LOW-COST CARRIER TERMINAL & KLIA 2

[nazrey]

Malaysia Airports May Expand Budget Terminal in Six Months
10-11-2006
Bloomberg
By Liza Lin


Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd wants to expand its low-cost terminal to accommodate a million more international passengers within the next six months, its managing director said.

``We find that there is good growth on international passengers,'' Managing Director Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid said in an interview today in Singapore, where he is attending an aviation conference.

The move follows AirAsia Bhd.'s quick expansion of its international operations in the region, Bashir said. AirAsia, Southeast Asia's largest budget carrier, said it may carry 15 million passengers in the year ending June 2007, 61 percent more than the 9.3 million a year earlier.

Malaysia opened its discount carrier terminal, which has a capacity of 10 million passengers a year, in March this year. The country, the first in Asia to open a low-cost terminal, is joining its neighbors in expanding airport facilities as air travel becomes more affordable in Southeast Asia.

The country received a record 8.17 million tourists in the first half of this year, 3.5 percent more than a year earlier, the Ministry of Tourism said in an Aug. 3 statement. Malaysia has been receiving a steady average of about 1.3 million foreign investors a month.

Malaysia Airports said in March that the terminal may see the number of passengers doubling to 10 million by 2010.

[klbloke]

LCC Growth Roils Asian Distribution

By Neelam Mathews

NOVEMBER 06, 2006 -- The growth of low-cost carriers in Asia and their need to cut operating costs has caused global distribution systems to reconsider their business models, as low-cost carriers in many cases do not list full content in GDSs. Several, including Asian GDS firm Abacus Distribution Systems, are expanding to reach the travel agent community.

Via a general sales agent model, Abacus has a physical presence in 10 cities across India, with the rest covered by GSA partners, said managing director Viveck Verma. Last year, Abacus launched WebConnect, its online booking engine for travel agents, helping it get a share of the online market in India with Makemytrip.com, Indiatimes, Yatra and Travelguru.com among its customers.

"We are working very hard to enhance airline content on Abacus," Verma said. "One of the key achievements was getting Kingfisher Airlines content on Abacus, which has helped our travel agents benefit immensely. It will be difficult for the low-cost carriers to ignore this distribution channel. The clear benefit that airlines gain as a core function of the global distribution system is distribution following efficient management of inventory."

Abacus distributes inventory of major Asian budget carriers, including Jetstar Asia, Jetstar, Valuair, Adam Air, Cebu Pacific, Lion Air and PT Batavia. Verma said this trend would enter India very soon.

The impact of low-cost carriers on the Asian market was making travel distribution firm Travelport "anticipate trends and develop solutions that arm the industry with innovative technology and products that help make change easier to manage," said Brad Holman, managing director of airline services for Asia/Pacific for Galileo, Travelport's global distribution system division, at last month's Wired Travel Asia 2006 conference in Singapore.

Nowhere is the rise of LCCs more apparent than in India, where six startup carriers have debuted in the past three years and already account for 37 percent marketshare. With around 10 more waiting in line for licenses to start operations, the country is expected to be the world's largest low-cost carrier market by 2010, with a predicted marketshare of 70 percent.

However, even though GDS alternatives are not a visible factor in Asia, traditional GDSs are aware they will need to reduce transaction costs per ticket.

In India, the online market is split between bookings done directly through suppliers and those through online travel agencies, a breed gathering momentum.

"Increasing e-commerce brings a challenge—making information available readily, online booking faster and more user-friendly. We see online travel agencies as our partners and another distribution channel for us," explains Raj Halve, chief commercial officer of budget GoAir.

With the growth of Internet penetration and rising disposable income, more OTAs will enter the market before consolidation starts to take place. At a recent Eyefortravel.com travel distribution conference, it was apparent Indian travel online is on an upward drive. This was exemplified by the spate of well-funded online ventures launched this year.

Ashwin Damera, founder and CEO of one-year-old Travelguru.com, said the company already was looking at increasing its staff from 250 to 350 by March 2007 and opening 20 retail outlets in five to seven cities, especially Delhi and Mumbai, by the end of next year. "We are about to invest $10 million in the expansion plan, which would be through venture funding." The company is expecting revenues of $40 to $45 million by the end of this year.

