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New American Airlines, Cathay Dragon Codeshare Agreement

July 9, 2019 /

Fort Worth, TEXAS — American Airlines has launched a codeshare agreement with Cathay Dragon, adding service to four new destinations and increased service to three existing markets in Southeast Asia.

American will place its code on select Cathay Dragon flights from Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), providing American’s customers seamless connecting service to seven cities beyond Hong Kong. The new codeshare flights are available for sale now for travel beginning July 11.

The agreement allows American’s customers to connect to four new destinations in Asia:

  • Dhaka, Bangladesh (DAC)
  • Chiang Mai, Thailand (CNX)
  • Da Nang, Vietnam (DAD)
  • Phuket, Thailand (HKT)

It also increases frequencies to three existing markets served by American’s other partners in Asia:

  • Penang, Malaysia (PEN)
  • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL)
  • Hanoi, Vietnam (HAN)

Established in 1985, Hong Kong-based Cathay Dragon is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific Group and an affiliate member of oneworld®. The airline’s network covers 53 destinations across the Asia-Pacific region, including 23 destinations in mainland China. The codeshare relationship with Cathay Dragon will further strengthen American’s existing partnership with the Cathay Pacific group in the years to come.

American has proudly served Hong Kong since 2013 and currently operates daily, year-round service from Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles.

World of Hyatt Adds Alila Hotels And Resorts

June 26, 2019 /
Alilas Villas Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia

Addition of Alila Hotels provides World of Hyatt loyalty members even more places to earn and redeem points and connect to exclusive experiences across distinct hotels and resorts

CHICAGO (June 25, 2019) – Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) today announced the introduction of Alila Hotels into the World of Hyatt loyalty program beginning June 25, 2019. This program expansion allows World of Hyatt members to enjoy more unique stay options, the ability to earn and redeem points and enjoy in-hotel benefits at 16 participating Alila properties located throughout Asia, Southwest Asia and the U.S. This program addition quickly follows Hyatt’s November 2018 acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality and its recent integration of the Thompson Hotels and Joie de Vivre brands, with the Destination Hotels brand set to follow later this year.

16 Alila hotels are joining World of Hyatt beginning June 25, 2019 through July 16, 2019, including:

  • Ventana Big Sur – an Alila Resort – Big Sur, California (June 25)
  • Alila Solo – Solo (Surakarta), Central Java, Indonesia (June 25)
  • Alila Seminyak – Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia (June 25)
  • Studios at Alila Seminyak – Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia (June 25)
  • Alila Ubud – Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia (June 25)
  • Alila Villas Uluwatu – Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia (June 25)
  • Alila Villas Koh Russey – Koh Russey, Sihanoukville Province, Cambodia (June 26)
  • Alila Bangsar – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (June 26)
  • Alila Manggis – Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia (June 26)
  • Alila SCBD – Jakarta, Java, Indonesia (June 26)
  • Alila Diwa Goa – Salcette, Goa, India (July 15)
  • The Diwa Club by Alila – Salcette, Goa, India (July 15)
  • Alila Jabal Akhdar – Jabal Al Akhdar, Oman (July 15)
  • Alila Fort Bishangarh – Jaipur, Rajasthan, India (July 16)
  • Alila Anji – Anji, Zhejiang, China (July 16)
  • Alila Wuzhen – Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China (July 16)

“Following the additions of the Thompson Hotels and Joie de Vivre brands into World of Hyatt, we are thrilled to introduce Alila as the next former Two Roads brand to join the loyalty program,” said Amy Weinberg, senior vice president, World of Hyatt. “Alila is an award-winning brand known for its combination of innovative design and eco-luxury in unique locations, set apart by an unprecedented level of private space, crafted artisanship, personalized hospitality, and bespoke journeys. We are looking forward to offering our World of Hyatt members the opportunity to discover even more unique destinations and exclusive experiences at these remarkable properties while enjoying the rewards they’ve come to expect from World of Hyatt.”

Following the completion of the Alila Hotels integration on July 16, 2019, more than 40 hotels across the Thompson Hotels, Joie de Vivre and Alila brands will have joined World of Hyatt in many new destinations including Zihuatanejo, Mexico, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, and more.

