DENPASAR ~
For the first time ever, Chinese tourists to Bali surpassed the number of Australian visited the island. Based on the data of BPS (Statistic Bureu) of Bali, it occurred on February 2015.
According to Head of BPS Bali, this is quite interesting that this is the first time Chinese dominated tourist’s visit to Bali.
继续阅读The Number of Chinese Tourist Visits to Bali Surpasses Australian
Air Asia has likely “lost” the bid to take over bankrupt Japanese low-cost carrier Skymark Airlines, CEO Tony Fernandes told CNBC.
“We were really interested in Skymark, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. We had a look at it, but I think we lost that…. it’s complicated, so we don’t think our suggestion is going to go through,” Fernandes told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Jakarta on Sunday.
ANA Holdings, one of Japan’s two major airlines along with Japan Airlines, will take a 20 percent stake in Skymark Airlines, Reuters reported over the weekend.
继续阅读Air Asia CEO: We lost Skymark
Following last week’s unveiling of a new self-service bag drop system at Senai International Airport (Johor Bahru) in Malaysia, AirAsia will launch home-printed bag tags on two routes from 20 April.
The ‘Home Tag’ service, which allows passengers to print their bag tag at home, will be available to passengers flying between Johor Bahru-Kuching and Johor Bahru-Kuala Lumpur. To make use of this service, passengers just have to print their bag tag on an A4 sheet paper when they print their boarding pass, fold the paper and place it in a provided plastic cover, and attach it to their bag. Upon arrival at the airport, they can then drop the bag at a dedicated bag drop counter.
The carrier has also confirmed that it plans to roll out its fully automated self-service bag drop solution at more locations, including Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport, Phuket International Airport, Langkawi International Airport and “a few stations in Indonesia”.
Aireen Omar, CEO of AirAsia Berhad, said: “We chose Johor Bahru as our very first hub to deploy this new self-service feature because we have observed a very encouraging and healthy response towards the self-service features from our guests here.
“We recorded a high percentage of up to 70% of guests using self check-in and self bag tag in Johor Bahru, making it the most ideal hub to test a brand new feature. We would like to thank Senai International Airport for their constant support towards AirAsia and allowing us to be creative in improving our services.”
Cebu Pacific Air (5J, Manila) is considering partnerships with Emirati and Saudi budget carriers to act as feeders for its longhaul services into the Middle East.
CAPA says the Filipino longhaul LCC is planning to add Sharjah as a permanent fixture to its intercontinental network in a bid to leverage the Emirati city’s Air Arabia (G9, Sharjah) connections. Cebu commenced temporary services to Sharjah during Dubai Int’l’s runway works last year and during operations there, saw a number of passengers – largely Filipino migrant workers – connect beyond Sharjah.
While Cebu has since returned to using Dubai International, it is now considering launching a dedicated Manila-Sharjah service to tap into Air Arabia’s network which includes flights throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and the CIS.
Saudi budget carrier flynas (XY, Riyadh) reportedly noted the popularity of Air Arabia’s promoted connections to Manila from Dammam, Riyadh, Gassim, and Hail and is now considering a partnership with Cebu in which it would feed its Saudi Arabian traffic into Cebu’s Riyadh services.
In related news, Philippine Airlines (PR, Manila) is set to return five single-class A330-300s to their German lessor following its decision to drop planned services to Kuwait, Jeddah, and Muscat. The jets, according to local media outlets, are set to exit the fleet by year end.
The Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom that their citizens enjoy. Henley & Partners has analyzed the visa regulations of all the countries and territories in the world and created an index which ranks countries according to the visa-free access their citizens enjoy to other countries. This is the first time that a global ranking shows the international travel freedom of citizens as well as the international relations and status of individual countries relative to others.
In today’s globalized world, visa restrictions play an important role in controlling the movement of foreign nationals across borders. Almost all countries now require visas from certain non-nationals who wish to enter their territory. Visa requirements are also an expression of the relationships between individual nations, and generally reflect the relations and status of a country within the international community of nations.
