SINGAPORE’S secondary civilian airport, Seletar Airport, has extended its runway by about 250m, paving the way for larger jet operations, heavier take-off loads, as well as for business jets and charter flights to take advantage of its enhanced facilities.

Managed by Changi Airport Group (CAG), Seletar Airport is due to resume normal operations from today.

Lim Ching Kiat, Seletar Airport general manager, and senior vice president, market development of CAG, said: “The upgrading of the facilities at Seletar Airport will better support our airport partners’ growth plans. We believe that this region presents strong growth potential for business aviation, general aviation, and maintenance, repair and overhaul activities.”

According to a statement from CAG, Singapore has seen strong growth in the business aviation sector, with aircraft movements growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 17 per cent from 2007 to 2010.

CAG expects the growth in traffic at Seletar Airport to continue in the coming years, driven by the increase in private jet usage in Asia, as well as the Singapore government’s efforts to develop Seletar Aerospace Park into a world-class aerospace facility.

Yap Ong Heng, director-general, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, said: “The transformation of Seletar Airport and its surrounding areas into the Seletar Aerospace Park will support the aviation industry to tap Asia’s strong growth momentum, to expand business aviation, general aviation and aerospace activities in Singapore.”

THE NEWLY opened Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) office in Taiwan is rolling out a series of promotions to lure Taiwanese travellers to the destination.

“We’ll have advertising, we’ll have tour packages, and in November at Taipei Travel 2011, we’ll be working with 14 to 16 Taiwanese travel agencies,” said HKTB’s marketing and PR manager, Linda Wu, adding that “Hong Kong materials adapted for Taiwan” would be used at the offset.

“HKTB will leverage mega-events to attract (Taiwanese) visitors, such as Hong Kong Halloween Treats in October, the Hong Kong Wine and Dine Month in November, and Hong Kong WinterFest in December,” Wu added.

For the past two decades, HKTB had been represented in Taiwan by Swire International Travel Services, a relationship that ended when HKTB opened its office on September 5.

Likewise, Taiwan ended its third-party representation in Hong Kong through Chung Hwa Travel Service, when the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office set up shop there in July.

Asked to explain the timing of these changes, Wu said it was due to the improving relations between Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.

According to Wu, Taiwan is Hong Kong’s second-largest source market, contributing over two million visitors last year. HKTB hopes to keep arrivals growth at three to five per cent annually.

Meanwhile, another boost for HKTB could come from a change in visa regulations, effective September 1.

Previously, Taiwanese nationals required a visa to stay in Hong Kong. Under new regulations, those with a valid Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents are allowed to visit Hong Kong for seven days, with an extension of up to 30 days, regardless of whether they possess an entry/exit endorsement for the mainland.

By Glenn Smith

INDONESIA’S MG Holiday will open an office in Beijing in October, the travel agent’s third in China after Shanghai and Shenzhen, to leverage on the growing demand for travel to Indonesia, particularly for MICE.

MG Holiday managing director Raymond said the move was part of plans to boost the company’s inbound traffic from China. “Beijing has big potential. In fact, we have seen growing volume from there”, he said. “Therefore, we deem it the right time to open an office in Beijing.”

Raymond said MG Holiday had been focusing its China efforts in the country’s south, with emphasis on leisure travel and Bali as the main destination, but was now looking to expand its portfolio to target the high-end segment.

“To enable this, we have partnered with an agent in China who handles the government, corporate and MICE market, and introduced Jakarta and other business cities like Medan and Surabaya,” he said.

ASIA could account for as much as 80 per cent of Finnair’s revenue by 2020, up from the current 60 to 65 per cent, according to CEO Mika Vehvilainen, who revealed a vision 2020 for the carrier to be “the most desired alternative” between Asia and Europe.

Finnair plans to double the number of departures into Asia to 140 per week, from 74 now, by 2020. Vehvilainen told TTG Asia e-Daily that this would be a combination of new destinations in China, Japan and South-east Asia, and additional frequencies on existing routes, although he would not be more specific with details.

The airline flies to 10 Asian destinations, the latest being direct flight Helsinki-Singapore flights launched a few months ago (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 4). The 11th Asian destination, Chongqing, China, will be launched in July next year (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 6).

