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Tag: Phuket

Australia Back on Tourist Map as International Visitors Return

Qantas flights from eight overseas destinations are touching down in Australia today, bringing the first international tourists in almost two years and an eagerly anticipated boost for the country’s tourism industry.

The Qantas Group will fly more than 14,000 passengers into Australia this week as quarantine and border barriers for international tourists come down.

QF12 from Los Angeles was the first to land at 6.20am and flights from other international destinations including Vancouver, Singapore and London will arrive into Sydney throughout the day. Jetstar’s first unrestricted international flight JQ18 will touch down in Melbourne from Phuket at 10.05am and QF70 from Delhi to Melbourne will arrive at 1.35pm.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said bookings had been strong since the Australian Government announced the country was opening to international visitors, and today’s arrivals will be the first of many.

Qantas restarted its international network for Australian citizens and visa holders on 1 November 2021, with a number of routes coming online since then. Sydney to Dallas recommenced flying on 16 February, and flights to other destinations are scheduled to relaunch in coming weeks including:

  • Melbourne to Honolulu (Jetstar) – From 1 March
  • Sydney to Honolulu (Jetstar) – From 3 March
  • Melbourne to Denpasar (Jetstar) – From 14 March
  • Sydney to Denpasar (Jetstar) – From 15 March
  • Brisbane to Singapore – From 27 March
  • Sydney to Manila – From 27 March
  • Sydney to Denpasar – From 28 March
  • Darwin to Dili – From 30 March
  • Brisbane to Los Angeles – From 1 April

AirAsia Celebrates Travel Resumption to Phuket with Inaugural Flight

AirAsia celebrates its maiden flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket today under the Phuket Sandbox programme, signaling the resumption of international air travel to Thailand. The inaugural service utilising an Airbus A320 aircraft departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) at 1115 hrs today. Excited guests boarded flight AK0824, the first of two scheduled weekly flights from Kuala Lumpur.

Riad Asmat, AirAsia Malaysia CEO said, “Today marks the beginning of our renewed hope on the strong return of demand for air travel. We patiently waited and have extensively prepared to ensure all of our guests are accommodated safely, seamlessly and with peace of mind. As border restrictions are lifted, AirAsia guests are always assured of the stringent health and safety protocols enforced on all of our flights with our highly trained and fully vaccinated crew continuing to deliver the world’s best service during the pandemic.”

“We would also like to thank and congratulate the Thai government for initiating the Phuket Sandbox programme, and we look forward to mounting more flights to various destinations in Thailand soon.”

Fully vaccinated travellers from Malaysia who wish to travel under the Phuket Sandbox Program must meet the requirements set by the Thai Government and successfully receive the Certificate of Entry by applying on Thailand’s Certificate of Entry Registration System prior to purchasing their flights. 

Guests can book their flights to Phuket from just RM50 one way and travel between 5 November 2021 and 30 March 2022 through the ‘Flights’ icon on the airasia Super App now. Apart from that, they can secure great value flights+hotel deals through the ‘SNAP’ icon on the Super App starting from just RM239 for travel within the same period. Those who prefer to book their hotels separately may check the ‘Hotels’ icon in the app and book hotels in Phuket provided by SHA Plus and can get an extra 10% off with the promo code AAHOTEL10.

AirAsia has spent the period of downtime in travel over the past 18 months to further improve and revamp its flight procedures and processes. In the highest interest of safety and wellbeing of all its guests and employees, only fully-vaccinated employees will operate flights and be on-duty at airport terminals. Furthermore, AirAsia assures the highest safety standards are in place as part of its robust Covid-19 mitigation plan including by accepting only fully-vaccinated guests onboard, making it mandatory to check-in via the airasia Super App, and rolled out FACES facial recognition boarding system that will make the entire journey fully digital and contactless.

Despite mostly not flying for a good part of the past 18 months, all AirAsia’s aircraft are properly maintained according to procedures set by the manufacturer. AirAsia has set up an in-house maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) unit called Asia Digital Engineering that provides services not only to AirAsia but also other airlines. Likewise, all its pilots and cabin crew are regularly trained for mandatory refresher courses and ongoing retraining so that they are always on top of their job.

For more information on AirAsia’s safety measures and travel SOPs, please read the latest travel advisory here
Stay up to date witheverything e-commerce from the airasia super app by following @airasiasuperapp on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates on airasia super app’s e-commerce offerings!

New American Airlines, Cathay Dragon Codeshare Agreement

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.

IndiGo Airlines Considering Wide-Body Aircraft From Airbus, Boeing

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Indian airline IndiGo on Sunday said wide-bodied aircraft are an “aspiration” and talks with manufacturers are ongoing but there is no firm timeline amid difficult market conditions in the Indian market.

The budget airline, owned by InterGlobe Aviation <INGL.NS>, faces fierce competition in the very price sensitive Indian market where carriers are struggling to remain profitable despite filling 90 percent of their seats and rising demand.

IndiGo recently reported a steep fall in quarterly profit due to higher fuel prices and continued pressure on yields reflecting price competition.

“Wide-bodied aircraft are an aspiration, we have talked to manufacturers. We are looking at A330neo and Boeing 787,” Chief Commercial Officer Willy Boulter told Reuters in Abu Dhabi, declining to go into details.

IndiGo, India’s biggest low-cost carrier by market share, announced direct flights, starting Monday from two south Indian cities, Kochi and Kozhikode to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

In the Gulf, the airline has direct flights to Dubai and Sharjah in the UAE as well as to Doha and Muscat. Flights to Kuwait will be launched this week, to Saudi Arabia in November and Hong Kong in December, Boulter said.

In early 2019, IndiGo plans to start flights to London with an Airbus A321 aircraft stopping at a mid-point that is yet to be selected, he said. Other international destinations for launch include Kuala Lumpur and Phuket, Thailand, in November.

IndiGo is working closely with the Indian government to take advantage of opportunities under bilateral agreements where travel rights will become available for additional markets, he said, adding that IndiGo has applied for rights to Europe and Asia.

“We are confident of bilaterals being expanded further,” he said.

IndiGo has a fleet of 192 aircraft and more than 400 aircraft on order. The first batch of Airbus A321neo aircraft with 222 seats will be delivered next month, he said.

(Reporting By Stanley Carvalho)