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Tag: travelling

  • Bamboo Airways cleared to take to the skies

    Bamboo Airways cleared to take to the skies

    Vietnam’s newest airline, Bamboo Airways, has received a certificate that allows it to operate aircraft for commercial purposes. The Vietnam Civil Aviation Authority Tuesday granted the Aircraft Operator Certificate (AOC) to Bamboo Airways. The AOC is a certificate approved by a regulatory authority that allows a carrier to operate aircraft for commercial purposes within a specified scope of activities. As such, the FLC Group’s startup airline has completed all necessary regulatory procedures for commencing commercial operations in Vietnam’s aviation market.

    “This AOC certification is a result of 4 years of effort, I believe it is an important first step for Bamboo Airways to serve passengers and devote themselves to the Vietnam aviation industry,” said Dang Tat Thang, CEO Bamboo Airways.

    After many delays, Bamboo Airways expects to start operating domestic flights with Airbus A321 NEO aircraft by mid-January. Bamboo Airways will prepare 20 planes for flight in the first quarter of 2019 and increase their fleet size to 40-50 aircraft by the end of the year.

    Thang said that at the moment, Bamboo Airways has fully prepared their personnel, technical and material assets and affirmed its fitness for operation through many activities including test runs, maintenance, engineering and other commercial transport activities.

    Bamboo Airways will operate 37 routes connecting all major cities and popular tourist destinations in Vietnam, as well as some international routes in 2019.

    The first routes of the country’s fifth carrier would connect Hanoi and HCMC, and from Hanoi and HCMC to central provinces of Quy Nhon and Quang Binh, and northern Quang Ninh Province.

    The new carrier plans start off with 60 domestic flights a day. Later this year, the company also plans to open international flights to Japan, Korea and Singapore.

    Bamboo Airways was founded in mid-2017 with a charter capital of VND700 billion ($30 million), which it increased to VND1.3 trillion ($55.68 million) recently.

    The airline has signed deals to buy 24 Airbus A320neo and 20 Boeing B787-9 Dreamliner aircraft worth a total of about $8.6 billion.

    The other four carriers in Vietnam currently are Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Jetstar Pacific and VASCO.

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  • Bite & Bite with Line Friends cafe opens

    Bite & Bite with Line Friends cafe opens

    The world’s first Bite & Bite with Line Friends cafe has opened at Hong Kong International Airport. Operated by food and beverage company SSP Hong Kong, the cafe is located on level 7 near gate 201. The cafe combines original Line Friends characters with a variety of dishes ranging from breakfasts through to snacks and dinner fare in a 60-seat dining area. The menu features both Korean and western food.

    Line, a chat program headquartered in Japan owned by South Korea’s Naver Corporation, has opened Line Friends stores in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Taipei, New York and Los Angeles, all selling memorabilia featuring the characters of software.

    The Bite & Bite with Line Friends cafe also sells lifestyle products, souvenirs and travel items, such as neck pillows, luggage tags and travel bags.

    View gallery below for pictures (6 images) :

     

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  • Lotte Duty Free sales hit all-time high of US$6.7 billion in 2018

    Lotte Duty Free sales hit all-time high of US$6.7 billion in 2018

    South Korea’s top travel retailer Lotte Duty Free reported best-ever sales of 7.5 trillion won (US$6.7 billion) last year on a surge in online sales and mass purchases by Chinese merchants seeking trade in shuttling goods to China. Lotte Duty Free said its annual sales last year hit a record high of 7.5 trillion won, up 25 percent from a year-ago period. In particular, sales from the online business soared 50 percent on year to 2 trillion won, contributing 25 percent to its total domestic sales thanks to successful upgrades of its online and mobile platforms and various promotional perks like online-only products and discount options.

    Lotte Duty Free’s main store in the bustling shopping district of Myeongdong in downtown Seoul remained the world’s single-largest revenue earner for three years in a row last year with annual sales up 35 percent at 4 trillion won and daily revenue at about 11 billion won as of Dec. 14.

