After being ousted from his post as chairman of Eva Air in a succession battle last month, Chang Kuo-wei announced his intentions to return to the aviation industry with his own full-service international airline StarLux.

Chang last week revealed that the “upscale international carrier”, which would have a mixed fleet of narrowbody and widebody aircraft, could start recruiting in September. Plans are for the airline to be headquartered in downtown Taipei and have its own maintenance department.

However, it remains to be seen if Chang will get approval to launch the venture. An article published to Focus Taiwan cited existing regulations that require any individual or company applying to operate civil aviation services in Taiwan to have been in the international transportation or trading sector for at least five years and generated revenue of over NT$6 billion (US$196.4 million) per year.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration of Taiwan will invite experts and business representatives for further discussion on the issue by the end of July.

RB Capital Group, the owner and developer of Park Hotel Farrer Park, has announced that the newly launched hotel will be put up for sale, owing to the interest received from multiple investors looking to access the Singapore hospitality market.

Opened in May 2017, the 20-storey hotel features 300 guestrooms and duplex lofts. The hotel is linked to 42 medical suites and is adjacent to an integrated medical facility which houses the Farrer Park Hospital. The property occupies a site in the Farrer Park area, and boasts direct connection to Farrer Park MRT station.

Park Hotel Farrer Park

The exclusive advisor of the sale, JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group’s managing director, Nihat Ercan, noted: “With the excitement of new brands coming into the market, the hotel is particularly attractive due to the vacant possession and ability of the incoming owner to brand the hotel of their choice. The Park Hotel Farrer Park is the first Singapore hotel to be offered to the market since the last comparable sale of the Grand Park Orchard and Westin Singapore in 2013 and presents a rare opportunity to own a significant asset in the tightly held Singapore market.”

RB Capital Group’s chief executive Kishin RK commented on the outlook for Singapore’s hotel industry: “Singapore boasts a consistently strong trading market which is poised for further growth off the back of major projects and partnerships, such as the addition of new Terminal 4 and Terminal 5, and global partnerships driven by the Singapore Tourism Board. Singapore is enjoying its best years of tourism statistics with 16.4 million visitors recorded in 2016 and excellent market-wide average occupancy levels of 84 per cent in 2016.”

Park Hotel Farrer Park is RB Capital’s third Singapore hotel. The group also owns the Holiday Inn Express Clarke Quay and the soon-to-open InterContinental Singapore Robertson Quay.

Dalian Wanda, China’s largest commercial real estate developer, will sell 76 hotels and majority of its 13 tourism complex projects to Tianjin-based rival Sunac China for RMB63.2 billion (US$9.3 billion).

Sunac China will take over 91 per cent equity and all existing loans of the 13 Wanda Cultural Tourism City projects, most of which are still in their planning stages, although Dalian Wanda will continue to plan, develop and manage the projects.

Visitors pose for photos at theme park in Nanchang Cultural Tourism City 

The equity transfer represents RMB29.6 billion, while the sale of the 76 hotels – including the Wanda Realm Beijing – is for RMB33.6 billion.

The deal comes less than a month since Dalian Wanda reportedly became one of several large overseas assets buyers probed by China’s banking regulatory commission.

Wanda’s billionaire owner Wang Jia Lin was quoted to have said that the deal would help trim debt for the recently delisted Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties, without giving a reason for the sale.

In an unusual development, the Wall Street Journal yesterday reported that Dalian Wanda had filed for a RMB29.6 billion loan to help fund Sunac’s purchase.

Japanese minimalist lifestyle brand Muji will open its first hotel on domestic grounds in Tokyo’s Ginza district come spring 2019.

Ryohin Keikaku, the company behind the Japanese retail giant, will be the main tenant in an upcoming retail and hotel complex developed jointly by Mitsui Fudosan and national newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun.

Concept art for the Ginza complex

The hotel will occupy the sixth to tenth floors of the building and sit above a Muji global flagship spanning the first basement to the sixth floor.

Ryohin Keikaku will provide the total concept and interior design including the supply of furniture and amenity goods while the rest of the designing and operation will be carried out by design firm UDS.

Construction of the tentatively named Muji Hotel has already begun last month.

Late last year, Shenzhen Investment too announced it was collaborating with Muji to bring the world’s first Muji “three-in-one” concept comprising a 79-room hotel, a 2,700m² retail store and 120-pax restaurant. The project is expected to open late this year in the Upperhills, in the central Futian district of Shenzhen.

Canada’s Ministry of Transport has announced that the country’s air transport agreement with Thailand will be modernised and expanded for the first time since 1989.

On top of removing the limit on the number of Canadian and Thai airlines serving any city in both countries, the refreshed agreement will also allow each country 21 flights per week to the other and afford fifth freedom rights on up to seven of the 21 flights.

The widened agreement also enhances existing codeshare rights and modernises aviation safety and ‎security articles as well as business provisions.

“An expanded agreement with a growing international air transport market like Thailand not only benefits our air sector, but also Canadian businesses, shippers and travellers who will now have more options,” said minister of transport Marc Garneau.

Thailand was Canada’s 29^th largest air travel market in 2016, and the 100^th partner country that Canada has negotiated with under the Blue Sky Policy, which encourages long-term, sustainable competition and the development of international air services.

Pending the completion of formal ratification procedures, the agreement is being applied on an administrative basis to allow carriers to begin planning new air services immediately.

Prince Hotels, a subsidiary of Japan’s Seibu Holdings, is acquiring Sydney-based StayWell Hospitality Group (SWHG) in a A$50 million (US$38.1 million) deal, gaining the latter’s 30 hotels (18 existing and 12 under development) in seven countries and 21 cities.

The agreement will see Prince Hotels establish StayWell Holdings to acquire all shares of SWHG’s 22 subsidiary companies, with operations expected to commence in October 2017.

Driving the purchase are plans to further the globalisation of Seibu Group’s hotel and leisure business, a key growth driver for the group. For now, 42 of the 49 hotels in Prince’s stable are in Japan.

SWHG, which operates the Park Regis and Leisure Inn brands, has a network comprising 11 hotels in Australia of which one is under development; 10 in India including six in the pipeline; one in Singapore; three in Indonesia including an upcoming one in Bali’s Seminyak; four in the UAE with three under development; one coming up in Saudi Arabia; and one in the UK’s Birmingham.

An acquisition notice issued by Prince Hotels stated that the properties will serve both as global development and operation platforms to expand the group’s profit earning opportunities and accelerate the development of hotels in South-east Asia, Asia and Oceania, the Middle East and Europe.

The company plans to deploy 100 hotels in 10 years.

“We are looking toward the year 2020 (when the) Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held, and beyond that, focusing on international expansion,” said Prince Hotels president and representative director, Shigeyoshi Akasaka.