Full-service airlines stay strong despite headwinds

November 2, 2012

From left: A Qatar Airways cabin; SIA’s in-flight entertainment system; Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) Airbus A380-800; Qatar Airways’ A320

Although the world’s economic centre of gravity has in recent years shifted towards Asia-Pacific, it has not immunised airlines in this region from the fallout of ailing economies in Europe and the US and, for a brief period, the Arab Spring. A falling demand for Chinese goods in the West has dampened China’s efforts to emerge from a economic slowdown and its ability to power the entire region, but this seemed to have bottomed out by October. While economic challenges are not new to the airline industry, their timing and duration coincide with high oil and food prices, natural calamities and rising unemployment in many markets, thereby conspiring to bring about a perfect storm. In spite of this, airlines operating in this region have defied the odds and submitted report cards that bring some cheer as 2012 comes to a close.

Singapore Airlines

Despite being one of the most acclaimed carriers worldwide, Singapore Airlines (SIA) has not been spared the negative impact of the economic woes in Europe and the US, strong competition from the powerful Gulf airlines and low-cost carriers as well as high oil prices. The airline appears to have arrested the decline in quarter earnings, and in September, carried 1.5 million passengers (an increase of 6.1 per cent year-on-year) and raised its passenger load factor by one per cent to 80.6 per cent – powered by strong summer travel originating in the Americas and Europe. This rebound comes amid positive news that the Chinese economy appears to have bottomed out too.

CURRENT DESTINATIONS SIA and Virgin Australia have expanded their codeshare arrangement in August to cover Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, as well as additional cities in Australia and China. Both airlines can expect to benefit from Qantas’ decision to operate its Kangaroo Route services to London through Dubai instead of Singapore.

After Lufthansa ceased its Munich-Singapore-Jakarta route in October, SIA restored its Singapore-Munich-Manchester route to a daily service.

Growing demand for business travel to Myanmar has also led to SIA’s decision to launch daily services to Yangon, replacing seven of 16 SilkAir services on Airbus 320s with its own 323-seater Boeing 777-200.

PLANNED DESTINATIONS For the summer 2013 season, SIA has already announced additional services from Singapore to Fukuoka (from five-times weekly to daily service), to Moscow and Houston (from five-times weekly to daily service) and to Osaka-Kansai (from 11 to 14 weekly services).

According to a reliable industry source, SIA has been granted permission by the Italian authorities to operate between Milan and New York, which if proven true, could be a high-yield ‘Bankers’ Route’.

From 4Q2013, SIA will cease its nonstop Singapore-Los Angeles and Singapore-Newark routes, ending two of the world’s longest commercial flights.

FLEET Since August, SIA has announced a slew of planned improvements to its products, in-flight connectivity and in-flight entertainment systems, which will be rolled out on its new fleet of eight B777-300ERs, 15 A330-300s (delivery of both will begin in 2013) and 20 A350XWBs (delivery beginning in 2014).

With 19 A380s already in operation, SIA has placed a new US$7.5 billion order for five more A380s and 20 A350s for delivery in 2017, adding to the earlier order for 20 A350s. It now has firm purchase or lease orders in place for 68 widebody aircraft, excluding the 20 B787 Dreamliners that will be transferred to low-cost subsidiary Scoot.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS The SIA group has also grown its overall footprint with expansion by SilkAir, Tiger Airways and Scoot – the latter pair have agreed to introduce passenger and baggage interlining to tap the growing travel demand between South-east Asia, India and Australia via the Singapore hub.

SIA is also spending S$20 million (US$16.4 million) to upgrade its SilverKris lounges in various cities, starting with the Sydney Airport in mid-2013.

Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) declared bankruptcy in January 2010 and underwent restructuring as it sought protection from the all-too-familiar Chapter 11 of the US. Once safe from creditors, the airline shed tens of thousands of employees, terminated loss-making routes, grounded and sold many non-fuel efficient airplanes, closed down its dedicated freight operations and went through an attitude reform beginning with admitting that its dire situation resulted from internal mistakes and not external forces. The entire company embraced the multi-pronged JAL philosophy of simplifying the business, striving for perfection and working earnestly.

