VISA application agency VFS Global’s Thai visa-processing office, which opened in Hyderabad yesterday, is expected to boost outbound travel to Thailand.

Travel Express managing director, C Venkateshwar Prasad, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “The new facility will speed up the process for obtaining visas and help travel agents and travellers from Hyderabad.”

“In the past, we had to apply for visas in Mumbai or Delhi,” he explained. “Being able to apply for Thai visas here will save us two days. It will help many last-minute travellers.”

Prasad added: “While there is also the existing facility of getting visas-on-arrival at a Thai airport, travellers prefer to have their visas on-hand to avoid joining the queues on arrival.”

Balmer Lawrie & Co. regional manager Western India, Mahesh K. Neralkar, said: “VFS’ visa facilitation service in Hyderabad will help us save time and effort in sending our clients’ visa applications to Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai.”

The visa-processing centre in Hyderabad is the fifth one in India. An estimated 45,000 Thai visas were issued to travellers from Hyderabad last year, while 50,000 are expected to be issued this year.

By Anand & Madhura Katti

CENTARA Hotels & Resorts has signed a management contract that will see the opening of its first property in Bali.

The Centara Grand Nusa Dua Resort & Villas will be completed at the end of the year. The resort’s soft opening is scheduled for December 2011, with the grand opening to be held in 2012.

Gerd Steeb, president of Centara Hotels & Resorts, said: “Bali represents our fifth overseas destination, and follows the successful opening during the past 18 months of properties in the Maldives, Indian Himalayas, the Philippines and Vietnam.”

Chris Bailey, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Centara Hotels & Resorts, said: “We are very pleased that our first step into Bali is with our premium Centara Grand, as this brand appeals to couples, families and groups across the medium five-star market.”

Located in Nusa Dua, the property will have 76 guestrooms, ranging in size from 60 to 70m2, and 14 villas offering a choice of one, two or three bedrooms.

The resort will offer an Indian restaurant, an all-day dining restaurant, a lounge bar, a club lounge, kids’ club, a spa, a fitness centre, two swimming pools, and meeting rooms.

AS A precautionary measure against the E coli outbreak currently spreading in Europe, SriLankan Airlines has removed all fresh vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers and leafy greens from its menu on all flights out of the region.

“SriLankan Airlines flies to London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan and Rome in Europe, and until it is once again safe to serve raw vegetables, which may carry the E coli bacteria, we have decided to remove all such items from our range of menus on food uplifted from these European cities,” the carrier said in a statement last Friday.

SPEAKING on the sidelines of the 67th IATA Annual General Meeting in Singapore, Japan Airlines’ (JAL) president, Masaru Onishi, was optimistic about the carrier’s future.

Even though JAL’s April 2011 international and domestic bookings were down 20 and 15 per cent respectively, Onishi said that “the gradient of decline has eased, and we are seeing a slight pickup in passenger numbers in May versus April, many of which are found to be last-minute bookings made much closer to the travel date”.

Onishi was confident that JAL would achieve its profit forecast of US$929 million in the current financial year ending March 2012. JAL exceeded its previous forecast by almost three times, when it ended its fiscal year ending March 2011 with a profit of US$2.3 billion.

Onishi attributed the optimism to JAL’s reforms instituted after it was forced to file for bankruptcy in January 2010. The airline trimmed international and domestic capacities by 40 and 30 per cent respectively, and retired its entire fleet of B747-400s. It also instituted a wide range of cost-cutting measures and focused on returning to profitability.

“These measures we have taken as part of our reorganisation have helped us better cope with the unexpected crisis following the devastating earthquake and tsunami,” he said.

Meanwhile, JAL expects to receive its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the last quarter of the year, and have two or three of these aircraft in its fleet by March 2012. The airline has already announced the launch of nonstop Tokyo-Boston flights in April 2012 using the new aircraft.

Onishi also confirmed that negotiations were ongoing between JAL and Jetstar Airways to establish a low-cost carrier in Japan, but declined to comment further on the matter.

SPEAKING at the IATA 67th AGM and World Air Transport Summit in Singapore this morning, outgoing IATA director general and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani, gave a dramatic overview of the aviation sector over the last decade during his state of the industry address.

Bisignani noted that the aviation sector had been continually battered over the least 10 years by terrorism, wars, revolutions, pandemics, earthquakes, volcanoes, failing economies and skyrocketing fuel prices.

Even though the industry posted its best performing year of the decade in 2010, with profits of US$18 billion, this represented a “pathetic margin of 3.2 per cent”, he said.

Bisignani said 2011 looked to be a continuation of this trend of challenges for the aviation industry – the disaster in Japan, unrest in the Middle East and oil spiking above US$120 per barrel. Airlines will probably earn about US$4 billion this year, according to IATA, down from its previous US$8.6 billion forecast in March.

Bisignani added that the decade had left the aviation industry with the knowledge “that cheap oil is history, we must be ready for constant shocks and that aviation’s centre of gravity is shifting eastward”.

PATTAYA’S MICE industry is doing well, buoyed by ongoing infrastructure and tourism development, as well as business growth at industrial parks in Rayong and Chonburi.

