FIREFLY will launch two new routes, thrice-weekly Kota Bharu-Johor Bahru services on April 26, and four-weekly Subang-Hat Yai flights on May 2.

With the Kota Bharu-Johor Bahru flights set to link the respective state capitals in Kelantan and Johor, Firefly will be the first carrier to offer a direct connection between the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and Johor.

“The airline is targeting domestic traffic for this route, as well as Singaporeans keen on visiting Kota Bharu and other parts of the East Coast,” said Firefly head of marketing & communications, Angelina Fernandez.

COO Malaysia Airlines Shorthaul/Firefly, Ignatius Ong, said: “The rapid developments at Iskandar Malaysia have made Johor an increasingly popular destination for both leisure and business travellers.”

“(Johor) also serves as an affordable gateway to Singapore. We anticipate Malaysians using our new services to fly to Johor and travel onward by land to Singapore.”

According to Ong, Malaysians were drawn to Hat Yai for its shopping, culinary and city attractions, as well as its status as a gateway to the island destinations of Satun and Trang.

“We expect our load factor on the Subang-Hat Yai route to comprise Malaysians, as well as foreign tourists who choose to combine Malaysia and Thailand in their holiday itineraries,” he said.

ASTON International has signed a deal with Paramount Group, an Indonesian real estate developer, to manage a convention centre and three hotels with a combined inventory of more than 800 rooms in Jakarta.

Scheduled to open in 2014, the Paramount City mixed-use development in Slipi, West Jakarta will offer a convention centre with more than 5,000m2 of meeting and exhibition space, a 360-room four-star Aston, a 199-room three-star Quest, and a 250-room select service Fave.

Aston International vice president sales & marketing, Norbert Vas, expects Paramount City to put Jakarta on the map as an attractive MICE destination. “The new complex is unique in Asia as it is the only convention centre connected to various branded hotels in different categories,” he said.

Other facilities at the venue include a hospital, residential buildings, a 35-storey office tower and a 25,600m2 shopping mall.

Aston International also manages the Aston Paramount Serpong Hotel & Convention Center.

TAIWAN is ramping up its marketing efforts in a bid to boost Indonesian arrival numbers and to entice them to stay longer.

Last year, Taiwan received 150,000 visitors from Indonesia, a 26 per cent increase over 2010, according to the Taiwan Visitors Association (TVA).

This represented the highest growth rate among inbound source markets for Taiwan, said TVA Kuala Lumpur Office deputy director, Tony Wu.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily during a recent travel fair in Jakarta, Wu said: “We have seen major growth in traffic from Indonesia since Taiwan introduced its new visa policy last year.”

“Indonesians with passports showing they were once granted visas to the US, Schengen States, Japan, Australia or New Zealand will be granted 30-day visa-free entry into Taiwan. This applies for both group and individual travellers.”

Looking to ride the momentum, TVA has set a budget of US$200,000 to market Taiwan to Indonesians, and to increase awareness of what the destination has to offer.

“We are working with local (travel experts) to organise a roadshow to Jakarta and another city, probably Surabaya, this year,” said Wu, adding that TVA would advertise in Indonesian media and public transportation.

“(Travel experts in Indonesia) are creating (up to) eight-day packages for the whole of Taiwan and this is too rushed. The ideal itinerary would be five-day North, five-day Central and another five-day South,” he added.

INDIA’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has freed up eleven international routes that flag carrier Air India had a monopoly on but did not utilise despite existing bilateral air service agreements, opening up the possibility of an influx of new connections.

Flights from Mumbai to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), and from New Delhi to Guangzhou, Yangon, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Macau, Melbourne, Sydney, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) are now available to competing airlines such as Jet Airways, IndiGo and SpiceJet.

Vijay Dadhich, managing director, Blue Moon Travels New Delhi said: “More flights result in more tourist movements, both inbound and outbound. We will see good passenger load to Macau, Sydney, Melbourne, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. It’s a great move, although a long time coming.”

Meanwhile, the ministry has ramped up allocation of traffic rights across the board, resulting in a jump in flight operations by Indian carriers.

Air India and Air India Express have been granted 471 flights per week for summer 2012 and 577 flights per week for winter 2012, compared to 332 weekly summer flights and 430 weekly winter flights last year.

This year, Air India and Air India Express frequencies to Dubai will rise from 94 to 109 flights a week; to Abu Dhabi from 39- to 47-weekly; to Sharjah from 33- to 49-weekly; to Doha from 42- to 48-weekly; and to Saudi Arabia from 42- to 48-weekly.

DIETHELM Travel Malaysia and Golfasian, a Bangkok-based inbound operator specialising in golf tours to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, have partnered up to promote golf tourism in Malaysia.