The Enterprise Turnaround Industry Corporation injected ¥350 billion (US$4.4 billion) into JAL, and as its current president Yoshiharu Ueki continues to steer the company into stability and profitability, the airline was able to repay this investment together with a dividend of ¥300 billion. In the process, JAL restored the tsuru (crane) logo ditched in 2003 and listed its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in September. When JAL received the first two of 45 Boeing 787 Dreamliner orders in March, Ueki said: “We will concentrate on improving our service, product and network, and the Dreamliner allowed us to achieve this.”

CURRENT DESTINATIONS In addition to adding a third daily service between Tokyo and Singapore in late-October, it will also launch services to San Diego and Helsinki in December 2012 and February 2013 respectively, with both routes being operated on B787s.

PLANNED DESTINATIONS On a visit to India, Ueki disclosed that JAL is seeking to increase services to New Delhi, and is also exploring establishing services to Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Ueki disclosed that JAL is targeting to increase capacity – measured in available seat kilometre – by 25 per cent in the next five years.

FLEET Deployed on flights to Moscow, Boston, Beijing, New Delhi and Singapore and on longhaul trans-Pacific flights, the B787 is up to 18 per cent more fuel-efficient than the B777.

The B787 also enjoys tremendous popularity with passengers as a result of its revolutionary features such as dimmable windows – which are already the largest on an airline – higher cabin humidity and pressure (both factors mitigate the effects of long-distance flights and jet lag), stability in flight and quieter cabin.

JAL has customised the mood lighting in the B787 cabin with pastel green and pink hues to match the green shoots and the cherry blossoms of spring respectively, with corresponding colours to match other seasons.

The Japanese carrier expects to have 10 B787s by the end of the current fiscal year and 33 B787s by the end of its 2016 fiscal year.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS Going forward, JAL, which already has a joint business agreement with American Airlines, has inked a similar agreement with British Airways, thereby allowing it to share revenue, coordinate flight timings to maximise connection possibilities and coordinate fares.

Customers can also choose a combination of one-way segments on the airlines in a single round-trip itinerary, which are offered at unprecedented fares available for such flexibility.

In transitioning from a bankrupt airline to becoming one of the most profitable at the time of its relisting on the Tokyo Stock Exchange – a period spanning about 973 days – JAL has proven that the phoenix, or in this case, the crane, can rise from the ashes and fly proudly again.

Qatar Airways

The Gulf carriers continue to make headlines throughout the aviation industry, most recently for their earth-shaking moves made in the airline alliance arena. While Emirates inked a 10-year alliance with Qantas that caused the latter to realign its Kangaroo Route, Qatar Airways was courted by oneworld member British Airways and in early October, confirmed its entry into oneworld. Pending all necessary due diligence, Qatar is expected to join oneworld within 18 months.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Qatar Airways’ CEO Akbar Al Baker said: “Several years ago, I have said that the future of the airline industry will somehow or the other belong to an alliance. I was never against an alliance.” He described the International Aviation Group’s CEO Willie Walsh as “very forward-looking”.

With a touch of irony, Al Baker noted that Qatar Airways’ first codeshare flights with an European carrier were with Lufthansa. “Unfortunately, their strategy was to kill competition,” he said.

CURRENT DESTINATIONS This year, the airline added 12 new destinations including Baku, Tbilisi, Baku, Zagreb, Erbil, Baghdad, Perth, Kilimanjaro, Yangon, Maputo, Belgrade and Warsaw. Significantly, Qatar Airways grew its footprint Down Under with Perth added to Melbourne – its first Australian destination launched in 2009.

PLANNED DESTINATIONS The airline intends to launch 15 or 16 new destinations in 2013. The Doha-Ho Chi Minh City service will be extended to Phnom Penh starting February 20, 2013. Three more destinations – Gissim, Najaf and Chicago – have also been announced for the first four months of next year. Al Baker has let on that Qatar Airways has plans for another three destinations in the US: Detroit, Atlanta and Boston.

FLEET As the Gulf carriers stamp their mark on the airline industry, Qatar Airways continues with its stellar growth in both fleet and network.

