Airlines lose $1.7 billion from volcanic ash

Airlines lost more than $1.7 billion in revenue during the six days after the initial eruption of the Icelandic volcano, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated on Wednesday.

During the three-day period from 17-19 April, when disruptions were greatest, the lost revenues reached $400 million per day.

"At the worst, the crisis impacted 29% of global aviation and affected 1.2 million passengers a day" said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO.

"For an industry that lost $9.4 billion last year and was forecast to lose a further $2.8 billion in 2010, this crisis is devastating.

"It is hitting hardest where the carriers are in the most difficult financial situation. Europe's carriers were already expected to lose $2.2 billion this year—the largest in the industry,"

IATA is now urging airports and governments to help mitigate the financial impact on airlines.

"London Heathrow and Dubai are waiving parking fees and not charging for repositioning flights. Others airports must follow" said Bisignani.

He also requested that airports relax their rules on take-off and landing slot allocation and governments to relax bans on night flights to get passengers home as soon as possible.

The EU was also urged to ease its passenger care regulations, IATA saying it was "unfair" that airlines were held responsible to pay for hotels, meals and telephones for stranded passengers when the volcanic crisis was "completely beyond the control of airlines."

Governments were also asked to help carriers recover the cost of the disruption.

"I am the first one to say that this industry does not want or need bailouts. But this crisis is not the result of running our business badly.

"It is an extra-ordinary situation exaggerated with a poor decision-making process by national governments. The airlines could not do business normally."

Source: ETB

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Mekong Tourism Forum Set for Siem Reap, May 7 and 8

This year's Mekong Tourism Forum will be held on May 7-8 the Angkor Century Resort and Spa, near to Angkor Wat the awe-inspiring Cambodian UNESCO Heritage Site.

The Mekong Tourism Forum provides a cooperative platform for stakeholders in the tourism industry to discuss development, marketing and promotion of travel to, from and within the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). It presents an inclusive, interactive and results-oriented opportunity to encourage public and private sector participation in representing the GMS as a single destination.

"We are looking forward to hosting this influential networking gathering," said Dr Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism for Cambodia. "It will mark the progress of a pivotal business and travel industry forum initiated by the Asian Development Bank 14 years ago," he said.

The theme of the Mekong Tourism Forum 2010 is, "New Roads, New Opportunities". Business and government sector leaders will assess the latest tourism developments and investment opportunities along the regional road networks linking Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern China provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi.

Across the Mekong region, new areas with previously minor or no tourism infrastructure are now opening up along three main corridors: the southern coastal road from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam via Cambodia; the central east-west route linking Northeast Thailand to southern Laos and Hue in central Vietnam; and the north-south Kunming-Bangkok road through northern Laos.

"Today villages and towns along the way are benefiting from the arrival of tourists where there were none before," said Mason Florence, Executive Director of the Bangkok-based Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office. "At the Mekong Tourism Forum we will discuss investment prospects and hear from tourism operators who are already taking advantage of opportunities along the new overland corridors."

During the forum at the Angkor Century Resort & Spa, panel discussions will be held on "Pioneering Mekong Tourism Products," "The Path to Community-based Tourism," "How Sustainable Tourism Can Drive Profit" and "The Road Ahead".

The Mekong Tourism Forum works to achieve three main objectives:

• To raise the profile of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) as a single tourist destination.

• To provide an industry-wide platform for the public and private sectors to address sub-regional tourism issues.

• To expand marketing networks and opportunities for promoting the GMS and its stakeholders, pool collective resources and create intra-industry synergy.

To help attract small and medium-sized tourism entrepreneurs and a diverse range of travel professionals, the MTCO, in conjunction with Cambodia's Ministry of Tourism, has reduced the cost of attending the Mekong Tourism Forum 2010 to a nominal US$50 for the two-day event and US$30 for members of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The registration fee includes access to all forum sessions, including two lunches and two dinners.

Financial support for MTF 2010 is being provided by the Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia, the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office and the USAID-funded ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement project. Other travel industry partners are providing support in-kind.

Source ETB

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Virgin Blue orders 105 planes

Virgin Blue announced today its signing of an agreement with Boeing for its largest order of aircraft ever.

It has signed for up to 105 brand new 737 aircraft, completing nine months of negotiations between the carrier and the aircraft manufacturer.

The order includes 50 firm B737-800NG aircraft, with flexibility to convert to either B737-700 or B737-900, 25 additional firm delivery positions secured as options and 30 future purchase rights.

Virgin Blue did not disclose the pricing of the aircraft but said that it expected to finalise its funding arrangements for the aircraft soon.

Delivery is scheduled from June 2011 through to 2017, the carrier said.

The new aircraft is expected to replace Virgin Blue’s existing narrow body fleet, while the remainder will be deployed to new routes and boost frequency where demand dictates.

“Securing this agreement now places Virgin Blue in a strong position to prepare for steady future growth as domestic and short haul markets recover” said Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey in a statement.

“It will also ensure a turnover of aircraft to maintain the youngest fleet of modern aircraft which is crucial for maintaining our commitment to on-time performance and the lowest cost base possible.”

Source ETB


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Singapore Airlines launches A380 service to Zurich

Singapore Airlines has launched an A380 service to Zurich, but it will reduce frequency from the current 12 flights a week to a single daily service.

SQ346 will depart Singapore at 0110, arrive in Zurich at 0800. On the return leg, SQ345 will depart Zurich at 1200 and touch-down in Singapore at 0605 on the following day.

Zurich will be the third city in Europe and the seventh in Singapore Airlines' network to be served by the A380 aircraft.

Singapore Airlines started flying the aircraft in October 2007 to Sydney and subsequently added services to London, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Melbourne.

Source ETB

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Cargo growth boosts hope for aviation

Rising cargo volume is sparking signs of recovery for the North American aviation industry, Air Canada's chief executive said last week.

"We've seen some encouraging news from the cargo environment," Air Canada Chief Executive Calin Rovinescu told reporters on Friday.

"We are seeing a marked improvement over last year and generally cargo tends to be the bellwether indicator that the recovery is starting."

But Rovinescu is still not ready to declare a recovery, saying the airline industry still faces a weak market and must wait for business travel to rebound.

"Businesses tend to need to recover first before ... airlines that cater to businesses start seeing the recovery."

When Rovinescu took over as Air Canada's chief executive last April, the carrier was struggling financially and dealing with rumours that it might need to file for bankruptcy protection.

However, he has since strengthened the carrier's liquidity position, lined up equity funding and cut both capacity and costs according to Reuters.

Source ETB

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