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Vietjet flies to three Australian cities

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TTR WEEKLY
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HO CHI MINH CITY, 20 March 2023: Vietjet will launch twice weekly direct flights from Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam to Queensland, Australia, this June.

It follows an earlier announcement that confirmed the airline would launch two services from Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne and Sydney on 8 and 12 April. Three weekly flights are scheduled for each destination.

People relaxing on the grass near the Brisbane Sign, with the Brisbane skyline in the background

The Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) to Brisbane Airport (BNE), the state capital of Queensland, will begin on 16 June. Flights are scheduled every Monday and Friday taking off from Ho Chi Minh City at 1005 and landing in Brisbane at 2110. The return flights will depart at 2310 and arrive at 0450 the following day (all times are time).

Celebrating the new route, the airline is offering free ‘eco tickets, excluding fees and taxes, from now to 22 March 2023, on flights between Vietnam and Australia (Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney) at the airline’s website and Vietjet Air mobile app.(*)

In addition, Vietjet’s passengers from across Vietnam flying to and from Australia can gain free transfer domestic flights to and from Ho Chi Minh City. (**)

Vietjet’s vice president Nguyen Thanh Son said: “Through the addition of Brisbane to our list of destinations… Vietjet can bring more passengers from Asia and European countries to Australia. And vice versa, Australians can fly from Asian nations as our network serves Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, mainland China, Thailand, India and Kazakhstan.”

“Vietnam is a rapidly growing market for Queensland, and we are delighted to have Vietjet join the BNE family. To have Vietnam and the Sunshine State connected for the first time by non-stop flights will benefit the two countries,” said Brisbane Airport Corporation Chief Executive Officer Gert-Jan de Graaff.

Vietjet will deploy the Airbus A330-300 on new routes to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with 12 SkyBoss Business seats and 365 seats in SkyBoss, Deluxe and Eco classes.

The airline forecasts the new Brisbane route will attract more than 30,000 passengers during the first year, generate USD25.6 million for Queensland’s visitor economy and support 240 Queensland jobs in the first year.

(*) Excluding taxes, fees
(**) Terms and conditions

Emirates unveils new livery

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TTR WEEKLY
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DUBAI, UAE, 17 March 2023: The distinctive livery of the world’s largest international airline, Emirates, has been refreshed.

Emirates Airline president Sir Tim Clark said: “Aircraft livery is the most instantly recognisable brand real estate for any airline. It’s a visual representation of our unique identity, something we wear proudly and display in all the cities we fly to worldwide. We’re refreshing our livery to keep it modern without losing the key elements of our identity, such as the UAE flag on our tailfin and the Arabic calligraphy.”

Eagle-eyed plane spotters and fans will immediately notice changes to the tailfin and wingtips. In this latest design, the UAE flag on the Emirates tailfin is much more dynamic and flowing with a 3D effect artwork. The wingtips have been painted red with the Emirates logo in Arabic calligraphy “popping” out in reverse white. Passengers onboard with a window view will see the UAE flag colours painted on the wingtips facing the fuselage.

The signature gold “Emirates” lettering across the main body in English and Arabic is also bolder and 32.5% larger. Emirates has retained its iconic red branding on the aircraft belly, which it introduced in 2005. The website URL “Emirates.com” has been dropped from the design.

This is the third iteration of Emirates’ official aircraft brand colours. The original livery unveiled with the airline’s launch in 1985 had its first refresh 14 years later, with the delivery of Emirates’ first Boeing 777-300 at the 1999 Dubai Airshow.

The first aircraft to sport Emirates’ newest livery is A6-EOE, an Airbus A380, which has rolled out of Emirates Engineering this week after its makeover. Its first deployment will be to Munich on 17 March as flight EK51.

The new livery will be gradually applied across the rest of the existing Emirates fleet, with 24 aircraft, including 17 Boeing 777s, expected to sport the refreshed livery by the end of 2023. From the first Airbus A350 entering the fleet in August 2024, all new Emirates aircraft will be delivered in this new livery.

Emirates’ original livery in 1985 was designed by the UK design company Negus & Negus. All of the airline’s subsequent aircraft colours were created by its in-house design team. Over the years, Emirates’ numerous colourful and eye-catching aircraft liveries have included bespoke designs to drive sponsorship brand association and for special occasions such as the UAE’s 50th Jubilee livery and Expo 2020 Dubai.