The airline has a current fleet of 111 aircraft – 67 of which are widebody aircraft, including seven freighters – with an impressive tally of more than 250 aircraft on order and option. This includes a firm order for 10 Airbus A380s, the first of which will be delivered in January 2014 for deployment to airports that face severe slot restrictions. It also has an order/option for up to 80 A350s and is currently considering a further order for 20 Bombardier CSeries aircraft (with a further option for another 20).

The airline has begun to reduce the size of its fleet of Airbus A330, with Air Seychelles receiving one that will eventually be deployed to China.

Qatar Airways’ first B787 Dreamliner has already been handed over by Boeing, but will only enter service after being fitted with in-flight connectivity at Charleston in the US. Its B787s will be the first in the world to have this facility, and these will initially be deployed to London. Further deployments will be decided depending on the aircraft’s performance on the Doha-London route.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS The New Doha International Airport is nearing completion and, pending successful trials, should open in 2013. Besides offering Qatar Airways a sparkling new home base, the airport will also provide it with ample room for growth.

Myanmar Airways International

For the longest time, inbound travel into Myanmar existed under the shadow of the country’s political struggles and international trade sanctions. As Myanmar continues to introduce political reforms resulting in the easing of sanctions in many countries, travel to the country has kicked into high gear. Airline seats and hotel rooms are now in short supply, and international airlines are lining up to restore services or launch new services to Yangon.

CURRENT DESTINATIONS Myanmar Airways International (MAI) commenced a Yangon-Bangkok-Singapore service on October 28. The Yangon-Kuala Lumpur service has also been increased from five-times weekly to daily, while the nonstop Yangon-Singapore service has been increased from 10 weekly to 12 weekly, although it will revert to the former frequency from January 1, 2013.
In China, MAI currently only operates to Guangzhou, and will continue to feed traffic through this gateway.
The airline also has a thrice-weekly service from Mandalay to Bodhgaya in India, but the aircraft is deployed out of Yangon.

Although MAI has no traffic rights to launch domestic services, it recently gained permission to operate once- or twice-weekly services between Yangon and Mandalay starting November. Seats on this route can only be sold outside of Myanmar, but this is a timely infusion of capacity into Upper Myanmar during the upcoming peak winter season.

PLANNED DESTINATIONS In the longer term, MAI hopes to gain permission to base aircraft in Mandalay to operate direct services to Bangkok and elsewhere, such as Singapore. It is awaiting the allocation of slots before launching thrice-weekly flights from Yangon to Hong Kong. Further expansion to South Korea in 2013 and to Japan from 2014 is being considered. Other routes in the making are Yangon-Mandalay-Gaya (thrice weekly) and Yangon-Mandalay-Bangkok (four-times weekly).

Said Ye Jhan, MAI’s country manager Thailand and Cambodia: “There are many Myanmar workers in Dubai, but the airline is actively considering operating to Abu Dhabi because we do not have the strength to compete head-on with the likes of Emirates and Qatar Airways.” Qatar Airways has just re-launched thrice-weekly flights between Doha and Yangon.

FLEET Faced with the possibility of a reduced market share as airlines clamoured to launch flights to Myanmar, MAI quickly supplemented its fleet of four owned Airbus A320 with a further two on lease from Bulgaria’s BH Airlines. Unlike seasonal leases of an A321 in the summer of 2010 and 2011, the latest leases are for a longer term and will be used to operate the year-round Yangon-Bangkok-Singapore service.

Ye Jhan revealed that MAI is considering A330 or similar-sized aircraft, with ongoing discussions with both Airbus and Boeing as it looks to operating in the Middle East.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS To support MAI’s expansion, managing director Si Thu spoke of the critical need to implement efficient IT systems. It is relying on its decade-long relationship with SITA to introduce new systems for passenger management (multi-channel distribution including an online booking engine, and working with codeshare and interline partner airlines), passenger processing at the airport (check-in at the counter, kiosks and via mobile devices, baggage handling and security), as well as airport and flight operations over the next three years.

Lao Airlines

Although recent political changes in Myanmar has made it the star of the Mekong region, Laos – and in particular Lao Airlines – is not keen to bask in the shadow of its larger neighbour.

CURRENT DESTINATIONS A year after introducing two Airbus A320s and thrice-weekly services between Vientiane and Singapore, Lao Airlines is embarking on further expansion in the last quarter of 2012. This includes ramping up the flight frequency on the Vientiane-Singapore route from thrice- to four-times weekly.

