BANGKOK, 22 September 2023: Responding to growing domestic travel demand, Thai Vietjet will increase flights between Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) and Surat Thani to schedule three flights daily, effective 12 October.
In addition to the current operations, Thai Vietjet will add an early morning daily flight between Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) and Surat Thani. All three daily flights will operate with A320s. Flight time is one hour and 15 minutes.
Surat Thani is home to the the nearest mainland airport to Samui Island. Passengers commute from the airport by minivan or tour bus to the nearest ferry ports serving Samui. Bangkok Airways owns and operates an airport on Samui Island that is used exclusively by the privately owned airline. Other Thai airlines fly to Surat Thani.
“The flight increment between Bangkok and Surat Thani emphasises Thai Vietjet’s leading position as a major player in Thailand’s domestic market. Over the past four years, we have remained proactive in developing domestic network and expanding flight capacity to facilitate travel demand, particularly for tourism recovery post-Covid,” said Thai Vietjet head of commercial Pinyot Pibulsonggram.
Thai Vietjet is the only airline offering flights from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport to Surat Thani International Airport. The airline commenced the inaugural flight between the two airports in November 2020.
Meanwhile, Thai Vietjet has also confirmed it will increase flights to and from Phuket from its Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport hub by 60%.
SINGAPORE, 21 September 2023: Hospitality and lifestyle brand Aman Group has secured further investment of USD360 million from strategic partners to support the company’s ongoing global expansion.
They include Mubadala Capital, the asset management subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, and Alpha Wave Ventures, a private equity growth fund co-managed by Alpha Wave Global and Chimera Capital.
This follows an investment of USD900 million from two additional partners – Public Investment Fund and Cain International – and sees the company valued at USD3 billion. The future commitments from this strategic group of investors will support the company’s ongoing global expansion, securing future Aman and Janu projects and new brand development.
The investment further confirms the success of the Aman Group’s business strategy. Aman’s brand proposition and premium quality have positioned the business as a world leader in ultra-luxury hospitality and real estate. The company’s value is demonstrated through its market-leading premiums secured for average daily rates and the unrivalled price per square foot of its Aman Branded Residences.
Speaking on the investment, Aman Group owner, chairman and CEO Vlad Doronin said: “My long-term strategic vision has been to create ecosystems which centre on the complete Aman lifestyle both in urban destinations and resort settings. The proven success of this model, while always retaining the brand’s DNA, has resulted in a diverse pipeline, enabling us to continue to create unparalleled experiences for our guests and owners. The validation of Aman’s strategy by prominent investors in regions where we have considerable expansion planned enables us to leverage the extraordinary potential of the Aman brand and accelerate the pipeline to deliver sustainable growth.”
Aman is a collection of 34 hotels across 20 countries, 12 of which include Aman Branded Residences, with a robust pipeline of further hotels and residence projects under construction in countries including the US, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and several European destinations.
Aman Group’s sister brand, Janu, will launch its flagship destination, Janu Tokyo, this winter, seeing the company tap into a different audience demographic with the ambition to encourage meaningful connections between like-minded guests.
Vlad Doronin remains the majority shareholder, and previous investors, The Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Cain International (Cain), have also retained their existing stake in the business.
BANGKOK, 21 September 2023: Dusit International, one of Thailand’s leading hotel and property development companies, has announced the expansion of its hotel brand lineup with the launch of two new brands: Dusit Collection and Devarana – Dusit Retreats.
Building on the strength of Dusit’s existing portfolio, which encompasses Dusit Thani (luxury), Dusit Suites (upper upscale), dusitD2 (upscale), Dusit Princess (upper midscale), ASAI Hotels (midscale lifestyle), and Elite Havens (luxury villa rentals), the new brands extend Dusit’s reach across the lodging spectrum to deliver fresh and immersive experiences for guests. They also open new avenues for Dusit to enter untapped markets, furthering its global expansion objectives.
Serving as a soft brand that can be applied to distinctive, standalone properties with unique stories to tell, Dusit Collection directly taps into rising global demand for unique and authentic travel experiences and represents a sophisticated and personalised approach to property development, service, and guest engagement.
Focusing on the upper upscale and luxury segments, Dusit Collection has been envisaged to comprise a thoughtfully curated selection of captivating hotels in iconic destinations, each distinguished by their unique architecture, tasteful design, and distinctive locales brimming with profound and memorable moments.