For more information, visit www.emirates.com. 

(Your Stories: Emirates)

Sarawak sets its sustainability goals

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TTR WEEKLY
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KUCHING, 17 March 2023: Sarawak Tourism Board is taking bold steps towards promoting Responsible Tourism, in line with the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The message was loud and clear at last week’s ITB Berlin as STB presented a clear commitment to responsible tourism to tour operators.

At home, prioritising responsible tourism focuses on communities, businesses and government agencies across Sarawak state maximising positive economic, social and environmental impacts on tourism.

Photo credit: STB. Tree planting tradition.

Such steps include introducing homestays in rural areas to sustainable waste management practices, which include recycling and reusing waste materials to create additional products and skills to earn side income. 

STB’s waste management workshops have covered 46 registered homestays since it began in 2020, benefiting 11,779 households with a total of 82,688 residents. In addition, the aim is to provide a food source for local wildlife while creating a buffer zone for coastal areas.

The ultimate aim is to ensure local communities can benefit economically through:

  • Optimal use of environmental resources to maintain essential ecological processes and help conserve natural heritage and biodiversity;
  • Respecting the socio-cultural authenticity of communities – conserving the cultural heritage and traditional values;
  • Providing socio-economic benefits – stable employment, income-earning opportunities and social services, towards alleviating poverty.
Photo credit: STB. A beach clean-up.

Recognising festivals have a massive carbon footprint and that waste generated at events impacts the environment, proactive measures have been adopted to ensure the renowned Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) in Kuching and Borneo Jazz (BJ) in Miri are eco-friendly.

Since 2011, organisers of the two festivals, STB and Sarawak Forest Department, have collaborated to plant thousands of trees at the ecologically sensitive Kuching Wetlands National Park, a declared Ramsar Site. The annual mangrove tree-planting tradition remains a priority supported by music lovers who attend the two festivals.

RWMF and BJ are considered benchmarks for STB’s Responsible Tourism initiatives reflecting a commitment towards the three UN SDG goals – SDG 4 (Education and Lifelong Learning Opportunities), SDG 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production); SDG 17 (Global Partnerships).

For more about the 2023 festivals and related STB events, visit:

RWMF 2023 https://rwmf.net/;

Borneo Jazz https://jazzborneo.com/.

Sustainability in Action event: https://www.pata.org/pata-destination-experience-forum-and-mart-2023.

Hotlist initiatives

Cutting Plastic Footprint – putting in place water-refill stations, encouraging reusable water bottles and eliminating single-use plastic bottled water at festivals.

Sustainable Procurement – sourcing alternative, eco-friendly products, including biodegradable tableware, procured locally to support local businesses, reduce carbon footprint and save energy.

Waste Management – proper disposal management of recyclables containers provided by a locally based waste management company.

Fashionable recycling – to make recycling fun and impactful, collaborative efforts with the local creative community resulted in eye-catching waste bin designs.

Food Composting – collaborative efforts with local social enterprises to collect and channel leftover organic waste into compost bins for worm farms to make bio-protein and for composting.

Tree planting – planting mangrove trees at the ecologically sensitive Kuching Wetlands National Park, a Ramsar Site, to create a buffer zone for the coastal areas.

Volunteer & Green Ambassadors – local university students and volunteers among social enterprises, termed “The Eco-warriors”, helped spread recycling and food waste composting messages.

Emissions and upcycling – shuttle busses ferry festival-goers to reduce carbon and prevent congestion. Promotional banners from previous years were upcycled into tote bags to be used as gifts and souvenirs.

All these undertakings allow visitors and locals to care for, connect and be mindful of the impact of tourism on destinations and communities – unfolding cultural experiences. It all adds up to Sarawak’s aspiration to be a ‘leader’ in ‘Responsible Tourism’.

(Your Stories: Sarawak Tourism Board)

Source: https://sarawakgo.com/the-natural-solution-responsible-tourism/.

Spain adds tourist trains

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TTR WEEKLY
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SINGAPORE, 17 March 2023: Renfe, Spain’s national rail service, is rolling out 253 tourist trains featuring various themed experiences, which will embark on journeys through different autonomous communities throughout the year.