PLANNED DESTINATIONS A thrice-weekly Vientiane-Guangzhou service will be kicked off on November 29 using A320, while a thrice-weekly Vientiane-Danang service using ATR72-500 will begin on December 4.

Scheduled charter flights from Seoul-Incheon (A320) and Busan (A320) will also start on December 21 and December 31 respectively.

FLEET In late-2012 and 2013, Lao Airlines will take delivery of two new 70-seater ATR72-600 turboprop aircraft, adding to the four ATR72-500s already in operation. The airline is progressively retiring its fleet of Chinese-made MA60 aircraft and reconfiguring them to pure freighters.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS Despite not having the capacity and capability to operate to longhaul markets, Lao Airlines has not been deterred from targeting longhaul visitors. Departing in the evening, its Vientiane-bound flights from Singapore are timed to maximise longhaul feed from Europe and Australia arriving via Changi.

Jet Airways

Jet Airways was in the red for five quarters in a row, but in 3Q2012 posted a net profit of US$5 million against a net loss of US$24 million a year ago.

CURRENT DESTINATIONS In March, Jet Airways boosted its connection from tier-two Indian cities, such as Raipur, Bhopal and Nagpur, as well as southern cities, including Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi.

Since September 10, Jet Airways suspended its Brussels-New York JFK service, but continues to serve the Chennai-Brussels route on a daily basis, with Brussels remaining a ‘scissor hub’ for its Mumbai-Brussels-Newark and New Delhi-Brussels-Toronto routes. The airline also suspended its Mumbai-Johannesburg, Chennai-Kuala Lumpur and Chennai-Dubai services.

PLANNED DESTINATIONS Having been granted capacity increases, Jet Airways will add 14 weekly flights to Singapore, and seven each to Dhaka, Chittagong, Male and Dar es Salaam, the last three being new routes. The airline has also received the thumbs up for 56 new flights to the Middle East, of which 14 will be used for Kuwait.

FLEET The airline has 11 Airbus A330-200s, five Boeing 777-300ERs, 47 B737-800s, seven B737-700s, two B737-900s and 18 ATR72-500s. On order are 10 B787 Dreamliners, five A330-200s, four A330-300s, 46 B737-800s and five ATR72-600s.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS There are rumours that Jet Airways is being courted by Star Alliance over its rival Air India.

Additional reporting from Shekhar Niyogi

In his father’s footsteps

By Raini Hamdi

November 2, 2012

One of Asia’s next-generation hotel owners, the soft-spoken and calm Thirayuth has fire in his belly to make Centara Hotels & Resorts (CHR) Thailand the number one chain in the region, reports Raini Hamdi

Thirayuth Chirathivat
CEO
Centara Hotels & Resorts

In April, you succeeded Gerd Steeb, who’s been with CHR for 20 years. How’s it been?
Everything is going as normal. Though I took over officially in April, I was kind of an acting CEO since June last year, when Gerd had semi-retired. I worked closely with him and learned a lot from him and from our chairman (his father, Suthikiati Chirathivat). Before that, my role was handling projects and development; in the past year, I learned more about the business.

Have you always been groomed for the position?
Probably. Nobody knew as it never was never specified that I would be the next CEO.

Was it something you wanted?
I was guided by my father. After I graduated from university, he said since we have a hotel, I should look at working in it. So I started as a trainee in Centara Ladprao Bangkok. I found I liked hotels, so I studied hotel management in RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology, US).

What do you like about hotels?
The industry is evolving all the time, so you learn all the time. I like development the most – you form an idea from scratch and see it to the finished product. You also work with all the key areas – rooms, F&B, etc – to create the right product.

So CHR can expect huge growth in development from you then.
Our strategy is to be asset-light. Currently, of the 32 hotels in operation, 14 are owned or JVs, the rest managed. Going forward, we are looking at minimum eight to 10 managed projects per year, and one owned/JV hotel every two years.

Would you hire other international brands to manage your hotels as you did previously?
Not anymore, as we have developed the infrastructure, and our five brands cover all segments: Centara Grand Hotels & Resorts, Centara Hotels & Resorts, Centara Residence & Suites, Centara Boutique Collection and Centra Hotels and Resorts.
Soon, we’ll be launching our new economy brand.
There’s potential to grow CHR not just in Thailand but the region, and by region, I mean up to India and the Middle East, where we have one or two projects close to signing.

