AIRASIA X will hike the frequency on its Kuala Lumpur-Tokyo Haneda route from three flights weekly to six weekly, effective March 23. The carrier will up the services to a daily starting June 22.

The frequency hike is part of AirAsia X’s realignment strategy, which will focus on increasing services to its core markets in Australasia, China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 13, 2012), the airline said in a statement.

AirAsia X CEO, Azran Osman-Rani, said: “The increase in flights to and from Tokyo is in response to the growing demand for the sector, which continues to see steady increase in passenger traffic and yields.”

The move to boost Japan services follows AirAsia X’s recent announcement of Sydney flights starting April 1 (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 30, 2012). The carrier also operates four-weekly to Osaka (Kansai).

MYANMAR’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism intends to implement a star rating system for hotels in the country.

The rating system is designed to “improve and maintain the service at hotels” targeting mostly foreign visitors, according to a ministry spokesperson.

“As the number of (international) tourists visiting Myanmar is increasing, we need to offer better hotel facilities and services to guests,” the spokesperson explained.

So far, 13 three-star, seven two-star and one one-star hotel have been rated in Nay Pyi Taw; in addition to 11 three-star, seven two-star and four one-star hotels in Bagan-Nyaung U; and 10 three-star, eight two-star and 13 one-star hotels in Taunggyi-Inle.

“We will continue monitoring the services of these hotels and the star status may upgrade or degrade in the future due to their facilities and services,” the spokesperson said, adding that the ministry would soon be installing bronze star symbols at the properties based on their ratings.

Hotels in Yangon, Mandalay and other key destinations in Myanmar are also due to be rated.

Lwin Mar Aung, communications manager of Traders Hotel Yangon, welcomes the official star rating system.

“The (proposed) system is fair and accurate…and will end some problems among the hoteliers. Before, many hotels were rating their own properties as three- or four-star,” she said. “It will also help visitors when they choose a hotel.”

Ministry of Hotels and Tourism figures show Myanmar has 691 licensed hotels, offering more than 23,454 rooms.

Earlier this year, the ministry announced plans to increase the number of hotel zones in Myanmar (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 13, 2012). So far, 11 zones have been created in popular tourist regions, while over 50 hotels are expected to open across the country over the next two years.

AMADEUS has acquired Frankfurt-based Airconomy, an international strategy consultancy that supplies data on air passenger demand, a move that will see the latter developing new market intelligence products which Amadeus will market.

Amadeus’ acquisition comes on the heels of its partnership with Airconomy last year, which led to the joint introduction of Total Demand, a business intelligence tool which delivers detailed key performance indicators on passenger demand to help benchmark network strengths and weaknesses.

David Doctor, director distribution marketing, Amadeus, said: “Increasingly, companies are relying on hard data to make business decisions but in the travel industry, the proliferation of travel booking channels makes it ever more difficult to get a consolidated view of a seemingly simple question: how many people want to fly between A and B and how much will they spend? This is the question which Airconomy will help us answer.”

Based on advanced computational intelligence, sources for Airconomy’s calculations include low-cost carriers, airline direct online sales as well as the GDS distribution channel.

Airconomy will continue to run independently after the acquisition.

BANGKOK’s Don Mueang International Airport is set to re-open for commercial flights on March 6, following its closure last year due to extensive flooding (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 25, 2011).

Only one of two runways at Don Mueang will be open to traffic.

Nok Air, the LCC subsidiary of Thai Airways International, has decided to shift operations from Suvarnabhumi Airport back to Don Mueang, but Orient Thai Airlines remains hesitant about such a move.

Airports of Thailand is scheduled to conduct a 60-day routine maintenance exercise of the operational runway in April, and has given assurances that this will not affect normal services

MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) will reintroduce direct flights between Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Sandakan from February 18, with a frequency of 11 flights a week.

The reinstated service fills a void created when MAS axed its subsidiary Firefly’s flights between the two points on December 4 (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 21, 2011), leaving AirAsia as the sole carrier on the route.

MAS explained in a statement that the service was reintroduced due to strong demand for premium direct full-service connectivity between Sabah’s second largest city and the KLIA main terminal, and would provide much needed links to MAS’ international destinations.

