Emirates wins APEX regional awards

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June 13, 2022

DUBAI UAE, 13 June 2022: Travellers worldwide have recognised Emirates for Best Wi-Fi and Best Food & Beverage in the Middle East, with the airline bagging these awards at the prestigious 2022 APEX Regional Passenger Choice Awards ceremony held in Dublin, Ireland.

For the awards this year, verified passengers flying on over one million flights on nearly 600 airlines worldwide were asked to rate their airline experiences in five subcategories: seat comfort, cabin service, food and beverage, entertainment, and Wi-Fi.

The two awards crown Emirates’ continual efforts to deliver the best possible customer experiences on board and take the total count of APEX awards presented to Emirates, to 30, since the awards’ launch in 2010.

The Best Food & Beverage award recognises Emirates’ consistently high-quality, regionally inspired cuisine and extensive drinks menu. The airline’s attention to detail ensures a clockwork operation where over 110 meals from close to 4600 recipes that cater to every palate are loaded onto its flights yearly. Emirates also pays special attention to its beverage offering, ranging from fresh mocktails and vitality boost drinks to a wide selection of hand-picked teas and coffee, alongside the best champagnes and special vintages of wines and spirits that any sommelier would envy.

Staying connected is an everyday essential on the ground and also in the skies. Emirates was the first airline to equip its entire fleet with mobile phone connectivity in 2007, and now every aircraft is equipped with Wi-Fi services. Free connectivity options are available to all Business and First Class passengers and Skywards Platinum and above. Great value plans are available for full flight internet or chat. Last year, Emirates replaced MB limited plans with unlimited or timed plans – simplifying the options available as few users understood the MB consumption on a session.

In total, Emirates’ award-winning ice inflight entertainment system, with over 5,000 channels, including up to 150 channels dedicated to family and children, presents an unmatched breadth of content in 40 languages to cater to its global customer base. It also offers more than 4,000 hours of movies and TV, close to 3,500 hours of music and podcasts, and five live TV channels, including major sports events for sports lovers. New, exciting and exclusive content will be available onboard ice with something for everyone travelling this summer and beyond.

Committed to ensuring its customers always “Fly Better”, Emirates is heavily investing to further elevate its signature services and products for travellers in all cabin classes. Emirates will soon begin a massive cabin retrofit programme to fit out 120 aircraft with its latest Premium Economy cabin, as well as its latest interiors across other cabins.

The APEX Passenger Choice Awards recognise excellence in seat comfort, cabin service, food and beverage, entertainment and Wi-Fi. Partnering with TripIt from Concur, the world’s highest-rated travel-organising app, anonymous passenger feedback is gathered based on neutral, third-party feedback and insights.

For more information on inflight entertainment, visit Emirates/inflight-entertainment or visit: www.emirates.com.

(Your Stories: Emirates)

IATA reports a surge in air travel

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TTR WEEKLY

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June 13, 2022

GENEVA 13 June 2022: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that air travel resumed its strong recovery trend in April*, despite the war in Ukraine and travel restrictions in China.

This was driven primarily by international demand.

Total demand for air travel in April 2022 (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) was up 78.7% compared to April 2021 and slightly ahead of March 2022’s 76.0% year-over-year increase.

April domestic air travel was down 1.0% compared to the year-ago period, a reversal from the 10.6% demand rise in March. This was driven entirely by continuing strict travel restrictions in China, where domestic traffic was down 80.8% year-to-year. Overall, April domestic traffic was down 25.8% versus April 2019.

International RPKs rose 331.9% versus April 2021, an acceleration over the 289.9% rise in March 2022 compared to a year ago. Several route areas are above pre-pandemic levels, including Europe – Central America, Middle East – North America and North America – Central America. April 2022, international RPKs were down 43.4% compared to the same month in 2019.

“With the lifting of many border restrictions, we are seeing the long-expected surge in bookings as people seek to make up for two years of lost travel opportunities. April data is cause for optimism in almost all markets, except China, which continues to restrict travel severely. The experience of the rest of the world demonstrates that increased travel is manageable with high levels of population immunity and the normal systems for disease surveillance. We hope China can recognise this success soon and take its own steps towards normality,” said IATA’s director-general Willie Walsh.