How are Asian homegrown chains perceived today and how are they better than global chains?
In Thailand, we are well recognised. The industry knows us and our brands, and we want to use this to expand to other countries.
I think we can match the product of the international chains but we can be better at people.
You travel a lot too and you know the service levels here, especially in Thailand, are much more refined and detailed compared to Europe, at least from my experience. We want to be better by refining further our service and consistent standards; this is something that can never end.

As CEO, how are you different from Gerd Steeb?
The business has to grow faster. Gerd’s done a great job. He had to centre on our own projects, and he was a good, experienced hotelier. But as you know it takes four years to build a hotel and capital is limited, so we must transit to a management company. We’ve been putting in the systems and the people to do that in the last few years. So I continue and build on what we have achieved to date.

But you are the new generation hotel CEO. Surely you’d like to bring in new ideas?
I’m comfortable with the asset-light model and I’m also driving the growth of our new economy brand. We’ve talked about the economy brand for two years, but we’ve not really pushed it.
As well, our business can continue to evolve. For instance, we can expand our spa business and convention centre hotels, both here and outside Thailand.

How involved is your dad in CHR?
He’s the chairman, he does not run the day to day. We look to him for comments and guidance, but we are the ones who execute the ideas, make them happen.

What key lessons have you learned from Gerd Steeb and your dad?
My father is very, very detailed, always asks why, why, why, and he expects answers. He said beauty comes later, function comes first, and he has a clear vision of where he wants his hotels and the group to be. These are important learnings.
Gerd is very good when it comes to operation. So I have the best insights of both worlds, vision and execution.

Are you a visionary?
I have to be. But, the operation has to be able to cope and follow. There is no point if we, say, come up with something futuristic and the operation cannot follow. There has to be a balance.

But your dad had Gerd Steeb. Who do you have?
Gerd still acts as an advisor.

Are you an entrepreneur or hotelier?
(Laughs) I’m a mix of both.

What motivates you in this job?
I want to see the business grow, but it has to be profitable and sustainable growth. I want Centara to be the number one chain in the region.

What are your biggest challenges?
The competition, the business environment and finding qualified people as we keep growing.

Is there a business leader who inspires you?
My dad. He’s a real entrepreneur, he wants to prove something – I find that very inspirational.

SIA adds Copenhagen flights for 2013

By TTG Asia

November 2, 2012

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) will increase its Singapore-Copenhagen flights next year from three to five flights a week, tightening its partnership with fellow Star Alliance member Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) following regulatory approval from the Competition Commission of Singapore for a joint venture.

From March 31, 2013, SIA will add two more weekly flights to the Danish capital subject to airport slot availability, to be codeshared with SAS.

Flight number SQ 352 will depart Singapore from Tuesday to Saturday at 00.05 and arrive in Copenhagen at 06.45. On the return leg, SQ 351 leaves at 12.30 from Tuesday to Saturday to touch down in Singapore the next day at 06.30.

This move is an extension of a codeshare partnership between SIA and SAS that has been in place since December 2010. SIA adds its code to SAS-operated flights beyond Copenhagen to Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm, while SAS has been codesharing on SIA-operated flights between Copenhagen and Singapore, and on selected flights between Singapore and Bangkok.

An expansion of codeshare ties is currently under discussion, as are plans to launch new services between Singapore and Scandinavia.

The partnership will also encompass joint operations including the coordination of flight schedules and joint sales activities.

Suntec aims to redefine meetings when it reopens May 1

By Raini Hamdi

November 2, 2012

SUNTEC Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre aims to redefine the way the meetings business is done when it reopens on May 1 next year after a S$180 million (US$147 million) modernisation programme.

In an interview on how the convention centre is being redesigned for the future, new CEO Arun Madhok said a key aspect was to give clients more control over their event and budget.

For instance, clients will be able to rent just the space they need, rather than the space the convention centre has, thanks to possibly the highest number of meeting spaces in a centre that can be reconfigured to suit clients’ specific needs.

