BOOMING intra-Asia travel has propped up the development of Thai airline Jet Asia Airways, which plans to roll out fully scheduled flights by next year.

The Bangkok-based carrier is increasingly moving away from a traditional model reliant on charter flights towards scheduled services, according to Pablo Saba, development manager of Jet Asia Airways, adding that Jet aims to launch fully scheduled flights by next year.

With a fleet of five wide-body Boeing 767 aircraft and a sixth one on the way, the airline currently operates scheduled charters from Bangkok and Phuket to China, South Korea and Japan, including Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Nanjing, Shenyang, Changsha, Tokyo and Seoul – cities that lie within a flight distance of between five and eight hours from the Thai capital.

Meanwhile, Japan’s recent visa liberalisation policy for Thai nationals has made Japan “more feasible for route development”, said Saba.

“We’ve been focusing on inbound passengers to Thailand, but we’re now keen to explore the outbound market as Thai market demand to Japan is strong,” he added.

Also in the delivery pipeline is a narrow-body B757 aircraft – likely within the next eight months – that will pave the way for Jet Asia Airways to introduce destinations within a three-hour radius in South China, South-east Asia and India, Saba shared.

At the same time, the airline has plans to enter Russia and the Middle East within the next year.

Established in 2009, Jet Asia Airways operates out of Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

AIRCRAFT maker Airbus has secured more than US$15 billion in orders from Asia-based airlines in a single day, adding to the 942 firm orders the company has already received within the first eight months of the year.

According to Bloomberg, Vietnamese carrier VietJetAir on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for up to 92 Airbus A320 aircraft. This includes 42 re-engined A320neos, 14 current-model A320s, six A321s and another 30 purchase rights.

Two fledging airlines from China has also placed orders for new planes. Newly established private carrier Qingdao Airlines has stated its intention to buy 23 A320s, a mix of five current models and 18 re-engined A320neos, worth US$2.3 billion in total based on Airbus list prices.

Meanwhile, Zhejiang Loong Airlines hopes to acquire 11 A320s and nine A320neos at US$1.9 billion.

Bank of China-owned BOC Aviation ordered 13 A320s and 12 re-engined A320neo narrow bodies, including a number of larger A321s, with total purchase valued at US$2.6 billion, said the same Bloomberg report.

SATS, which operates Marina Bay Cruise Centre, has set its sights on acquiring Singapore Cruise Centre in a bid to improve efficiencies and make Singapore more attractive as a potential regional homeport.

Subsidiaries SATS Airport Services and SATS-Creuers Cruise Services (SATS-Creuers) have entered a share purchase agreement to buy over the terminal operator for S$110 million (US$87.6 million) from Temasek.

Due to the complementary nature of Singapore Cruise Centre and SATS-Creuers operations, the acquisition will allow for the improvement of efficiencies and better utilisation of berths and resources, making Singapore a more attractive homeport for cruise lines. SATS also plans to extend its cruise-fly and fly-cruise products to Singapore Cruise Centre for seamless transfers to Singapore Changi Airport.

Tan Chuan Lye, SATS’ president and CEO, said: “Together with our strong partnership with Creuers, this transaction will enable us to grow our gateway services business, which in turn will benefit the cruise industry here as a whole.

“The future is bright for the cruise industry in Asia-Pacific. The combined entity can leverage our regional airport presence to facilitate and provide a seamless travel experience for fly-cruise passengers. This will bolster Singapore’s position as an attractive regional cruise hub and homeport for cruise lines which in turn will benefit the economy.”

Singapore Cruise Centre is comprised of the international cruise terminal and regional ferry terminal at HarbourFront Centre, along with the two ferry terminals at Tanah Merah and Pasir Panjang.

The transaction remains subject to approvals from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the Competition Commission of Singapore.

SATS-Creuers is a 60-40 joint venture formed by SATS Airport Services and Creuers del Port De Barcelona to manage and operate the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 1, 2011).

ONCE a leading outbound travel company in the Netherlands, Oad Reizen declared bankruptcy on Wednesday to the surprise of Indonesia’s inbound operators and hoteliers.

A source at Asialink Holidays Indonesia, Oad’s groundhandling operator here, declined to be named but said the dramatic turn of events was “shocking”.

“We have seen inbound volume (from the Netherlands) to Indonesia decrease in the last couple of years as a result of the crisis in Europe…(but) we never had any problems with Oad’s payments to us, while bookings and arrival schedules were normal,” said the source.

Asialink Holidays has seen between 8,000 and 10,000 arrivals during the last couple of years and currently handles 300 travellers in Indonesia, including a batch that departed on the day the Dutch company announced its bankruptcy.

An established and leading travel company in The Netherlands that has been on the travel scene since 1924, Oad’s outbound operations sent tour groups to some 60 countries across the world, including Bali and other Indonesian destinations.

Apart from a dedicated groundhandling operator, Oad has direct contracts with many hotels in Indonesia, with Aerowisata Hotels & Resorts as one of the company’s biggest partners.

Aerowisata’s executive vice president hotel and resort, Francis Dehnhardt, said: “It is so sad that (the bankruptcy) has to happen.

“We have had a long partnership with them and they used to be our biggest source (of tourists from the Dutch market) until about 18 months ago, when we started seeing their traveller volume decrease while some other travel companies’ volumes increased.

“Although we did not have issues with payments with them, we had also heard of their financial difficulties, so we started to reduce our direct business with Oad and work with bona fide local consultants and OTAs, and channel direct bookings to our website.”

Dehnhardt said that although Oad’s outstanding bill is quite significant, it is not damaging the company. “I cannot imagine what would have happened to our hotels if we had not had taken the precautions earlier. I would have been fired for sure,” he quipped.

THE opening of four Thai-Myanmar cross-border checkpoints last month has received a warm welcome from tour operators on both sides.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Immigration and Population announced that Tachileik-Mae Sai, Myawaddy-Mae Sot, Kawthoung-Ranong and Htee Khee-Sunron have been made international entry and exit points.

Calling the change a positive sign, Phyu Phyu Mar, managing director of Seven Star Tours, said: “(The border openings) will increase the number of tourist arrivals through Thailand. We travel consultants can even design different border packages between Myanmar and Thailand. I hope we can see more visitors coming through these border checkpoints in the peak season beginning October.

Ko Aung Naing, managing director of EPG Travel Yangon, commented that the change would be good for Myanmar’s tourism. “I am waiting to see when Three Pagoda Pass (also on the Thai-Myanmar border) will be opened, which is a nice border area for tourism activities.”

At the same time, Thai tour operators expect Thailand to also reap the benefits from the opening of the border crossings. Andre van der Marck, general manager of Khiri Travel Thailand, remarked: “This will further establish Thailand as the hub for the Greater Mekong area than it already is.”

“Mae Sot as a border town will open up…Sukothai in Thailand will benefit from it, as well as the Mon and Kayin states in Myanmar. The openings will create a unique experience to travel overland from one country to the other, and absorbing all the local colour rather than just sitting on a plane for an hour.

“The young at heart, adventurous and early adopters (will make most use of the new travel options) to have a unique experience in combining two great countries in a unique way. The Dutch market and some niche US consultants will start to use it for sure.”

According to van der Marck, Khiri has already prepared programmes utilising the new border crossings and sent them out to its group adventure consultants to “great feedback”.

Additional reporting by Rahul Khanna, Greg Lowe