed a monopoly on these routes since AirAsia suspended operations to Mumbai and New Delhi in 2012.

Rajendra Dhumma, director of Classis Travels & Tours Mumbai, said he would be able to lower package prices to Malaysia from Rs60,000 (US$973) to Rs45,000 for a four-day package based on twin-sharing at three-star hotels.

Mahendra Rawal, managing director of Adler Tours & Safaris in Mumbai, added: “When AirAsia suspended flights to India, we lost 25 per cent of the outbound business to Malaysia. With Malindo Air’s entry, we hope to gain back market share.”

Munira Basrai, proprietor, ICE Incentives Conferences Events, revealed that a recent incentive group of 400 delegates from Mumbai had selected Hong Kong over Kuala Lumpur because of the high airfares offered by MAS.

She said: “As long as the airfares are competitive and there is flexibility to change dates and names, Indians will not mind using Malindo Air for incentives.”

A spokesperson for Malindo Air said its corporate rates allow clients to make last-minute flight changes. They can also pre-book meals on board.

Meanwhile, Malaysian outbound agencies said the new flights would also encourage more leisure travel to India.

K Thangavelu, managing director at Grandlotus Travel Agencies, said: “Malindo Air’s lower airfares will attract more FIT and budget travellers. It offers a very good value proposition with complimentary light refreshments on board, inflight entertainment and 30kg of checked baggage allowance on economy class.”

Hidden Asia Travel & Tours managing director, Nanda Kumar, also pointed out that the airline offers a trade rate, which is RM50 (US$15) to RM100 lower than online rates.

Read the full story in TTG Official Show Daily – ATF 2014