Pullman Pattaya Aisawan general manager, Clinton Lovell, explained that Pattaya’s proximity to Suvarnabhumi Airport has helped entice more MICE groups. So have efforts in recent years to position the city as a family- and MICE-friendly destination through the building of international-standard hotels and medical, tourism and shopping facilities.

According to Pattaya hoteliers, business growth at five industrial parks in Rayong and Chonburi were a boon for MICE business, especially as car manufacturers were keen to hold car launches and dealer conferences at hotels in the city.

Lovell said that Pullman Pattaya Aisawan hosted more than 150 events last year, and was looking to improve on that result this year.

Amari Orchid Pattaya general manager, David Cumming, said MICE business to Pattaya “started returning from July at a fast pace, and has since been growing”.

Between January and May this year, the Amari Orchid Pattaya handled four to five residential MICE groups per month, each ranging from 20 to 200 rooms. It has secured bookings for two residential meetings from Singapore in July and August, and two conferences from Israel in September.

Furama Jomtien Beach, Pattaya, has been handling about one to two residential meetings a month since January, including a one-week, 100-pax training held earlier this year.

The hotel is currently in discussions for a two-night, 100-room Japanese car manufacturer meeting in July, and a two-night regional conference for three 300-pax groups in August.

By Sirima Eamtako

INDONESIAN outbound traffic in the first four months of 2011 increased by 16.1 per cent to 3.3 million passengers, compared to the same period last year.

Data from the Central Board of Statistics of Indonesia revealed that outbound traffic was highest through Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport – at 1.7 million passengers – followed by Bali’s Denpasar International Airport, with 920,400 passengers.

Among Indonesian airlines, Indonesia AirAsia ranked first in carrying outbound traffic with 818,453 passengers, followed by Garuda Indonesia with 690,336 passengers, and Lion Air with 207,119 passengers.

Domestic travel during the same period increased by 25.6 per cent to 16.2 million passengers, with Jakarta’s airport recording the highest traffic at 5.4 million passengers, followed by the Juanda Airport in Surabaya with 1.7 million passengers.

Lion Air dominated the domestic travel market, with a 36.6 per cent share serving 5.7 million passengers, followed by Garuda with 2.95 million passengers (18.9 per cent), and Sriwijaya Air with 1.78 million passengers (11.4 per cent).

Lion Air general affairs director, Edward Sirait, said that apart from the growing economy and strengthening Indonesian currency, improved connectivity also played a part in Lion Air’s good results.

“The increasing number of aircraft and growing network have resulted in Lion Air’s positive performance,” he said.

MYANMAR-based domestic airline Air KBZ intends to expand its network, after taking delivery of a new 72-seat ATR72-500 aircraft late last month.

Air KBZ assistant general manager, U Myat Thu, said the airline was planning to introduce services to Myitkyina and Kawthoung from early August.

More domestic destinations will be added after the airline receives two more propeller planes later this year, he said.

Although the airline has already received permission from the Department of Civil Aviation to operate international flights, U said: “We will operate international routes in the near future, but our priority is expanding our domestic network.”

Air KBZ began operating regular flights after its April 1 launch to six domestic destinations – Nyaung Oo, Mandalay, Heho, Tarchileik, Dawei and Myeik – with a fleet of one 64-seat ATR72-500 aircraft (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 30).

MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) is scheduled to join the oneworld alliance in late 2012.

“With the world airline industry increasingly focused on alliances, we have carried out careful analysis of the global airline groups, and oneworld is clearly the best option for us,” said MAS’ managing director and CEO, Tengku Azmil Aziz, adding that the alliance would “allow (MAS) to fast-track (its) own expansion plans”.

MAS already code-shares with oneworld partners Cathay Pacific and Royal Jordanian, and will be expanding bilateral links with other oneworld member airlines.

Aside from tapping into the alliance’s global coverage of almost 950 destinations in 150 countries, MAS will also integrate its Enrich frequent flyer programme with those of the alliance’s other member airlines.

Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agent chairman, Mohd Khalid Harun, said: “This is a great strategy that will directly benefit both ticketing and inbound travel agents, as well as enhance the viability of MAS’ hubs in Malaysia.”

“The Malaysian government should now focus on making MAS a more competitive and reliable airline, by benchmarking its product and services against other quality airlines,” he added.

INDONESIA AirAsia (IAA) yesterday expanded its Bandung-Kuala Lumpur and Bandung-Singapore services with Airbus 320 aircraft. Two more daily flights have been added to the Kuala Lumpur route and one daily flight added to the Singapore route.

IAA president Dharmadi said: “Our other flights are still served by our Boeing 737-300s, and we will gradually change them to A320 aircraft.”

With the ramped-up services, AirAsia now has five daily services between Bandung and Kuala Lumpur, and three between Singapore and Bandung. Capacity has increased from 149 to 180 seats.

Dharmadi said the increased frequency and capacity would strengthen the airline’s business out of Bandung, one of the most popular Indonesian destinations among the Malaysian travellers.

Commenting on the increased capacity, Batik Holidays Bandung managing director, Maktal Hadiyat, said: “Malaysian arrivals are really booming for Bandung. The majority of travellers (from Malaysia to Bandung) are ethnic Malay, and they have been coming here several times.”

“On one hand this is good for the local economy, as travellers know their way around Bandung, and spend their money on shopping and eating, but it gives little business to the travel trade,” he added.