IHG announces strategic partnership with Asset World Corporation (AWC) for the development of more than 1,200 rooms in Thailand

IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group), one of the world’s leading hotel companies, has announced a strategic partnership with long-standing partner Asset World Corporate (AWC), Thailand’s leading integrated lifestyle real-estate group, to manage a portfolio of properties across Thailand. The agreement will see the development of more than 1,200 rooms across Thailand, with the first signing announced today as the 306-room InterContinental Chiang Mai Mae Ping. 

Serena Lim, Vice President, Development, IHG South East Asia and Korea commented, “With plans to double our portfolio in Thailand in the next 3-5 years, this signing today between IHG and AWC is another milestone in realising this ambition. Their reputation as a lifestyle and real-estate group, and long-standing relationship with IHG gives us great confidence of this growth momentum in Thailand.”

Under the structure of the agreement, hotels in multiple popular destinations such as Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Hua Hin will be signed within three years. The first signing of the agreement announced today is the 306-room InterContinental Chiang Mai Mae Ping Hotel.

More lounge refurbishments coming from British Airways

British Airways has today announced it is refreshing its First and Club lounges at Chicago O’Hare Airport, as well as revealing more details on its lounge improvements at Edinburgh and Berlin, all part of the airline’s £6.5bn investment plan for customers.

Due to be completed in Spring 2020, customers travelling through Chicago in the First or Club lounges will receive a personal and more interactive welcome in new look reception areas. The lounge will have a lighter and more relaxing atmosphere for customers with new décor, flooring and furnishings. There will be more charging ports, built into new marble tables, as well as specially crafted chairs to help customers to relax. In terms of dining, there will be redesigned serving stations which will continue to offer customers a wide range of local and international cuisines.

Qantas to take off to Byron Bay

Qantas will make it even easier to travel to Byron Bay and the New South Wales far north coast, with the launch of flights from Sydney to Ballina for the first time in 15 years.

A daily return flight will commence from 29 March 2020 adding more than 36,000 seats on the route each year.

Northern Rivers residents and business travellers flying to Sydney will benefit with the flights conveniently timed for same-day trips with a morning departure from Ballina and an evening return from Sydney.

Air France and Chalair sign a code-share agreement

Air France and Chalair have announced a code-share agreement which offers Air France customers additional travel opportunities to and from the French regions, providing them with easier access to the entire Air France network.

Effective today, this agreement concerns six routes in France operated by Chalair:

From Paris-Orly:

Agen: 2 daily flights from Monday to Friday and 1 flight on Sunday

Limoges: 2 daily flights from Monday to Friday and 1 flight on Sunday

Quimper: 3 daily flights from Monday to Friday, 1 flight on Saturday and 2 flights on Sunday

From Lyon:

La Rochelle via Poitiers: 2 daily flights from Monday to Friday and 1 flight on Sunday

Limoges: 2 daily flights from Monday to Friday and 1 flight on Sunday

Poitiers: 2 daily flights from Monday to Friday and 1 flight on Sunday

Flights are operated by ATR 72 (70 seats) and ATR 42 (48 seats).

In particular, this code-share agreement will enable customers to benefit from seamless services from the French regions as well as baggage checked to its final destination when connecting to and from an Air France or Chalair flight.

Eligible Air France customers(1) benefit from SkyPriority services at the airport and on board flights operated by Chalair. Members of Flying Blue, the Air France-KLM frequent flyer programme, can also earn Miles and XPs.

(1) Business customers, Club 2000, Platinum and Gold members of the Air France-KLM Flying Blue frequent flyer programme.

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British Airways offer low-cost-carrier fares in Europe

The UK's British Airways is offering thousands of seats at 'low-cost-carrier' fare levels in its latest promotion.   The airline is continuing with transitioning its economy offering to that of a budget carrier with a hand-baggage-only fare to Europe for £40 or less each way*. 

The deal is on over 70 routes across the airline’s comprehensive European network including Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Kefalonia, Faro and Verona.

