Qingdao Airlines opens Qingdao - Huangshan - Zhanjiang routes on 1 September 2018

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

Qingdao Airlines commences inaugural flight to Zhanjiang via Huangshan from Qingdao on 1 September 2018 using A320 aircraft. It operates on these routes on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

On 1 September 2018, Qingdao Airlines flight QW9885 leaves Qingdao for Huangshan at 6.35 am, arrives in Huangshan at 8.40 am before leaving Huangshan for Zhanjiang at 9.40 am and touching down in Zhanjiang at 12.05 pm. The outbound flight from Zhanjiang, QW9886, takes off at 5.50 pm, touches down in Huangshan at 8 pm before departing for Qingdao at 9 pm and landing in Qingdao at 11 pm.

LongJiang Airlines opens Harbin - Luoyang - Beihai routes on 15 August 2018

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

LongJiang Airlines (LJ Air, in short) launches Airbus A320 flights from Harbin to Luoyang and Beihai on 15 August 2018. It operates on these routes on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, six times a week.

On 15 August 2018, LJ Air flight LJ4305 departs from Harbin for Beihai via Luoyang at 8.25 am, arrives in Luoyang at 11.40 am before leaving Luoyang for Beihai at 12.30 pm and touching down in Beihai at 3.10 pm.

Flight LT4306 leaves Beihai for Harbin via Luoyang at 4.10 pm, touches down in Luoyang at 6.55 pm before taking off for Harbin at 7.45 pm and arriving in Harbin at 10.30 pm on the same day.

The above schedules are effective for travel on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Tuesdays.

The Monday schedules are as follows:-

LT4305   Harbin - Luoyang    6.50 am to 10.05 am
LT4305   Luoyang - Beihai    11.05 am to 1.45 pm
LT4306   Beihai - Luoyang     3.45 pm to 6.30 pm
LT4306   Luoyang - Harbin    7.30 pm to 10.15 pm

The Sunday schedules are as follows:-

LT4305   Harbin - Luoyang    7.30 am to 10.45 am
LT4305   Luoyang - Beihai    11.45 am to 2.25 pm
LT4306   Beihai - Luoyang     3.25 pm to 6.10 pm
LT4306   Luoyang - Harbin    7.05 pm to 9.50 pm 

LJ Air plans to operate up to six routes in 2018 with up to six A320 aircraft.

Southwest Airlines enacts changes to carriage with regards to animals

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

American low-cost airline Southwest Airlines announced changes to its policies for trained service and emotional support animals on 14 August 2018. The changes are designed to provide clearer guidance to customers traveling with service animals and will go into effect on 17 September 2018.

To create these policy changes, Southwest reviewed the recent enforcement guidance issued by the Department of Transportation (DOT), evaluated feedback from customers and employees, and spoke with numerous advocacy groups that represent customers with disabilities who travel with service animals. Based upon the guidance received, the following changes on 17 September 2018 affect Emotional Support Animals (ESAs), Trained Service Animals and Formally Recognizing Psychiatric Support Animals (PSAs).

ESAs will be limited to one dog, one cat per passenger. These pets must remain in a carrier or be on leash at all times.

Passengers  traveling with ESAs will still need to present a complete, current letter from a medical doctor or licensed mental health professional on the day of departure.

In alignment with recent DOT guidance, Southwest accepts only the most common Trained Service Animals - dogs, cats and miniature horses. For the health and safety of its passengers and employees, unusual or exotic animals will not be accepted.

A passenger with a disability must be able to provide credible verbal assurance that the animal is a trained service animal.

Southwest Airlines will also introduce an enhancement that recognizes fully-trained PSAs as trained service animals. While it informally accepted PSAs as trained service animals in the past, the airline is pleased to formalize the acceptance of this type of service animal based upon Customer feedback. PSAs are individually trained to perform a task or work for a person with a mental health-related disability. A credible verbal assurance will be sufficient to travel with a PSA.

