BATIK Air, the full-service airline in Indonesia’s Lion Group, has announced plans for a major expansion beginning the second half of 2014, earmarking Singapore as its first international destination.

Batik Air’s CEO, Captain Achmad Luthfie, said: “We have chosen Singapore to launch our international services because up until now, it is still the most popular destination for Indonesians.” He added that even as Singapore-based carriers have added capacity and flight frequencies in the last year, Indonesian carriers have not done so. As a result, there is little concern about the availability of slots. The launch of this route is projected for November or December 2014.

In 2015, Batik Air expects to add Kuala Lumpur in the first quarter as well as a Batam-Hong Kong connection. Other routes being studied are those linking Denpasar (Bali) to Perth and Brisbane. Lion Group’s proposed hubs in Batam and Manado will be established by May or June 2015.

The airline will also increase its domestic network from 10 Indonesian cities to 22, with new points being Banjarmasin, Batam, Gorontalo, Kendari, Medan, Padang, Palembang, Palu, Timika, Tarakan and Solo.

Batik Air currently operates six B737-900ERs, and will take delivery of six Airbus A320s and four B737-800s starting August. These will continue to feature a 32-inch seat pitch in economy class and 45 inches in business class.

The first Fibre-to-Screen System (FTTS) will also be installed in the cabins of the new fleet. The fibre-optic connection weighs only one-third of the legacy system and not only offers passengers a more responsive touchscreen but also frees up space under some seats previously taken up by the inflight-entertainment box.

Operating some of the longest domestic routes in Indonesia of up to six hours (from Jakarta to Jayapura), Luthfie said “passengers would better appreciate the more generous legroom and inflight entertainment system onboard the new planes”.

DEMAND for Egypt itineraries in Asia has flatlined as governments issue new advisories following the deaths of two South Korean tourists in the Sinai area.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a second travel advisory on February 20 while its Singapore counterpart last released a notice on February 5.

Approached by TTG Asia e-Daily, Mayflower Acme Tours Kuala Lumpur’s deputy general manager, Abdul Rahman Mohamed, said: “We have not been selling Egypt for close to a year as there is no demand. When we see improvements in the local situation, we will start promoting the destination again.”

Chan Brothers Travel Singapore’s marketing and communications manager, Jane Chang, said: “Demand for travel to Egypt has (already) taken a steep dip year on year since the major Egypt unrest in January 2011, by over 90 per cent since 2011.” Travellers are going to Turkey, Israel, Jordan and Dubai instead.

Likewise Dynasty Travel’s marketing communications director, Alicia Seah, said although 1,200 customers travelled to Egypt in 2010, only 200 to 300 did so in subsequent years.

Both agencies are no longer promoting Egypt, but Seah remarked that Dynasty would consider promoting Egypt for the year-end season, depending on the situation.

In India, travel consultants are also finding demand for Egypt “minimal”. Sharat Dhall, president of Yatra.com, commented: “Due to the current political unrest, travel to cities like Cairo, Alexandria and other urban centres has been affected, leading to a fall in demand. There has been minimal bookings and we expect the demand to remain the same in the coming days as well.”

Anil Kalsi, manging partner of Ambe World Travels New Delhi pointed out: “The unrest in Cairo has been going on for a long time and has resulted in cancellations and diversions from India, as to travellers here a secure environment is of utmost importance.”

Meanwhile Karan Anand, head, relationships at Cox & Relationships, noted that Egypt would lose whatever little business it is getting if the unrest continues. “The situation will force people to look at alternate destinations such as Turkey and South Africa.”

The Indian government has not issued a travel advisory for Egypt.

However, some agencies are still continuing with tours to conflict-ridden Egypt. Rakyat Travel Kuala Lumpur ran a tour to Egypt in December 2013 and has a four-day, full-board tour to Cairo coming up in March. “So far, we have not had any cancellations and we are monitoring the situation in Egypt carefully,” said Adam Kamal, general manager.

Egypt last year embarked on a quest to bring tourists back to the nation (TTG Asia e-Daily,September 17, 2013) and was upbeat on its tourism outlook for this year (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 23, 2014) before a resurgence in violence dimmed hopes of recovery in the near future.

Additional reports from S Puvneswary and Rohit Kaul.

SWITZERLAND Tourism is courting incentive groups from its biggest South-east Asian source market, Singapore.

Ivan Breiter, director South-east Asia, Switzerland Tourism, said Singapore arrivals shot up by 23.9 per cent from 70,565 in 2012 to 87,444 last year. Groups tours account for approximately 75 per cent of visitors and incentives, 20 per cent.

Breiter said: “The incentive business is definitely a growing segment from South-east Asia because Switzerland is an appealing and prestigious destination for them to meet and play.”

Although corporate groups are usually between 15 to 20 people at the moment, the NTO is optimistic about attracting incentive groups that go up to 100 pax.

He said: “We are working closely with travel consultants to promote the unique events and locations we can use for meetings and incentives, and we will be inviting some of them for fam trips by the end of the year too.”

Popular incentive hands-on programmes unique to Switzerland include cheese making, yodelling and building a watch from scratch.

Fortune Travel’s senior sales manager, Lily Tay, who handles incentives, said: “Switzerland is a popular longhaul destination but budget-wise it can still be a concern because an incentive programme there needs to be at least 10 days long.”

Her company is currently fielding enquiries about the destination although there are no confirmed bookings for 2014 so far.

Meanwhile Breiter added that FITs are a growing market as well, especially among younger travellers who are “looking for convenient and comfortable adventures”.