Deep Kalra, founder and CEO of Makemytrip.com, India's market leader in the online travel agency segment, estimated the online market in travel and aviation was US$300 million in 2005, and will cross $750 million in 2006. By 2008, Kalra said, it will exceed $2 billion. So apparent is the new equation that Makemytrip.com became the largest issuer of domestic air tickets in India within one year of launch.

Kalra added that the 30 million credit card users and 40 million Internet users in the country were providing a boost to the business.

[klbloke]

Singapore Changi - Looking to the future

Since opening 25 years ago, Singapore's award-winning gateway has consistently invested in new facilities, anticipating future growth.

Airports, by their very nature, are not generally popular with the public. Locals tend to object on environmental grounds, while travellers view them as an unavoidable means to an end: the starting, transit or finishing point to any journey.

To some extent, Singapore Changi, which opened in 1981, started to change those perceptions. Located at the eastern tip of Singapore, some 20 kilometres from the city centre and along the coastal line of the island, there is minimal noise pollution as flight paths are generally over the sea. From the outset, it was designed to be more than ust a passenger processing plant: an excellent shopping complex, cafes, bars and restaurants, and a wide range of entertaining distractions were seen as essential elements for success. So, too, were the in-terminal transit hotels to enable the weary to get their heads down between flights.

And successful it has been, consistently winning accolades from around the world, including, once again, best airport in OAG's Airline of the Year Awards 2006, recapturing the title after briefly ceding it to Dubai last year.

Since the initial ‘Aeropolis’ concept, Singapore Changi added a second terminal in 1990 and extended both Terminals 1 and 2 in the mid-Nineties, with an annual handling passenger throughput now running at around 32.4 million.

Earlier this year, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore opened a Budget Terminal to accommodate the anticipated growth of low-cost carriers in the Asia/Pacific region, and work is now well advanced on Terminal 3, which is scheduled to open in early 2008. Costing S$1.75 billion (US$1.1 billion), it will increase Changi's handling capacity to 64 million a year, which should be sufficient until 2020. The new facility will add 28 aerobridge gates to the existing 67, with up to eight designed to handle the new generation of Airbus A380 super-jumbos, of which Singapore Airlines has 10 on order and options for a further 15. The airport authority has already spent S$60 million (US$38 million) on preparing the existing two terminals to handle the A380, which is now expected to enter service early next year.

A key feature of the new Terminal 3 will be a S$121 million state-of-the-art baggage handling system, designed to enhance Changi's reputation as a major regional hub. Fully-automated, it will include high-speed inter-terminal transfer and early bag storage facilities. This will ensure that the baggage of those passengers with connecting flights at different terminals will be transported individually through underground tunnels at a speed of 7m/second, taking around three minutes for a bag to be transferred from one terminal to the other. And there is an automated storage and retrieval system for bags that are checked-in early or those in transit with lengthy connection times.

The system will also be capable of automatically updating changes in passenger itineraries and to discharge bags to the right connecting flights.

Changi is currently served by more than 80 airlines flying to over 180 cities in 50 countries. In this anniversary year, it plans a series of celebratory events, including a 25-week long shopping festival now under way. To date, more than 30,000 passengers have walked away with prizes ranging from shopping vouchers worth between S$250 and S$25,000, to pens and limited edition airport souvenirs.

[Skyprince]

Air Asia to fly KL - Lahad Datu direct

http://www.airasia.com/site/en/promo...0ae00-6e691073

[fairul]

Originally Posted by Skyprince

Air Asia to fly KL - Lahad Datu direct

http://www.airasia.com/site/en/promo...0ae00-6e691073

KUL-LDU? must be a sharing flight with FAX..the same as KUL-MYY-MZV ...

[Skyprince]

No ! The price starts at RM 49.99, so it must be direct !

[ntly1]

It could be code sharing with FAX beos the biggest aircraft can Lahad Datu Airport accommodate is only Fokker 50. It is impossible for Air Asia's Airbus320/Boeing737-300 to land there.

cheers

[fairul]

guys....great news!!!! heard from my AK friends that the ticket will be as low MYR 500 excluding tax..( thats what he said ...no concrete news yet..)