Said Madhok: “In the past, you have a 4,000m2 exhibition hall. The client’s event is growing and so a centre says, take another hall, when the client probably needs just 1,500m2 more.

“We are now in position to allow the space to grow with the client. We can give them the shape and the size he needs for his event as it keeps growing.”

Level 3 will have 36 meeting rooms which can be turned into various meeting configurations or which can be opened for a big reception or a small exhibition. Level 4 has four exhibition halls, but these halls too can be reconfigured for a hybrid exhibition/conference, or for a dinner and dance, with the lighting and ambience changing at the flick of a switch.

A computerised system will allow clients to visualise, create or modify the floor plan of their event, which the current 2D floor plan is limited in.

The venue will also offer free wireless LAN connectivity to all delegates, installing a system that will enable 6,000 gadgets to be connected simultaneously. “Once you connect, you can go from floor to floor without losing connectivity or having to sign in again,” said Madhok.

Madhok has restructured his executive team, adding the changed centre means a retraining of staff’s skills and mindsets at all levels.

He said space convertibility, human capability and technology were the key considerations of the modernisation programme and hoped this “may even actually change the way the convention business is done and influence it considerably”.

He said: “Venue managers have been sort of content in just giving space and not realising we are an integral part of the entire experience.

“Space can no longer be just a shell. That’s going to be our difference in comparison to competitors.”

– Read more in Over Coffee with Arun Madhok, TTGmice, December 2012 issue

Thomas Cook India unveils multi-currency prepaid MasterCard

By Shekhar Niyogi

November 2, 2012

THOMAS Cook India yesterday launched a multi-currency prepaid card in conjunction with MasterCard Worldwide, becoming India’s first non-banking entity to launch such an initiative for foreign exchange transactions during overseas travel.

The Borderless Prepaid Card can store amounts in eight different currencies – British pounds, Swiss francs, Japanese yen, Euros, and American, Australian, Canadian and Singapore dollars – enabling cardholders to use the appropriate currency based on the country they are visiting.

The card is accepted at over 34.3 million merchant establishments, e-commerce websites and two million automated teller machines globally.

Features such as instant loading, emergency cash disbursement, free replacement in case of theft or loss, and 24-hour global emergency assistance are available in over 80 countries.

An embedded chip and PIN also ensures increased protection against counterfeiting and skimming card frauds.

Speaking at the launch, Madhavan Menon, managing director, Thomas Cook India, said: “Thomas Cook’s legacy of innovation as the global pioneer of packaged holidays, prepaid hotel vouchers, holiday brochures and travellers cheques continues with the launch of the Thomas Cook borderless prepaid foreign exchange card – India’s first multi-currency travel card in the non-banking space.”

Myanmar plans Yangon airport upgrade

By Rahul Khanna

November 2, 2012

IN ANTICIPATION of growing inbound traffic, Myanmar’s Department of Civil Aviation is redeveloping Yangon International Airport to double its handling capacity to 5.5 million passengers a year.

Tin Naing Tun, director general of the department, said the Ministry of Transport plans to develop Yangon International Airport into a “business centre” with private sector participation, which will see the expansion of both the international and domestic terminal buildings, apron and car parks.

The airport’s old terminal is used exclusively for domestic flights while the new terminal – in operation since May 2007 – handles international flights. In 2011, the international terminal handled 1.4 million passengers, while the domestic terminal handled nearly one million passengers.

“Yangon airport can handle only 2.7 million passengers a year. Last year we saw about 2.4 million passengers, (and) in 2012 we expect to handle about 2.8 million passengers,” said Tin Naing Tun. “If the number of passengers continues to grow as (predicted) over the next four years, we will urgently need to expand the terminal and aircraft landing area.”

He added that the number of passengers using the airport is likely to increase 20-23 per cent each year to reach 5.5 million in the next four years, based on a feasibility study conducted.

Located in Mingaladon, Yangon International Airport is Myanmar’s primary international airport and the second-largest airport in the country. Its revamp will take place at the same time as the construction of the new Hanthawaddy International Airport at Bago, 50km from Yangon.

AirAsia bumps up Kuala Lumpur-Hanoi flights

By TTG Asia

November 2, 2012

CONNECTIONS between Malaysia and north Vietnam are set to receive a boost in January 2013 when AirAsia raises its Kuala Lumpur-Hanoi flight frequency from daily to 10 times weekly.

