Sayacinta - Airpost: June 2014

Saturday, 28 June 2014

Airport Review : KLIA2

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

The much publicised Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) with the tallest Air Traffic Control tower in the world at 141.3 metres is as big as Changi Airport but the planners did not foresee the high passenger traffic that use the Fly-Thru facilities of AirAsia Group.

There is only one pair of toilets in the Fly-Thru area of KLIA2. Passengers have to queue up to use the toilets. The situation is worse than that in Suvarnabhumi International Airport because each toilet is smaller than a toilet of an MRT station in Singapore.

It takes up to 5 minutes to travel to the International Transfer Hall from the furthest aerobridge of the terminal. If passengers arrive from Pudong, it takes only 2 minutes to arrive at the hall. There are sleeping facilities outside the Customs and Immgration section as well as one cafe and two money changers.

Outside the Fly-Thru area, no one can see aircraft taxiing according to a passenger Chai. The area outside known as Gateway@klia2 complex is full of shopping facilities and restaurants.

KLIA2 is directly linked to the KLIA Ekspres train service to KL Sentral (XKL).

KLIA2 is the largest and only Budget Airport of Southeast Asia today that serves low-fare airlines only.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klia2 for further information on KLIA2.

Airport Review : Pudong International Airport Terminal 2

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

The second international airport of Shanghai, Pudong, needs facelift badly. While seats at the domestic departure gates are sufficient, there are not enough seats at the international gates of the airport. Many passengers have to sit on carpet to wait for boarding, causing traveller congestion at each gate.

Shanghai tourism brochures are available at the area where travellers pick up their check-in baggage. Public information counters can hardly be found at the transit and departure areas. Shops at the airport are not open 24 hours.

The departure and arrival halls of Pudong Terminal 2 are as huge as Changi Airport with ease of access to Terminal 1, Maglev express trains and other public transport for rides to the city centre of Shanghai.

At the airports of Pudong, Qingdao, Chengdu, Kunming, Chongqing, Guiyang, Nanchang and Taichung, hot, warm and water dispensers are prevalent, providing convenience to passengers. The airports of Southeast Asia should consider installing such dispensers for public use.

Airlines such as Qingdao Airlines, AirAsia X, Ethiopian Airlines and Mega Maldives Airlines operate at Pudong Terminal 2.

Date of travel to Pudong from Qingdao : 14 June 2014 with Qingdao Airlines.

Departure from Pudong for Singapore via KLIA2 : 15 June 2014 with AirAsia X and AirAsia Berhad.

Passengers of AirAsia X and AirAsia, please note that boarding passes have to be reprinted at the check-in counters of Pudong Terminal 2 for endorsement even if you have online boarding passes registered with the airlines. Therefore you have to queue again. Kindly disregard the low-cost airlines' instruction on un-necessity to queue at Pudong Terminal 2.

Happy boarding!

Economy Class passengers of China select XiamenAir as the Best Chinese Airline of 2013/2014

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

An extensive survey on the air travel experience of 45330 Economy Class passengers in China by Air Transport Association Communications (ATAC / 航联传播) during the first quarter of 2014 reveals that XiamenAir is the Best Airline of China for the seventh quarter.

XiamenAir was rated first in all inflight and ground service categories including "Best Cabin Crew Service", "Best Inflight Announcement Service", "Best Cabin Facilities" and "Best Inflight Meals". Under these categories are sub-categories such as "Cabin Crew Appearance", "Cabin Crew Response to Passenger Needs", "Personalised Inflight Service", "Inflight News Dissemination Standard", "Inflight Announcement Standard", "Inflight Cleanliness and Hygiene", "Inflight Comfort" and "Lavatory Facilities", XiamenAir is rated first. Besides under the sub-category "Unusual Inflight Meal Service Satisfaction Standard", it is rated the best airline.

XiamenAir also scores first in the areas of "Ticketing Refund and Withdrawal", "Polite Boarding Reminder", "Boarding Sequence" and "Boarding Duration" as the Best Airline of China.

The second to fifth Best Airlines of China are namely Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Shanghai Airlines. The big brothers of China civil aviation namely China Southern, Air China and China Eastern are ranked sixth, seventh and nineth. In the eighth position is Shenzhen Airlines. The last popular Chinese airline of the first quarter is Tianjin Airlines, a subsidiary of Hainan Airlines, behind private carrier Juneyao Airlines and Chinese low-cost airline Spring Airlines.

ATAC has also conducted surveys with Economy Class passengers of 167 international airlines operating to China. The five Best Asian non-Chinese International Airlines to China are namely Cathay Pacific Airways, Dragonair, Hong Kong Airlines, Thai AirAsia and AirAsia Berhad.

Cathay Pacific Airways is the Best non-Chinese International Airline to China, rated at 4.31, higher than XiamenAir by 0.27. XiamenAir is the Best Chinese International Airline to China to date.

It is a shock that well-known airlines like Singapore Airlines, China Airlines and Thai Airways International are not popular among Chinese tourists in the ATAC survey although Singapore Airlines and XiamenAir were awarded the "IOSA Dedication Cup" by IATA in Asia. The survey also shows that Tigerair, Jetstar and Scoot are not popular in China due to their lacklustre inflight and ground service standards.

The exceptional high votes for XiamenAir are fantastic news for the Fujian airline that is celebrating its 30th Anniversary in July 2014 and receiving its first B787 Dreamliners in the same month. It plans to launch long-haul flights to Australia and the US by end of 2015 using up to 6 Dreamliners. It has also established a Hunan branch company in Changsha on 5 May 2014, launched flights linking Xiamen, Tianjin and Manzhouli in June 2014 and is increasing Xiamen-Singapore-Xiamen flights to thrice per day from 25 July 2014.

As the only Chinese airline to win the "JinYan Cup" and "JinYing Cup" awards from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for three consecutive years and rated top in all categories of the ATAC survey, XiamenAir continues to do its best to extend its network to a worldwide range as an emerging force in the international civil aviation market.