TRANSASIA Airways flight GE222 crash landed in a residential area near Magong airport on the Penghu island chain in Taiwan yesterday, claiming the lives of at least 40 travellers.

According to news agency AFP, the ATR 72-500 was carrying 58 people including four crew members and four children from Kaohsiung to the islands on Taiwan’s west coast.

Bad weather as Typhoon Matmo streaked through Taiwan prompted a delayed landing by the aircraft, and it was on the second attempt to land at Matmo airport that it crashed into houses in the village of Sisi.

AFP quoted Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration director general, Shen Chi, as saying 51 people were thought to have perished in the accident, but later revised the figure to 47.

Lee Yi-liang and co-pilot Chiang Kuan-hsin, who between them had chalked up over 20,000 flight hours, piloted the flight, said the AFP report.

Aircraft manufacturer ATR said in a statement that the circumstances of the accident are still under investigation, and that the Aviation Safety Council of Taiwan is taking the lead in this case.

TransAsia Airways also flies to Thailand, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, Macau and Palau, and will launch Taiwan’s first LCC later this year.

HOTEL Clover 33 Jalan Sultan will debut in the Singapore market by 3Q2014, offering a total of 88 rooms housed within a row of 17 two-storey shophouses.

Close to Singapore’s vibrant Bugis district, the hotel boasts a rich, dark brown colour palette for a rustic feel with additional quirky touches. It offers six categories starting with the Select Queen to the top-end Garden King Suite.

All rooms and suites come with free mini bar, coffee- and tea-making facilities, and unlimited local calls and Internet access.

Facilities at the hotel include a gym, a lounge on the ground floor and the all-day dining restaurant Clover Garden.

ASIA-Pacific hotels turned in an uneven report card for the first half of 2014 – occupancy increased marginally, while average daily rate (ADR) and RevPAR dropped when calculated in US dollars.

According to STR Global’s figures, occupancy rose 0.9 per cent to 66.9 per cent. However, average daily rate (ADR) fell 3.1 per cent to US$118 and RevPAR decreased 2.3 per cent to US$78.90.

Despite Asia-Pacific’s positive occupancy growth, occupancy in South-east Asia fell 4.7 per cent, driven by Thailand. However, ADR in South-east Asia increased by 6.5 per cent.

Elizabeth Winkle, managing director of STR Global, said: “Asia-Pacific is such a diverse region that there is a lot of occurring from a political and/or economic perspective. While growth is muted, the region is still reporting increases in the three key performance industry metrics for the first six months of the year, when measured in US dollars in constant currency (converted with the exchange rate as of January 31, 2014).”

Solely looking at the month of June and calculated in constant currency, occupancy in Asia-Pacific dropped 1.4 per cent to 66.4 per cent. ADR crept up 0.5 per cent to US$112.44 and RevPAR inched downward 0.9 per cent to US$74.61.

Auckland posted the biggest leap in ADR, jumping 20.7 per cent to US$122.90. Bali reported the only double-digit ADR decrease, falling 10.5 per cent to US$126.50.

In terms of RevPAR, three achieved growth of more than 10 per cent namely Auckland (37.6 per cent), Shanghai (15.5 per cent) and Osaka (11.2 per cent).

Thailand continued to see a fallout from the political crisis, with Bangkok (-39.3 per cent) and Phuket (-20.8 per cent) registering the largest RevPAR decreases within Asia-Pacific.

THE IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) and Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) are setting up a joint working committee, which would address issues facing the trade such as airline commissions and service taxes.

With each association fielding three members, Rajendra Churiwala, director-eastern region, IAAI, explained: “We wish to set an example in the travel trade in India that individual agendas of various associations do not supercede the higher good of the industry. Each stakeholder’s concerns and problems must be represented and addressed. We need unity, and IAAI and ETAA are leading by example.”

Biji Eapen, president of IAAI, added: “We are also planning to interlink IAAI and ETAA websites. This will help leverage the membership pool of both associations.”

Eapen also revealed that IAAI will hold its annual convention in New Delhi in February 2015, but the two associations may propose a joint event instead.

INDIA’S skies could get more competitive with the entry of six new airlines, which are lining up for lift off within the year after receiving approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The six include: the New Delhi-based Zexus Air and Air One Aviation, the latter already runs charter operations with business jets and helicopters; Premier Air, to operate out of Bengaluru; Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha that now operates charter flights; Air Carnival from the south; and Zav Airways that will offer services from the relatively untapped region of the north-east.

The airlines must now obtain air operators’ certificates from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation before beginning services.

Anil Kumar, managing director of Acma Travel Tours Bengaluru, commented: “Smaller airlines with lower overhead costs will rationalise air fares, bringing sanity to the highly fluctuating market. There must be parity and value-for-money offers (from these airlines) to stabilise a rocky aviation industry.”

Padmini Narayanan, managing director of Akshaya India Tours & Travels Chennai, said: “Indian aviation needs more airlines both at the national as well as the regional level. Many smaller cities have airports that are unutilised or grossly underused. Business travel is growing exponentially and these sectors have sufficient demand to fill planeloads.”