European carriers’ Aprilinternational traffic rose 480.0% versus April 2021, substantially up over the 434.3% increase in March 2022 versus the same month in 2021. Capacity rose 233.5%, and load factor climbed 33.7 percentage points to 79.4%.

Asia-Pacific airlines saw their April international traffic climb 290.8% compared to April 2021, significantly improved on the 197.2% gain registered in March 2022 versus March 2021. Capacity rose 88.6%, and the load factor was up 34.6 percentage points to 66.8%, still the lowest among regions.

Middle Eastern airlines had a 265.0% demand rise in April compared to April 2021, bettering the 252.7% increase in March 2022 versus the same month in 2021. April capacity rose 101.0% versus the year-ago period, and load factor climbed 32.2 percentage points to 71.7%.

North American carriers’ April traffic rose 230.2% versus the 2021 period, slightly above the 227.9% rise in March 2022 compared to March 2021. Capacity rose 98.5%, and load factor climbed 31.6 percentage points to 79.3%.

Latin American airlines experienced a 263.2% rise in April traffic compared to the same month in 2021, exceeding the 241.2% rise in March 2022 over March 2021. April capacity rose 189.1%, and load factor increased 16.8 percentage points to 82.3%, easily the highest load factor among the regions for the 19th consecutive month.

African airlines’ traffic rose 116.2% in April 2022 versus a year ago, accelerating over the 93.3% year-over-year increase recorded in March 2022. April 2022 capacity was up 65.7%, and load factor climbed 15.7 percentage points to 67.3%.

(Source IATA)

*Note: IATA had returned to year-on-year traffic comparisons instead of comparisons with the 2019 period unless otherwise noted. Owing to the low traffic base in 2021, some markets will show very high year-on-year growth rates, even if the size of these markets is still significantly smaller than they were in 2019

THAI flies pilgrims to the Hajj

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TTR WEEKLY

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June 13, 2022

BANGKOK, 13 June 2022: Thai Airways International will fly around 2,500 Thai Muslim pilgrims to attend the Hajj Pilgrimage 2022 in Saudi Arabia.

Korakot Chatasingha as the chairman of THAI Hajj Special Affairs Committee and Department of the Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior deputy director-general Somsak Charoenpaitoon signed the Memorandum of Understanding.

It stipulates that the airline will transport 2,508 Thai Muslim pilgrims on charter flights that will cater Halal meals and beverages prepared strictly to Islamic dietary requirements by THAI’s Halal kitchen with HAL-Q certification.

This year, THAI will operate nine roundtrip charter flights departing from three destinations in Thailand: Narathiwat, Hat Yai and Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi). The flights will land in Medina and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

The first departure flights were scheduled for 10 to 13 June 2022, followed by flights from 29 June to 3 July 2022.

• Narathiwat – Medina: two flights from 10 to 11 June 2022.

• Hat Yai – Medina: two flights from 12 to 13 June 2022.

• Hat Yai – Jeddah: three flights from 29 June to 1 July 2022.

• Bangkok – Jeddah: two flights from 2 to 3 July 2022.

Return flights will operate from 18 to 21 July 2022 and from 8 to 12 August 2022.

• Jeddah – Narathiwat: two flights from 18 to 19 July 2022.

• Jeddah – Hat Yai: two flights from 20 to 21 July 2022.

• Medina – Hat Yai: three flights from 8 to 10 August 2022.

• Medina – Bangkok: two flights from 11 to 12 August 2022.

THAI has organised the annual charter flights for the Hajj pilgrimage since 2005.

Batik Air expands Bali services

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TTR WEEKLY

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June 13, 2022

DENPASAR Bali, 13 June 2022: Batik Air Malaysia confirms it will resume flights on the Bali-Melbourne route starting on 17 June.

The flights originate in Kuala Lumpur and make a stop in Bali. As reported first by the Bali Sun, the decision to resume the flights was welcomed by local tour and hospitality providers on the famous holiday island.