Flying cheap from KL to London - Budget flights expected to start in July

30 Dec 2006
Anna Maria Samsudin


KUALA LUMPUR: After dominating the regional low-cost-carrier (LCC) market within just five years, airline whizzes Datuk Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamaruddin Meranun are now ready to take on Europe, and London is the likely maiden destination.

Word has it that the Kuala Lumpur-London route would be the first of several more low-cost long-haul air services to be offered.

Scheduled to take off by July next year, it is believed that the service would be the world’s longest LCC route and would fast-track Malaysia into becoming a leading global LCC hub.

Fernandes, who is AirAsia chief executive officer, declined to confirm or deny speculation when contacted by Business Times.

He said the long-haul service was not a model for AirAsia because the airline focused on short-haul travel with flight times of three to four hours.

He said that while he believed there was huge potential for a budget long-haul air service model, “currently, there is no budget long-haul model that we really like”.

“It is just a matter of time before someone comes up with a good model for a low-cost carrier and I hope the innovation would come from Malaysia.

“This would complement our efforts in turning KLIA into the Dubai and Changi for LCCs," he said yesterday.

Although details are sketchy, sources close to the deal said the Kuala Lumpur-London service would be a partnership between AirAsia and Fly Asian Xpress (FAX).

FAX — privately owned by Fernandes, Kamaruddin (picture) of AirAsia and former AirAsia chief financial officer Raja Azmi Raja Razali — is the operator of rural air services in Sabah and Sarawak.

In conjunction with the plan, FAX is in talks with several parties to look for wide-body aircraft, namely Boeing 777s or Airbus 330s, to lease or buy.

The Kuala Lumpur-London flight service would most likely stop over in Dubai and may have two seat classes, economy and "super economy", which is equivalent to business class.

The budget flights will probably seek to land at airports near London where landing charges are lower.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is the only carrier operating non-stop full-service Kuala Lumpur-London routes 18 times weekly.

A check showed the lowest return trip on MAS costs between RM4,000 and RM5,000, including taxes, and RM18,000 for business class.

For the budget flights to be competitive, because they have a stopover, the pricing must be substantially lower to attract travellers.

Analysts contacted by Business Times were positive about a budget Kuala Lumpur-London service, which they believe would open up a new market segment for long-haul flights.

Nevertheless, they said the nature of long-haul flights was different from normal LCC business and required thorough planing to work.

Oasis Hong Kong Airlines is the sole operator of a budget long-haul service via its Hong Kong-London flights that started in October.

It is the second airline in the world, after the defunct Laker Airways Skytrain, to adopt the long-haul budget service model.

Although Oasis has plans to expand to other parts of Europe, market observers said the airline was having difficulties due to the complexity of running a budget long-haul model.

Aviation analyst Shukor Yusof, from Standard & Poor’s Equity Research in Singapore, said the market for long-haul flights was different from the normal LCC market.

He said long-haul business was more complicated and had a higher risk factor.

"LCCs flying long haul must be prepared to see their costs rise in return for lower yields."

On whether the new service would have a negative impact on the national carrier, TA Securities analyst Rosnani Rasul was optimistic that the "cake" was big enough for everyone.

"The new service will create a new market segment. It will not cannibalise MAS."

While optimistic that a budget long-haul service would work, she said details such as food, beverage and entertainment had to be looked into because of the lengthy flight time involved.

"I don’t think they can adopt AirAsia’s current no-frills model."

[Subangite]

Originally Posted by fairul

guys....great news!!!! heard from my AK friends that the ticket will be as low MYR 500 excluding tax..( thats what he said ...no concrete news yet..)

Thats great news!! We'll have to wait for the official announcement though. I don't think govt. owned MAS would be too pleased with this development, they'd probably want to fight and keep their monopoly of the KL-London route. Did your friend say anything about what the MAS position is on all of this? Is MAS agreeable to it?

[fairul]

Originally Posted by Subangite

Thats great news!! We'll have to wait for the official announcement though. I don't think govt. owned MAS would be too pleased with this development, they'd probably want to fight and keep their monopoly of the KL-London route. Did your friend say anything about what the MAS position is on all of this? Is MAS agreeable to it?

nah..she didnt mentioned abt MAS at all...but she did mentioned it wont be LHR ...most probably it will be LGW or STN..