Since 1995, Finnair has been building its case as the ‘shortcut between Asia and Europe’, with flight time to Helsinki being less than 10 hours from all its Asian destinations except Singapore (11.5 hours). With two-hour transfers from Helsinki to more than 50 European destinations, it has been able to siphon off business travellers between the two continents, and now aims to be among the top three in transit traffic between Asia and Europe by 2020.

“Of 30 million passengers between Asia and Europe, half can fly direct, hub to hub, e.g. Frankfurt to Shanghai, London to Beijing, etc. The other half must transit (due to an absence of direct flights) – that is the market we’re after,” Vehvilainen explained.

Vehvilainen said the future was not so much in European corporate travel going into Asia, but Asian business travel going into Europe.

The biggest limitation to expansion in Asia was aircraft capacity, Vehvilainen said. But Finnair has 11 Airbus A350 aircraft on order, with an option for eight more. A “very large part” of the additional capacity from the new A350s, which will take to the skies from 2014, will be deployed to Asia, he said.

“We’ve had an Asian strategy since 1995. Without Asia, we would not exist today…certainly Finnair wouldn’t be the size and scale it is today without Asia,” he said.

– Full report in TTG Asia, September 30 issue

A TEAM from Singapore’s island resort of Sentosa went last week on a three-city tour of India, its leading source market. Representatives of the resort’s various attractions gave presentations highlighting product offerings, and interacted with agents in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi.

Sentosa Leisure Group assistant director, leisure sales and international marketing, commercial division, Steven Chung, said: “India is our top source market and we’re here to show our appreciation.”

During this summer’s peak India outbound period from April-June, Sentosa recorded a 25 per cent increase in India visitors to 253,000. Seventeen per cent of total arrivals to Sentosa last year were from India.

Mumbai-based Travel Forte director, Rosita Haribal, said: “All our 500 plus clients visiting Singapore visited Sentosa. Songs of the Sea, Siloso Point, Underwater World and the cable car ride are popular activities. Some also enjoy beach walks, the Butterfly Park and overnight stays on the island. High-end travellers may even try the new luxury cable car.”

Another travel agent in Mumbai, Kesari Tours director, Sudhir Patil, said: “Sentosa is a popular attraction in Singapore for our clients, and we’ve been receiving better support (from Sentosa) since last year, when they started India roadshows and introduced the Preferred Partner Scheme.”

Sentosa’s Preferred Partner Scheme offers exclusive support to 12 agents in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. Club 7 holidays and Sachin Travels have replaced Yatra.com and Jagdish Air Travels in this year’s lineup, which also includes Kesari Tours, Cox & Kings, Kuoni, Thomas Cook India, JTB Travels, Mercury Travels, Saltours International, MakeMyTrip, TUI Select Vacation, and D Paul’s Travels & Tours.

By Anand & Madhura Katti

MEGA Maldives Airlines has launched the only direct service linking the Maldives and South Korea.

Mega Maldives spokesperson Muzaffar Naeem said the flag carrier would operate Seoul-Male return flights once every five days, using a leased Boeing 767-300ER aircraft with 12 business-class, 42 premium economy-class and 196 economy-class seats.

The airline, which began operations in January this year, runs similar services to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.

Maldives saw a 54 per cent increase in South Korean arrivals last year to 24,000, compared to the year before. However, the number dipped 11.1 per cent to 11,525 in the first seven months of 2011, compared to the corresponding period last year.

CAMBODIA Airports’ recently appointed CEO, Emmanuel Menanteau, is planning to boost capacity and entice more carriers to all three airports under his portfolio, despite the airport management company already looking set to break arrivals records this year.

Menanteau, who took over from incumbent Nicolas Deviller last month, is expecting a 12 per cent year-on-year increase in passenger traffic at Phnom Penh and Siem Reap International Airports, which welcomed new services by Air France and Myanmar Airways International earlier in the year.

He said Cambodia Airports was considering further expansion of all three of the airports to attract more airlines, and persuade existing carriers to hike flight frequencies and launch new routes, especially to Sihanoukville Airport.