“Singaporeans like it there because Switzerland is a small country that can offer a lot of different experiences at the same time…and everything works like clockwork there.”

Apart from Singapore, Breiter said Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are the other three South-east Asian markets flocking to Switzerland.

HERTZ has launched the Dream Collection in the UK, the fifth destination where the luxury fleet of rental cars is available after Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the US.

The Dream Collection currently comprises the Bentley Continental GT, the Bentley Flying Spur, the Aston Martin DB9, and the Range Rover Sport. Models such as the Mercedes C63 AMG, BMW X5, Mercedes SL63 AMG, Mercedes E400 AMG Coupe, Audi Q7 and Maserati Ghibli will be added in the coming weeks.

Specially trained staff members of the Dream team will hand cars personally over to the customer, load bags into the car and configure devices to the customer’s needs.

Dream Collection vehicles can be reserved on hertzdreamcollection.co.uk and can be rented from between one day and a maximum of 28 days.

Customers must be over 30 years of age, have held a driving licence for at least five years, and use two credit cards to qualify for reservations, among other terms and conditions.

AUSTRALIAN carrier Qantas today announced a loss of A$252 million (US$225.2 million) and a host of reductions in staff strength, operational routes and fleet size.

The airline said it will trim staff strength by a further 5,000 jobs over the next three years, as well as send six Boeing 747-400s into early retirement, defer delivery of the last eight Airbus A380s it has on order as well as three B787 Dreamliners for Jetstar. Qantas will sell its long-term lease of Brisbane Airport.

Also falling victim to this slash-and-burn exercise is the Perth-Singapore route that will be terminated on May 11, 2015, although “supplementary services” will run between July 3 and 22.

Qantas is downgrading its equipment from B747-400 to the smaller A330 on flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Singapore, removing the Premium Economy category by May 2015.

Growth plans for Jetstar Asia have also been suspended due to intense competition from other LCCs in South-east Asia. Maintenance facilities have been shuttered.

Predictably, Australian transport minister, Warren Truss, has pointed the finger at high costs. “The Qantas wage and cost structure places them at a significant disadvantage to the people they are fly alongside. Many of them are Asian carriers these days; they are Middle Eastern carriers where the wage structures are very much lower… so (Qantas) will face continuing challenges on international routes.”

HOTEL channel management and connectivity solution provider eRevMax is giving hotel customers metasearch management capabilities through a newly forged partnership with World Independent Hotel Promotion (WIHP).

Available to existing customers, eRevMax provides users with XML interface connectivity to all channel classes from a single patform, allowing them to push real-time rates and availabilities, and bid for higher positions in metasearch channels such as Google Hotel Finder, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Kayak and Wego.

This raises the visibility of rates available on hotel websites.

Meanwhile, WIHP will also offer a managed service to execute the bid management process from a digital marketing perspective, depending on the client’s advertising budget.

Customers can also make use of the advanced tracking service to follow their exact returns on investment for each metasearch channel and a custom-built hotel analytics platform.

Michael McCartan, CEO of eRevMax, said: “Metasearch has become really mainstream, and has witnessed 13 per cent growth in travel search traffic over last year.”

A SELF-SERVICE customs processing programme that will facilitate speedier entry into Australia has been extended to Singaporean travellers with immediate effect.

Australia’s minister for trade and investment, Andrew Robb, and assistant minister for immigration and border protection, Michaelia Cash, made the announcement in Singapore yesterday.

“(Australian) customs and border protection is launching a trial to allow Singaporean e-passport holders aged 16 years and over to use SmartGate self-processing facilities in Australia’s eight major airports,” said Robb.

“The extension to Singaporean travellers will make them the first Asian nation to use this state-of-the-art technology.”

According to local daily The Straits Times, the trial has been rolled out in airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns and Darwin and should cut waiting times by 15 to 20 minutes.

SmartGate identifies and processes facial features for customs clearance, said the same report.

Commented Cash: “As more travellers use SmartGate, customs and broder protection officers can focus their attention on people who pose a risk to the border, while legitimate, law-abiding travellers can pass through with ease.”

The self-service facility is currently available to Australian, New Zealand and UK nationals permanently, while US and Swiss citizens have also been allowed to use SmartGate on similar trial arrangements.

WESTMINSTER Travel has sold off its 49 per cent minority stake in Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) Hong Kong after a decade-long joint venture with the latter.

Larry Lo, managing director of Westminster Travel, described the move as a natural course of action after Australia-based Corporate Travel Management (CTM) bought a 75.1 per cent stake in Westminster last November.

“There would be a conflict of interest if we carried on with the joint venture with HRG as CTM also (has) global operations,” Lo explained.

“Since both HRG Hong Kong and Westminster Travel operated independently in the past, the change of ownership will not affect our staff at all. The next plan for (Westminster) is to explore more global corporate (business), which we couldn’t tap before.”

HRG Hong Kong general manager, Tim Hannan, said the buyout followed a review of HRG’s investment and presence in Asia. “With this strategic move, we are given the opportunity to connect with HRG’s wholly owned network; while HRG’s international clientele is now presented with increased seamless opportunities. The single ownership gives HRG Hong Kong the ability to integrate more fully into the HRG networks around the world at a greater speed.”

As HRG has always had full management control of HRG Hong Kong, the management and team in Hong Kong remains the same.

Hannan added: “The stand-alone nature of HRG Hong Kong opens the opportunity for it to target local clients with travel programmes aligned to HRG’s goals and objectives.”