For the safety of both Southwest Airlines' passengers and employees, all emotional support and service animals must be trained to behave in a public setting and must be under the control of the handler at all times. An animal that engages in disruptive behavior may be denied boarding.

Southwest Airlines will continue working with advocacy groups, employees, passengers and the DOT to ensure it offers supportive service animal guidelines.

Air Mauritius opens new routes to Bangkok and Wuhan

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

Air Mauritius opens new routes to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Wuhan in 2018.

Air Mauritius launches direct non-stop flight from Port Louis to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi on 3 November 2018 using its Airbus A330-900neo aircraft. Prior to this date, the Mauritian national flag carrier flies to Suvarnabhumi with the technical stopover at Singapore Changi Airport on 31 October 2018 using Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

Air Mauritius operates flights to Suvarnabhumi directly on Saturdays and indirectly on Wednesdays via Singapore and returns to Port Louis directly on Sundays and indirectly via Singapore on Thursdays.

The Saturday flight on 3 November 2018 departs from Port Louis at 11.30 pm, arrives in Suvarnabhumi under flight MK642 at 10.25 am on 4 November 2018 before leaving Suvarnabhumi at 12.25 pm and touching down in Port Louis at 5.15 pm local time under MK643.

Passengers leaving for Port Louis from Suvarnabhumi on other days have to board Thai Airways International flight and connect to Air Mauritius' flight from Hong Kong. 

The Wednesday flight on 31 October 2018 under MK642 leaves Port Louis at 8.40 pm, touches down in Singapore at 7.50 am before departing from Singapore at 9 am and arriving in Suvarnabhumi at 10.25 am. Flight MK643 takes off for Singapore from Suvarnabhumi at 12.25 pm, arrives in Singapore at 4 pm before leaving Singapore for Port Louis at 5 pm and landing in Port Louis at 8.10 pm.

According to Air Mauritius, it will deploy A330-900neo aircraft on non-stop once-weekly service to Wuhan on 2 January 2019 and twice-weekly services to Mumbai on 1 November 2018 and Hong Kong on 4 November 2018 as well. The aircraft will also operate flights to Perth, Bengaluru, Chennai, Reunion and its South African destinations.

Air Mauritius A340-300 flight MK690 launches non-stop flight to Wuhan from Port Louis on 11 August 2018 at 8.15 am, arrives in Wuhan Tianhe Airport Terminal 3 at 11.05 pm before leaving Wuhan at 1.05 am on 12 August 2018 and touching down in Port Louis at 7.40 am local time under flight MK691. Outbound flight to Wuhan from Port Louis is on Saturdays while outbound flight to Port Louis from Wuhan is on Sundays. Previously, passengers from Wuhan have to stopover in Hong Kong or Shanghai-Pudong in order to connect to Air Mauritius' flights to Port Louis.

Air Mauritius will operate thrice-weekly A330-900neo flights to Hong Kong from 6 December 2018. As the first Indian Ocean / Africa operator of the aircraft, it expects to receive its first A330-900neo aircraft by October 2018.

Colorful Yunnan General Aviation pioneers Kunming-Lijiang-Tengchong-Banna-Kunming flights

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

In the afternoon of 10 August 2018, the ten-seater Embraer Phenom 300 aircraft (Registration No. B3356) of Colorful Yunnan General Aviation (Colorful Aviation, in short; 七彩云南通用航空, 简称 七彩通航) successfully landed in Kunming, marking the successful completion of the Kunming-Lijiang-Tengchong-Banna-Kunming short-distance transportation trial operation mission.

The mission is to test the related procedures of navigation operations, maintenance operations, ground services, aviation fuel security, security and emergency protection, and passenger services involved in the short-haul transportation.

After the trial operation, the Kunming-Lijiang-Tengchong-Banna-Kunming short-haul scheduled scheduled flights of Colorful Aviation will be opened at the same time in cooperation with Yunnan local governments at all levels. General aviation short-distance transportation business and a comprehensively developed short-distance transportation market effectively meet the needs of Yunnan's global tourism development, and enhance the coverage of Yunnan civil aviation services.