Exclusive Alila FIND Experiences

Additionally, as part of the Alila brand integration, World of Hyatt members will be able to participate in uniquely crafted, authentic experiences at participating Alila hotels and resorts through the FIND experience platform, all of which will align with Hyatt’s three landmarks of wellbeing: Feel, Fuel and Function. Available for members to redeem using points, these specially curated experiences will be focused on enhancing mind and body, through offerings like the Balinese Beauty Ritual at Alila Seminyak, Seminyak, Indonesia; Journey to Gastronomy at Alila Villas Uluwatu, Uluwatu, Indonesia; Payangan “Private Bali” Trekking to explore rice terraces and riverside views at Alila Ubud, Gianyar, Indonesia; and Snorkeling the Blue Lagoon in Bali at Alila Manggis, Karangasem, Indonesia.

Exclusive World of Hyatt Member Offer

To celebrate, members can earn 2,000 Bonus Points for their first qualifying stay exploring each of the new brands for a total of up to 8,000 Bonus Points, plus a free night when they experience all four brands this year. Eligible stays at participating hotels begin once each property participates in World of Hyatt and are valid through December 31, 2019. No registration is required. Full terms for these offers are below. These offers are combinable with other program offers, and are part of World of Hyatt’s continued commitment to increasing rewarding offerings for its global members.

To learn more visit worldofhyatt.com/newbrands.

Guests can join World of Hyatt for free online at worldofhyatt.com, via a Global Contact Center or at any Hyatt hotel or resort worldwide.

The term “Hyatt” is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and /or one or more of its affiliates.

AirAsia in Talks to Buy Proposed New Airbus A321XLR

May 31, 2019 /

May 31 (Reuters) – Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia is in negotiations to buy a proposed new longer-range version of the best-selling Airbus A321 passenger jet, two people familiar with the matter said.

Airbus has begun tying up customers for the A321XLR ahead of a possible formal announcement of the modified version at the Paris Airshow in June, though the timing of any deal between Airbus and AirAsia remains unclear.

Airbus declined to comment. AirAsia was not available for comment.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; editing by Richard Lough)

VietJet to Sign Major Boeing Deal During Trump-Kim Summit

February 22, 2019 /

HANOI (Reuters) – Fast-growing Vietnamese budget airline VietJet Aviation JSC is expected to sign a major jet deal with Boeing Co on the sidelines of next week’s Trump-Kim summit, according to sources familiar with the matter.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold their second summit in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on Feb 27-28.

Holding a signing ceremony during Trump’s visit would help emphasise strengthening economic and military ties between the United States and Vietnam.

VietJet, while not government-owned, increasingly uses state visits to showcase major plane orders balanced between Boeing and Airbus SE. It signed a deal to buy 100 Boeing 737 MAX narrowbody jets when former U.S. President Barack Obama visited Hanoi in 2016.

The airline is likely to finalise next week a separate provisional deal agreed last year at the Farnborough Airshow to buy another 100 Boeing 737 MAX jets worth almost $13 billion at list prices, sources said on condition of anonymity due to an expected announcement by VietJet.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration declared last week that Vietnam complied with international aviation standards, in a move that would allow Vietnamese carriers to fly there for the first time and codeshare with U.S. airlines.

VietJet said last week it planned to purchase widebody jets capable of U.S. flights to open routes to cities with large Vietnamese communities in the United States, such as in California.

It might be too early for VietJet to place a widebody order, said one of the sources.

Another source briefed on the matter said the deal for 100 737 MAX jets was already on Boeing’s books, having been firmed up earlier and listed as an unidentified customer.

Boeing declined to comment. VietJet did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

VietJet finalised a deal in November with Airbus for 50 A321neo jets during a visit to Hanoi by French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe that had also been announced provisionally at the Farnborough Airshow.

VietJet operates 385 flights daily within Vietnam and to places such as Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia.

However, industry analysts have questioned whether the airline will take delivery of all the aircraft on order as the aerospace industry reaches the peak of an extended growth phase.

(Reporting by James Pearson in Hanoi; Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; Writing by Jamie Freed; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Lion Air Ponders Canceling Boeing Jets After Crash

December 3, 2018 /

PARIS/JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s Lion Air is reviewing airplane purchases from Boeing Co and has not ruled out canceling orders as relations worsen in a spat over responsibility for a 737 jetliner crash that killed 189 people in late October.

