Vietnam Airlines gains stake in Jetstar
December 8, 2011 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under Mekong Region, News, Vietnam
HANOI, 8 December 2011: Vietnam Airlines has acquired a 70% stake in Jetstar Pacific Airlines, from the State Capital Investment Corporation.
Local media, Sai Gon Giai Phong reported over the weekend that Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam had confirmed the 70% sale by State Capital Investment Corporation that transfers a major stake in in Jetstar Pacific Airlines to the government controlled Vietnam Airlines.
Qantas, the mother company of Jetstar still holds 27%, while Saigon Tourist Holdings has a 3% stake. Read more
Nok Air ups frequency
January 11, 2011 by Rapeepat Mantanarat
Filed under News, Thailand
BANGKOK, 11 January 2011 — Effective 1 February, Nok Air will increase services on seven domestic routes lifting daily services across its network from 30 a day to 39.
The Bangkok-Chiang Mai route will be served six times a day up from the present four. The airline claims it will have a flight departing at two hourly intervals.
Frequency on routes to Udon Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat will be lifted from three to four; Hat Yai, from four to five; Trang, from one to two; Phuket from two to four and Surat Thani from two to three.
Finnair ups frequencies on Asian routes
January 11, 2011 by Rapeepat Mantanarat
Filed under News
BANGKOK, 11 January 2011 – Finnair will embark on expansion in Asia, this year, with a new non-stop service from Helsinki to Singapore plus frequency increases on several key routes between Europe and Asia.
Two A340s will join the fleet specifically to add a capacity on routes to Asia.
No changes are planned for Bangkok, the airline’s oldest station in Asia dating back to charter flights in the 70s. Today, the airline operates twice daily services during the winter season, but scales back to a single daily service during the summer timetable.
Ministry ruling favours PAL crews
January 11, 2011 by AFP
Filed under News, Southeast Asia
MANILA, 11 January 2011 – Philippine Airlines said Monday it had rejected a government order to raise pay for its cabin crew and allow air hostesses to fly until they turned 60, calling the ruling absurd and illegal.
The loss-making flag-carrier’s president, Jaime Bautista, said it had appealed the labour ministry ruling, given last month after the government forced management and flight crew into arbitration to head off a strike.
The arbitration went in the crew’s favour when the ministry ordered PAL to raise salaries worth 222 million pesos (about US$5 million) over three years and to push back the retirement age from 45 to 60.
Asiana buys A380s
SEOUL, 7 January 2011 – South Korea’s Asiana Airlines said Thursday it had agreed to buy six Airbus A380 superjumbos in a deal worth US$1.8 billion as it tries to cash in on booming demand from China and the rest of Asia.
The country’s second-largest carrier said the European manufacturer had agreed to deliver the planes between 2014 and 2017, adding they would be used on routes to Europe and the United States.
The agreement, worth 2.04 trillion won (US$1.8 billion), comes as an easing of visa rules on South Korean visitors to the United States and an ever-growing number of Chinese travellers fans demand for lucrative trans-Pacific flights.
Air travel in the Philippines on the rise
January 7, 2011 by AFP
Filed under Aviation, News, Southeast Asia
MANILA, 7 January 2011 – Millions more people in the Philippines are taking to the air, helped by dirt-cheap plane fares, aviation authorities said Thursday.
Carriers flew 22.82 million people to and from Philippine airports in the first nine months of last year, up 12.75% from a year earlier, Civil Aeronautics Board data show.
Cheap and infamously unsafe ferries have long been the main form of long-distance travel for people in the impoverished Southeast Asian archipelago of more than 7,100 islands.
Mexicana resumes flights
MEXICO CITY, 6 January 2011 – Ailing Mexicana airline, which suspended all flights in August, will open ticket sales again on 24 January, but does not yet have a date to return to the skies, a transport official said Wednesday.
“The 24th is maintained as a start date for commercial operations, but not for aeronautical operations,” deputy transport secretary, Humberto Trevino, told a news conference after meeting with airline representatives, potential investors and government officials.
Garuda raises cash for 2011 expansion
JAKARTA, 4 January 2011 – Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia plans to raise around US$500 million from its imminent initial public offering, a report said Tuesday, kick starting a year of expansion.
The airline is selling 9.36 billion shares, of which 79% are new, according to a term sheet seen by Dow Jones Newswires.
It will begin roadshows for the deal, which has no overallotment option, on 14 January and aims for a listing in Jakarta on 11 February, the term sheet said.
China opens skies to private air firms
BEIJING, 23 December 2010 – After years of waiting for China to lift heavy restrictions on airspace, wealthy travellers and aircraft manufacturers have reason to celebrate – the country’s skies are opening up to private flights.
The makers of helicopters and small business jets are predicting a major bump in sales – France’s Dassault Falcon just moved its Asia office from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, which it called the new “centre of gravity” for the market.
Philippines aviation chief quits
MANILA, 23 December 2010 – The Philippines’ chief aviation regulator has abruptly quit, the government said Tuesday, after he blamed President Benigno Aquino for keeping the country on an international flight safety blacklist.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines director-general Alfonso Cusi tendered his resignation effective 31 December.