Batik Air, a low-cost airline, will fly the Bali to Melbourne route four times weekly. Flights from Melbourne to Bali will depart at 0640 and land in Bali at 1105 every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The flight will take five hours and 30 minutes.

Flights from Bali to Melbourne will leave Denpasar at 2300 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, landing at Melbourne 0540.

The Batik Air media statement quoted the airline’s CEO Mushafiz Bin Mustafa Bakri saying: “Our flights to Melbourne have received positive responses since Batik Air started launching ticket sales. Furthermore, Batik Air will continue to explore and strengthen connections to Australia”.

Effective 2 June, Batik Air reinstated direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Bali. The airline already resumed its twice-daily services to Jakarta on 27 March 2022.

Flight OD306 departs Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 0910 and arrives at Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar at 1215. The all-inclusive one-way economy class fare from Kuala Lumpur to Denpasar, Bali starts from MYR489.

Batik Air flies the route on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until 25 June 2022, when it will increase flights to twice daily.

Apart from Denpasar, Bali, and Jakarta, the airline will reinstate scheduled international services to Kathmandu, Dhaka, Lahore, Trichy, Bangkok, and Singapore.

Batik Air Malaysia was formerly known as Malindo Air and is described as a Malaysian hybrid-full service carrier and associate carrier of Indonesian Lion Air Group, with headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

On 28 April 2022, Malindo Air was rebranded as Batik Air Malaysia in line with the Lion Group’s goal to establish a common identity for its full-service airline brand in Asia. It officially started flights using a Boeing 737 MAX on 2 June 2022, serving the Kuala Lumpur – Kota Kinabalu route. It has a fleet of A320s, Boeing 737 MAX and an A330-300.

(Source: Batik Air and Wikipedia)

AirAsia Aviation Group promises refunds in pipeline

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TTR WEEKLY

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June 13, 2022

SEPANG, 13 June 2022: Airlines across AirAsia Aviation Group Limited, the aviation arm of Capital A Group, reaffirmed at the weekend their commitment to resolve all refund requests caused by Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and travel restrictions.

In a media statement, AAAGL airlines claimed they have finalised over 99% of all customer queries and are working towards progressively settling the final 0.8% in the coming months.

The two medium to long-haul affiliate airlines, AirAsia X (AAX) and Thai AirAsia X (TAAX), also adopted plans to compensate all guests affected by the unprecedented flight disruptions over the past two years due to Covid-19 within the coming months.

Capital A Group CEO Tony Fernandes said: “AirAsia airlines have already paid back nearly everyone. AirAsia has opened the world to so many people, and most of our guests decided to take a credit shell to help us. We thank them.”

AirAsia X has already resumed flights to Sydney, Delhi and Seoul and is planning to announce new routes

soon. AAX is extending credits in the form of travel vouchers to guests, which are redeemable immediately. Travel vouchers are valid for five years.

Indians ready to book Thai resorts

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Sawapat Pimchaichon

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June 13, 2022

PHUKET, 13 June 2022: Indian travel companies say the Thailand Pass scheme is no longer an obstacle for travellers, and having more direct air links from Indian citifies to the island of Phuket will boost visits from India.

Participating in the Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+) 2022, held in Phuket last week, Indian travel agencies said they are seeking new travel products for the luxury end of the market to serve Indian honeymooners and ‘event’ travellers.

But the biggest plus factor supporting the sales of Phuket holidays are direct air links to the Thai holiday island from key Indian cities, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Delhi.

Vayu Seva Tours & Travel Private Limited CEO Sajjan Kumar Gupta said that since travel restrictions eased, the Indian traveller market has responded very well as overseas trips resumed after a two-year hiatus.

“We have got an average daily of around 800 seats out of Kolkata to Thailand. And we’re doing almost 70% plus occupancy from Kolkata. I am praying that the direct flight from India remains flying. If the flights are there, definitely customers will visit Phuket.”

He added that at the TTM+, he was sourcing luxury travel products, especially pool villas, to attract Indian travellers with high purchasing power.