The train trips are being marketed in various categories, such as luxury, theme tourism, or heritage, operated by the Renfe tourist train division.

During 2023 the marketing initiative will deliver an increase of 30% in tourist-themed train journeys compared to what was offered in 2022 when Renfe launched 170 trains with tourist content that attracted 23,597 customers.

In the luxury tourism journey category, trips will increase by 57%. The greatest trip increase will occur in the luxury segment on the following luxury trains:

Transcantábrico (northern Spain, Bay of Biscay); Al Andalus (southern Spain); Costa Verde Express (Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela); and Expreso de la Robla (north:Bilbao and León).

These trains will make 87 round trips this year, which represents an increase of 52% compared to 2022. Thematic tourism trains carry out day trips with cultural and gastronomic content.

For more information on Spain as a tourism destination, please visit www.spain.info

(Your Stories: Turespaña)

Thai Vietjet starts ‘Check-Thru’ service

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TTR WEEKLY
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BANGKOK, 17 March 15, 2023: Thai Vietjet is reintroducing its ‘Check-Thru’ service enabling passengers to connect with their transit flights easily without having to check in twice while receiving their luggage at the final destination.

First introduced by Thai AirAsia during the pre-Covid era, competing airlines such as Thai Vietjet and Lion Air quickly adopted similar services. Thai AirAsia was the first to resume check-through services following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions last November.

Thai Vietjet is now reintroducing a check-through service for connections between Phuket, Chiang Mai and Krabi to three international destinations Fukuoka, Taipei, and Singapore. Bookings for check-through are now open on the airline’s website.

“We believe this new service elevates our connecting flight operations and will bring further value to our passengers,” said Thai Vietjet head of commercial Pinyot Pibulsonggram.

Passengers can continue their flights from Phuket, Krabi, and Chiang Mai to Fukuoka, Taipei, and Singapore transiting at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport when on tickets issued on end-to-end routes.

The check-in process is required just once at the first departure terminal, with the passenger receiving two boarding passes for the trip that transits at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport. Passengers receive their baggage at the end destination.

Suvarnabhumi Airport serves as the intermediary hub for the ‘Check-Thru’ service. On arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport, passengers follow the signs to their connecting flight and proceed to the waiting room after passing through a ticket check and carry-on bag scan in the airport’s transit area. 

RCL names MICE expert

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TTR WEEKLY
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Clem Galindo.

SINGAPORE, 17 March 2023: Royal Caribbean International names Clem Galindo as its senior manager of international corporate incentive and charter sales.

Based in Royal Caribbean’s Miami office, Galindo joins the team driving the cruise line’s international event business, often termed MICE – Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions. He will report to RCL’s global corporate incentive & charter sales director, Craig Jarrett.

Galindo has nearly 30 years of experience in the cruise industry, of which 25 years have been with the Royal Caribbean Group focused on international corporate business for Royal Caribbean International and Celebrities Cruises.

Guiding China’s travel to a sustainable path

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TTR WEEKLY
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KUALA LUMPUR, 17 March 2023: Chinese travellers are engaged about their environmental impact and are starting to seek sustainable alternatives, claims a study commissioned by travel giant Trip.com, Accor and consulting firm McKinsley & Company.

But the report found that Chinese travellers may need more help understanding where to look. Trip.com Group found that 85% of Chinese travellers rate travel sustainability as important or very important, while 60% are concerned about climate change.

(From left to right): Jean-Jacques Morin, Group Deputy CEO, Accor; Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO, Accor; Gary Rosen, CEO, Accor Greater China; Ray Chen, SVP of Trip.com Group; Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group; Li Binghua, Division Director, Market Management Office, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism; Jonathan Woetzel, Director of McKinsey Global Institute, Senior Partner of McKinsey & Company; Steve Saxon, Partner of McKinsey & Company.

The report noted that Chinese consumers are not used to paying extra for sustainable travel. As such, it is essential to provide travellers guidance regarding sustainability costs, highlighting the industries’ efforts to improve the provision of sustainable offerings. This will increase willingness to pay by showing the burden to be shared, and that price rises will only be short-term.

