BANGKOK, 6 December 2022: Thai Airways International and Singapore Airlines have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation.
It starts with the airlines’ code sharing more extensively on international routes and exploring commercial collaboration to provide customers with more options and value.
Suvadhana Sibunruang Acting Chief Executive Officer, THAI (left) and Goh Choon Phong Chief Executive Officer, SIA (right).
In the initial phase, THAI and SIA will codeshare flights between Singapore and Bangkok. THAI will also benefit from a codeshare on SIA’s flights to Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa; Houston, Los Angeles, New York (John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport), San Francisco, and Seattle in the US; as well as Vancouver in Canada. The codeshares will be up and running by the first quarter of 2023, pending regulatory approval.
The airlines will explore additional codeshare arrangements supporting increased air connectivity to Thailand and Singapore. Routes to Europe, India, and South West Pacific are under consideration.
Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Airlines, said: “SIA and THAI have had a close relationship for many years, which we aim to strengthen through this comprehensive agreement. This is a win-win opportunity to support the growth of our respective hubs and enhance the options and service offerings for our customers.”
Suvadhana Sibunruang, acting chief executive Officer of THAI, said: It will expand THAI’s network to more service points in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Europe, India, and South West Pacific routes.”
SINGAPORE, 6 December 2022: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) launched its Cities Economic Impact Report (EIR) at the 22nd Global Summit in Riyadh last week.
Sponsored by Visa, the report shows cities remain the powerhouses of global tourism and will drive the recovery of the sector and economies worldwide.
The Cities EIR analyses 82 international city destinations and shows that before the pandemic, cities were popular travel destinations, accounting for almost half of all international visits, both as standalone destinations and as gateways to other tourism hotspots within countries.
Covid-19 had a devastating impact on Travel & Tourism, particularly in cities worldwide, as countries closed their borders in response to the pandemic.
Throughout the pandemic, and as borders began to reopen, leisure travellers swapped major metropolises for less-populated destinations such as coastal and rural hotspots, leaving economies of international cities to battle through an incredibly tough three years.
Thousands of hotels, restaurants, and attractions in cities worldwide were forced to close, with hard-working people losing their jobs as businesses struggled to stay open during these challenging times.
The Cities EIR shows how leisure and business travellers are flocking back to cities. Their draw as iconic destinations is again becoming the beating heart of international tourism destinations and business centres for overseas visitors.
According to the report, 10 of the 82 cities analysed are projected to exceed pre-pandemic levels in terms of direct Travel & Tourism GDP contribution to the city economies this year.
Qatar’s capital Doha is forecast to see the largest increase from 2019 to 2022, in terms of international traveller spending as well as in direct Travel & Tourism’s contribution to the city’s GDP, with an expected increase of 21%.
In Europe, Warsaw is expected to witness a 14% increase in 2022 versus 2019 in Travel & Tourism’s contribution to the city’s GDP.
In the US, Orlando is projected to see a 10% increase in direct Travel & Tourism contribution to the city’s GDP over that same period.
Over the next decade, Travel & Tourism is on track to become a key driver of economic growth again, with faster GDP growth than other sectors, generating 126 million new jobs worldwide.
By 2032, the Travel & Tourism sector will directly generate up to 8% of all jobs in the 82 cities analysed in the Cities Report, up from 6.6% in 2019 and a low of 5.1% in 2020.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “Our report clearly shows that cities remain iconic global destinations for millions of tourists worldwide. There’s still a strong appetite to experience the history, culture, and energy that cities offer travellers.
“Before the pandemic, cities were powerhouses for international tourists, serving as standalone destinations and as gateways to other tourist destinations within countries. This year cities are recovering worldwide, and we forecast that cities will continue to grow and thrive over the next decade.
Jeni Mundy, Head of Global Merchant Sales and Acquiring, Visa, said: “Even after the colossal challenges the pandemic brought to the travel industry, the economic benefit of tourism to cities remains strong. Consumers’ willingness to adopt digital-first travel experiences will help pave the way for future innovations.
“At Visa, we remain focused on how payments technology can make a traveller’s journey more seamless – something anyone who’s had a travel hiccup can appreciate.
SINGAPORE, 5 December 2022: Following the recent decision by the Japanese government to allow the return of international cruise ships to the country, Princess Cruises has announced it will begin homeport sailing in Japan starting 15 March 2023, giving guests in the region the opportunity to enjoy the effortless, personalised Princess MedallionClass experience for the first time.
“The reopening of Japanese ports to the international cruise industry is an important and welcome development that not only vastly expands the vacation opportunities available to guests but also helps to significantly strengthen the Japanese tourism economy,” said John Padgett, Princess Cruises president. “In addition, Japanese guests will appreciate the unmatched Princess MedallionClass experience offering unmatched personalisation and hassle-free service.”