Travel costs have risen around 10 to 15% worldwide, but travellers are prepared for the increase and are keen to resume their holiday plans put on hold by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Airwing International Travels CEO Rajesh Kamat said the company has been seeing an uptick in demand after 1 June, when Thailand eased its travel requirements, saying it would bode well for MICE travel in the upcoming summer months.

“Returning to TTM+ this year, we focused on sourcing new travel products, which is trending after the two years of Covid,” he explained. “Meanwhile, direct flights to Phuket from Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi make it more convenient. We are concentrating on selling trips of four nights in Phuket and two nights in Krabi.”

Euphoria World Travels Pvt Ltd managing director Varun Modi said the beaches, mountains, and Thai culture remain top Thai travel products for clients. In the pre-Covid era, the company sent 5,000 people to Thailand annually, with MICE and wedding groups being the two main markets.

“Selling Thailand is becoming easier as the awareness has been established and restrictions have been eased. Also, Phuket offers a wide range of products, from beachside villas and conventions to sports and entertainment that can cater to the needs of event travellers and honeymooners.”

Indian travellers are Thailand’s top priority market following the collapse of travel from Russia and the ongoing lockdown of China’s outbound travel market. India is a standout market that currently offers the best opportunities for Thai travel content providers. Still, it might be overly optimistic to think India could compensate for the market losses in China and Russia.

Statistics from the Thailand Pass showed that from 1 January to 24 May 2022, 100,884 Indian travellers arrived in Thailand under the scheme. Meanwhile, since the Thai government has eased some travel restrictions and closed down the Test & Go programme, the country claims to have welcomed 3,000 Indian tourists daily.

In 2019, Thailand received 1.96 million tourists from India, decreasing to 261,730 in 2020 and 6,544 in 2021. This year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand expects a strong rebound and aims to attract at least 500,000 tourists from India, generating THB22.5 billion baht in revenue for the country.

The government agency said there’s a possibility that Indian tourist arrivals could reach 600,000, generating THB27 billion in revenue this year, but that is not in the hands of TAT to deliver.

It remains firmly a delivery for India’s tour operators to achieve, depending on outside factors. Thailand must keep the doors wide open regarding visas and entry rules. Airlines will need to deliver the seating capacity, possibly tripling the flights to Thailand’s key resorts and Bangkok over the next few months. Given those factors, India’s tour operators can accomplish the rest.

HK Express starts Tokyo flight

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TTR WEEKLY

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June 12, 2022

HONG KONG, 12 June 2022: Hong Kong Express confirms it will resume flights between Hong Kong and Tokyo from 24 June.

The flight from Hong Kong and Tokyo is scheduled once a week, every Friday. Flight numbers are UO 806 on the Hong Kong-Tokyo (Narita) sector and UO 807 on the sector Tokyo (Narita) – Hong Kong.

HK Express has implemented several precautions, including HEPA filters in aircraft, enhanced cabin sanitisation measures, extra spaces between seats when possible and adjusted meal services.

Regent Seven Seas celebrates 30 years

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TTR WEEKLY

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June 12, 2022

SINGAPORE, 12 June 2022, Regent Seven Seas Cruises is celebrating 30 years of ocean cruising by offering 30th-anniversary voyages highlighting iconic destinations worldwide.

The sailings head for Africa, Alaska, Asia, Canada & New England, the USA, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and South America.

In celebration of its ‘Pearl Anniversary’, voyages range from seven to 21 days on the line’s five ships – Seven Seas Explorer, Seven Seas Mariner, Seven Seas Navigator, Seven Seas Splendor and Seven Seas Voyager.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises offers double Seven Seas Society savings on these voyages to thank loyal guests. Guests can celebrate with a cruise from Dubai to Singapore aboard the Seven Seas Explorer, or they can explore the ‘Glories of Spain’ on the Seven Seas Splendor. They can also explore wines, dunes and wildlife in Southern Africa aboard Seven Seas Voyager and toast to the epic beauty of South America on a Machu Picchu & Chilean Fjords cruise on Seven Seas Mariner.

Pandaw invests in Red River cruises

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TTR WEEKLY

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June 12, 2022

SINGAPORE, 12 June 2022: Pandaw, a river cruise pioneer in India and the Mekong Region countries, will launch a second ship in northern Vietnam in mid-2023 to explore the Red and Black River network from Halong Bay.