The airline is also including domestic flights between London and UK cities in its offer, such as Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Belfast City and Jersey. British Airways is now offsetting carbon emissions on all its flights within the UK, as part of the airline's commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Unveils UK's First Defence Wargaming Centre

The UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory - Dstl has opened the UK's first dedicated wargaming centre for use by all 3 services and conducted the inaugural exercise, Eagle Warrior 19.

The UK’s first dedicated, purpose-designed wargaming centre has been unveiled by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). The Defence Wargaming Centre (DWC) on Dstl’s Portsdown West site near Portsmouth is hosting wargames for all three services, with the RAF having conducted the first exercise, Eagle Warrior 19, last month (December 2019).

Dstl has a long history of delivering successful wargames on behalf of MOD and other government departments, conducted both at Dstl and at other sites in the UK and overseas. Wargame participants experience the rigour and implications of decision making in a “safe to fail” environment, without the risk, expense and disruption of live exercises or real operations.

New Air France travel cabins to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean

In 2020, Air France is continuing the move upmarket of its products and services. The airline is today unveiling its new cabins available onboard its Boeing 777-300, mainly serving destinations in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean.

Onboard, the aircraft’s 472 seats (14 in Business, 28 in Premium Economy and 430 in Economy) have been completely redesigned, enabling Air France to offer cabins with the highest standards of comfort, in a soft and warm atmosphere in the airline’s colours.

As from 15 January 2020, the first aircraft equipped with these cabins will take off for the first time to Pointe-à-Pitre, then to Fort de France (16 January 2020) and Saint-Denis de la Réunion (2020 summer season).

RAF Typhoons Demonstrate Breadth and Scale of NATO Air Policing Mission

Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters have taken part in a demonstration of the breadth and scale of the NATO Air Policing mission.

The NATO Allied Air Command’s Air Policing peacetime mission is designed to ensures the integrity of Allies’ airspace and to protect Alliance nations by maintaining constant surveillance of NATO airspace. When necessary fast jets will be scrambled in response to military and civilian aircraft in distress or which are not following international flight regulations.

Lufthansa is reducing noise and CO2 emissions on European routes from Munich

Nine Airbus A320neo will based in Munich in 2020
50 percent lower noise and 20 percent less CO2  emissions

The Airbus A320neo, the latest generation short- and medium-haul aircraft, is now operating from Munich. Since the turn of the year, four A320neo aircraft have been in service at the Munich hub. A brand-new Airbus will arrive in Munich at the end of January, and another will follow in February. The plan is for the Munich A320neo fleet to grow to nine aircraft by the end of 2020.

“From now on, the Airbus A320neo will be even quieter and more environmentally friendly on short and medium-haul routes. The aircraft are the perfect complement to our state-of-the-art Airbus A350 long-haul fleet, which also flies fuel-efficiently and quietly from Munich. We are investing many billions of euros in the latest aircraft and are thus assuming responsibility for sustainable aviation,” says Wilken Bormann, CEO Lufthansa Hub Munich.

easyJet to resume flights to Sharm el Sheikh this summer

easyJet, the UK’s leading  airline, has announced it will resume flights to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt for the first time since November 2015. Following the recent lifting of government restrictions on UK flights to Sharm el Sheikh, easyJet will offer two flights a week to the famous Red Sea destination commencing on 7 June from Manchester and 30 September from London Gatwick. The flights are on sale now, and will operate twice weekly with fares starting from £99.99

Continuing a period of expansion at Manchester, in addition to Sharm el Sheikh, easyJet has also announced a further two new routes from Manchester which have gone on sale today. Flights to the Italian capital city Rome will operate three times a week starting on 7 June along with twice-weekly flights to Menorca with the first flight departing on 4 June.  With Egypt proving popular in the North West, the airline is also extending its winter flights to Hurghada to operate year-round three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays with the first flight departing on 1 June.

Air New Zealand Chief People Officer resigns

Jodie King joined Air New Zealand in 2013 as a General Manager in the People function and was appointed to Chief People Officer in February 2016. She has played a key role in further building the airline’s iconic culture and customer focus. During her tenure, the airline has seen strong progress in its talent attraction, people development and management, leadership development and diversity and inclusion agenda.

