expands – The News Desk

Accor expands with 22 new hotels across the Asia-Pacific region – Business Traveller

2Apr

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Accor expands with 22 new hotels across the Asia-Pacific region – Business Traveller

Accor has announced the signing of six new projects in the first quarter of 2024 in key markets across Asia. These recent signings include Pullman Living Bangkok Sukhumvit 16 and Pullman Residences Bangkok Sukhumvit 16, comprising a 200-key hotel and 225-key residential complex. The new property offers convenient access to Rama 4 Road, Ploenchit, Asok, and Thonglor, with amenities including restaurants, bars, an executive club floor, swimming pool, spa, and fitness centre. Novotel Living Bangkok Don Muang presents a combination of an 80-key hotel and 112-key serviced apartments, spread across 19 floors. Offering a range of amenities including restaurants, bars, an executive club floor, swimming pool, spa, and fitness centre. The property will be five minutes away from Bangkok’s Don Mu...

Blacklane Middle East expands all-electric fleet tenfold – Business Traveller

24Nov

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Blacklane Middle East expands all-electric fleet tenfold – Business Traveller

Luxury chauffeur hailing service Blacklane Middle East has announced a tenfold increase in its all-electric fleet size ahead of the COP28 summit in the UAE. Having launched in the UAE in March 2023, Blacklane says that the expansion includes Mercedes EQS-SUVs. It adds that there has been a surge in demand for sustainable transportation solutions in the region, with the service reporting a 200 per cent increase in ride volumes during the last quarter. To accompany the growth in its fleet, Blacklane has also increased the number of its chauffeurs, particularly female chauffeurs. It says that a total of 120 chauffeurs have completed their training at Blacklane’s Chauffeur Training Academy which includes theoretical and simulator-based training and trains for soft skills too. Over 50 per cen...

Malaysia Airlines expands free inflight wifi provision to all passengers – Business Traveller

3Nov

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Malaysia Airlines expands free inflight wifi provision to all passengers – Business Traveller

Malaysia Airlines has introduced free inflight for all passengers on selected aircraft. The service will initially be available on 20 A350, A330-200 and A330-300 aircraft, before being rolled out to selected narrowbody planes in phases. All passengers on these aircraft will be able to connect to inflight wifi for free, regardless of cabin class or loyalty tier. The move follows the provision of free wifi on the above aircraft for Business Suite, business class and Enrich Platinum passengers earlier this year. Malaysia Airlines to trial free wifi for some Customers will be able to connect their personal devices to the MHconnect network to avail of the free wifi, and the previous data cap of 100 MB per sector has been removed. An increasing number of carriers including Delta and Singapore...

25Oct

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Radisson expands its lifestyle brand portfolio in Southeast Asia – Business Traveller

During the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific in Singapore, Radisson Hotel Group has announced its growth and development plans across the Southeast Asia region. As part of these plans, the Radisson group will continue to expand its upscale Radisson RED brand in Danang, Vietnam; Phuket, Thailand; and Cebu City in the Philippines. In the interim, The Radisson Collection brand – a luxury lifestyle proposition in iconic and unique locations – will soon debut in the Southeast Asia region, with upcoming openings in 2024 in Galle (Sri Lanka) and Boracay (the Philippines). Moreover, the Radisson group says it will also continue to accelerate the growth of its upper upscale Radisson Blu brand with new properties in the pipeline for Colombo, Sri Lanka and Hoi An, Vietnam. The group rece...

Hong Kong Airlines expands Japan network – Business Traveller

18Oct

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Hong Kong Airlines expands Japan network – Business Traveller

Hong Kong Airlines will launch two winter season routes to Hakodate and Yonago. Operating from 18 December 2023 to 24 February 2024, these two seasonal services will run four times a week each. Hong Kong Airlines will be the only Hong Kong carrier to serve both destinations. Hakodate, the fifth destination launched by the carrier this year, will see flights operate every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This new route complements the airline’s existing service to Sapporo in Hokkaido. Hong Kong Airlines notes that passengers may start their journeys in Hakodate, then go skiing in Niseko, or visit the hot springs of Lake Toya or Noboribetsu, before wrapping up their adventure in Sapporo. Flights to Hakodate will be operated by Airbus A330-300 widebody aircraft, including lie-...