Diamond Princess delivers the ultimate effortless, personalised cruising featuring world-class dining and entertainment, all elevated by the Princess MedallionClass Experience. The Medallion enables everything from expedited, contactless boarding to locating loved ones anywhere on the ship, as well as enhanced service like having whatever guests need delivered directly to them, wherever they are on the ship. In addition, guests can share their favourite cruise moments using MedallionNet, the best WiFi at sea, stay connected with friends and family back home, work remotely anywhere on the ship, quickly post content and stream favourite movies and shows.
Japanese-built Diamond Princess returns to celebrate the 10th anniversary of sailing from Tokyo (Yokohama) and Kobe starting 15 March with a nine-day sailing roundtrip from Tokyo. The ship – designed exclusively with the destination in mind –will call to 38 destinations in four countries on 43 unique itineraries and 57 departures, ranging from 5 to 19 days. Key reasons to experience Japan with Princess in 2023 include:
Temples, Shrines, Castles – Guests delight in the abundance of stunning temples and shrines, like the magnificent 16th century Osaka Castle or Seiryu-ji Temple, home of Japan’s largest bronze seated Buddha.
Festivals – Opportunities to experience seven festivals, including Japan’s world-famous Kyoto Gion Festival, featuring massive, hand-crafted “Yama” and “Hoko” floats constructed every year without using nails, or watch a display of 10,000 fireworks during the Kumano Fireworks Festival.
Vibrant Cities & Landscapes – Astounding cities where the 21st century coexists with the spirit of ancient Japan thrive, such as shopping in Tokyo’s Ginza district, trying local delicacies at nearby restaurants or exploring the Imperial Palace plaza. With access to seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites, guests can marvel at Mt. Fuji, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.
Spring Flowers, Gardens and Onsens – Travelers soak in spring flowers all over Japan during spring, whether it’s visiting a classic Japanese garden, seeing hundreds of sakura (cherry blossoms) while picnicking, enjoying the meditative atmosphere of tranquil parks or soaking in the healing benefits of a geothermal “onsen” natural hot spring bath.
For those travellers with more time to explore Japan, Princess offers 13- or 14-day Highlights of Japan cruisetours, featuring a multiple-night land tour combined with the cruise for more time on land to experience the wonders of both Tokyo and Kyoto.
Diamond Princess features the largest open-air Japanese bath at sea – an 8,800 sq. ft bath and garden complex offering indoor and outdoor Japanese bathing experiences, including steam rooms, saunas and hot tubs with spectacular ocean vistas. Guests can experience Diamond’s distinctly Japanese offerings, such as Kai Sushi, an authentic sushi bar and various other dining options while enjoying the warm, welcoming service synonymous with Princess.
BANGKOK, 2 December 2022: VFS Global has signed an agreement with Thai Airways International and Thai Smile to introduce a service to facilitate the e-Visa On Arrival process for passengers using the two airlines.
Suvadhana Sibunruang, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Thai Airways International (THAI), and Kaushik Ghosh, Head of Australasia, VFS Global, signed the cooperation agreement under the project of e-Visa On Arrival (e-VOA) to facilitate the process for THAI and THAI Smile passengers holding passports of the People’s Republic of China, Republic of India, Taiwan Republic of China and 14 other countries.
Airline passengers from the specified nationalities will be offered the service when they book flights to Thailand on the two airlines.
Once the fares have been purchased, they will be redirected to the VFS Global website to apply for the e-Visa On Arrival. The immigration bureau will consider the application process within 48 hours.
The e-Visa On Arrival (e-VOA) platform is for passengers who hold passports from the following countries:
People’s Republic of China; India; Taiwan; Bulgaria; Bhutan; Cyprus; Ethiopia; Fiji; Georgia, Kazakhstan, Malta, Mexican; Nauru; Papua New Guinea; Romania, Uzbekistan; Vanuatu.
LANGKAWI, Malaysia, 2 December 2022: Danna Langkawi Resort & Beach Villas celebrates its 12th anniversary, relaunches its website and offers guests a daily credit directly for spa and F&B.
Danna Langkawi Resort & Beach Villas General Manager Karan Singh commented: “We look forward to creating more decades of turning dreams into lasting memories for our local guests and international travellers from around the world.”
To kick-off celebrations, the hotel offers a daily credit of MYR300 net per stay for Spa and F&B when guests book directly on The Danna website.
Danna Langkawi Resort & Beach Villas recently unveiled its revamped hotel website www.thedanna.com to showcase the resort. Besides its video content, guests can make immediate reservations and enjoy the best rates and benefits offered under Danna Direct.
