SILKAIR will have a new chief executive from September 3, when current Singapore Airlines (SIA) vice president Network Planning, Leslie Thng, replaces incumbent Marvin Tan.

Thng, who has been with the Singapore flag carrier for the past 13 years, joined its regional wing SilkAir as a board director on April 1, 2012.

Before taking on his current role, Thng was based in Frankfurt as SIA’s general manager for Germany. Prior to that, he was based in Italy and China for more than four-and-a half-years. He also previously worked in the airline’s Loyalty Marketing and Network Revenue Management departments.

Tan, who has been CEO of SilkAir since October 2010, will be returning to SIA as senior vice president Cabin Crew.

Meanwhile, SilkAir has signed a letter of intent to buy 23 Boeing 737-800 and 31 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, with purchase rights for another 14 planes. The US$4.9 billion combined list price for the firm-ordered aircraft is the largest in SilkAir’s history.

Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2014 and continue till 2021, by which time SilkAir’s fleet would have more than doubled in size. The carrier currently operates 21 Airbus A319s and A320s, with three more A320s due for delivery by end-2013.

ASCOTT has signed an agreement to purchase The Cavendish London for £158.8 million (US$247 million).

Ascott will take over the management of the hotel in 4Q2012, after which it will be transformed into a serviced residence under the Ascott The Residence brand and renamed Ascott St James London.

Located on Jermyn Street, in the St James area of Mayfair, the addition of The Cavendish London will boost Ascott’s portfolio to seven properties in the capital. It will also enhance Ascott’s presence in Europe – where it currently manages over 5,000 units across 45 properties in 20 cities.

Chong Kee Hiong, Ascott’s CEO, said: “London is one of the most resilient hospitality markets, where demand from business and leisure travellers for international-class serviced residences continues to grow. This is an attractive opportunity to acquire a quality operating property that is strategically located in the prestigious Mayfair area. We see the potential to transform this property into one of the best luxury serviced residences in London.”

Accommodation at The Cavendish London consists of 230 rooms and suites. For business travellers, there are five meeting rooms offering carbon-neutral meeting package options and a business centre equipped with Apple iMac computers. Wireless Internet connectivity is available throughout the property.

Dining options at The Cavendish London include Petrichor Restaurant, the chic Lounge and the Lobby Bar. The hotel also provides 24-hour concierge, porter and room services, and has a car park.

Ascott’s London portfolio currently comprises the Ascott Mayfair, Citadines Prestige Trafalgar Square, Citadines Prestige Holborn-Covent Garden, Citadines Prestige South Kensington, Citadines Barbican and St Marks serviced residence.

COME December, Singapore Ducktours will cease operating its HiPPO River Cruises along the Singapore River, having failed to secure the tender to run water taxi services on behalf of the country’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

Ducktours took issue with URA’s emphasis on bid price instead of the bidder’s track record during the tender process, and argued that the authority’s new requirements – including the S$3 (US$2.40) and S$4 price caps on standard and express fares, respectively – simply did not make business sense.

“According to our projections, by providing the full water taxi services as per URA’s tender specification, operators would incur a loss of up to S$1.6million per year,” said Ducktour’s deputy director, Pamela Wee.

“Our research indicated that with a S$3 standard water taxi service available at all times, the tourist market would be cannibalised. Tourists would opt for the more affordable S$3 water taxi DIY tour, and tour consultancies would have a harder time convincing visitors to go on tour packages – which can cost up to six times more. Based on our projections, this market segment could crash by more than 50 per cent,” she explained.

On top of using an online blog to air its grievances, Ducktours published an open letter – signed by Ducktours’ CEO James Heng and addressed to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – appealing for a review.

“Although URA authorities replied that the tender (was) in order, we owe it to everyone at Ducktours and HiPPO for a chance to have the tender re-examined, thus the letter to the Prime Minister. We do not know who else we can go to, as the URA has not shared why we were not re-awarded (the tender),” said Wee.

If the appeal fails, Singapore Ducktours, as outlined by Wee, will seek to work with its competitor, Singapore River Cruises – one of two bidders that secured the tender – to offer water taxi services on the river. Global Yellow Pages & Leisure Empire – a greenhorn to the travel trade, was the second company to be awarded the tender.

In a statement to the media, a URA spokesman said that the tender was awarded “after careful evaluation which included study of the design of the routes and cost competitiveness”.

HOLIDAY Inn has unveiled its 60th hotel in China – Holiday Inn Changbaishan Resort, also its first-ever ski resort in the country.

Situated within the Changbaishan International Resort in Jilin province, Holiday Inn Resort Changbaishan and Holiday Inn Changbaishan Suites are nestled among the Changbai Mountains, a mountain range on the border between China and North Korea.

Holiday Inn Resort Changbaishan offers 368 guestrooms and 1,900m2 of meeting space – including a 985m2 pillar-free ballroom and seven meeting rooms, while Holiday Inn Changbaishan Suites offers 235 one- to three-bedrooms suites, each with a fully equipped kitchenette and refrigerator.

F&B options at the resort include Ji Café, featuring fresh seafood, imported steaks and local cuisine, as well as Feng Bar – which stocks 30 different brands of local and imported beer.