    The Myeongdong store that opened in 1980 has kept on growth with sales reaching over 1 trillion won in 2011, 2 trillion won in 2015 and 3 trillion won in 2016 on increasing demand from individual merchants from the mainland who buy popular Korean duty-free goods in bulk to profit from reselling them in China.

    Lotte Duty Free has expanded its investment in domestic stores to draw more consumers. Its Myeongdong store was expanded in August 2016, and spent 10 billion won to add the Star Lounge for VIP customers in April 2018. The World-Tower store in the affluent Gangnam area of southern Seoul also posted 1 trillion won in sales last year, becoming the largest earner to reach the threshold in the district.

    Meanwhile, Lotte Duty Free World Tower also posted sales of more than 1 trillion won (US$895.4 million), joining what the retailer dubbed the “One Trillion Club” on 23 December.

    That represents an 80 percent increase year-on-year for the Jamsil, Seoul store, which reopened on 5 January 2017, 193 days after it was forced to close on 26 June 2016 due to the loss of its licence in an open tender.

    “Even in the midst of rapid market changes, Lotte Duty Free has been able to achieve a record-breaking year, reflecting 38 years of operational expertise,” said newly appointed Lotte Duty Free CEO Lee Kap. “As a leader in the industry, we will endeavour constantly to improve our performance.”

    Lotte Duty Free said that the World Tower store’s excellent tourist services and differentiated luxury brand offer had generated “remarkable achievements” in 2018. This was despite the proliferation of new duty free stores in the Gangnam area [notably the new Shinsegae Duty Free store opened on 18 July], the retailer commented.

    Despite industry difficulties posed by the THAAD dispute between South Korea and China, sales of small and medium enterprise SME Korean brands at the World Tower store increased by 300 percent year-on-year. This contributed to a “win-win relationship” with SMEs, Lotte said.

    Increased demand by daigou shoppers “greatly influenced” sales said Lotte. The retailer noted that such travellers had compensated for the “stagnation” of conventional Chinese tourism since the THAAD dispute erupted in March 2017. However, Korean travel retail executives and observers are closely monitoring the impact of China’s new e-commerce law, introduced on 1 January 2019, which is expected to hit the daigou business hard

  • No More Free Checked Baggage on Lion Air Indonesia

    No More Free Checked Baggage on Lion Air Indonesia

    Flying cheap will soon also mean flying light for many Indonesians after the country’s largest airline, Lion Air, and its subsidiary, Wings Air, decided to start charging for checked baggage on all their domestic flights from today. The airlines, which together served around half of the archipelago’s air travelers last year, will only allow one piece of cabin baggage, such as a suitcase of no larger than 40 x 30 x 20 centimeters, weighing less than 7 kilograms, and one personal item, such as reading material, a handbag, or laptop bag.

    “Both Lion Air and Wings Air, which will enforce the new regulation until further notice, will no longer accept free checked baggage of up to 20 kilograms and 10 kg, respectively,” Lion Air Group spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro said in a statement on Friday.

    Checked baggage exceeding 7 kg will be subject to an excess baggage fee based on the rate for the day. Carriers will further no longer allow passengers to bring several items tied together with rope or string into the cabin as these will also be subject to additional fees.

    Passengers will be able to purchase prepaid baggage vouchers through tour and travel agencies, the airlines’ websites, or at their ticket sales offices.

    The carriers have advised passengers to prepay for baggage when they buy their tickets, or alternatively, pay for it up to six hours before departure.

    Power banks with capacities of more than 160 watt-hours (Wh), or 32,000 milliamp-hours (mAh), will no longer be allowed on aircraft, while those with capacities of between 100 and 160 Wh will require special permission by airline staff.

    Passengers will still be permitted to take power banks with a maximum capacity of 100 Wh into the cabin after notifying the ground crew. However, these may no longer be used onboard.

    Passengers who have purchased Lion Air and Wings Air tickets before Jan. 8 would still able to enjoy the respective 20 kg and 10 kg free baggage allowances.

