United Airways cancels Singapore flights due to heavy losses

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                 / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

United Airways, Bangladesh's first private airline, has cancelled Singapore flights due to heavy losses on the Dhaka-Singapore-Dhaka routes as a result of intense competition from Tigerair, Singapore Airlines, national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines and another Bangladeshi private airline Regent Airways.

According to Serangoon Air Travel, the Singapore GSA, United Airways suspended flights to Singapore in late January 2014 and has not resumed flights ever since. It plans to open flights to Yangon instead.

Meanwhile, Regent Airways is introducing budget flights from Chittagong to Suvarnabhumi on 27 April 2014.

VietJetAir launches daily scheduled flights to Singapore from Ho Chi Minh City on 23 May 2014

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
               / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

On 23 May 2014, Changi Airport will welcome Vietnamese low-cost airline VietJetAir's first inaugural flight to Singapore from Ho Chi Minh City. On this day, VietJetAir flight VJ8931 departs from Ho Chi Minh City at 8.50 am for Singapore and arrives in Singapore at 11.40 am. One hour later, VietJetAir flight VJ8932 leaves Singapore at 12.40 pm, touching down in Ho Chi Minh City at 1.30 pm.

Fresh Singapore daily flights of VietJetAir subject to bilateral regulatory approval are operated by VietJetAir's new Airbus A320 Sharklet aircraft. On 20 March 2014, VietJetAir received one of the new A320 Sharklet and is registered VN-A678.

Beside Singapore, VietJetAir plans to expand its international route network in summer 2014 to include Taipei, Seoul-Incheon and one unidentified city in Japan with the induction of new A320 Sharklet aircrafts which will provide more than 10,000 seats per week to meet soaring travel demand to these cities. It currently flies domestic routes and two international routes to Suvarnabhumi from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

With the addition of VietJetAir, a total of four new airlines will have joined Changi Airport family of airlines by 23 May. The first three airlines to launch flights before May are Lucky Air, Uzbekistan Airways and Spring Airlines.

For further information and bookings, visit www.vietjetair.com.

Hunnu Air's Ulaanbaatar-Paris flight transits in Perm

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

Hunnu Air, Mongolia's largest private airline, has confirmed that its Ulaanbaatar-Paris flight to be launched on 9 June 2014 will transit in Perm, Russia, as it has not received its first Airbus A330 aircraft. Its Airbus A319-112 aircraft will serve the route Ulaanbaatar-Perm-Paris once a week on Mondays between 9 June and 16 June, and twice-per-week on Mondays and Fridays between 23 June and 29 August.

On 9 June, Hunnu Air flight MR8201 leaves Ulaanbaatar at 7.40 am, transits in Perm for 1 hour at 10.45 am before departing for Paris at 11.45 am and arriving in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at 1 pm. Then at 2.20 pm, flight MR8202 departs from Paris at 2.20 pm, transits in Perm at 11.20 pm for 1 hour before leaving Perm at 12.20 am, returning to Ulaanbaatar at 7.05 am on 10 June.

The scheduled flights to Paris are seasonal while Hunnu Air plans to operate direct flights to Paris all year round in 2015 and open its second long-haul flight to Singapore by 2015 or 2016.

Besides seasonal flights to Paris, Hunnu Air is resuming seasonal flights to Tokyo Haneda on 15 July 2014.

Saudi low-cost airline links Europe and Southeast Asia via its Jeddah hub by 2 May 2014

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
               / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

Saudi Arabia's low-cost airline flynas, formerly known as Nasair and named after its web-site flynas.com, is launching long-haul flights to Southeast Asia and Europe from its hub in Jeddah in April 2014 with Airbus A330 aircraft.

On 6 April 2014, flynas starts separate direct flights to Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta from Jeddah. Two days later, it launches the Middle East's first budget flight to London Gatwick Airport and by 2 May 2014, it will open the world's first budget flight to Manchester, thus linking Southeast Asia with Europe in the cheapest way of travel via Jeddah.

flynas' flights aim to boost Jeddah's status as another competitive hub of Dubai. Nasair initially started flights in 2007 and was rebranded to flynas in November 2013 when it saw the name "flynas" first appearing on Nasair's official inflight magazine "flynas".

flynas will be the second airline to launch flights to Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang in 2014 after Citilink. Citilink launches its second international flight service to Kuala Lumpur from Surabaya on 3 April 2014  after Senai (first service on 15 March). The only Saudi private airline has extensive domestic, regional and African flight networks operated by its Airbus A320 fleet.