Facilities include a ski ranch engineered by Canadian company Ecosign, 43 ski runs covering a total area of 6.5 km2, an indoor swimming pool, a spa, and a fitness centre.

AMADEUS IT Holding, parent company of Amadeus Group, expanded its global market share of travel agency air bookings by 1.0 percentage point during the first half of 2012, and posted a 26.1 per cent jump in adjusted profit to €332.5 million (US$411.5 million).

The growth in profit was due primarily to substantial reduction in interest expense, and was backed by a 8.6 per cent growth in revenue to €1.51 billion, and a 6.1 per cent rise in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to €606.9 million.

Amadeus’ buoyant financial results were the result of significant year-on-year growth from both its Distribution and IT Solutions businesses.

Revenue generated by Distribution increased by 7.2 per cent to €1.16 billion, while the number of total bookings, including both air travel agency and non-air bookings, improved by 4.2 per cent to 252.2 million. In IT Solutions, business revenue increased by 13.6 per cent to €351.4 million, while the Passengers Boarded figure was lifted by 27.0 per cent to 259 million.

The financial performance for the first half was also driven by strong year-on-year results during both quarters. During the second quarter, adjusted profit increased by 30.3 per cent to €164.6 million, total revenues were up by 8.8 per cent to €744.7 million, and EBITDA rose by 6.8 per cent to €299.7 million.

The strong cash flow generation in the period drove consolidated net financial debt down to €1.65 billion as of June 30, 2012. This represented 1.53x the last twelve months’ EBITDA and was down by €197.1 million versus December 31, 2011.

CHINA Eastern Airlines is planning to commence direct flights from Shanghai to Cairns in Queensland, Australia.

Beginning Octover 30, the carrier will operate thrice-weekly services between Shanghai and Cairns, using Airbus A330-200 aircraft configured with 24 premium-flatbed and 238 economy seats.

Shen Hao, general manager, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Region for Shanghai Spring International Travel Service, said the new connection – expected to bring in more than 700 Chinese tourists per week – would be a boon for the Queensland travel industry.

“Cairns has many natural attractions such as the Great Barrier Reef, Atherton Tableland and Daintree National Park. We will be launching new travel products to take advantage of the new connection,” said Shen.

Reporting by Hong Xu

A LARGE theme park that will showcase live performances of Princess Wen Cheng is being constructed on the outskirts of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.

Adopting a theme based on Princess Wencheng, the niece of a Tang Dynasty emperor who married a Tibetan King to establish peace between the two nations, the attraction will form part of the Tibet state government’s China Tibet Culture & Tourism Creative Park.

Occupying an area of 8.11 km2, the entire development will comprise several themed districts, and is scheduled for completion within five years.

So far, 13 companies have come forward to contribute one-third of the RMB 30 billion (US$4.7 billion) needed to fund its construction.

Reporting by Hong Xu

FRASER Residence Shanghai is undergoing an extensive refurbishment as part of Frasers Hospitality’s global asset enhancement programme.

Due to reopen in October 2012, the renovated 324-unit serviced apartment will offer a range of studio units and three-bedroom penthouses, in addition to facilities such as a spa, an indoor swimming pool, restaurants and meeting rooms.

First launched in March 2009, Fraser Residence Shanghai is located in Shanghai’s Luwan district, within walking distance of Huaihai Road and Xintiandi.

Including properties in the pipeline, Frasers Hospitality boasts 23 properties across 15 gateway cities in China.

ENCOURAGED by positive growth in Indonesia arrivals in recent years, Tourism Malaysia Jakarta (TMJ) has outlined several measures to boost this segment by seven per cent in 2012.

TMJ’s newly appointed director, Nor Azan Sulaiman, said: “TMJ enjoys a good relationship with the travel industry in Jakarta, and we would like to conduct more joint promotions with (Indonesian) travel (experts), airlines and media to introduce Malaysia’s new products to customers.”

According to Sulaiman, there were 2.1 million Indonesian visitors to Malaysia last year, contributing RM4.2 billion (US$1.3 billion) in tourism revenue. “Arrivals from Indonesia exceeded two million (pax) over each of the past three years,” he said.

Sulaiman was optimistic that this year’s arrivals figure would easily surpass TMJ’s target, as numbers from January-May 2012 had already registered a year-on-year increase of 19.3 per cent.

He noted that travel between Indonesia and Malaysia was becoming more convenient, catalysed by increased seat capacity on Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air and Mandala Airlines.

Currently, there are 507 connections with 83,434 seats per week between Malaysia and Indonesia.

JAKARTA’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport has finally kicked-off its expansion project to ease the strain on overcrowding (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 11, 2011).

State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II has set aside 7.2 trillion rupiah (US$766 million) for the project, which will include the expansion of Terminal 3, renovation of Terminals 1 and 2, and addition of apron capacity.

Angkasa Pura II managing director, Tri Sunoko, said: “The expansion will increase airport capacity to 62 million passengers per year, which is targeted to materialise by the end of 2014.”

According to Sunoko, Soekarno-Hatta was the 12th busiest airport in the world last year with 51.5 million passengers, exceeding its capacity of 22 million passengers a year.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday, Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the revitalised airport would help to enhance regional connectivity.