The Dusit Collection concept also allows owners of iconic properties to safeguard the individuality and charm of their establishments while seamlessly integrating into the Dusit family, all without the complexities of rebranding or extensive renovations typically associated with Dusit’s established core brands.
“This streamlined, cost-effective model has numerous benefits for all stakeholders,” said Dusit InternationalCOO Giles Cretallaz. “Owners immediately gain access to our robust commercial support and seasoned management expertise while maintaining the distinct look and feel of their properties. Dusit benefits from an agile market entry strategy and can cultivate substantial value from properties that don’t precisely fit our core brands. Most importantly, our guests benefit from new opportunities to forge deep bonds with destinations at distinctive properties steeped in history and character.”
From former palaces in historic cities to boutique seaside sanctuaries, from Asia to the Middle East to Europe and beyond, Dusit is actively exploring multiple opportunities for luxurious Dusit Collection properties, and with strong interest from various parties, the company expects to announce its first official signings soon.
The second new brand Dusit has introduced is a reimagining of its former luxury brand, Devarana, which has been renamed Devarana – Dusit Retreats and enhanced to deliver enriching and transformational stay experiences in the ultra-luxury segment.
Fully embracing the success of Dusit’s renowned group-wide wellness concept, Devarana Wellness, which uniquely weaves well-being elements throughout the entire guest experience at Dusit Hotels and Resorts worldwide, Devarana – Dusit Retreats aims to take this holistic approach even further by delivering bespoke healing experiences at private sanctuaries in exclusive destinations around the globe.
Inspired by traditional Thai wellness principles and fully embracing sustainable and regenerative travel, Devarana – Dusit Retreats will focus on meeting the aspirational needs of guests and deliver a unique synergy of nature, community, ancient healing principles, regenerative spaces, impressive architecture and design, and curated activities and wellness programmes that delight discerning travellers on a deeply personal level.
Lounge at our Devarana Wellness Spa Lobby.
The first property under Devarana – Dusit Retreats, a rebranding of one of Dusit’s existing properties in China, is slated to open this October. Based on current interest in the brand, Cretallaz expects Dusit to sign multiple Devarana – Dusit Retreats before the end of the year.
“The response to Devarana – Dusit Retreats from potential partners has been fantastic, and discussions are already underway to formalise agreements for properties in Europe, the Middle East, and several locations in China,” he said. “The global pandemic propelled wellness into the mainstream, and the wellness industry is projected to sustain its remarkable growth far into the future. Capitalising on our expertise and optimising our know-how in this area, we are ideally positioned to deliver a hotel product that puts well-being and transformative experiences at its core, ensuring enduring value for all stakeholders involved.”
Dusit’s portfolio currently comprises 55 properties operating under Dusit Hotels and Resorts, and over 230 luxury villas under Elite Havens, across 19 countries. More than 60 Dusit Hotels and Resorts are in the pipeline, and 22 additional signings are targeted this year.
“In response to the profound impact of the global pandemic, we recognised the importance of refining our brand portfolio to resonate with evolving market demands and help drive expansion in the post-pandemic world,” said Cretallaz. “Over the past few years, we have meticulously enhanced each of our brands to deliver additional convenience, experience, and value for our guests. Today, with the introduction of Dusit Collection and Devarana – Dusit Retreats, we are delighted to expand our offerings even further across the lodging spectrum, delivering an entire ecosystem of brands from boutique lifestyle to luxury wellness, all united by our signature Thai-inspired gracious hospitality. With this strong foundation in place, we are well-positioned to energise our future and look forward to many exciting openings to come.”
DUBAI, 21 Sep 2023: After the successful launch of the Emirates inflight meal pre-ordering initiative on UK routes and the positive feedback received from passengers, the service is now being extended across routes to and from European cities.
The list of destinations includes Warsaw, Venice, Rome, Bologna, Prague, Vienna, Moscow, Istanbul, Dublin, Hamburg, St. Petersburg, Brussels and Madrid, and to and from Seychelles and Mauritius.
The initiative will be rolled out across more global routes in the coming months. The new service allows passengers in Business Class to preselect their main course between 14 days and 24 hours before their flight departure, ensuring they get their preferred choice every time and helping to reduce food wastage.