Colorful Yunnan General Aviation was approved by the Southwest Regional Administration of CAAC in March 2018 as the pioneer to sort out the standard operating procedures with lots of preparatory work and organize the security operations and flights linking the four Yunnan cities.

Glimpses at Cam Ranh Airport Terminals 1 and 2

Report, Images by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

Cam Ranh Airport Terminal 2, whose roof is shaped like a bird's nest, a symbol of Khanh Hoa Province, was opened officially to the public in July 2018. Occupying 52000 square metres of floor space, it was constructed by Airport Design & Construction Consultancy, Singapore-based CPG Consultants and Pacific Architects & Engineers from the US. The first airline to operate international flights from Terminal 2 is Vietnam Airlines.

It used to be known that Cam Ranh Airport's restaurants were not opened at 5 am. However this proves wrong when the international flight from Incheon landed in Cam Ranh in June 2018. 

Below are pictures of Cam Ranh Airport Terminals 1 and 2. Only one fastfood restaurant near the exit of Terminal 1 is open selling snacks, coffee and pho. The other restaurant is opened at 8 am.

A complete collection of Cam Ranh Airport pictures will be published on Facebook by 2020.

Biman plans its first B787-8 scheduled flight to Singapore on 1 September 2018

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

According to Biman Bangladesh Airlines ticketing and Routes Online, the Bangladesh national flag carrier plans its first B787-8 scheduled flight to Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 on 1 September 2018 if it received its first B787-8 later in Dhaka in August 2018 from Boeing. 

Biman's B787-8 second outbound flight on the same date is to Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 1 (KLIA). 

Biman's B787-8 flights to Singapore and KLIA will continue as crew training flights until 15 October 2018.

The B787-8 flight schedules to Singapore and KLIA are the same as Biman's current B737-800 flight schedules to both destinations, these are flight BG084 departing from Dhaka for Singapore at 8.25 am, arriving in Singapore at 2.40 pm before leaving for Dhaka at 3.50 pm and touching down in Dhaka at 6 pm under BG085. At 7.15 pm, flight BG086 leaves Dhaka for KLIA at 7.15 pm, touches down in KLIA at 1 am before taking off from KLIA for Dhaka at 2.30 am and arriving in Dhaka at 4.15 am daily under flight BG087.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines plans to take deliveries of its second to fourth B787-8 Dreamliners in November 2018, October and November 2019. It plans to resume commercial flights from Dhaka to Delhi, Hong Kong and launch non-stop flight to New York and initiate direct flights to Colombo, Male and Guangzhou. Further destinations on Biman's B787-8 proposed network include Manchester, Rome and Sydney.

IndiGo opens new routes to Surat in August and September 2018

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

IndiGo, India's largest low-cost airline, opens several new routes to Surat in summer 2018. Below are the new routes and inaugural flight dates :-

1. On 16 August 2018, IndiGo flight 6E2066 departs from Delhi for Surat at 6.30 am, arrives in Surat at 8.30 am before leaving Surat for Bengaluru at 9 am and touching down in Bengaluru at 11 am. Flight 6E2065 leaves Bengaluru for Surat at 11.30 am, touches down in Surat at 1.10 pm. At 1.40 pm, flight 6E2065 takes off for Delhi at 1.40 pm and returns to Delhi at 3.20 pm.

The Bengaluru - Surat route is not operational on Tuesdays.

2. On 16 August 2018, IndiGo opens Mumbai - Surat route. Flights depart from Mumbai daily at 3.20 pm for Surat under  6E264, arrive in Surat at 4.50 pm local time and leave Surat for Mumbai at 5.20 pm and land in Mumbai at 6.30 pm under flight 6E983.