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  • AirAsia abolishes KLIA 2 fee

    AirAsia abolishes KLIA 2 fee

    AirAsia Group Bhd will cease charging the RM3 klia2 fee for all flights departing from Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) starting today. The klia2 fee was introduced in May 2014 to cover the additional cost created at klia2 due to the use of mandatory facilities imposed by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) such as aerobridges and SITA check-in and boarding systems, compared to the low-cost carrier terminal previously.

    “Following our announcement last week, we have removed the klia2 fee. We have said from the very beginning that klia2 is not fit for low-cost carrier operations, and we will be going directly to MAHB for all the extra costs they’re costing us,” AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said in a statement.

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  • JD stores open in Beijing and Mongolia

    JD stores open in Beijing and Mongolia

    Chinese online retail giant JD has opened two new innovative stores at Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) and Hohhot East Railway Station in Inner Mongolia. In a move to further expand the firm’s “boundaryless retail” strategy, the JD travel retail stores use the e-commerce company’s latest retail technology in order to make it easier and more enjoyable for travellers to purchase on the go. The openings add airports and railway stations to JD’s offline retail offerings, which already include convenience stores, supermarkets, and partnerships with hotels.

    Located in the departure lounge of Terminal 3 at BCIA for the next three months, JD’s pop-up store will offer popular travel items such as daily necessities, clothing, mobile accessories, beauty products, and bags and suitcases. The store uses JD’s smart store technology to understand how customers interact with products as well as which products to offer them. The integrated JD Zu Chongzhi platform can analyse customer behaviour and traffic flow, such as generating heat maps, in order to assist with product selection and inventory management, ensuring smooth store operations.

    “[Stocked] with items popular among travellers, the new shop will not only offer the products they want to buy most on their journeys – it will also allow them to personally experience what shopping of the future will be like, brought to them by China’s largest and most innovative retailer,” a spokesperson for BCIA said.

    The 100sqm unmanned Hohhot East Railway Station JD travel retail store opened in partnership with China Railway Express. It also makes the most of JD’s technological capabilities, with features such as facial-recognition payment and smart vending machines. Later, the store will make use of a Mini Program in WeChat so that customers can choose to buy on the spot and take their purchases with them, or shop online and have them delivered to a convenient location.

    JD Logistics and China Railway Express have been cooperating in logistics transportation since 2014, and have worked together to help facilitate the JD Luxury Express “white glove” delivery service as well as fresh food delivery via high-speed rail.

    “Many of our customers enjoy shopping while traveling and we’re determined to make sure they benefit from the convenience of JD wherever they are,” JD’s GM of social e-commerce and retail innovation, Bing Zhang, said.

    The new JD travel retail stores in Beijing and Inner Mongolia will provide them with a truly seamless experience that is unrivalled anywhere”.

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  • Vietnamese Airbnb startup raises $3 mln from venture capitalists

    Vietnamese Airbnb startup raises $3 mln from venture capitalists

    Vietnamese homestay platform Luxstay has raised $3 million from CyberAgent Ventures and other foreign investors in its bridge round. Representatives of Luxstay, the Vietnamese homestay booking start-up, said the total capital raised could rise to $5 million as negotiations are still ongoing with interested investment funds. CyberAgent Ventures (CAV), a Japan based investment firm specializing in incubation and investment in early-stage companies, played a leading role in directing the structure and execution of this funding round, the third for the firm after the seed and pre- Series A rounds.

    This is also the second time the firm has injected capital in Luxstay, after its initial investment in the company’s pre-Series A round in early 2018.

    Dzung Nguyen, CyberAgent managing director for Vietnam and Thailand, believes that the “sharing economy” is a development trend in many business areas, and it will impact both tourism and real estate markets.

    “We believe the Luxstay model capitalises on this trend, and will create a major impact on the market in the coming time,” he said.

    According to Luxstay, there may be millions of townhouses, condominiums and holiday villas that are willing to participate in the short-term accommodation market.

    Therefore, the company has targeted having several hundred thousand properties participating in its home-sharing platform over the next 5 years.