Inviting Emirates passengers to enjoy a fine dining experience in the sky, passengers can browse the onboard menu on Emirates.com or on the Emirates app to choose from a selection of regionally inspired dishes with locally sourced ingredients up to a fortnight before a flight. Business Class meals include a choice of chef-crafted dishes such as chocolate hazelnut pancakes with apricot compote and ricotta sour cream for breakfast, beef tenderloin with thyme jus, roasted potato wedges and steamed vegetables for lunch, and pan-fried salmon trout with saffron cream, blanched green beans, braised beetroot and polenta with spring onions for dinner.
Once onboard the aircraft, the cabin crew will use digital devices to view the pre-ordered selection and serve the passenger their choice of dish. Meal pre-ordering is an addition to the existing suite of AI-enabled customer preference tracking data and cabin crew reports onboard Emirates, facilitating menu planning, optimal food loading and waste minimisation.
Digitally enabled journeys and innovation are a core focus at Emirates. The pre-ordering meal service is complemented by website check-in and app check-in, the option of digital boarding passes and itinerary management, access to digital inflight menus, easy sign-up to Skywards to immediately access free Wi-Fi messaging onboard, and ice inflight entertainmentplaylist curation in advance of a flight.
HONG KONG, 21 September 2023: Cathay Pacific released on Wednesday traffic figures for August 2023, showing the airline surpassed the milestone of carrying more than 10 million passengers in the first eight months of 2023.
Cathay Pacific carried 1,784,980 passengers last month, an increase of 603% compared with August 2022. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 342.8% year-on-year. Passenger load factor increased by 19.4 percentage points to 88%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 244.9% year on year. In the first eight months of 2023, the number of passengers carried increased by 1,302% against a 633.1% increase in capacity and an 876.7% increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2022.
Commenting on the passenger traffic performance, the airline’s chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said: “Travel demand remained strong as we entered the second month of the traditional peak summer season in August. We continued to increase our flight frequencies to cater for the strong demand. Our newly resumed flights serving Johannesburg received a positive response, particularly among business and leisure travellers flying to Hong Kong and beyond.
“In the first half of the month, we saw consistently high demand for leisure travel from Hong Kong and the rest of the Greater Bay Area to various short-haul destinations. We also saw increased demand for outbound travel from Japan to Hong Kong and onward destinations in Asia and Europe in mid-August, coinciding with the Obon holiday period in Japan. Meanwhile, in the latter part of the month, there was a notable increase in student travel to Canada, the US and the UK from Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland ahead of the start of the new school year.
Outlook
Looking ahead, there is continued demand for student travel to the UK, which will provide a good boost in September, while overall, the outlook for the rest of 2023 looks promising.
“We continue to add more flights for our customers, particularly to and from the Chinese Mainland, where we currently operate about 170 return flights per week to 16 airports in 15 cities. We were also excited to announce earlier this month that our Colombo and Chennai services will resume in February 2024 as we continue to bring back more destinations for our customers,” said Lau.
GURUGRAM, 21 September 2023: Air India has introduced an integrated self-baggage drop and self-kiosk check-in service at Terminal 3 Delhi airport for domestic and international flights, becoming the first Indian carrier to do so.
Photo credit: Air India.
The service is currently available for all Australia-bound flights and all flights within India.
Passengers can now enjoy a seamless digital process to independently print boarding passes, baggage tags, and drop bags, obviating the need to check in at the counters.
Air India chief customer experience and ground handling officer Rajesh Dogra said: “This facility eliminates the queue waiting time for check-in over the counters…We plan to extend this for flights to more countries and intend to introduce it at other airports in India.”
Earlier this week, Air India announced having rolled out ‘Project Abhinandan’ whereby the carrier
has deployed specially trained Service Assurance Officers at 16 major Indian airports to proactively sense passenger concerns and offer on-ground assistance across airport touchpoints.
SINGAPORE, 21 September 2023: IndiGo, India’s leading airline, is introducing new domestic flights in response to surging demand for travel during the approaching festive and holiday season.
IndiGo introduced additional flights on the Chennai-Pune route starting last week. The airline has also introduced flights between Pune-Rajkot, at the same time. Flights between Pune and Hirasar will be introduced from 2 October 2023.
IndiGo has re-scheduled Pune-Mangaluru and Pune-Vishakhapatnam red-eye flights to a leisure-friendly schedule and has commenced operations on routes such as Pune-Vadodara, Mangaluru-Bengaluru, and Bengaluru-Raipur.