The property has refreshed its amenities. The newly refurbished gym is fitted with the latest state-of-the-art Technogym equipment, including the TechnoGym Ride, the first of its kind in Malaysia. It also features a full range of high-tech cardio and strength training equipment.
The all-new refurbished Danna Spa, located on the top floor, offers five single and two couple rooms for rejuvenating spa rituals that draw on the benefits of traditional Malay treatments.
Danna Langkawi Resort & Beach Villas recently joined Small Luxury Hotels of the World, becoming the first-ever luxury resort member on the island.
SINGAPORE, 2 December 2022: Jetstar Asia and Jetstar Airways have confirmed they will operate from Singapore Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 (T4) from 22 March 2023.
The relocation to T4 will enable Changi Airport to optimise the use of its aircraft gates to meet the growing demand for air travel while creating headroom for Jetstar to grow at the global hub.
The first Jetstar Asia flight to arrive at T4 will be 3K766 from Manila at 0040 on 22 March 2023, with flight 3K761 to Manila taking off from T4 at 0615.
The first Jetstar Airways flight to operate out of T4 will be JQ8, departing Singapore to Melbourne at 2210 on 22 March 2023. The return flight, JQ7, will arrive in Singapore the following day, at 2010.
Jetstar Asia will initially operate more than 200 weekly services in and out of T4, to and from key destinations in Southeast Asia, including Bali (Denpasar), Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Phnom Penh.
Jetstar Airways will continue to fly between Singapore and Melbourne up to six times a week, with the popular route being operated by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, carrying more than 200,000 passengers each year between the two cities.
Opened in 2017, T4 is Changi’s newest terminal with 21 contact gates, of which 17 are built for narrow-body aircraft. With a 16 million passengers per annum capacity, T4 reopened on 13 September 2022 after a two-year pause. Since its reopening, T4 has handled more than one million passenger movements with the 14 airlines that have moved their operations to the terminal.
KUALA LUMPUR, 2 December 2022: Preliminary traffic figures released Wednesday by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) showed that international air travel continued to grow strongly in October 2022, driven by pent-up demand, even as global economic activity eased noticeably.
Asia Pacific airlines carried 12.1 million international passengers in October, an eight-fold increase compared to the 1.4 million in the same month last year. Overall, passenger traffic volumes reached 38.6% of pre-pandemic levels. As measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), demand surged by 604.7% year-on-year, outpacing the 194.3% expansion in available seat capacity. As a result, the average international passenger load factor doubled to 77.7% for the month.
Meanwhile, international air cargo demand declined markedly, by 13.9% year-on-year in freight tonne kilometres (FTK) terms, amid a downturn in export markets for intermediate goods. Offered freight capacity fell marginally, by 1.2% year-on-year, leading to a 9.6 percentage point fall in the average international freight load factor to 64.7%.
Commenting on the results, Subhas Menon, AAPA Director General said: “The lifting of travel restrictions in North East Asia in October 2022 was welcomed by the travelling public and the region’s airlines which saw substantial improvements to load factors. Overall, during the first ten months of the year, the combined 74 million international passengers carried by Asian airlines represented a 472% increase compared to the previous corresponding period.”
“By contrast, air cargo markets moderated even more due to multiple headwinds. Declining business confidence, against rising risks to the global economy, led to a slowing in orders for manufactured goods, driving a 5.5% year-on-year decline in air cargo demand for the first 10 months of the year.”
Menon concluded: “Based on forward booking trends, the outlook for travel remains positive as we approach the final months of the year. While the recovery in air travel is a welcome relief for the industry, the region’s airlines are facing a challenging operating environment as a result of high fuel prices, weak local currencies and manpower shortages. Nevertheless, AAPA remains committed to ensuring the safe, seamless and sustainable restoration of air travel.”
SINGAPORE, 2 December 2022: Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons will merge Air India and Vistara in a financial deal that sees SIA investing INR20,585 million (SGD360 million, USD250 million) in Air India.
According to the joint press statement, the agreement will give SIA a 25.1% stake in an enlarged Air India group with a significant presence in all key market segments (1).
Photo: www.bizzbuzz.news
SIA and Tata aim to complete the merger by March 2024, subject to regulatory approvals.
SIA intends to fully fund its investment from its internal cash resources, which stood at SGD17.5 billion as of 30 September 2022 (2).
SIA and Tata have also agreed to participate in additional capital injections, if required, to fund the growth and operations of the enlarged Air India during the fiscal years 2022/23 and 2023/24. Based on SIA’s 25.1% stake post-completion, its share of any additional capital injection could be up to INR50,200 million (SGD880 million, USD615 million), payable only after the completion of the merger.