    The founder of the application, Nguyen Van Dung, said that with the current development speed and market potential, Luxstay will focus on accumulating resources to speed up technological development towards building an effective ecosystem to lead this new industry.

    The startup plans to find new investors for its next Series A round in mid-2019 with a potential scale of $10 million.

    Launched in 2016, Luxstay now has a network of nearly 10,000 properties across the country. This is a short-term rental booking platform for apartments, villas and other homestay accommodations positioned in the mid and high-end segments of Vietnam’s real estate market.

    A pioneer in building a platform allowing Vietnamese homeowners to participate in the rental market, the company has created new accommodation facilities for increasing numbers of youth and professionals who travel for work or leisure.

    Luxstay had also received much attention from foreign funds in its previous venture rounds. According to Crunchbase, an online database on investment activity, Luxstay raised $500,000 in its seed round in June 2017 from Vietnam-based ESP Capital and Japanese Genesia Ventures.

    Another $2.5 million was raised in May 2018 in its pre-Series A round from CyberAgent Ventures (Japan), Genesia Ventures (Japan), ESP Capital (Vietnam) and Nextrans (South Korea).

    In September 2018, the startup became a Vietnamese strategic partner of Rakuten Travel, the tourism branch of Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten. Y1 Venture and other firms were also involved in the bridge round.

  • AirAsia to freeze launches for next 3 years barring Vietnam

    AirAsia to freeze launches for next 3 years barring Vietnam

    Malaysian discount carrier AirAsia Group won’t open any new airline in the next three years and will focus on current operations after its proposed Vietnam launch, Group CEO Tony Fernandes said Wednesday. “After Vietnam, we will focus on what we have,” Fernandes said in a twitter post. “Focus this year is to make Indonesia and Philippines very profitable.” Fernandes said he is confident of India and Japan operations turning profitable in 2021, noting that the company’s strong franchise in Southeast Asian markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam will help fuel growth.

    According to September data, AirAsia operated 127 planes flying to over 130 destinations. The Southeast Asia’s largest budget carrier by fleet has also placed orders for 100 Airbus A330neo wide-body jets for long-haul flights. The company most recently signed a pact “reaffirming” its intention to set up a low-cost carrier in Vietnam with its local partner Tran Trong Kien in his capacity as CEO of Thien Minh Travel Joint Stock Company and General Director of Hai Au Aviation Joint Stock Company.

    Analysts doubt certainty of Indonesian and Philippines operations turning profitable this year as intense competition in both the markets amid highly-volatile fuel prices will continue to weigh on AirAsia’s operations. While Indonesia AirAsia could be slightly profitable in 2019 thanks to robust demand, the company’s Philippines unit will likely remain in the red, said Nomura analyst Ahmad Maghfur Usman. Fallout from a recent crash of Lion Air flight could help drive traffic to AirAsia Indonesia, he said. It is possible for AirAsia’s Indian operations to turn in a profit as early as next year although its business in Japan could remain in the red until the end of

    2020, he said. Global airlines have grappled with fickle input costs in 2018 as crude oil swung between a gain of nearly 30% and loss of 23% before ending the year at $66.73 a barrel. Jet fuel price averaged $86.8 per barrel for 2018, according to the International Air Transport Association.

    Every one dollar increase in crude oil prices could potentially lower AirAsia’s profit by as much as 47.5 million ringgit, according to Nomura’s Ahmad’s estimates.

    Fuel cost will largely determine whether Indonesia and Philippines operations would be profitable for AirAsia, said TA Securities research analyst Tan Kam Meng. Among the risks facing AirAsia is a rebound in crude oil prices to $70 a barrel, he flagged. Still, Malaysia remains key for AirAsia, said Tan. “Although profitability of Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia is a concern, it would not change valuation of the company significantly,” Tan said. Shares of AirAsia, which have added 6.94% over the past year, are currently trading 0.34% lower at 2.96 ringgit apiece.