RV Song Hong is under construction in Hai Phong and will be fitted out with 10 staterooms slightly larger than the standard Pandaw cabin. Like other Pandaw vessels, it will have the trademark promenades running around the decks with both saloon and deck dining zones fore and aft.

It will join RV Angkor, sailing the Red and Black River waterways since 2015. Both ships share the same expedition vessel design with an ultra-shallow draft enabling them to navigate the challenging environment of the Red River.

The cruises are not cheap at USD3,222 per person for a 10-day expedition. Still, they attract travellers who appreciate taking their time to explore the key sites of Northern Vietnam from the vantage point of a river ship meandering through the Red River delta and tributaries along a fascinating route from Halong Bay to Hanoi.

Bangkok Airways reinstates flights

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TTR WEEKLY

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June 10, 2022

BANGKOK, 10 June 2022: Bangkok Airways will launch two new routes – Bangkok-Hat Yai and Samui-Hat Yai – starting on 16 July 2022 and begin the return of international flights in September.

The soon-to-launch Bangkok-Hat Yai services will operate two flights daily, using an Airbus A319 aircraft. The first outbound flight, PG431, will depart from Suvarnabhumi Airport at 0825 and arrive at Hat Yai Airport at 0955. The return flight PG432 will depart from Hat Yai Airport at 1045. and will arrives at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 1215.

The second outbound flight, PG433, will depart from Suvarnabhumi Airport at 1300 and arrive at Hat Yai Airport at 1430. The return flight PG434 will depart from Hat Yai Airport at 1520 and arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 1650.

Hat Yai is a commercial town in southern Thailand on the main rail line between Thailand and Malaysia. Before the Covid-19 lockdown, its airport was served by several airlines out of Bangkok and by international airlines from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Samui-Hat Yai services will operate three flights weekly (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays), using an ATR72-600 aircraft. The outbound flight, PG411, will depart from Samui Airport at 1030 and arrive at Hat Yai Airport at 1140. The return flight PG412 will depart from Hat Yai Airport at 1210 and arrive at Samui Airport 1320.

Bangkok Airways also confirmed the resumption Samui-Chiang Mai route starting 1 July,

Rebuilding the airline’s international network to what it was before Covid-19 is also underway. The Bangkok-Maldives resumes on 22 July; Bangkok-Siem Reap on 1 August; Bangkok-Danang, on 1 September and Samui-Hong Kong on 1 September.

More flights to come

The Samui-Chiang Mai services will operate one flight daily.

The Bangkok-Maldives services will operate four flights weekly (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays)

The Bangkok-Siem Reap services will operate one flight daily

The Bangkok-Danang services will operate one flight daily

The Samui-Hong Kong services will operate four flights weekly (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays)

Samui-Singapore flights will increase from three weekly to daily starting from 1 July 2022 and will be adjusted to two flights daily from 1 September 2022.

Bangkok-Samui flights will increase from 98 to 101 flights weekly starting on 16 July 2022, and Bangkok-Samui (one-way) route will increase from 98 to 105 flights weekly beginning on 1 September 2022

The Bangkok-Phuket route will increase from three to four flights daily starting from 1 August 2022.

The Bangkok-Sukhothai route will increase from daily to two flights daily starting from 1 August 2022.

Bangkok-Lampang route will increase from two to three flights daily beginning on 1 August 2022.

Bangkok-Phnom Penh route will increase from three to four flights daily starting from 1 August 2022.

The Bangkok-Krabi route will increase from one to two flights daily beginning on 1 September 2022.

The Samui-Phuket route will increase from two to three flights daily starting from 1 September 2022.

Emirates wins APEX regional awards

IATA reports a surge in air travel

THAI flies pilgrims to the Hajj

Batik Air expands Bali services

AirAsia Aviation Group promises refunds in pipeline

Indians ready to book Thai resorts

HK Express starts Tokyo flight

Regent Seven Seas celebrates 30 years

Pandaw invests in Red River cruises

Bangkok Airways reinstates flights

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