Borneo Trails Tours & Travel general manager, Tan Kok Liang, said: “Sandakan is popular with the UK, Europe and Australian markets. Now these tourists can fly all the way through to Sandakan via KLIA. Transiting through Kota Kinabalu incurs more time.”

“Using AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur to Sandakan is also not an option because of the need to change airports from KLIA to the LCCT (low cost carrier terminal), and the different flight timings,” he added.

Perceived fare differences between MAS and the less expensive Firefly would not be an issue, said Sandakan-based Sepilok Tropical Wildlife Adventure sales & marketing manager, Jessie Chin.

“Firstly, MAS also gives good offers. Secondly, European tourists are more comfortable travelling on MAS,” she explained.

By N. Nithiyananthan

MÖVENPICK Hotels & Resorts will open nine new hotels across Asia by 2014, adding to existing properties in Thailand (two in Phuket), Vietnam (Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City) and one each in India (Bangalore), the Philippines (Cebu) and Singapore.

In Thailand, the 286-key Mӧvenpick Suriwongse Hotel Chiang Mai and 81-pool villa Mӧvenpick Resort & Spa Mae Nam Beach Koh Samui will open in third quarter 2012. The 250-room Mövenpick White Sand Beach Resort will open in Jomtien, close to Pattaya in mid-2013, while Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Bangkok will open with 266 rooms and suites, and 100 residences by end-2013.

Indonesia will get its first-ever Mӧvenpick in 2014, overlooking Jimbaran Bay in the south of Bali. The Mövenpick Resort & Spa Jimbaran will offer 270 rooms including 70 suites, and an additional 70 branded residences. Facilities will include a 500m2 ballroom, a business centre, and several meeting rooms.

Further inaugural openings will take place in 2014 in Sri Lanka (Mövenpick Hotel Colombo), China (Mövenpick Hotel Shanghai), and Malaysia (Mövenpick Hotel & Convention Centre KLIA, Kuala Lumpur), while the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dharamshala will open in Northern India the same year.

In addition to these nine scheduled openings, further properties have been earmarked for Malaysia (Terengganu) and China (Sanya & Chifeng).

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily during last month’s ATF 2012 in Manado, Markus Mueller, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts vice president sales and markeing–Asia, attributed the group’s regional expansion spree to a realisation that Asian markets were showing the most promise in terms of growth potential.

“Nowadays, we are seeing more and more Asians than European customers (in our Asian properties)…(the clientele mix) has completely flipped around. Business from European markets is either stagnant or slowing down,” he said.

According to Mueller, a growing number of Mövenpick’s guests are coming from South-east Asia, as well as South Korea and India, where the group plans to ramp up its marketing efforts covering social media channels, as well as its partnerships with local travel consultants.

CEBU Pacific will launch thrice-weekly direct flights from Manila to Siem Reap starting April 19, representing a breakthrough on the monopoly on transit services to the destination.

Travellers from Manila usually access Siem Reap via Bangkok or Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City, with connecting flights offered by Bangkok Airways and Vietnam Airlines, respectively.

Manila-based Goldlink Travel & Tours operations manager, Allan Sze, said: “The ‘obstacle’ (previously was) the flight to Siem Reap, which from Manila is accessed by flying through Vietnam or Bangkok. That would cost you about US$500-600.”

“Cebu Pacific’s new flight will reduce flight costs by about half, to about US$300,” said Simon Ang, operations manager at Celebrate Life TLC Corp, a Manila-based travel firm that focuses on outbound to Indochina.

Ang is already blocking off group bookings in response to the new route. “I’m looking at three or four groups in April, and maybe six to seven groups in May. We foresee huge demand in the near future, and hopefully Cebu Pacific will increase the flight frequencies to Cambodia after a few months,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific is looking to lease up to eight Airbus A330-300 aircraft to launch longhaul flights of up to 11 hours in third quarter 2013.

Cebu Pacific’s president & CEO, Lance Gokongwei, said: “We are exploring serving cities where large Filipino communities reside – Europe, the Middle East, Oceania and the US.”

“Data indicates that more than half of Filipinos deployed in these regions take multiple stops and connecting flights, because no home carrier can fly them there non-stop,” he added.

The LCC is scheduled to launch two other routes on March 23, Manila-Xiamen (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 3, 2012) and Hong Kong-Kalibo (Boracay), both operated thrice-weekly.