MAS in expansion mode to widen network and boost revenue 

Datuk Ahmad Jauhari: MAS expanding network

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is adding a new route to Kochi, India, reinstating flights to Dubai (UAE) and Darwin (Australia) and increasing frequencies to both improve profitability and expand its regional network.

The service to Kochi starts on September 1, while flights to Darwin and Dubai resume from November 1 and August 5 respectively.

The Darwin flights were suspended in 2002, while Dubai was axed in January 2012 as part of the airline’s route rationalisation exercise.

MAS group CEO Datuk Ahmad Jauhari said the addition of Kochi and the reinstatement of Darwin and Dubai were part of MAS’ plan to expand its network.

Dubai’s revival was part of the national carrier’s efforts to tap the growing Middle East market. “Dubai is a growing market and it allows us connectivity with the Middle East for MAS. Malaysia Airlines needs to grow in tandem with the growth of the region.” he added.

The inclusion of the three cities – Dubai, Kochi, Darwin – into MAS’ network will widen its reach into new markets.

“MAS’ regional footprint has also been strengthened with increased daily and weekly frequencies to key business and leisure cities around Asia,” Ahmad Jauhari said.

Frequencies from Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai (India), Phuket (Thailand) and Denpasar (Indonesia) have been increased to cater to the growing demand, as are services to several international routes. One is Kathmandu, Nepal, a growing market for MAS, which now has daily flights, up from three times weekly when it was first introduced in September 2012. – Corinne Wan

• Photo courtesy of Malaysia Airlines

Jetstar’s top LCC in Japan

Twelve months after taking to domestic skies in Japan Jetstar has become the largest low cost carrier in the country, and the biggest carrier operating from Tokyo Narita Airport.

Jetstar Japan has grown from two to 12 aircraft over the last year, carrying over 1.6 million passengers. It was also the first LCC to fly international services to Japan when it began long haul flying to Osaka in 2007 with Jetstar Airways.

Jetstar group chief executive officer Jayne Hrdlicka said Jetstar Japan’s passenger growth was testament to the huge appetite of Japanese consumers for low fares.

“Six years ago, many industry commentators said the Japanese consumer would struggle to accept the LCC model and since then the Japanese consumer has spoken. Japanese consumers like low fares and want greater access to travel too.

“We pioneered long haul low fares service to Japan from Australia and today we are heading towards two million passengers on our domestic network.”

Android app for CheckInTonight

Travel mobile app, CheckInTonight, has launched an app for Android devices, following one for iOS devices in February this year, which recorded more than 25,000 downloads.

”With early success with the launch of the iPhone app, the Android application was the next logical step in bringing these great deals to a wider audience” says Mark Southby, managing director of CheckInTonight.Asia

Available on Google Play the app has similar features to the iOS app. They include daily deals from 11 am to midnight with discounts up to 70%, city list organised by country, multi-night stay booking (up to four nights), fast registration, and fast payment getaway.

The app also comes with new features such as a Live in App chat, which allows users to connect directly to the customer support team without having to leave the app.

transavia.com launches apps to enhance travellers’ mobile experience

transavia.com, the Dutch airline and member of the Air France KLM group, has launched mobile apps for both iPhone and Android devices with Mobile Travel Technologies Ltd. (MTT).

The apps have a slick user interface with quick user-friendly search and booking flows. They enable users to carry out flight search and booking, add baggage, view promotions, flight offers and manage bookings.

Roy Scheerder, chief commercial officer at transavia.com, said the apps ensured the airline’s customers enjoy a great mobile experience when booking and flying.

“As well as enabling flight booking and check-in on selected routes a key role of the transavia.com apps is to bring an engaging touch-point, which provides relevant and real-time information to customers during their journey. Already we are seeing great take up in terms of mobile downloads and flight bookings. Additional mobile functionality, such as check-in across all of our routes, is planned for the near future as we continue to improve the apps.”

The apps were built using MTT’s cross platform mobile suite for the travel industry, which supports native apps, hybrid apps, HTML5 mobile web, advanced push notification services and easily integrates with airlines existing systems.