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  • AirAsia targets 100 million passengers in 2019

    AirAsia targets 100 million passengers in 2019

    AirAsia Group is out to monetise its digital businesses and broaden the group’s digital footprint this year but has no plan to open more new airlines over the next three years. The airline wants to focus on growing its existing business especially in Indonesia and Philippines. “As 2019 approaches I would like to confirm that AirAsia will not be opening up any more new airlines for the next 3 years,’’ AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes (pic) said in his series of posts on Twitter yesterday.

    He added that “after Vietnam, we will focus on what we have. Focus this year is to make Indonesia and Philippines very profitable.’’

    There is where “all the major population and growing economies (are), coupled with two great countries (India and China) to enable us to cover the world,’’ he added.

    Fernandes added that he was confident the airline’s operations in India and Japan would be profitable in 2021.

    This year Fernandes is hoping that his airline group would be able to carry over 100 million passengers.

    When contacted he merely said it is “around there”.

    In the first nine months of 2018, the airline group carried 61.4 million passengers across its network. The target set for 2018 was 90 million passengers.

    “We are on track to achieve a group load factor target of 85%,’’ Fernandes had said earlier.

    With fuel prices falling, the airline also expects to maintain its cost this year and hopefully offers more low fares to travellers. It was reported that AirAsia group has hedged 48% for Brent at US$67.24 bbl for the first quarter (1Q19) and 27% for 2Q19 at US$65.40 bbl to manage volatility of fuel prices.

    Turning to the digital side of the business, Fernandes said in a tweet “this is the year people will begin to see our strength in digital’’.

    He would not go into details but earlier he has been talking about the BigPay app, which is a digital alternative to bank accounts and it comes with a card that allows users to use and spend it anywhere in the world.

    AirAsia Group has in mid-December completed the transfer of its non-digital businesses to Redbeat Ventures, its wholly owned subsidiary. The digital-related services include AirAsia BIG Loyalty, BigPay, travel360, ROKKI, Ourshop, RedCargo Logistics, RedBox Logistics, Vidi and RedTix.

    That is the first step towards monetising the digital business and allow AirAsia to broaden the digital footprint.

    In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia earlier, AirAsia deputy group CEO (digital, transformation and corporate services) Aireen Omar said that by placing the digital assets under Redbeat Ventures, they hope to more effectively expand and monetise the digital businesses and broaden AirAsia’s digital footprint.

    The vision for Redbeat Ventures was to connect with the start-up community globally through collaboration to foster entrepreneurship and stimulate market-driven innovation that would benefit not just AirAsia’s ecosystem but help lead the digital economy and lifestyle in Asean.

    Redbeat Ventures will work with tech start-ups and look out for investment opportunities in the high-tech and digital space to remain competitive and relevant in these rapidly changing commercial and technological environments.

     

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  • AirAsia eyes Vietnam launch, turnaround India and Japan units

    AirAsia eyes Vietnam launch, turnaround India and Japan units

    AirAsia Group chief executive Tony Fernandes says the group has no plans to establish new subsidiaries over the next three years, apart from a unit in Vietnam. In a series of tweets, Fernandes says the low-cost carrier will focus its efforts on launching AirAsia Vietnam, as well as making Indonesia AirAsia and AirAsia Philippines “very profitable”. Last December, AirAsia signed a memorandum of cooperation with Thien minh Travel for a Vietnamese joint venture.

    Meanwhile, AirAsia‘s Indonesia and Philippines units, which have suffered losses over the years, have had their financials incorporated into the Group since the start of 2017. AirAsia has said that it is planning for a secondary listing for its Indonesia operations in fiscal 2019.

    Fernandes is also expecting AirAsia India and AirAsia Japan to be profitable by 2021. AirAsia India is working towards launching international services while AirAsia Japan plans to start connecting to points in North Asia.

    “We have a great seam[less] franchise. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam… All the major populations and growing economies. Coupled with two great countries to enable us to cover the world – India and Japan.”

    The AirAsia Group previously had plans to launch a China unit and signed a MoU in May 2017. The pact with China Everbright Group and the Henan Government Working Group however lapsed in August 2018.

