Staying home?

A man looks on as aircraft operated by Malaysia Airlines are shrouded in haze at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, on March 14, 2014. Photo: CFP

March would normally be a peak time for travel to Malaysia, but a shadow has been cast over tourism to the country following the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 earlier this month.

On Tuesday, the Malaysian government declared that the MH370 had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, with the loss of all on board, including 154 Chinese people.

The accident has triggered a series of reactions, affecting tourism and airlines.

The accident is expected to dampen enthusiasm for trips to Malaysia and hit business for Malaysia Airlines in the short term, but travelers are still enthusiastic about traveling to Southeast Asian countries and regions, said industry insiders.

On Wednesday, one of the largest travel agencies in Beijing, China CYTS Tours Holding Co, announced that it will suspend travel package services with Malaysia Airlines due to the MH370 accident.

“Many Chinese travelers now have doubts about the safety of Malaysia Airlines, and have canceled their plans to go to Malaysia,” Ge Lei, marketing director at CYTS, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Ge was echoed by Yang Weiyi, a member of the marketing staff at Beijing Jettour Holiday International Travel Agency Co, which mainly focuses on tourism in Southeast Asia.

According to Yang, the firm’s business involving trips to Malaysia has fallen a lot in the first quarter of this year.

The number of travelers to Malaysia “decreased by nearly 10,000″ compared to the same quarter last year, Yang said, without revealing the total number of orders the company has received so far this year.

“There are various reasons for the drop, but the MH370 accident has worsened the situation,” Yang said. “Travelers are concerned about the planes.”

A staff member from Beijing-based China International Travel Service Ltd, who declined to be named, told the Global Times Thursday that tours to Malaysia have “dropped a lot,” but the company has no plans to halt its cooperation with Malaysia Airlines yet.

On Thursday, however, two Chinese online travel agencies, elong.com and ly.com, announced an indefinite sales suspension for trips involving Malaysia Airlines, with immediate effect. The companies said the airline’s handling of the accident was “not satisfactory.”

China currently accounts for 12 percent of tourists to Malaysia, according to a research report released earlier this month by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, adding that tourists from China account for 6 percent of Malaysia’s total tourism receipts, or 0.4 percent of the country’s annual GDP.

Malaysia has always been a hot destination. According to figures from the China National Tourism Administration, travelers from China to Malaysia hit 1.73 million in 2011, up 68 percent from the previous year, although the number dropped to 1.37 million in 2012.

There were more than 940,000 tourists from China to Malaysia in the first half of 2013, up 24.5 percent from the previous year, Malaysia’s Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Aziz was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency in October 2013.

Meanwhile, the cooling of interest in Malaysia will not dampen enthusiasm for travel in Southeast Asia, insiders said.

“The accident won’t affect travel in the region in the long term,” Liu Chunhui, a tourism market watcher, told the Global Times Wednesday, noting that the market size of Malaysia accounts for “about 20 percent of packages to Southeast Asian countries and regions.”

Yang from Jettour also said that Malaysia only accounts for about 10 percent of her company’s Southeast Asia travel packages, less than Thailand and Singapore.

Guo Tao, an organizer of an online backpacker traveling group, told the Global Times Wednesday that most of the group’s members said they would not choose Malaysia Airlines in the future, but the accident will not dampen their enthusiasm for traveling to Southeast Asia, as “the tourist spots there are still their favorites in terms of cost and distance.”

Airlines announce new plane deals, flight routes

Finnair

Finnair is scheduled to reopen its direct Helsinki-Xi’an route on Sunday, part of its strategy to meet increasing demand for travel between Europe and China.

Finnair first launched its seasonal direct services between Helsinki and Xi’an, the capital of Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, on June 14, 2013, adding Xi’an as its fifth destination in China.

As the first airline to offer direct flights between Xi’an and Europe, the Finnish airline also offers fast and efficient transfers to more than 60 European destinations via its Helsinki hub.

In addition to the three weekly flights from Xi’an, Finnair also flies four times per week from Chongqing and daily from Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Air China

Air China celebrated the 20th anniversary of PhoenixMiles, its customer loyalty program, in Beijing on March 21.

According to Air China, the program has attracted nearly 30 million members, along with more than 200 cooperative partners in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou. It offers services including catering, traveling, banking, and fashion.

Members can accumulate air miles when using services provided by partners in the program, and can use them to get tickets, ticket upgrades and online shopping gifts.

Hainan Airlines

Hainan Airlines said Wednesday that the company will use a Boeing 787 to fly on routes from Beijing to Toronto starting from Monday. The route will provide services three times per week, and the flights will be frequent-to-daily from May 1. 

Hainan Airlines also said that it will offer frequent-to-daily flights on the route from Wuhan to Qingdao starting from Sunday, using a Boeing 737-800. It will also add a new route from Wuhan to Dalian from Sunday as well, with flights on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Tigerair

Singapore’s Tigerair has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Airbus for the purchase of up to 50 A320neo aircraft for future fleet renewal and growth. The deal covers 37 firm orders plus 13 options.

The aircraft will be powered by Pratt Whitney PW1100 engines and will be operated by the airline across its Asia-Pacific route network.

Tigerair, established in 2004, comprises three airlines – Tigerair Singapore, Tigerair Mandala (Indonesia) and Tigerair Australia.

Collectively, the group’s network extends to over 50 destinations across 14 countries and regions in Asia-Pacific.

The group currently operates an all-Airbus fleet of 48 A320-family aircraft, averaging less than three years of age.

Boeing

Boeing has kicked off expansion of its 737 Commercial Delivery Center (CDC) at Boeing Field airport in Seattle. The project more than doubles the space that will be available for customers and groups, supporting increased 737 deliveries.

The expanded CDC will be more than 90,000 square feet and include a new three-story building, as well as new delivery and departure areas with three covered jetways, the company said.

Production of the Boeing 737 is set to increase to 42 airplanes per month in April and to 47 airplanes per month in 2017. That is an increase in output of nearly 50 percent since 2010.

Staying home?