Air India operates Changi Airport's second inaugural B787 Dreamliner flight to Singapore on 20 March 2014

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

Air India, the national airline of India, operates Changi Airport's second inaugural B787 Dreamliner scheduled flight to Singapore from an overseas destination on 20 March 2014.

On 20 March, Air India Dreamliner flight AI380 departs from Delhi at 12.05 am and arrives in Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2 at 8 am. At 9.15 am, it leaves Singapore for Delhi and touches down in Delhi at 12.30 pm.

Air India flies between Delhi and Singapore on a daily basis. On 19 March, online special fares of 70 Singapore Dollars at www.airindia.com for the Singapore-Delhi route were incredibly still available. Online payments in Singapore Dollars can be made via international debit and credit cards.

Air India has operated Dreamliner flights from Delhi to London, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, among other cities on its route network since the airline introduced the new jet in 2012. It flies from Singapore to Delhi and Chennai and aims to join Star Alliance later this year.

The first scheduled B787 Dreamliner flight to Singapore was operated by Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) from Bandar Seri Begawan on 15 October 2013.

Spring Airlines operates Singapore's first budget flight from Shanghai on 25 April 2014

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                 / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

China's first low-cost airline, Spring Airlines, is finally launching Singapore's first budget flight from Shanghai on 25 April 2014. The medium-haul flight to Singapore will be operated on a daily basis by Spring Airlines' Airbus A320 aircraft from Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

On 25 April, Spring Airlines flight code 9C8549 departs from Shanghai Pudong at 12 pm for Singapore, arriving in Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 at 5.50 pm. At 7.15 pm, it takes off under 9C8550 for Shanghai Pudong from Singapore and touches down in Shanghai Pudong at 12.20 am on 26 April.

According to Spring Airlines, it will not open any branch office or representative office in Singapore during the first few months of the inaugural flight as the airline has yet to open its tour agency in Singapore as it does in Bangkok, Phuket, Hong Kong and the US. Interested passengers in Spring Airlines can book return Singapore-Shanghai flights on its English web-site at www.china-sss.com and pay for the fares with their international debit and credit cards. Its Chinese web-site is open to online payments using China-issued debit and credit cards only.

A special one-way Spring fare from Singapore to Shanghai starts from 399 Chinese Yuan which is less than 90 Singapore Dollars. A return fare starts around 419 Singapore Dollars.

Spring Airlines has introduced Business Classes on all its flights recently. Singapore is the third Southeast Asian destination to be introduced by Spring Airlines during the summer season of this year. On 30 March 2014, Spring Airlines launches its first flight to Chiang Mai, followed by Danang on 31 March.

Spring Airlines operates regional and international flights from Shanghai to Hong Kong, Macau, Ibaraki, Suvarnabhumi, Phuket, Jeju, Osaka, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Siem Reap, among other international cities as well as cities and towns in China. It has also a hub in Shijiazhuang where it operates international flights to Hong Kong and domestic flights. It operates a Japanese subsidiary known as Spring Airlines Japan later this year.

Tigerair resumes daily flights to Clark and takes over Tigerair Philippines' route to Kalibo

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

As part of its route network adjustment owing to operation reasons, Tigerair Philippines, previously known as SEAIR Southeast Asian Airlines is withdrawing from the Singapore travel market on 9 March 2014 and Tigerair headquartered in Singapore will take over Tigerair Philippines' Singapore-Clark-Singapore and Singapore-Kalibo-Singapore routes on the same day.

Effective 9 March, Tigerair resumes daily flights from Singapore to Clark. Flight TR2702 departs for Clark at 2 pm and arrives in Clark at 5.30 pm before taking off at 6.10 pm from Clark for Singapore and touching down in Singapore at 9.45 pm under flight TR2703.

Tigerair's new flights to Kalibo from Singapore take place on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 12 pm, arriving in Kalibo at 3.40 pm under TR2736. Flights leave Kalibo at 4.10 pm, touching down in Singapore at 9.45 pm under TR2737.

Tigerair Philippines will continue to operate flights between Clark and Hong Kong and Suvarnabhumi.

On another development, Tigerair Mandala of Indonesia is suspending flights from Jakarta to Hong Kong on 11 April 2014 while maintaining once-daily flights from Denpasar to Hong Kong. It has just suspended flights between Pekanbaru and Singapore on 3 March 2014 and has stopped flying between Kualanamu and Singapore since 18 February to avoid incurring further losses as a result of direct competition with Garuda Indonesia, Valuair, SilkAir and inclement hazy weather.