Adding these new flights enhances accessibility and provides more options for people travelling between states from different regions.
IndiGo head of global sales, Vinay Malhotra said: “We are witnessing an upsurge in travel demand for the forthcoming holiday season. A large part of this demand is coming from regional centres, and we are doing our best to fulfil this need by adding new flights on various sectors. We recently touched the landmark of operating over 1900 daily flights. With these additions, we are expanding our operations further and shall strive to continue providing affordable and hassle-free connectivity for our customers.”
Enhanced connectivity to Pune is a response to the state’s high demand for travel from business and leisure travellers.
Over the years, IndiGo has focused on expanding its base in Pune, and a majority of these routes are operated by IndiGo, owing to its vast domestic reach.
In the upcoming months, the country will be celebrating a range of festivals significant to the diversity of the country, such as Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri – Durga Puja, Dussehra and more national holidays. The travel and tourism industry is ramping up operations, expecting a surge in passenger traffic.
KUALA LUMPUR, 21 September 2023: In a strategic move to emphasise its commitment towards travel, the digital arm of Capital A, AirAsia Digital announces its transformation into MOVE Digital (MOVE).
This rebranding marks an exciting chapter in its next phase of growth through both its businesses, AirAsia Superapp and BigPay.
MOVE’s travel platform business, AirAsia Superapp will also undergo a brand refresh and change its name to ‘AirAsia move’ in the near future as part of the ongoing transformation.
The visionary co-founder of AirAsia and CEO of Capital A, Tony Fernandes will assume the role of executive chairman of MOVE. He will play a pivotal role in driving the close collaboration between both AirAsia Superapp (now AirAsia move) and BigPay to unlock the true potential and synergy of these digital businesses.
MOVE executive chairman Tony Fernandes said: “The name MOVE signifies us better as the digital arm of Capital A and reiterates our commitment to move people, ideas and innovation forward within the travel space. Imagine seamless access to travel and financial services on one single platform, with integrated financial features such as balance display, top-up and payments from BigPay and, further strengthening the value proposition of AirAsia move as the travel app of choice. My role as the executive chairman of MOVE will be to enhance synergy between both businesses. With this change, the market can expect an enriching user experience aside from more integration of BigPay features within the AirAsia Superapp (now AirAsia move) very soon.”
In this new era of travel innovation for MOVE, we are happy to welcome Nadia Omer into the organisation as the new chief executive officer of AirAsia move, effective 26 October. Her key priority will be to further drive AirAsia move’s vision as a low-cost travel platform with high conversion while closely collaborating with BigPay, led by Zubin Rada Krishnan. Mohamad Hafidz, currently the acting CEO, will continue leading the business in the interim. I thank him for his contributions throughout the past few months.”
The AirAsia Superapp, or what will be called AirAsia move soon, has swiftly become a one-stop travel platform offering value and convenience through seamless end-to-end booking experiences within the past two years, while BigPay has established itself as an innovative fintech provider enabling Southeast Asians to improve their lives through better financial management.
Both of Capital A’s digital businesses have been making significant strides, with AirAsia Superapp (now AirAsia move) reaching its highest recorded MAU (monthly active users) of 15 million at the end of the second quarter, while BigPay saw its carded users grow by 16% YoY for the same period.
MOVE Digital Sdn Bhd (formerly known as AirAsia Digital Sdn Bhd) is the digital arm of Capital A Berhad, and encompasses two transformative businesses: AirAsia Superapp (now AirAsia move) and BigPay. MOVE is dedicated to revolutionising the travel and financial services sectors by offering innovative, user-centric solutions at the best value.
BANGKOK, 21 September 2023: Pacific Asia Travel Association’s chair, Peter Semone, welcomed the new PATA CEO, Noor Ahmad Hamid, earlier this week outside the association’s new corporate office in Bangkok.
In his Facebook post, Semone commented: “Yesterday (Tuesday), I had the honour of welcoming PATA’s new CEO and introducing him to our secretariat staff. Noor Ahmad Hamid will assume his post on 1 October. I am very excited to collaborate with him to build PATA.”
Photo credit Peter Semone Facebook. PATA chair (left); PATA CEO Noor Ahmad Hamid (right).
