Airline News and Hotel Updates

Friday 28 October 2011

New AGM of Landmark Lancaster Hotel Group - Thailand

Mr. Albert Cheong has been appointed as Area General Manager of the Landmark Lancaster Hotel Group, Thailand.

In Mr. Cheong?s new role, he will be responsible for the group?s existing hotel, The Landmark Bangkok, as well as its upcoming sister hotel, Lancaster Bangkok which is slated to soft-open during the second-half of 2012.

At each hotel, Mr. Cheong is supported by a Hotel Manager who oversees daily operations.

Mr. Cheong was with Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts for more than 28 years where he held various many management positions, including being General Manager of the company?s hotels in Bali, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Singapore, Yangon and Beijing.

The Landmark Lancaster Hotel Group owns and operates hotels of the same names, including the K West brand in both London and Bangkok.

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Ascott Signs New Serviced Residence in Malaysia

Ascott has been awarded a contract to manage its first serviced residence in Iskandar, the southern gateway of Malaysia.

The new 204-unit Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is scheduled to open in the Nusajaya flagship economic zone in 2013.

The contract was awarded by Nusajaya Consolidated, a joint venture between established Malaysian developers United Malayan Land Bhd and UEM Land Berhad.

Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is located within Nusajaya, home to developments such as EduCity which houses several world-class university campuses, Medini which encompasses business and leisure districts, the Southern Industrial and Logistics Clusters and Afiat Healthpark.

The serviced residence is within walking distance to Kota Iskandar, the Johor State?s new administrative centre. It is a 20-minute drive from the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link and 25 minutes away from Johor's Senai International Airport. It is also easily accessible via the soon to be opened coastal highway which links Nusajaya to the main Johor city centre and the Johor-Singapore Causeway.

Travellers can enjoy excellent connectivity to other parts of the Iskandar region via the water transport terminal, bus terminal and light rail transit station situated in the property?svicinity.

As part of the luxurious waterfront development of Puteri Harbour, Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is near quayside lifestyle stores, fine dining restaurants, alfresco caf?s and an indoor theme park featuring popular children?s characters such as Hello Kitty, Thomas and Friends, Barney and Bob the Builder.

Furthermore, it is just 10 minutes away from the first Legoland theme park in Asia which is expected to open in 2012.

Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar will offer apartments that range from studios to three-bedroom units that come fully furnished with modern amenities.

Facilities will include a gymnasium, swimming pool, restaurant and residents? lounge.

Mr Alfred Ong, Ascott?s Managing Director for Southeast Asia and Australia, said, ?Ascott expanded into Cyberjaya and Petaling Jaya earlier this year and we are pleased to add another city to our Malaysian network. Our entry into Iskandar further strengthens Ascott?s leadership position as the largest international serviced residence owner and operator in Malaysia. We currently operate five properties with close to 700 apartment units. With this new property in Iskandar, we now have a strong growth pipeline of more than 900 units which are scheduled to open in Malaysia over the next five years. In total, this brings our Malaysian portfolio to over 1,600 units. We will continue to look for opportunities to expand our footprint in Malaysia.?

Besides Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar, Ascott plans to open Citadines Uplands Kuching in 2012, Ascott Sentral Kuala Lumpur in 2013, Citadines D'Pulze Cyberjaya in 2014 and Somerset Damansara Uptown Petaling Jaya in 2016.

Ascott currently operates Ascott Kuala Lumpur, Somerset Ampang Kuala Lumpur, Somerset Seri Bukit Ceylon Kuala Lumpur and two properties for corporate lease in Malaysia.

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Tourism Australia Partners Jetstar

Tourism Australia has signed a $10 million marketing deal with Jetstar aimed at boosting Japanese inbound tourism and further expanding brand Australia?s presence in Asia Pacific.

The three year agreement runs to mid 2014 and will see Tourism Australia and Jetstar each contribute at least $1.6 million per year on a range of joint marketing, digital and social media activities.

The partners will work cooperatively to leverage more affordable air travel and Australia?s unique attractions to increase arrivals from Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand.

The first tranche of $2 million will be directed to rejuvenating the Japanese market, which has slipped from Australia?s second to fifth largest source market for international tourists over the past ten years.

"It unlocks real value by leveraging the combined skills, expertise and resources which both our organizations have long demonstrated in Asia. We aim to use our well-established and successful There?s nothing like Australia campaign messaging alongside Jetstar.com to drive bookings and inbound travel," said Managing Director, Andrew McEvoy. "Like Tourism Australia, Jetstar has ambitious expansion plans for wider Asia and sees sustained and large growth opportunities, led by the greater China market, and numerable South East and North Asian markets including Japan, which will clearly remain in the top half dozen of Australia's tourism export markets. There's strong alignment and a real natural fit."