[Skyprince]

Fuiyooo..... RM 500 je..betol ke tu Fairul ??? Tapi nape London je.... sebab beta ni kalau pergi Eropah selalunya pergi ikut Amsterdam .... ada banyak saudara-mara duduk kat situ...

Oasis HK pun guna LGW kan ??

[White_soX]

And you guyz really think government will allow AK operate to LON. Think, this is MH trunk route, where money flow in, I doubt the Malaysia government that nice, they even give AK a hard time to fly to Singapore. Sure, today they talk big, but AK chances to UK is low.........next thing you know the politicians will ask MH to drop their price in response to stop AK.

2 cent

[Subangite]

From an purely simplistic economic analysis of the market behavior. It should be a good thing, competition drives down prices, increases innovation. Competition would be great for MAS!! And most importantly consumers!!

[fairul]

Originally Posted by White_soX

And you guyz really think government will allow AK operate to LON. Think, this is MH trunk route, where money flow in, I doubt the Malaysia government that nice, they even give AK a hard time to fly to Singapore. Sure, today they talk big, but AK chances to UK is low.........next thing you know the politicians will ask MH to drop their price in response to stop AK.

2 cent

never under estimate AK...Richard Branson is behind this....this project will further put KUL as the major low cost carrier hub in Asia...

[White_soX]

Originally Posted by fairul

never under estimate AK...Richard Branson is behind this....this project will further put KUL as the major low cost carrier hub in Asia...

This is not underestimate issue, but more political and rights. Have you heard any word from the gov. yet?

[fairul]

Originally Posted by White_soX

This is not underestimate issue, but more political and rights. Have you heard any word from the gov. yet?

look out for major announcement this Friday by the Transport minister..

[Subangite]

Originally Posted by fairul

look out for major announcement this Friday by the Transport minister..

What, sir Branson himself is behind this??? I hope this is not from the grapevine and that there is some truth to this. Should be great, looking forward to Friday!

Mr. Fairul, are you at liberty to say more?? Whats Bransons involvement in all of this is.

[tomkat]

Saw the news on CNN just now.

The rumour of the formation of an international budget airlines comprises AirAsia + EasyJet + Virgin Atlantic is getting more concrete everyday..

[White_soX]

Easyjet denied having such talk with AK and Virgin.............so how this rumour start afterall...............reason Virgin wants AK is they want their metal to fly to SIN, ThAI and MAS? What ever the annoucement will be, it's gonna be real interesting.................

[^tamago^]

AirAsia to announce new service on Friday
January 3 2007

BUDGET carrier AirAsia said yesterday it would make a major announcement on a new service on Friday after a report that it was considering an alliance with Britain's easyJet and the Virgin group.
"It's a huge announcement. The Transport Minister will be attending the event in Kuala Lumpur at 10am on Friday," a company spokeswoman said by telephone. "It's about a new service." She declined to give further details.

AirAsia's chief executive Datuk Tony Fernandes declined on Monday to comment on a Malaysian newspaper report on the alliance.

The report, quoting unidentified sources, said the three airlines were in talks to form a global no-frills alliance that would offer cheap flights within Asia as well as between Europe to Australia via Kuala Lumpur.

It said the tie-up would give AirAsia access to London's Stansted airport. In return, Richard Branson's Virgin and easyJet would have access to Kuala Lumpur International Airport's low-cost terminal which is the home for AirAsia, it added.

Fernandes told the New Straits Times on Saturday that there was a potential for a budget long-haul air service model.

"It's a matter of time before someone comes up with a good model for a low-cost carrier and I hope the innovation would come from Malaysia," he told the newspaper.

But a spokesman for easyJet said on Monday the British airline had not discussed any such alliance with AirAsia.

"We are not in any talks with AirAsia or Virgin," he said.

The Times newspaper in London reported yesterday that Virgin had re-entered talks with AirAsia about taking a stake in the group, which was founded in 2001 by Fernandes, who began his career in the finance department of Virgin Records.

Virgin Blue, Virgin Group's Asian unit, had discussed investment possibilities with AirAsia in 2003 but this did not materialise at that time.

It is believed a link-up with AirAsia will give Virgin access to Malaysia as well as other countries in the region, including Thailand and Indonesia, The Times said.

A Virgin spokesman refused on Monday to deny Virgin Atlantic has held talks with AirAsia. - Reuters

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_New...9.txt/Article/