Golfasian will undertake the sales and marketing of golf tours to Malaysia on behalf of the venture, while Diethelm Travel Malaysia will provide on-the-ground services. The venture will operate as a business unit within Diethelm Travel Malaysia.

“Golf is very popular in Malaysia and we believe there is considerable potential to develop this business,” said Diethelm Travel Malaysia managing director, Manfred Kurz.

“Malaysia has exciting courses, beautiful holiday destinations, wonderful sightseeing and relaxation. We have high hopes of attracting more visitors on specialist golf trips, as well as holidaymakers who want to play golf among their other activities.”

Golfasian managing director, Mark Siegel, said: “There is considerable potential for more foreign golfers to visit Malaysia. It is the third largest golf destination in South-east Asia and is destined become bigger in the future.”

Golfasian and Diethelm Travel Malaysia will showcase the new joint venture at the International Association of Golf Tourism Operators convention in Kuala Lumpur from April 22-24.

This year, Golfasian is expecting a lift in inbound golf tourism bookings to more than 6,500 to all its Asian destinations.

MALDIVES inbound numbers suffered a 4.7-per cent year-on-year drop in February as the destination struggled to keep its political crisis under control.

Last month, arrivals fell to 83,252, compared to 87,392 the previous February, when arrivals had grown by 13.4 per cent against the same period in 2010.

Arrivals from China, the Maldives’ top source market, were the worst affected –hit by a 34.8 per cent decline to 12,237 visitors.

Second-placed UK dropped to third with a 6.8 per cent dip to 9,006.

There were positive signs, however, as France leapt above the UK, gaining 4.9 per cent to 9,742 arrivals, and Germany rose by 25 per cent to 8,591.

Maldives travel consultants handling the Chinese market attributed the big drop in arrivals to charters flights being suspended when the crisis broke out. These charter services are expected to resume by April.

THAILAND Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) president, Akapol Sorasuchart, is leaving at the end of this month after nearly two-and-a-half-years in the role.

Akapol did not cite reasons when tendering his resignation on February 29. However, the local media had widely reported on his struggle against a plan by Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism & Sport to take control of TCEB, which is currently under the Prime Minister’s Office.

TCEB’s 80 million baht (US$2.6 million) to 100 million baht annual budget was also reportedly cut by 20 million baht during last year’s flood crisis, before being scrapped altogether.

Akapol’s resignation is a blight on Thailand’s bid to host the World Expo 2020 in Ayutthaya.

In interviews with the local media, Akapol admitted that his biggest concern was “the continuation of our work, especially the World Expo, as bids will be tendered in June 2013”.

Officials from the Bureau International des Expositions are scheduled to visit Thailand early next year to ascertain the destination’s readiness to host the expo.

UNITED Airlines (UA) has entered into a codeshare agreement with All Nippon Airways on the Japanese carrier’s once-weekly Manila-Tokyo (Narita) service, effective April 1.

According to James Mueller, UA vice president for Asia Pacific, the codeshare will allow the airline to connect the Philippines, via onward flights from Japan, to key hubs in the US such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and Houston.

In addition, UA’s Manila-Guam and Manila-Palau (Koror)-Guam flights will provide an alternative connection from the Philippines to the US, via Honolulu.

“Filipino travelers flying United will have the option to fly to Guam or Honolulu (into the US) and return via Tokyo,” said Mueller.

With the new link established, UA are pursuing American business and leisure travellers to the Philippines, as well as overseas-based Filipinos returning home. From the Philippines, UA is targeting business and premium travellers to the US.

UA reopened its Philippines country office last October after exiting in 1998. The carrier has since merged operations with Continental Airlines’ former GSA in the Philippines, Aerotel Manila.

THE STAR Alliance Chief Executive Board has accepted a bid from Taiwanese carrier EVA Air to join its ranks.

Air China, a member of the alliance since end-2007, has been appointed mentor airline to assist in Eva Air’s gradual integration.

“EVA Air is a very good fit for Star Alliance as the airline will add many new routes to our global network, with a specific focus on the growing Far East aviation market,” said Star Alliance CEO, Mark Schwab.

EVA Air’s network of around 60 destinations will add Kaohsiung in Taiwan and Surabaya in Indonesia as unique airports to the Star Alliance portfolio.

In addition, Taiwan’s geographic location will add to the quality of Star Alliance hubs in Asia, as it has the shortest average distance to all major cities in the region.

“After careful evaluation, we concluded that Star Alliance offers the best match for EVA Air,” said James Jeng, chairman, EVA Air.

“Our networks complement each other, and we will expand the existing alliance flight options in the growing cross-straits market. In addition, our partnership with Air China makes the Star Alliance especially attractive to us.”

Star Alliance will have eight member carriers based in Asia-Pacific by mid-2013.