FIREFLY TO OPEN BASE AT MELAKA
Malaysian community carrier Firefly has entered into a commercial collaboration with regional operator Melaka Air to establish a base in the city and launch flights from Melaka International Airport (formerly Batu Berendam) to destinations in Indonesia and Malaysia. The airline will initially base a single ATR 72-500 there to begin flights to Batam, Pekanbaru and Medan in Indonesia and the domestic destinations of Penang and Kota Bahru. “We had intended to start our operations in Melaka earlier but we had to wait for the expansion of our aircraft fleet,” said Eddy Leong, Managing Director, Firefly. “Now we are in a position to support the Melaka Chief Minister’s vision of expanding tourism accessibility into the state. The expansion has been made possible by the arrival of an eleventh and twelfth ATR 72-500 at the start of November. One of these turboprops will be stationed at Melaka and will be supported by a full Firefly ground operation. “If this collaboration with Melaka Air proves to be successful, we have the capability to also offer in the future our Boeing jet aircraft which has a larger seat capacity of 189,” added Eddy Leong. Firefly is to work closely with the local tourism authority to help market the new routes and to bring passengers to the historic city of Melaka. According to Eddy Leong different market segments will be targeted on each of the routes and the airline will work to potentially establish Melaka alongside Penang, a popular resort destination, as a two-centre holiday option. For the Kota Bharu route the wider, business, leisure and VFR market will be the focus, while the carrier will look to the health tourism and business events segments for the flights from Indonesia. Melaka is already proving a popular destination for medical tourists from Indonesia and all three private hospitals in the city reportedly offering regular free shuttle bus services to and from the airport. Wings Air currently offers the only scheduled link to Melaka with a daily service from Pekanbaru, while Riau Airlines plans to offer direct links after resuming operations earlier this year.
HAINAN AIRLINES BOOSTS INTERNATIONAL OFFERING
Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines has revealed plans to expand its network in Asia and the Indian sub-continent with new flights to Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. The carrier will introduce a link from Shenzhen to Mumbai, only its second route in India, as an extension of its existing Shanghai Pu Dong – Shenzhen service from September 18 and a Beijing – Bangkok – Colombo link from October 18. The addition of Mumbai to its network marks a strategic expansion into the Indian sub-continent. The airline inaugurated a three times weekly flight between Shenzhen and Calcutta in July and is planning to add further flights into India. The Shenzhen – Mumbai route will be flown twice every week and Hainan Airlines will be the sole operator between the two destinations. An estimated 539,000 O&D passengers flew between China and India, up a massive 21.4 per cent on the previous 12 months, due in part to an increase in air connectivity. Around 70,000 O&D passengers are believed to have travelled between Shanghai (the origin of the new Hainan Airlines flight) and Mumbai during the last year, the majority on the direct (but not non-stop) service from Air India. A month later on October 18, Hainan Airlines will introduce a four times weekly service from Beijing to Bangkok and on to Colombo in Sri Lanka. This exact route is also flown by SriLankan Airlines on a three times weekly basis using an A330, while China Eastern Airlines offers the only non-stop link to Colombo from China with a five times weekly flight Kunming. An estimated 67,000 O&D passengers flew between Sri Lanka and China in the past year, a 69.0 per cent increase on the previous 12 month period. Meanwhile, the route marks the fifth Hainan Airlines link between China and Thailand and third to the capital Bangkok. The airline already offers links to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International from Hangzhou and Nanning, while Phuket is served from Beijing Capital International and Hangzhou. More than 2.52 million O&D passengers travelled between the two countries in the past year with Hainan Airlines accounting for just 3.4 per cent of this traffic.
UPS ADDS NEW LINK TO CHINA
Global logistics specialist UPS is to further expand its cargo connections between Asia, Europe and the US with a new service to the Chinese city of Chengdu. The new ‘around-the-world’ flight will originate at UPS's European hub in Cologne, Germany, and make a stop in Warsaw before transiting Chengdu's Shuangliu International Airport en route to its Asia hub in Shanghai. The service will operate once a week using a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F. With the Chengdu flight, UPS now will connect Europe and Asia with a total of 24 flights per week, providing more next day options and represents another step in UPS's ever-growing China network – it serves 330 cities in China and operates 200 weekly flights connecting China to markets around the world. "China's 'Go West' program is making it very attractive for companies to move production facilities to inland cities like Chengdu and we believe the area is poised for accelerated growth in express shipping," said Dan Brutto, President, UPS International. Chengdu is the capital of China's western Sichuan province and is growing rapidly. Its Gross Domestic Product has grown by approximately 15 per cent in each of the past two years and the province's retail sales swelled nearly 19 per cent in 2010, while its foreign trade surged 36 per cent in 2010 to US$32.78 billion. The city will also be host to the tenth Routes Asia forum, which will take place between April 15 -17, 2012.
AIRASIA X TO OFFER SEASONAL FREQUENCY INCREASES
Long-haul, low-cost carrier AirAsia X is to add more flights from Kuala Lumpur to its destinations in Australia (Melbourne, Gold Coast, Perth) and Taipei, Taiwan across different time frames between December 1, 2011 and January 31, 2012 to accommodate the demand for travellers during the peak holiday season. “AirAsia X’s decision to increase our flight frequencies is timely with the holiday season and this shows our commitment to our guests as we are doing what we can to accommodate the high demand for our popular routes,” said Azran Osman-Rani, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia X. “Guests who are looking forward to visit Australia during its summer season and Taipei during Chinese New Year have more flexibility in choosing their flight times and date with the boost in our flight frequencies during the peak period.” The added frequencies will also provide guests within the AirAsia network and the AirAsia X long-haul destinations better connectivity options to Australia and Taiwan as the airline will increase flight frequencies to Melbourne from ten flights a week to twelve flights weekly, Gold Coast from five times a week to six flights weekly, Perth from daily flights weekly to ten flights weekly and Taipei from daily flights weekly to eleven weekly flights during the period. “The extra capacity would further offer additional flight options for guests aiming to book our Fly-thru services to the selected popular destinations from Europe, China, India, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Indochina and improve connections to Japan and Korea for the beginning of the ski season and to India when the weather is cooler,” added Azran Osman-Rani.
Related Content