3.  The Jaipur - Surat route is opened by IndiGo on 17 August 2018. Flights leave Jaipur for Surat daily at 1.40 pm under 6E941, arrive in Surat 3.15 pm before departing from Surat for Jaipur at 3.45 pm under flight 6E942 and touching down in Jaipur at 5.10 pm thrice-weekly, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

4. On 17 August 2018, IndiGo also commences flight from Surat for Goa at 5.40 pm under 6E2126, arrives in Goa at 6.35 pm and leaves Goa for Surat at 7.35 pm and touches down in Surat at 9 pm under 6E2703. Flights between both cities continue to operate until 30 September 2018.

5. Another IndiGo flight departs from Hyderabad for Surat at 1.05 pm under 6E752, arrives in Surat at 2.35 pm local time before leaving Surat for Hyderabad under 6E969 at 3.05 pm daily and touching down in Hyderabad at 4.40 pm.

6. On 1 September 2018, IndiGo opens Kolkata - Surat route at 6.05 pm under 6E934, touches down in Surat at 8.55 pm and leaves Surat for Kolkata daily at 9.25 pm under flight 6E723 and lands in Kolkata at 12.05 am on 2 September 2018.

As a result, IndiGo provides convenient flight connections to Surat from Dhaka and Singapore via Kolkata from 1 and 16 September 2018 respectively. IndiGo also provides flight connections to Surat from Singapore via Bengaluru from 16 August 2018.

IndiGo's routes to and from Surat come at a high time when the Indian city needs convenient flight connections to major Indian cities and Surat's startup airline YuvaJet has deferred its inaugural domestic flight from June to November 2018 as it has not received its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from DGCA.

Surat is a city in the Indian State of Gujarat. Applauded as the world's fourth-fastest growing city in 2016, it is famous for its diamond cutting and polishing, its ancient art of manufacturing fine muslin and manufacturing and export of silk cloth, hence its nicknames Diamond City and Silk City. Like Jakarta it has an established Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. It has a flourishing information technology sector that foreign companies can capitalize on when considering investments in India.

Hebei Airlines opens Mianyang - Dalian route on 10 August 2018

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

Hebei Airlines opens Mianyang - Dalian route on 10 August 2018 (Friday) using its B737-800 aircraft. It operates on this route on Fridays, Sundays and Wednesdays.

On Fridays and Sundays, Hebei Airlines flight NS3277 departs from Mianyang for Dalian at 12.55 pm, arrives in Dalian at 3.30 pm before leaving Dalian for Mianyang at 4.25 pm and touching down in Mianyang at 7.20 pm under flight NS3278.

On Wednesdays, flight NS3277 leaves Mianyang for Dalian at 2.10 pm, lands in Dalian at 4.45 pm before departing from Dalian for Mianyang at 5.35 pm and arriving in Mianyang at 8.30 pm under flight NS3278.

Hebei Airlines has flights from Shijiazhuang to Mianyang.

Mianyang Nanjiao Airport is the second largest airport of Sichuan Province after Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.

Tourist destinations in Mianyang include CAEP and Science City, the immense Military Research Complex which was the site of the development of China's first nuclear bomb, Tomb of Song Zheyuan, anti-Japanese World War II hero, Piankou Natural Conservation Zone and Cui Yun Corridor.

Sichuan Airlines launches A350XWB flight to Boston on 17 December 2018

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

According to Sichuan Airlines, the first domestic flight of its first A350XWB aircraft on the Chengdu - Beijing Capital route takes place on 16 August 2018 while the same aircraft launches the airline's first long-haul non-stop scheduled flight to Boston in the US from Chengdu on 17 December 2018.

On 17 December 2018, Sichuan Airlines A350XWB is planned to depart from Chengdu for Boston at 9 pm, touch down in Boston at 12.15 am on 18 December 2018 before leaving Boston at 2.15 am for Chengdu and arriving in Chengdu at 6.35 am on 19 December 2018.

Sichuan Airlines will announce the flight frequency and flight codes in relation to the Chengdu - Boston - Chengdu route sectors in due course.

Currently, Sichuan Airlines flies from Chengdu to Los Angeles via Hangzhou and Jinan using Airbus A330 aircraft.