The pioneering survey published Thursday identifies a series of sustainable changes that need to be made to support the travel and hospitality of tomorrow.

Entitled “The path toward eco-friendly travel in China”, the whitepaper provides guidelines on the actions that travellers can take to travel sustainably.

It points to booking sustainable travel options with certified service providers, spending more time in one destination, and cultivating sustainable habits such as changing towels or bed linen less frequently and refusing to use single-use plastics.

The whitepaper sets out suggestions for the hospitality industry to support Chinese travellers in their understanding of sustainable travel, inspire behavioural change and ultimately support the sector’s journey towards a net positive model, which gives more than it takes. Such recommendations include using technology platforms to make sustainable travel options more visible online, using labelling to ensure travellers are informed on the environmental impact of their actions, providing incentives to encourage sustainable behaviour, and training employees to adopt a sustainability mindset.

While greater traveller awareness and willingness to choose sustainable options combined with tourism providers’ adoption of more sustainable practices can help China’s travel sector realize “quick wins” in sustainable impact.

Trip.com Group CEO Jane Sun said: “We are thrilled to be leading the charge for sustainable travel and promoting responsible tourism practices in the industry. Our commitment to harmonious coexistence between people and nature has driven us to implement green and environmental protection practices, such as our ‘Green Tourism Goals’, which has already reached millions of global tourists. By collaborating with strategic partners, we aim to integrate green and environmental protection’s social and commercial value, creating new business growth opportunities for partners. We aim to pave the way for a more sustainable and responsible travel industry.”

Download “The path toward eco-friendly travel in China” – joint research in travel sustainability in China HERE.

Vietnam Airlines ramps up Delhi flights

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TTR WEEKLY
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HANOI, 17 March 2023: Vietnam Airlines will introduce daily nonstop flights, up from the present five weekly services, between Vietnam and India, on routes from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to the Indian capital Delhi, effective 26 March.

Four weekly flights will depart Hanoi for Delhi on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The other three weekly flights will depart Ho Chi Minh City for Delhi on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Flying A321s with 184 seats, the airline will increase the weekly seat capacity by 29% on scheduled flights to Delhi. Today, the airline musters 920 seats a week to Delhi from the two Vietnamese cities. Seating capacity will increase to 1,288 seats a week on 26 March. Currently, Delhi is served by three flights a week from Hanoi and two flights from Ho Chi Minh City. Flight time to Delhi is five hours and 15 minutes.

Photo credit: Vietnam Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines is also launching promotional fares on flights between Vietnam and India to support the capacity increase. A roundtrip fare, including taxes and fees, starts at VND7,113,000 ( USD300) for passengers who purchase tickets on the airline’s website, mobile application, and travel agency channels in Vietnam.

For flights from India to the two gateway cities in Vietnam, the starting fare is pegged at INR23,950 for passengers purchasing tickets at Vietnam Airlines ticket offices and travel agents in India. Bookings and the travel period extend from 26 March to  31 December 2023.

India is one of the top 10 source markets with the largest international visitor arrivals to Vietnam during the first two months of 2023.

Vietnam Airlines resumed direct flights to India in June 2022. It plans to start a service from Ho Chi Minh City to Mumbai, India, later this year.

(Source: TITC)

MAI boosts flights to Singapore

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TTR WEEKLY
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SINGAPORE, 17 March 2023: Myanmar Airways International will add three weekly flights from its Yangon home base to Singapore starting 28 March, giving the airline 10 weekly flights.

The new flights are scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The airline resumed daily flights to Singapore last December using an Airbus 320 with 180 seats.

Even with 10 flights weekly, the Yangon -Singapore route is the airline’s busiest, with seats fully booked on 25 and 26 March, according to the airline’s Facebook post. Most of the passengers are business visitors. Fares start at USD149, one-way.

MAI’s three A320s serve destinations in Asia and Dubai in the Middle East.

On routes to India, MAI operates three weekly flights to Delhi (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) with fares starting at USD165. Kolkata is served a twice weekly flight on Thursday and Sunday with fares starting at USD115.

Other destinations include Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket in Thailand.