Menanteau revealed that Cambodia Angkor Air and Tonle Sap Air had both expressed an interest in operating domestic flights to Sihanoukville, while Myanmar Airways International was considering a Yangon-Siem Reap-Phnom Penh service.

Cambodia Airports was rebranded from Société Concessionnaire des Aéroports in March, as the group celebrated the 15th anniversary of its airport concession in the country.

By Sirima Eamtako

ACCOR has unveiled a massive shift in its global brand strategy, beginning with the revamp of its economy brands.

The group’s Ibis label will become a mega-brand with three smaller brands under its belt, namely Ibis; Ibis Styles, rebranded from All Seasons; and Ibis Budget, evolving from Etap Hotel and Formule1.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of Economy Hotels World Asia 2011, Gaurav Bhushan, Accor’s senior vice-president and head of development-Asia-Pacific, explained that the group wanted to leverage on the strength of the Ibis brand, while highlighting points of difference within its economy segment.

In a presentation at the conference, he also said that Accor needed to “revitalise the economy segment to meet consumers’ new and fluid expectations”. A significant 36 per cent of Accor’s portfolio is economy, with more than 900 hotels out of 1,500 already under the Ibis brand.

Some 150 million euros (US$206 million) will be invested into re-inventing its economy hotel products, which will also see hardware improvements such as better beds, public areas, F&B offers and technologies. “Essentially, we want our product to stand out, and we hope this will translate directly into RevPAR,” said Bhushan.

A vast communications campaign will be launched next year to capitalise on the image of the new Ibis mega-brand. The implementation of this new economy segmentation, which will be rolled out simultaneously worldwide from today, is expected to be completed by early 2013.

Another key global branding exercise that Accor will embark on is increasing the visibility for its parent brand.

To this end, a new tagline, Open New Frontiers in Hospitality, was unveiled alongside plans to rename the group’s A|Club loyalty programme as Le Club Accorhotels, closely linking it to its direct distribution channel, Accorhotels.com. Accor will also become an endorsement brand, with a signature, by Accor, to be used in all brand communications in order to strengthen the credibility of its brands.

Bhushan surmised that the tweaks would better enable Accor to communicate with its customers through a singular identity, instead of a patchwork of brands.

FRASERS Hospitality is working on a new brand to tap the short-stay market, even as it faces increasing competition from hotel chains that have started to gnaw at its market share with expansion into the apartment sector.

Unlike the Singapore-based operator’s existing properties, the new brand would operate more like a hotel, rather than a serviced residence, explained Frasers Hospitality CEO, Choe Peng Sum. This also means that all of them would have hotel licences.

Choe explained that the move would help “close the gap” between overnight hotel stays and longer-term apartment rental. Currently, many of Frasers’ guests stay put for months or even years, he said.

“You already have your Marriott and Four Seasons (that have entered the extended-stay market). More will come. We see this as a window to gain a bigger footprint as a dedicated player,” he added.

Properties under the new brand will be equipped with meeting facilities ­­– but not ballrooms – and likely an all-day dining restaurant.

Rates will be “a notch below compared to that of Fraser-branded properties”, as it would be more closely associated with a four-star level of service, said Choe.

The number of initial properties has yet to be finalised, and an announcement of the brand will be made soon.

THE JAKARTA City Government Tourist Office is attempting to tap outbound travel from China through a roadshow to Guangzhou, Chong Qing and Beijing this week.

The roadshow, featuring both B2B and B2C elements, will run from September 16-24, with 40 delegates from Jakarta, including representatives of 10 hotels, travel wholesalers, cultural performers, and government officials in attendance.

Jakarta Tourist Office marketing manager, Sri Juniarti, said: “Most travellers from China know Bali, but awareness of Jakarta is minimal. It is about time that Jakarta promoted more seriously in China.”

The roadshow will promote products ranging from three-day/two-night packages designed for the China market, featuring Jakarta and the Pulau Seribu islands north of the capital.

According to Juniarti, Chong Qing had been included in the itinerary based on recommendations from the private sector.

“Chong Qing is a growing city with some 30 million residents, and is located in between Guangzhou and Beijing,” Juniarti said. “While there are no direct flights from Chong Qing to Jakarta, travellers can catch Garuda Indonesia flights from either Guangzhou or Beijing.”