The actual amount will depend on factors including the progress of the enlarged Air India’s business plan and its access to other funding options. SIA intends to fully fund additional capital injections from its internal cash resources.
Through the transaction, SIA will reinforce its partnership with Tata and immediately acquire a strategic stake in an entity that is four to five times larger in scale compared to Vistara. The merger would bolster SIA’s presence in India, strengthen its multi-hub strategy, and allow it to continue participating directly in a large and fast-growing aviation market.
Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said: “Tata Sons is one of India’s most established and respected names. Our collaboration to set up Vistara in 2013 resulted in a market-leading full-service carrier, which has won many global accolades in just a short time.
“With this merger, we can deepen our relationship with Tata and participate directly in an exciting new growth phase in India’s aviation market. We will work together to support Air India’s transformation programme, unlock its significant potential, and restore it to its position as a leading airline on the global stage.”
Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said: “The merger of Vistara and Air India is an important milestone in our journey to make Air India a truly world-class airline…As part of the transformation, Air India focuses on growing its network and fleet, revamping its customer proposition, and enhancing safety, reliability, and on-time performance.
Following its acquisition by Tata in January 2022, Air India unveiled a wide-ranging transformation programme to strengthen its foundations and revamp its operations, setting it on the road to recovery and positioning it for growth5.
The combination of Air India and Vistara would bring significant synergies. Air India has valuable slots and air traffic rights at domestic and international airports that are unavailable to Vistara. With Vistara widely recognised as India’s leading full-service carrier, Air India will benefit from its operational capabilities, customer base, and strong focus on customer service and product excellence.
Today, Air India (including Air India Express and AirAsia India) and Vistara have 218 widebody and narrowbody aircraft, serving 38 international and 52 domestic destinations. With the integration, Air India will be the only Indian airline group to operate both full-service and low-cost passenger services. It can optimise its route network and resource utilisation, be flexible and agile in capturing demand across market segments, and tap into a larger consumer base to strengthen its loyalty programme.
(Source; Singapore Airlines)
1 Today, SIA and Tata hold a 49% and 51% stake in Vistara, respectively. Tata wholly owns Air India, which includes the low-cost carriers Air India Express and AirAsia India.
2 In addition to its cash and bank balances of SGD17.5 billion, the Group retains access to SGD2.2 billion of committed lines of credit, all of which remains undrawn. SIA intends to redeem the 2020 Mandatory Convertible Bonds on 8 December 2022, and cash and bank balances will decline by SGD3.86 billion on a Pro-forma basis.
SINGAPORE, 2 December 2022: Digital travel platform Agoda announced Thursday the winners of its 14th annual Agoda Gold Circle Awards (GCA).
With travel markets opening up to international travel worldwide, this year’s Gold Circle Awards have been presented to more than 2000 properties in 41 markets.
For the fourth consecutive year, Thailand retained its top spot for having the most award-winning hotel or resort properties. Taiwan took second place, followed by Japan. India entered the Top 10 list for the first time, while South Korea, Malaysia, the US, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam retained their spots in the top 10 rankings.
In addition, China has had the highest number of award-winning properties for four consecutive years, followed by the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Maldives, Vietnam, Indonesia, and South Korea.
Every year, the Gold Circle Awards are presented to properties that have provided guests with excellent value, pricing, service excellence and flexibility.
Winners will be featured on Agoda’s dedicated landing page (available on 1-31 December 2022) and honoured with a digital Gold Circle Award badge, along with Agoda Growth Express (AGX) credits, a special credit to boost marketing on the website. In an ongoing partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Agoda has made a donation to plant 5,000 trees on behalf of all GCA winners worldwide. This is a continuation of an idea that started two years ago to replace plastic gifts and raise awareness of environmental issues.
VIENTIANE, Laos, 2 December 2022: Thai AirAsia is increasing flights from Bangkok to Vientiane and Luang Prabang in Laos this month.
Currently, the airline flies daily to both destinations. Travel executives posted details of the additional flights from both cities to Bangkok on the Tourism Professionals of Laos Facebook page.
Four more services from Vientiane
FD9043 departs Vientiane at 0935 and arrives in Bangkok at 1045 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
FD9043 departs Vientiane at 0950 and arrives in Bangkok at 1055 on Monday.
The daily FD1041 reintroduced last May continues unchanged. It departs Vientiane at 1300 and arrives in Bangkok at 1540.
Three more services from Luang Prabang
FD9031 departs Luang Prabang at 0935 and arrives in Bangkok at 1100 every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The daily FD1031 continues unchanged, departing Luang Prabang at 1550 and arriving in Bangkok at 1715.
Roundtrip fares from Bangkok to Vientiane start at USD103 and to Luang Prabang at USD153.