Air New Zealand Chief People Officer Jodie King will be leaving Air New Zealand to take up a new role

with Vodafone New Zealand.

She will be greatly missed by the Executive Team by whom she is highly regarded. Jodie King will work with incoming Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran to ensure a smooth transition occurs and a strong appointment to the Chief People Officer role is made.

Jodie was appointed Chief People Officer in February 2016. Jodie King joined Air New Zealand in 2012 as an HR General Manager and member of the HR Leadership Team after 16 years of living and working in the UK. 

During her time in London Jodie worked at KPMG in leadership and management consultancy roles across a range of industries, including infrastructure, oil and gas, banking and retail. Her last role at KPMG saw her as Director of Talent Management across 9 European countries. Prior to KPMG she worked for New Zealand Treasury and NZ Dairy Co-operative. 

Jodie has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Otago and has graduated from executive management programmes at Stanford University Graduate School of Business and the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD Fontainebleau. Jodie has been a member of Global Women since 2017 and is an Advisory Board Member of the Auckland University School of Business.

Jodie King will leave by the end of the financial year.

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Allegiant releases its December traffic results.

 Allegiant Travel Company reported preliminary passenger traffic results for December 2019. The Las Vegas based budget carrier specialises in linking travellers in small-to-medium cities to world-class vacation destinations with all-nonstop flights and industry-low average fares. The airline serves more than 450 routes across the country. 

Scheduled Service
	December 2019	December 2018	Change
Passengers	1,308,341	1,061,552	23.2%
Revenue passenger miles (000)	1,165,902	974,429	19.6%
Available seat miles (000)	1,411,107	1,191,089	18.5%
Load factor	82.6%	81.8%	0.8 pts
Departures	9,423	7,678	22.7%
Average stage length (miles)	871	901	(3.3%)
	4th Quarter 2019	4th Quarter 2018	Change
Passengers	3,516,263	3,183,524	10.5%
Revenue passenger miles (000)	3,073,055	2,846,246	8.0%
Available seat miles (000)	3,745,031	3,457,044	8.3%
Load factor	82.1%	82.3%	(0.2 pts)
Departures	25,541	23,017	11.0%
Average stage length (miles)	856	877	(2.4%)
	YTD 2019	YTD 2018	Change
Passengers	14,823,267	13,606,103	8.9%
Revenue passenger miles (000)	13,038,003	12,145,601	7.3%
Available seat miles (000)	15,545,818	14,340,674	8.4%
Load factor	83.9%	84.7%	(0.8 pts)
Departures	105,690	96,554	9.5%
Average stage length (miles)	859	875	(1.8%)

UK Government provides a transport update on Flybe

The Department for Transport, the Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy have been in discussions with Europe’s largest regional airline, Flybe, which plays an important role in the UK’s connectivity by flying regional routes.

In a sign of the Prime Minister’s commitment to levelling up all regions of the UK, the government has announced additional measures to support regional connectivity across the UK, to ensure all corners of the country drive the economy, and fully benefit from prosperity in years to come.

A review of regional connectivity will ensure all nations and regions of the UK have the domestic transport connections local communities rely on – including regional services from local airports. This review, led by DfT, will consider all options to ensure we continue to have good regional connectivity. The DfT will work closely with the aviation industry, local regions and devolved nations to identify how we can support connectivity.

UN aviation experts to join Ukraine Airlines Iran crash investigation

Experts from the UN aviation watchdog, ICAO, will support the investigation into the crash of a Ukrainian Passenger plane in Iran on January 8, following an invitation from the Iranian authorities, which was accepted on Tuesday.

In a statement, the ICAO said that it has appointed senior and expert technical staff, who will now serve as advisors and observers.

Few details of Iran’s investigation have been released by the authorities, but Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said in a televised address that it will be overseen by several experts and that the judiciary will create a special court.

Airbus sales chief says no need to cut production of A330neo

 Airbus sees enough demand for its wide-bodied A330neo passenger jet to keep production stable, Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer told Reuters on Wednesday.

With some airlines seen unlikely to take delivery of all the jets they have ordered, there has been speculation Airbus would have to trim production of the latest version of its most profitable long-range jet despite a recent flurry of new sales.