  • New Vietnam international airport welcomes first passenger flight

    New Vietnam international airport welcomes first passenger flight

    An international airport that will be used for both commercial and military purposes was officially opened to traffic after two years of construction. A Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321 carrying Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and government officials made the first touchdown at the Van Don International Airport near the world-famous Ha Long Bay on Sunday morning, marking the opening of the first private airport in Vietnam.

    Construction of the airport, 50 kilometers away from Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh, began in 2015.

    The 325-hectare (803 acres) airport, owned by real estate giant Sun Group, costs VND7.7 trillion ($330 million) and can handle 2.5 million passengers a year equivalent to 1,250 passengers per hour. Its parking bay will have place for at least four aircraft by 2020 and seven by 2030.

    It is expected to focus on services to Northeast Asian destinations like South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and mainland China and Southeast Asian ones like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Cambodia. Domestically, flights will mostly be to and from the southern and central regions.

    The airport now has four gates and the number will be increased to seven by 2030.

    Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at the airport’s opening ceremony that Quang Ninh has much potential to attract more tourists and the new airport would help the province raise the number of tourists from current 15 million to 50 million in the coming time.

    As Van Don District is home to one of the three special economic zones planned in the country, the airport is expected to open up opportunities for socio-economic development in the area, including tourism at Ha Long Bay, said Nguyen Duc Long, Chairman of Quang Ninh Province.

    The private airport is among a series of infrastructure projects aimed at boosting the tourism industry, including a new expressway between Ha Long and the proposed special economic zone in Van Don and the Ha Long International Passenger Port, which were both officially operational from December 30.

    The launch of the Van Don Airport made it easier for foreign tourists to touch down in Ha Long Bay, which was named among the world’s seven new natural wonders by Swiss organization New Open World in 2011.

    The bay was used to film the recent Hollywood blockbuster “Kong: Skull Island”, and has been raved about by many travel bloggers.

    Quang Ninh welcomed 7.5 million travelers in the first half of 2018, including 2.46 million foreigners, up 14 percent from a year ago. Tourism revenues for the period rose 31 percent year-on-year to VND12.8 trillion ($546.7 million), according to official figures.

    Vietnam’s aviation industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years. The country served some 106 million passengers this year, a 12.9 percent increase from last year and highest of all time.

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  • Korean Air’s jets get name of East Sea badly wrong

    Korean Air’s jets get name of East Sea badly wrong

    Korean Air, the country’s flag carrier, displayed maps with the “Sea of Japan” aboard some its flights rather than the East Sea, the name supported by the Korean government. The Japanese name of the sea, which is opposed by Korea, was found on a number of passenger-entertainment monitors. According to news reports Sunday, 3-D maps on the displays aboard 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft were found to make the designation.

    Korean Air confirmed Monday that seven of its nine B787-9 planes had the problem. All other aircraft marked the location as the East Sea.

    A spokesman explained that a software upgrade was undertaken to change the maps into 3-D visuals, and that the company failed to notice the wording supplied by the developer.

    “The developer of the 3-D map is a company in the United States,” he said.

    Adjustments to replace the Sea of Japan by the East Sea in the seven aircraft were to be finalized Monday.

    “I was told that the modified version was sent to us today and delivered to the division in charge by 5 p.m,” added the spokesman, saying that the changes would be made by the end of the day.

    He said the company did not know why the other two B787-9 aircraft did not have the same problem.

    The controversy is the result of an ongoing dispute between Korea and Japan over the name of the sea located between the two countries. Both argue that their respective names had been used historically.

    Since South and North Korea first raised objection to the “Sea of Japan” name in 1992, the research on the subject has yielded conflicting conclusions.

    Korean Air received similar criticism in 2012, when its official homepage used the “Sea of Japan” name instead of the East Sea. The problem resulted from the company’s use of the Google Map service.

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  • Bamboo Airways postpones maiden flight again

    Bamboo Airways postpones maiden flight again

    Vietnam’s newest airline Bamboo Airways will not operate its maiden flight Thursday as scheduled, the second time it has been delayed. Its CEO Dang Tat Thanh said Bamboo Airways could not take off since it is going through “the most difficult examination ever.” “Bamboo Airways is currently going through the final stage of a tight examination by authorities before taking off,” he said, adding that the first flight would now be in mid-January. The airline aimed to launch the first flight on December 29, after failing to launch services in October as previously planned.