Emirates ramps up summer flights

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TTR WEEKLY
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SINGAPORE, 16 March 2023: Emirates has boosted operations by 31% (total ASKMs) since the start of its financial year and will ramp up seat capacity in its latest published northern summer schedule starting 26 March 2023.

Among its upcoming route enhancements, Emirates will relaunch its daily direct flight between Singapore and Melbourne from 26 March 2023 in response to strong travel demand.

In the past months, the airline has planned and executed the rapid growth of its network operations – reintroducing services to 5 cities; launching flights to 1 new destination (Tel Aviv); adding 251 weekly flights onto existing routes; and continuing the roll-out of service enhancements in the air and on the ground.

Emirates’ chief commercial officer Adnan Kazim said: “Emirates continues to expand its global network and deploy its capacity to meet travel demand worldwide. Our financial year started relatively quietly as we held back our ramp-up until the planned northern runway rehabilitation program at Dubai International airport was completed in June. From July 2022 onwards, it’s been non-stop expansion.”

He added: “Customer demand has been very strong, and our forward bookings are also robust. Emirates is working hard on several fronts – to bring back operating capacity as quickly as the ecosystem can manage while also upgrading our fleet and product to ensure our customers always enjoy the best possible Emirates experience. So far, four of our A380 aircraft have been completely refurbished with our new cabin interiors and Premium Economy seats. More will enter service as our USD2 billion cabin, and service enhancement program picks up pace.”

In the coming months, established routes to Europe, Australia and Africa will be served with more Emirates flights, while in East Asia, more cities are seeing route restarts.

Upcoming A380 deployments in the Northern Summer 2023 season

Emirates continues to scale up its A380 operations with the reintroduction of the iconic double-decker across its network: Glasgow (from 26 March), Casablanca (from 15 April), Beijing (from 1 May), Shanghai (from 4 June), Nice (from 1 June), Birmingham (from 1 July), Kuala Lumpur (from 1 August), and Taipei (from 1 August).

Route enhancements by region

EUROPE

  • Amsterdam: from 14 to 19 weekly flights starting 02 April.         
  • Athens: Addition of a daily seasonal service to serve summer demand between 1 June to 30 September.
  • Bologna: from five weekly flights to a daily service starting 1 May.
  • Budapest: from five weekly flights to a daily service by 1 June.
  • London: start of second daily service to London Stansted on 1 May. This will take Emirates’ London operations to 11 daily flights – including six times daily to London Heathrow and three times daily to Gatwick.
  • Venice: from 5 to 6 flights a week from 26 March, increasing to a daily service from 1 June.

AFRICA

  • Cairo: from 25 to 28 weekly flights by 29 October.
  • Dar es Salam: from five weekly flights to daily flights starting 1 May.
  • Entebbe: from six flights a week to daily flights starting 1 July.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Emirates’ non-stop Australia flights will return to pre-pandemic levels to Sydney from 1 May, Melbourne from 26 March, and Brisbane on 1 June.

  • Brisbane: An additional daily service starting 1 June will take Emirates to 14 flights per week to Brisbane.
  • Christchurch: restart of daily service from Dubai via Sydney from 26 March.
  • Melbourne: addition of a third daily service to Melbourne from 26 March via Singapore. This adds capacity to Melbourne and re-establishes connectivity between Singapore and Melbourne. The other two daily flights from Melbourne fly non-stop to Dubai.
  • Sydney: addition of a third daily non-stop service from 1 May.

EAST ASIA

  • Bangkok: Addition of a fifth daily service from 1 August.
  • Beijing: To commence daily non-stop Boeing 777-300ER service from 15 March, upgrading to an A380 effective 1 May. A second daily service will commence effective 1 September with an A380.
  • Hong Kong: Addition of a daily non-stop flight from 29 March. This increases Emirates’ operations to 14 weekly flights, including its daily Dubai-Bangkok-Hong Kong service.
  • Kuala Lumpur: Addition of a third daily service from 1 June.
  • Tokyo: Resumption of services to Tokyo Haneda with daily flights on 2 April. This takes Emirates’ Japan operations to 21 daily flights, including a daily A380 service to Tokyo-Narita and a daily Boeing 777 service to Osaka.
  • Visit: www.emirates.com.

(Your Stories: Emirates)

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