Singapore-based OTA Asiatravel.com and M Lhuillier Financial Services have inked an agreement to make travel easier and more accessible for travellers in the Philippines.

The deal will enable consumers to enquire, book and pay for Asiatravel.com travel products at M Lhuillier’s 2,000-plus stores throughout the Philippines.

(From left) M Lhuillier’s Michael Lhuillier and Asiatravel’s Nikki Rocha

Asiatravel.com will power a travel website for M Lhuillier and its travel specialists will train staff in the financial services company’s stores on how to serve customers’ travel enquiries and process bookings.

Nikki Rocha, Asiatravel’s executive vice president for the Philippines, Hong Kong and Thailand, said: “Unlike in the past, travel products were only more accessible in the cities or areas close to the cities. This partnership is extending our reach to the Filipinos not just to those with access to the Internet or with credit card, but to everyone even in the remote areas of the Philippines.”

An excess of capacity, slumping business travel demand and intense competition with rival airlines have led to Cathay Pacific Airways seeing its first full-year loss since the 2008 global financial crisis.

The airline reported an attributable loss of HK$575 million (US$74 million) for 2016, down from the HK$6 billion profit in 2015.

Passenger revenue decreased 8.4 per cent from 2015 to HK$66,926 million in 2016. Capacity grew 2.4 per cent on the back of new routes and increased frequencies, but the load factor dropped 1.2 percentage points to 84.5 per cent while yield fell 9.2 per cent to HK54.1 cents.

Fuel is still the group’s most significant cost, accounting for 29.6 per cent of total operating costs in 2016, compared with 34 per cent in 2015. After taking hedging losses into account, the fuel costs decreased by HK$5 billion (or 15.2 per cent) from 2015.

In response to weak revenues, Cathay Pacific will embark on “a three-year programme of corporate transformation” to seek profitability, announced Cathay Pacific’s chairman, John Slosar, in a press statement.

The airline chief also expects the operating environment in 2017 to remain “challenging” as strong competition and a strong Hong Kong dollar will continue to put pressure on yield.

The Philippine Department of Tourism, Province of Aklan and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCCL) have sealed a partnership to construct a purpose-built cruise ship terminal in the Western Visayas’ Caticlan or Boracay.

The agreement, signed on the sidelines of the Seatrade Cruise Conference (SCC), will see the Miami-based global cruise company provide all the necessary technical and financial support. It is still under negotiation whether the expected homeport for RCCL will open to other commercial vessels as well.

(From left) Province of Aklan’s Florencio Miraflores; Royal Caribbean Cruise’s John Tercek; and Philippine Department of Tourism’s Benito Bengzon, Jr

Said DoT undersecretary Benito Bengzon, Jr, who headed the Philippine delegation at the SCC: “We are seeing a major shift in the major cruise market. There will be more ships to be deployed in South-east Asia, and we are hoping that the Philippines will get more than its fair share of the market.”

As well, he added that the extended deployment of a number of large cruise ships to the country is a crucial factor in positioning the Philippines as a compelling and attractive value-for-money transit port.

Following Puerto Princesa and Manila, Boracay is the Philippines’ third largest cruise destination with 29 calls over the last four years.

International cruise calls to the Philippines have been growing at an average 27.8 per cent over the past four years, from 56 calls in 2014 to 70 calls in 2015 and 72 calls in 2016. This year, the Philippines expects over a hundred port calls bringing in an estimated 122,000 cruise passengers.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and regional subsidiary SilkAir have signed an agreement to codeshare on Indian domestic flights operated by Vistara, with effect from March 14, 2017.

The codeshare agreement is Vistara’s first with an airline group, as well as SIA’s and SilkAir’s first with an India-based domestic carrier.

Under the agreement, SIA will add its ‘SQ’ designator code to Vistara-operated flights beyond Mumbai and New Delhi to 10 Indian destinations – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kochi, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Goa, Guwahati and Port Blair – of which the last four destinations are new to SIA Group’s network of 15 destinations in India.

Meanwhile, SilkAir will add its ‘MI’ designator code to Vistara-operated flights beyond Bengaluru and Kolkata to six destinations: Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai, New Delhi and Port Blair.

Members of both frequent flyer programmes, KrisFlyer and Club Vistara, can earn miles when travelling on SIA- and Vistara-operated flights. As well, KrisFlyer members can also redeem their miles for Vistara flights, and vice versa.

In addition, PPS Club and KrisFlyer Elite Gold members will enjoy lounge access, increased baggage allowance, and priority baggage handling, check-in and boarding when travelling on Vistara-operated flights.

Likewise, Club Vistara Platinum and Gold members will enjoy the same benefits when travelling on SIA-operated flights. PPS Club and KrisFlyer members will also earn Elite miles when travelling on SIA codeshare flights operated by Vistara.

South Korean start-up carrier KAIR Airlines has placed a firm order of eight A320ceo to launch its new low-cost operation.

Based in Cheongju in central South Korea, the airline is planning to focus primarily on services to international destinations in north-east Asia.

“We see enormous potential for the development of a low cost model linking central South Korea with destinations in China, Taiwan and Japan”, said Byung Ho Kang, KAIR Airlines’ representative director and chairman.

He added that the airline will “focus on point-to-point services at low fares” and that the single-aisle A320 will be “perfect for our business model and customers”.

The Little Guest Hotels Collection has debuted in Asia-Pacific with the appointment of Horus Development & Consulting as its marketing representative in Asia, as it seeks to expand from its current 20 hotels to 50 properties in 2017.

Founded by entrepreneur Jérôme Stéfanski, himself a young father, The Little Guest Hotels Collection concept was created when he could not get an emergency milk bottle for his baby at a five-star hotel in The Hague.

The collection brings together upscale hotels that meet the stringent standards of families with children under the age of 12, offering services such as children’s dedicated programme, shuttle with baby seat, baby cosmetics, pacifiers and milk bottles, and availability of medical expertise in the vicinity, among others.

Members of The Little Guest Hotels Collection include palaces such as Le Negresco (Nice), Royal (Evian) and Beau-Rivage (Lausanne) in Europe, as well as The Slate in Phuket and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand for Asia-Pacific.