Japan is currently Australia?s fifth largest source market for international tourists, spending approximately $1.5 billion in 2010. There were 350,200 visitor arrivals from Japan for the twelve months ending August 2011, a drop of 11%. Tourism Australia believes his market has the potential to grow to between A$2.7 billion and A$3.3 billion in total expenditure by 2020.

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Rotana Jet Aviation to Attend Dubai Air Show

Rotana Jet Aviation, one of the region?s newest aviation services companies, is set to unveil its newest aircraft at this year?s Dubai Air Show to be held between 13-17 November 2011 at the Dubai Airport Expo.

The company, which provides a full range of executive jet services including charter options, aircraft management, consultation, new and pre-owned jet sales, and maintenance, is already successfully operating a Gulfstream G450 from its main base in at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi.

Executive aviation has emerged as a key growth area in the Middle East?s transport sector with over 400 business jets operating within the region.

?Rotana Jet took to the skies in early 2011 and we have already operated a host of successful flights on our Gulfstream G450. We have a luxury 50-seater A319LR VIP Airbus joining our fleet in mid-2012 and other aircraft currently being discussed and contracted? said James Coak, Rotana Jet?s Commercial Manager.

Rotana Jet?s staff will be on-hand at the Air Show to discuss the latest information on its various services in addition to new information about future growth plans, and the benefits provided to business jet users in the region.

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Abu Dhabi Airport Reports Q3 2011 Traffic

During the third quarter of 2011 Abu Dhabi Airport recorded a 15% increase in passenger traffic compared with the same period in 2010.

Some 3.3 million passengers passed through the capital?s airport during the period July to September 2011 surpassing for the first time the 1 million milestone for three consecutive months.

A total of 1,086,348 passengers passing through the airport in September, a double digit increase of 17.1% compared to the same month last year.

The increase in last quarter?s passenger traffic was mainly driven by Eid and summer holidays, Omra, the inauguration of new airlines and the frequency increases and new destinations introduced by most of the carriers at Abu Dhabi International Airport, mainly Etihad Airways.

Cargo volumes presented a parallel growth to that of passenger traffic with a recorded 10.8% increase in the month of September alone, and a further 7% increase over the July- September 2011 period, compared with same periods last year. The recorded increases are a result of the healthy economic growth witnessed in Abu Dhabi along with the increased cargo activity by Etihad Airways.

Commenting on this, Eng. Ahmad Al Haddabi, Chief Operating Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), said, ?The passenger activity increases at Abu Dhabi international Airport are certainly a positive economic indicator for the UAE and the region. It is especially encouraging that we are seeing sustained growth throughout the year. We are thrilled with the positive passenger activity results of the third quarter of this year and it is clear that both business and leisure travelers are choosing Abu Dhabi International more and more as their portal to the world.?

The top five routes in the third quarter of 2011 include London, Bangkok, Doha, Jeddah, and Manila.

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Singapore Airlines to Increase Beijing Flights

Singapore Airlines is to launch a fourth daily flight between Singapore and Beijing from 16 December 2011.

With the additional service, the airline will operate a total of 28 weekly services to and from the Chinese capital.

The new service, SQ806, operated with Airbus A330 aircraft, will depart Singapore Changi Airport at 19:10 and arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport the following day at 01:05.

The return flight, SQ807, will depart Beijing at 02:15 and arrive in Singapore at 08:55.

Executive Vice President Commercial, Mr Mak Swee Wah, said, ?We thank our customers for their continued support for our services on this popular route. This has encouraged us to add a fourth daily service to Beijing, providing travellers more options with flight timings to better suit their travel needs.?

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Changi Reports September 2011 Traffic

Singapore Changi Airport handled 3.82 million passenger movements in September 2011, an increase of 12.5% over the same month last year.

Aircraft movements grew in tandem, increasing 16.4% to 25,500 movements during the month.

For the first nine months of the year, Changi handled 34.2 million passenger movements, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%.

Traffic on low-cost carriers, accounting for a quarter of the total at Changi, increased 26%, while traffic on full-service carriers grew 7.1% during the same period.

Aircraft movements increased 13.8% during the nine months, with Changi Airport handling 221,900 flights.

Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia have been the major contributors to passenger traffic growth at Changi Airport year-to-date. However, the sustainability of this growth may be impacted by weaker travel demand to and from Europe and the United States as a result of increasing economic uncertainty in these regions.

Changi Airport handled 154,400 tonnes of cargo in September, an increase of 2.2% year-on-year. For the nine months, airfreight movements amounted to 1.38 million tonnes, representing a growth of 2.5% over the corresponding period last year.

As at 1 October 2011, Changi Airport is connected to some 210 cities in 60 countries and territories, and serves 100 airlines operating more than 5,900 weekly flights.

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