After months of rumors about ownership restructuring, it has been announced that Vietnam Airlines will become the new majority stake-holder in budget airline Jetstar Pacific. Vietnam Airlines will hold approximately 70% of the shares with Australian Qantas holding the other 30%.
Under the new structure, the struggling Jetstar Pacific airline will receive $25 million in funding to upgrade its fleet. The new Jetstar pacific CEO and Chairman are expected to be named in the following weeks.
Mandala Airlines has announced plans to re-launch operations in April 2012. The Indonesian budget airline was grounded in 2011 as it was facing bankruptcy.
Before it was grounded, Mandala Airlines flew 16 domestic routes in Indonesia routes and four international routes. The routes for the re-launch have not yet been announced.
Tiger Airways will operate direct flights between Singapore and Kochi, India, starting on April 27, 2012. There will be four flights per week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
This will be the budget airline’s fifth destination in India, including Bangalore, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, and Tiruchirappalli.. One-way fares start from $110 SGD.
Jetstar Japan, a new budget airline, has announced it will commence domestic flights on July 3, 2012. From its base at Tokyo Narita Airport, the new airline will fly to Osaka, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Okinawa.
This launch date comes ahead of schedule, giving Jetstar Japan an advantage over other up-coming Japanese budget airlines like AirAsia Japan.
Scoot, the new low-cost wing of Singapore Airlines, has revealed its second destination: Gold Coast, Australia. The airline will offer 5 direct flights per week from Singapore to the Gold Coast starting in mid 2012. Tickets will go on sale sometime during the first quarter of 2012.
AirAsia Japan, the up-coming budget airline, has officially received its air transportation business license from the Japanese government. This is a major step in getting AirAsia Japan off the ground, and the airline hopes to launch in summer 2012.
AirAsia Japan plans to offer domestic flights from Tokyo’s Narita Airport to Sapporo, Fukuoka and Okinawa by August 2012. In October, it plans to launch international flights to Seoul-Incheon and Busan, South Korea.
Thai Smile Airline, the up-coming budget wing of Thai Airways, has announced its first destination: Macau. Direct flights from Bangkok to Macau will begin on July 1, 2012. The initial schedule will see two flights per day and ticket sales will begin in April.
Thai Smile is expected to have a fleet of four aircraft by summer 2012. Planned routes for August 1 launch are Bangkok – Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai – Phuket and international routes from Bangkok to Jakarta, Kolkata and Phnom Penh. By fall 2012 Thai Smile will take over Thai Airway’s flights Surat Thani and to Gaya and Varanasi, India.
Thai Smile, an upcoming budget airline, has announced plans to commence its first flight on July 1, 2012. This new budget airline will be based out of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and is wholly owned by Thai Airways.
Destinations have not yet been announced, but Thai Smile is expected to begin as a domestic airline then expand to being a regional carrier. Potential destinations include Kochi, Hyderabad, Luang Prabang, Yangon, Seoul, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau, Danang, Phuket, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.
AirAsia X, the long-haul wing of AirAsia, will be increasing flight frequency from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Tokyo (Haneda), Japan. Starting March 23, 20120, flights will increase from 3 per week to 6 per week
Starting June 22, 2012, the number of flights will further increase to a daily service.
The increase in frequency is part of the airline’s realignment plan which will focus the core markets in Southeast Asia, Australasia, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.
Bangkok Airways has announced it will increase the number of Koh Samui – Hong Kong flights starting March 31, 2012. The frequency will increase from a daily flight to 10 per week.
New flights PG873 Koh Samui – Hong Kong (17:50 – 22:05) operate Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday and PG874 Hong Kong – Koh Samui (09:05 – 11:10) operate Wednesday/Friday/Sunday.