    The carrier, owned by conglomerate FLC, received a license last November but is still awaiting an aircraft operator certificate (AOC).

    It was established in May last year with a charter capital of VND700 billion ($30 million), which it increased two months later to VND1.3 trillion ($55.68 million).

    It has signed deals to buy 24 Airbus A320neo and 20 Boeing B787-9 Dreamliner aircraft worth a total of $8.6 billion. Earlier this month it took delivery of the first aircraft, an Airbus A319 leased from an Irish company.

    The airline plans to operate on 100 routes, connecting major cities and travel destinations in Vietnam with the rest of the world.

    FLC chairman Trinh Van Quyet said earlier that the first routes could be between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and from the two cities to Quy Nhon.

    Vietnam has four other carriers still in operation: Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Jetstar Pacific, and VASCO.

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  • Korean passengers break record in November

    Korean passengers break record in November

    Korea’s air passenger traffic reached a new record for November on the back of the rise in the number of Chinese tourists and increased overseas travel demand, government data showed Tuesday. The number of air passengers came to 9.57 million last month, up 5.6 percent from a year earlier, making it a new record for November, according to a tally from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

    The ministry attributed the surge to the return of Chinese visitors and the steady increase in overseas travel demand.

    Passenger traffic on Chinese routes spiked 24 percent to 1.32 million, slightly lower than the same month in 2016, when a row between the two countries over the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile system had yet to emerge.

    China banned the sale of group travel packages to South Korea in March 2017 due to a diplomatic row with Seoul over the deployment of a Thaad battery in Korea. China has since partially lifted the ban.

    International air passenger traffic rose 8.8 percent on year to a record 7.01 million last month, while domestic passenger traffic dropped 2.5 percent to 2.56 million, according to the ministry.

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  • Vietjet boosts the business by opening new route

    Vietjet boosts the business by opening new route

    Vietjet continues to solidify its presence in Vietnam this holiday season with the announcement of its newest route connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Van Don (Quang Ninh Province). Bridging the gap between Vietnam’s largest city and the attractive island district in Quang Ninh Province, the new route will serve to meet the growing travel and trade demands of locals and tourists alike.

    Starting 20 January 2019, passengers will be able to travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Van Don (and vice versa) with flights operating every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. With a flight time of 2 hours and 15 minutes per leg, the flight will depart from Ho Chi Minh City at 07:00 am and arrive in Van Don at 09:15 am. The return flight takes off from Van Don at 09:50am and lands in Ho Chi Minh City at 12:05 pm.

    In celebration of the new route, Vietjet is currently running a three golden day promotion starting 20 to 22 December 2018. 2.2million tickets priced only from MYR0 (*) will be available for booking during the promotional time between 1.00pm to 3.00pm (Malaysian time) via the website. The promotion is applicable on all domestic flights within Vietnam and the travel period is from 20 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 (excluding public holidays).

    Located in close proximity to Ha Long Bay – a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Van Don Islands District is an attractive tourist destination comprising of over 600 large and small islands. Van Don has a unique beauty that boasts serenity and wilderness. It is home to many famous destinations such as Bai Tu Long National Park, Dua Islet, Thien Nga Islet, Quan Lan Island, Minh Chau Island, and Ngoc Vung Island.

    Aiming to be a Consumer Airline, Vietjet has continually opened many new routes, added more aircraft, invested in modern technology, while offering more add-on products and services to serve all demands of customers.

    Vietjet has been a pioneering airline, winning the hearts of millions of passengers thanks to its exciting promotions, entertainments, especially during the festive seasons. With high-quality services, diverse ticket classes and reasonable airfares, Vietjet offers its passengers flying experiences on new aircraft with comfy seats and delicious hot meals served by beautiful, dedicated and friendly cabin crews, and many more enticing add-on services.