Co-founder Rusdi Kirana is furious over what he regards as attempts by Boeing to deflect attention from recent design changes and blame Lion Air for the crash, while the airline faces scrutiny over its maintenance record and pilots’ actions.

Kirana is examining the possibility of canceling remaining orders of Boeing jets “from the next delivery,” according to a person familiar with his thinking. Another source close to the airline said it was looking at canceling orders.

No final decision has been made, but discussion over the fate of $22 billion of remaining orders highlights the stakes surrounding an investigation involving Boeing’s fastest-ever selling jet, the 737 MAX, which entered service last year.

Lion Air has 190 Boeing jets worth $22 billion at list prices waiting to be delivered, on top of 197 already taken, making it one of the largest U.S. export customers.

Any request to cancel could be designed to put pressure on Boeing and would likely trigger extensive negotiations. Many airlines defer orders, but industry sources say aerospace suppliers rarely allow much scope for unilateral cancellations.

Lion Air declined to comment. A Boeing spokesman said: “We are taking every measure to fully understand all aspects of this accident, and are working closely with the investigating team and all regulatory authorities involved. We are also supporting our valued customer through this very tough time.”

MAINTENANCE, SOFTWARE

Kirana, who is now Indonesia’s envoy to Malaysia but still carries weight at the airline he co-founded with his brother in 2000, ordered the review in response to a Boeing statement focusing attention on piloting and maintenance, the person said.

Boeing released the statement after investigators last week issued an interim report focusing on maintenance actions spread over four flights in the run-up to the doomed flight on Oct. 29.

Boeing is also examining software changes in the wake of the crash, while insisting longstanding procedures exist for pilots to cancel automated nose-down movements experienced by the 737 MAX in response to erroneous sensor readings.

It has come under fire from U.S. pilots for not mentioning the MCAS system – a modification of existing anti-stall systems – in the manual for the 737 MAX, which began service last year.

“Why are they changing (software) if there was nothing wrong?” the person familiar with Kirana’s thinking said.

Boeing has said all information needed to fly the 737 safely is available to pilots and that its workhorse model is safe.

Some financial sources say Lion Air and southeast Asian rivals over-expanded and would be comfortable with fewer orders.

But the row highlights an unusually polarized dispute over the causes of the crash. Experts say most accidents are caused by a cocktail of factors and parties rarely comment in detail before the final report, which often follows a year of analysis.

In its statement, Boeing recapped the interim report and listed questions on maintenance and pilot behavior that it said remained unanswered in the 78-page document, but did not mention the MCAS modification covered in an earlier safety bulletin.

It is not the first time an airline has crossed swords with its supplier after a crash. Lion Air’s rival AirAsia clashed with Airbus after its Indonesian subsidiary lost an A320 in 2014. It continued to take deliveries, but relations never fully recovered and it later toyed with buying 787s from Boeing.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher in PARIS, Cindy Silviana in JAKARTA; Additional reporting by Eric JOhnson; Editing by Mark Potter)

Image from www.boeing.com

VietJet Signs $6.5 bln Deal For 50 Airbus Jets

November 2, 2018 /

HANOI, Nov 2 (Reuters) – VietJet Aviation signed a $6.5 billion agreement on Friday to buy 50 Airbus A321neo jets, the Vietnamese budget carrier said.

The agreement, signed during a visit to Hanoi by French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, is part of aggressive investment in the Vietnamese airline’s fleet, which has provided lucrative business for both European aerospace group Airbus and its U.S. rival Boeing.

VietJet said the order is in line with its growth strategies and will enhance the airline’s operational efficiency and capacity, especially on international routes.

In addition to the aircraft, Airbus will deploy pilot and technician training programmes and fight management and flight safety management for VietJet.

In a separate statement, VietJet said it had also signed a memorandum of understanding with CFM International on a $5.3 billion deal for long-term jet engine maintenance.

VietJet, Vietnam’s biggest private airline, currently operates 60 Airbus jets with more than 385 flights daily within Vietnam and to countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia.

CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao told Reuters this week that VietJet plans to maintain an average fleet age of only three years to minimise fuel and maintenance costs.

It placed provisional orders for the A321neo jets and 100 Boeing 737 MAX jets at the Farnborough air show and has been in negotiations to complete the deals, with deliveries expected between 2020 and 2025.

