CAPA News Briefs

Hainan Airlines announced (17-Oct-2019) plans to sell 48% stake in Tianjin Airlines to Hainan Airlines Group for CNY6.7 billion (USD946.7 million). Following the transfer, Hainan Airlines Group will hold a 48% stake in Tianjin Airlines, while Hainan Airlines will hold 47.82% and Tianjin Free Trade Zone Investment Holding Group will hold 4.18%. [more - original PR - Chinese]

Tamworth Region Mayor Col Murray welcomed (Oct-2019) Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board approval of Virgin Australia Group's application to lease flight training premises at Tamworth Airport. Under the approval, Virgin Australia is eligible to sublease the premises to the Australian International Aviation College which will join BAE Systems and CAE Australia Flight Training at the premises and will commence pilot training. Mr Murray reported planning for the cadet pilots' arrival is "well advanced" and the airport will "be ready for Virgin Australia's cadet pilots to take up residency here as soon as possible". [more - original PR]

Kenya Airways introduced (17-Oct-2019) 'Economy Comfort', a new economy class seat product for long haul services onboard its Boeing 787 aircraft. 27 Economy Comfort seats are located in the first three rows of economy class. The product features 8cm of additional seat pitch compared to the economy class average. Economy Comfort also includes a dedicated overhead baggage bin, a complimentary amenity kit and pillows. Chief commercial officer Ursula Silling said: "Due to the high demand for Extra Legroom Seats in economy class since the introduction of Preferred Seat Selection in economy last year, we have decided to enhance the service even further". Ms Silling commented on the airline's ancillary services, stating: "We see this income stream making a larger contribution to the overall operations". [more - original PR]

Philippines' Department of Tourism reported (17-Oct-2019) visitor arrivals to the Philippines for Aug-2019. Details include:

• Visitor arrivals: 702,843, +27.5% year-on-year; 
  
  • South Korea: 185,334, +42.9%;
  • China: 170,903, +60.0%;
  • Japan: 78,699, +20.8%;
  • US: 68,418, +4.4%;
  • Taiwan: 32,676, +55.6%;
  • Australia: 17,347, -1.3%;
  • UK: 15,753, +2.5%;
  • Canada: 13,664, +6.4%;
  • Singapore: 12,217, -3.1%;
  • India: 11,307, +18.1%;
  • Malaysia: 9889, -14.6%;
  • Spain: 6610, +20.1%. [more - original PR]

Airservices Australia released (17-Oct-2019) its '2018-19 Annual Report' showing the following highlights:

• 163 million passenger movements in Australia's airspace;
• No significant attributable safety occurrences recorded;
• AUD62.4 million (USD42.6 million) net profit after tax in financial year 2018/2019;
• 2% price reduction implemented from 01-Jul-2019, a real price decrease of 20% since 2015;
• Foundational work for the airport collaborative decision making system was completed;
• Implementation of the long range air traffic flow management platform commenced. [more - original PR]

Ryanair opened (17-Oct-2019) its first MRO centre in Spain at Seville Airport. Details include:

• EUR10 million initial investment, with a total investment of EUR26 million to be spent until 2021;
• 200 staff hired, with up to 465 jobs to be created by 2021;
• Seville now is now one of four Ryanair Boeing 737-800 heavy maintenance centres across Europe. [more - original PR - Spanish]

ICAO reported (11-Oct-2019) national and city representatives attending its Global Urban Tourism Summit officially adopted the Nur-Sultan Declaration on 'Smart Cities, Smart Destinations'. The Declaration recognises the growing popularity of cities as tourist destinations and their potential to drive socio-economic development and promote and preserve unique culture. By adopting the Declaration, destinations also agree to work towards enhancing the contribution of tourism to Goal 11 of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda – to 'make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable'. The Declaration also aligns with UNWTO's Global Convention on Tourism Ethics. [more - original PR]

ICAO secretary general Dr Fang Liu​, speaking at the 2019 Safeskies Conference, stated (17-Oct-2019) the implementation of the recently revised ICAO global air navigation (GANP) and global aviation safety (GASP) plans will underpin the continued safe and sustainable development of the international air transport network. The ICAO Assembly recently endorsed new revisions to GASP and GANP. According to ICAO, these revisions will be instrumental to managing the adoption and integration of the next generation of aircraft and operations, as well as achieving the organisation's "aspirational safety goal of zero fatalities in commercial operations by 2030 and beyond." Dr Fang stated achieving this will require addressing 'high-risk categories' of occurrences, which have been recognised in the GASP as controlled flight into terrain, loss of control in flight, mid-air collision, runway excursions, and runway incursions. [more - original PR]

Amedeo Air Four Plus reported (17-Oct-2019) Emirates estimated its A380 fleet will ultimately stabilise at 80 to 90 aircraft, with the aircraft to continue with the airline well into the 2030s. Amedeo stated it has previously estimated that a fleet of about 100 A380 aircraft will be the "long term hold". Amedeo leases six A380s and two Boeing 777s to Emirates. [more - original PR]

Saint Petersburg Pulkovo Airport reported (17-Oct-2019) the following traffic highlights as of end Sep-2019:

• Passengers: 15.2 million, +8.1% year-on-year;
  • Domestic: 9.2 million, +10.2%;
  • International: 6.0 million, +5%.
• Aeroflot, Pobeda, S7 Airlines and Ural Airlines served 9.1 million passengers, 60.2% of total traffic;
• Lufthansa, Uzbekistan Airways, Belavia, Turkish Airlines and Finnair served 1.1 million, 7.1%.
• Most popular destinations:
  • Moscow;
  • Antalya;
  • Simferopol;
  • Minsk;
  • Sochi;
  • Frankfurt;
  • Kaliningrad
  • Munich;
  • Yekaterinburg;
  • Paris. [more - original PR - Russian]

Xiamen Airlines announced (16-Oct-2019) plans to launch 15 new services during winter 2019/2020 season, eight domestic and seven international services. The international services are: Xiamen-Mandalay, Quanzhou-Cebu/Clark, Beijing-Hong Kong, Harbin-Fuzhou-Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta and Qingdao-Osaka Kansai. The carrier also noted that the number of nonstop services will account for 88.5%, an increase of 15ppts, while its average sector length will be 1668km, an increase of 1.2%. Domestic transfers to Southeast Asia will account for 62.3%, while Southeast Asia transfers to intercontinental services will be 40.9%. [more - original PR - Chinese]

Germany's Government detailed (16-Oct-2019) plans for its proposed aviation tax increase, scheduled to be implemented on 01-Apr-2020, as follows:

• Air traffic tax for intra European destinations will increase by EUR5.53 to EUR13.03 per passenger;
• For medium haul destinations up to 6000km, taxes will increase by EUR9.58 to EUR33.01;
• Long haul taxes will increase by EUR17.25 to EUR59.43.

The increase is expected to raise EUR785 million p/a in additional revenue. The government will also reduce VAT on long distance rail tickets from 19% to 7% from 2020. [more - original PR - German] [more - original PR - II - German]