Fiji Airways expands route network – Business Traveller

22Sep

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Fiji Airways expands route network – Business Traveller

Oneworld connecting partner Fiji Airways will launch a twice-weekly route between its Nadi base and Noumea in New Caledonia. The airline will deploy one of its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft on the route. These seat 170 passengers in a dual-class configuration, comprising eight 2-2 configured business class recliners and 162 economy class seats. Fiji Airways has an existing air service agreement which allows the airline to provide services in French territories in the South Pacific. “Based on this agreement, we were able to negotiate with our counterparts in New Caledonia and select a date for the commencement of services between Nadi and Noumea. We at Fiji Airways are very excited about the prospects of this new route”, said Fiji Airways managing director and chief executive officer, Andr...

All Nippon Airways expands Haneda Terminal 2 route network – Business Traveller

20Sep

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All Nippon Airways expands Haneda Terminal 2 route network – Business Traveller

Starting 29 October, the number of All Nippon Airways (ANA) international flights departing from Tokyo’s downtown Haneda airport Terminal 2, will more than triple, increasing from the current five flights to 16 flights. The 16 international flights will include all ANA flights from Haneda to Europe (London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Munich), as well as flights to Hong Kong, Taipei Songshan, Honolulu, Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai (Hongqiao), Shenzhen, and Vancouver. Some of these services will run multiple times a day, including flights to Frankfurt and Sydney. The minimum transfer time from domestic flights to international flights in Terminal 2 is 55 minutes, allowing passengers to make convenient connections from cities in Japan to overseas destinations via Haneda. To meet the increase in p...

Emirates expands codeshare with Air Canada to include Montréal – Business Traveller

20Aug

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Emirates expands codeshare with Air Canada to include Montréal – Business Traveller

Emirates has expanded its codeshare partnership with Air Canada to include flights to and from Montréal, following the launch of services to Québec’s largest city in July. Emirates customers can plan travel between 11 domestic points beyond Montréal and destinations on Emirates’ network, utilising the services of both airlines on a single ticket. Apart from the 11 destinations that can be accessed by way of the codeshare via Montréal, an additional 69 points are accessible from the gateway on an interline basis. The codeshare partnership between Emirates and Air Canada enables customers to seamless connections via Canada’s two largest cities to points such as Halifax, Edmonton, Ottawa and Calgary. From Toronto, Emirates’ customers can travel to 19 points whilst enjoying codeshare benefit...

Saudi Arabia expands visitor e-visa facility to eight additional countries – Business Traveller

9Aug

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Saudi Arabia expands visitor e-visa facility to eight additional countries – Business Traveller

Saudi Arabia has announced that it will grant visitor e-visa to travellers from eight newly-eligible countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, South Africa, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, for leisure, business and religious (Umrah only) travel. Nationals of these countries can apply for a visitor visa ahead of their journey via the official e-visa portal. The visitor e-visa is valid for an entire year, grants multiple entries, and permits a stay of up to 90 days, reported Saudi Press Agency. Since launching the e-visa programme in 2019, the kingdom has welcomed 93.5 million visits in 2022, a 93 per cent increase compared to 2021, resulting in a tourism spend of SAR185bn ($49bn). This tourism growth is due to expanding visa initiatives, which now include 57 nations and tw...

Solomon Airlines expands fleet and network – Business Traveller

8Aug

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Solomon Airlines expands fleet and network – Business Traveller

Solomon Airlines has announced an expansion of services between the Solomon Islands and Australia from October, following the arrival of the airline’s second international aircraft last month. Its latest A320 is fitted with modern interiors in blue, grey and white tones and all-leather seats across two classes. The 12 business class seats are in a 2-2 configuration. They are 21 inches wide, can recline up to 10 inches, and feature a pitch of 40 inches. The 138 economy class seats are in a 3-3 configuration. These are 17 inches wide, recline up to 3 inches, and offer a generous 33-inch pitch. Commencing 2 October, the Solomon Islands national carrier will increase flight frequency between Brisbane and capital Honiara to five flights weekly “with departure times adjusted to suit increa...