(Reporting by Khanh Vu Editing by David Goodman)

Image from Airbus

Lion Air 737 Crashes In Java Sea With 188 Passengers Aboard

October 28, 2018 /

JAKARTA (Reuters) – A Lion Air flight with at least 188 people on board is believed to have sunk after crashing into the sea off Indonesia’s island of Java on Monday, shortly after take off from the capital on its way to the country’s tin-mining hub, officials said.

A spokesman for Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said the Lion Air flight, JT610, lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff, adding that a tug boat leaving the capital’s port had seen the craft falling.

“It has been confirmed that it has crashed,” the spokesman, Yusuf Latif, said by text message, when asked about the fate of the Lion Air plane, which air tracking service Flightradar 24 identified as a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

Debris thought to be from the plane, including aircraft seats, was found near an offshore refining facility, an official of state energy firm Pertamina said.

Wreckage had been found near where the Lion Air plane lost contact with air traffic officials on the ground, said Muhmmad Syaugi, the head of the search and rescue agency.

“We don’t know yet whether there are any survivors,” Syaugi told a news conference. “We hope, we pray, but we cannot confirm.”

Flight JT610 took off around 6.20 a.m. and was due to have landed in the capital of the Bangka-Belitung tin mining region at 7.20 a.m., the Flightradar 24 website showed.

“We cannot give any comment at this moment,” Edward Sirait, chief executive of Lion Air Group, told Reuters, adding that a news conference was planned for later on Monday. “We are trying to collect all the information and data.”

Preliminary flight tracking data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft climbed to around 5,000 feet (1,524 m) before losing, and then regaining, height, before finally falling towards the sea.

It was last recorded at 3,650 feet (1,113 m) and its speed had risen to 345 knots, according to raw data captured by the respected tracking website, which could not immediately be confirmed.

Its last recorded position was about 15 km (9 miles) north of the Indonesian coastline, according to a Google Maps reference of the last coordinates reported by Flightradar24.

The accident is the first to be reported that involves the widely-sold Boeing 737 MAX, an updated, more fuel-efficient version of the manufacturer’s workhorse single-aisle jet. The first Boeing 737 MAX jets were introduced into service in 2017.

Lion Air’s Malaysian subsidiary, Malindo Air, received the very first global delivery.

Boeing is aware of the airplane accident reports and is “closely monitoring” the situation, it said on social network Twitter.

Reporting by Augustinus Beo Da Costa and Ciny Silviana; Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in SINGAPORE and Tim Hepher in HONG KONG; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

Qatar Airways Launching New Service to Penang

December 3, 2017 /

Qatar Airways has announced it will launch new nonstop service to Penang beginning on February 6, 2018. The Penang flights will be the airline’s second Malaysian destination, adding to its current service to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur that began in December of 2001. The airline will fly three times a week to Penang with its state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which features 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class, with spacious cabins and specially-designed interiors. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner also offers lower altitude-equivalent pressure, improved air quality and optimal humidity, enabling passengers to arrive at their destination feeling refreshed. Passengers will be also able to enjoy the airline’s superior in-flight entertainment system, offering a multitude of entertainment options.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “Malaysia has long been one of our most sought-after destinations, and as such, we are delighted to launch a new direct service to Penang, offering our passengers a second gateway into the country. With three weekly flights between Doha and Penang, we are sure travellers to this exotic holiday destination will be enchanted by both Penang’s magnificent natural scenery and our unrivalled five-star onboard service.”

As part of the airlines continued expansion in Asia, the airline also recently announced the addition of extra services to the Thai city of Krabi, as well as to the Vietnamese cities of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, to commence in December 2017 and January 2018, respectively. In December, Qatar Airways will launch service to Thailand’s Chiang Mai, its fourth destination in Thailand, to meet increased demand for Southeast Asian destinations from holiday-makers.

Qatar, will be adding many more exciting destinations to its network in 2017 and 2018, including Canberra, Australia; St. Petersburg, Russia and Cardiff, UK, to name a few. The national carrier of the State of Qatar is one of the fastest-growing airlines operating one of the youngest fleets in the world. Now celebrating its twentieth year of operations, Qatar Airways has a modern fleet of more than 200 aircraft flying to business and leisure destinations across six continents.

Flight Schedule:

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

Doha (DOH) to Penang (PEN) QR850 departs: 02:30 arrives 14:30

Penang (PEN) to Doha (DOH) QR851 departs: 20:30 arrives 23:20

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