The new frequency, to start from January 22, 2013, will see the AK 1440 depart Kuala Lumpur at 18.30 and arrive in Hanoi at 20.30 every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, on top of current daily flights.

Return flights leave the Vietnamese capital at 21.00 and touch down in Kuala Lumpur at 23.15 on the same days.

To mark the introduction of these new flights, the LCC is offering a special all-in fare from RM126 (US$41) one-way from Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi. Booking has begun and will last through November 18 for the travel period January 22 to May 25, 2013.

CWT acquires mobile technology firm

By TTG Asia

November 2, 2012

CARLSON Wagonlit Travel (CWT) has acquired WorldMate, a San Francisco-based mobile travel technology company, which will operate as a subsidiary.

Douglas Anderson, CWT president and CEO, said: “This acquisition puts us in an exciting place within the industry; working with the expert in mobile technology puts us in control of our own ‘mobile destiny’. Injecting WorldMate’s proven mobile expertise into our existing range of products will bring additional services and functionalities to our clients and their travellers.”

According to CWT, the WorldMate mobile app is used by over 10 million travellers to organise their itineraries, get real-time local information, and book hotels and car rentals while on the go.

With the acquisition, business travellers will have access to a broader range of on-the-go services including airport parking, restaurant bookings, hotel reservations, ground transportation and airline offers such as in-flight internet, according to CWT. Users will also be able to tackle compliance issues, monitor travel spend, as well as better track travellers for safety and security purposes.

WorldMate will work with CWT teams to enhance existing tools such as CWT To Go, CWT’s mobile app for travellers. Developed with Rearden Commerce, CWT To Go includes itineraries, mobile check-in, flight alerts and gate changes, information on nearby restaurants, maps and directions.

CWT will continue to partner with Rearden Commerce on the distribution of Deem travel and merchant solutions.

Outrigger debuts resort on Phi Phi Island

By TTG Asia

November 2, 2012

THE Outrigger Phi Phi Island Resort and Spa, formerly Phi Phi Island Village Beach Resort and Spa, will open its doors on November 3.

Since taking over the sales and marketing of the 156-key property in October last year, Hawaii-based Outrigger Hotels and Resorts has launched extensive improvements at the 28-hectare resort.

“We have started to implement Outrigger international standards across facilities, F&B and human resource services,” said Darren Edmonstone, managing director Asia-Pacific for Outrigger.

There are now 44 new 53m² Deluxe Garden Bungalows, with interiors appointed in contemporary style with Thai touches, a walk-in wardrobe, a flat-screen TV and iPod/iPhone docking station.

A new executive chef with extensive luxury hotel experience has also been hired to implement a refreshed F&B offering.

Located on a quiet peninsula of north-east Phi Phi, the beachfront resort offers facilities such as a gym, a spa, snorkelling, scuba diving, private boat excursions and fishing.

Accor-InterGlobe joint venture scales up Indian portfolio

By Shekhar Niyogi

November 2, 2012

INTERGLOBE Hotels, a joint venture between Accor and InterGlobe, has outlined plans to beef up its Indian portfolio by launching 19 new hotels with 3,600 rooms by 2015.

“We will open a 145-key Ibis Hotel in Jaipur and a 465-key property in Gurgaon, Delhi NCR by the end of 2012,” said Uttam Dave, president and CEO, InterGlobe Hotels. “The asset value of all 19 properties is US$360 million and we have already invested US$170 million into the venture.”

Of the 19 hotels in the pipeline, nine are currently under construction and seven are already operational in Bangalore, Pune, Gurgaon, Nasik, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. InterGlobe Hotels’ immediate plans are to build hotels in cities like Cochin, Coimbatore and Goa.

Another six properties under discussion are expected to be finalised soon, which will add 900 rooms to bring the joint-venture inventory to 25 hotels and 4,500 rooms by 1Q2017.

Jean-Michel Cassé, senior vice president of operations, Accor India, said: “Accor is focused on India as a core growth market, and the expansion in 2012 has been positive with a number of significant openings during the year. We are very happy with the opening of our properties in Navi Mumbai, Nasik, Thane and Pune.”