PATA moves into its new office at True Digital Park in downtown Bangkok on 1 November. It will end a long stint when the global association had no permanent office it could call home since the early waves of Covid-19 infections made the association’s expensive office suite redundant.
PATA has been without a CEO since February 2023, when Liz Ortiguera and the association parted company. Ortiguera moved on to assume the role of managing director of Asia Pacific for the World Travel & Tourism Council while PATA dithered over finding a replacement.
PATA’s chair, Peter Semone, continues in his elected post until at least May or June 2024 and could run for another two years if he gains enough support from the membership.
His Facebook post welcoming the new CEO on the steps of the new permanent office draws a line under a rocky disruptive period for the association as it continues to restructure and recreate an environment for meaningful engagement with its members.
In a comment to TTRW, Semone said the “priority is to get the PATA business and operational model running smoothly, effectively and efficiently.”
The chair reels off a list of priorities assigned to the new CEO that identifies the urgent need to “re-engineer association events, complete the migration to digitalisation, refine membership engagement, an organisational reset and improving the association’s voice and branding.”
The urgency remains that it is now a time for action rather than words. A veteran tourism executive, the 60-year Malaysian Amhad Hamid, said he will not conduct interviews until next month. Still, more to point, the list of priorities hasn’t changed for incoming PATA CEOs since it moved its HQ office from San Francisco to Bangkok in 1998. So, a raincheck on interviews would be just fine until the CEO can share some good old-fashioned progress that until now has evaded the association. At the time, the move to Asia was widely applauded as a strategy to take advantage of the emerging Asian Century by embedding PATA in the centre of the action. However, a reality check suggests the association has struggled to refine membership engagement and achieve relevance in the digital era beyond hosting a string of webinars by instant experts.
The new CEO will be tasked with putting back the shine on PATA’s endeavours that are looking tired. He will need to deliver inspiration to make the association relevant to tourism enterprises in the Asia Pacific and worth the annual membership fees. That’s the bottom line. Even those who sing the praises of PATA are often not paid-up members. They sneak in through a network of local PATA chapters. There is a glaring lack of clarity on the role of chapters that often leaves companies inadvertently paying fees to both HQ and chapter. The issue is swept under the carpet, and for some powerful chapters, that is the perfect solution for their egos and commercial agendas.
But the new CEO ticks off all the boxes and has a proven track record. Born in Perak, Malaysia, Noor graduated with a diploma in Tourism Administration from the MARA Technological University (UiTM), Malaysia. In 1984, he joined the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (now Tourism Malaysia) and served there for more than 16 years in the Public Relations, Marketing, Domestic Promotion and Convention departments. He was also based in its Los Angeles, USA, office for four years.
After a brief stint at an events management company specialising in international sporting events, Noor joined a Malaysian government-affiliated company focussing on hospitality and tourism investment.
In 2009, Noor joined the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) as the Regional Director of Asia Pacific. He served for 11 years, gaining enormous experience in the nuances of not-for-profit association management. During his tenure, membership in Asia Pacific grew substantially to become the largest regional bloc within ICCA.
In 2019, he was appointed COO of the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) and played a key role in the post-Covid recovery of Malaysia’s business events industry.
In 2022, he was inducted into the Events Industry Council Hall of Leaders, the most prestigious award in the global business events industry, and the only Asian recipient alongside distinguished professionals from America and Europe. In 2018, he received the China MICE Leaders Award from Meetings and Conventions China for contributing to the Asia Pacific region.
PATA’s new office is located at True Digital Park, 101/1 Khwaeng Bang Chak, Khet Phra Khanong, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10260. (Close to Punnawithi BTS station.)
HO CHI MINH CITY, 20 September 2023: Heritage Line’s newest river cruise boat Anouvong, is sailing the upper Mekong River proudly following her maiden voyages for VIPs and media hosted in late August.
The new ship constructed in a Lao shipyard has 10 cabins on two decks, a spacious viewing deck, and a dining zone.
The upper Mekong sailings offer three, seven and nine-night itineraries. The three-night itinerary begins in Huay Xai in Laos, facing the Thai riverside town of Chiang Khong. The ship explores the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet before sailing downstream to Luang Prabang. An upstream version of the cruise is also available.
The seven-night or the nine-night cruise itineraries extend the cruises to Vientiane. The nine-day cruise is the upstream version. Luang Prabang is the halfway house with extended time to explore the UNESCO World Heritage town before the cruise resumes.
