Jetstar Asia looks to boost footprint in Malaysia.

Date: 4 March 2013

Jetstar Asia looks to boost footprint in Malaysia.

  

JETSTAR Asia, an affiliate of Australia's low-cost carrier the Jetstar group, is looking at stronger footprint in Malaysia by providing more frequencies from its hub in Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Chief executive officer Barathan Pasupathi said the airline has the opportunity to increase flight frequencies into those markets that it currently operate in, as well as looking at select new markets.

For its Malaysia market, Jetstar Asia flies from Changi International Airport (Singapore) to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Penang International Airport, and vice versa. It first started flying to Malaysia in 2008.  Although being a low-cost carrier, the airline does not fly to the low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) as it wants to provide convenience to its passengers, especially via the express rail link (ERL) train to connect from the airport to the city.

However, Pasupathi said Jetstar Asia will move to the new LCCT, klia2, once it begins operating in June. "That is definitely something that we are looking forward to because it basically has the same conveniences as the main terminal at KLIA. As long as our customers' convenience is there and it is easy for them to connect to the city, we will definitely move to klia2," he told Business Times recently.

When asked about the possibility of adding Sabah and Sarawak as Jetstar Asia's new destinations, he said that it is something the airline is looking at very closely as the markets are interesting and "the growth there is just booming". “But our immediate target is to focus on Kuala Lumpur and Penang by boosting flight frequencies and adding more seats into this market, and connecting these routes to our network into and out of Singapore," said Pasupathi.

As of October last year, Jetstar Asia has increased its capacity to key and emerging markets across its Southeast Asian network by 70,000 extra seats for services from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Phuket and Yangon.

Jetstar Asia is operating 61 weekly return services between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and, thus, providing customers with more timely connections to popular services through Singapore to Manila, Perth and Taipei. The airline currently has a daily return service between Singapore and Penang and Pasupathi said there is a potential to add more services over the next few months.

Jetstar Asia started its operations in December 2004 and currently operates more than 400 weekly flights to 24 destinations across 13 countries in the Asia Pacific region. It flies from its hub in Singapore to Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand and Thailand, among others.

The airline carried about 3.4 million passengers last year and expects to carry four million passengers this year. As at December 2012, Jetstar Asia has 18 Airbus A320 aircraft and the carrier expects to have a minimum of 19 A320s by year-end. The carrier received the first of six new A320s in October last year as part of its fleet rejuvenation programme.

By Bilqis Bahari 

Copyright © 2011 The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad

'High speed rail link to change overall Malaysia, S'pore tourism landscape'.

Date: 22 February 2013

'High speed rail link to change overall Malaysia, S'pore tourism landscape'.

SINGAPORE: Additional connectivity via the High Speed Rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore will see overall changes in the tourism landscape of Malaysia and Singapore, said Tourism Malaysia director for Singapore, Noor Ainee Ismail.

She said: "The additional connectivity is foreseen to  change the overall tourism setting of both countries. Especially the Malaysian tourism sector, we are positive of seeing a growth in the number of arrivals. It may also encourage the current day-trippers (to Johor Baru) who have time-constraints to explore further destinations such as Kuala Lumpur itself," she told Bernama.

At the Malaysia-Singapore Leaders' Retreat 2013 in Singapore on Tuesday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib  Razak and his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong agreed to build the High-Speed Rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, expected to be completed by 2020.

With the new transport system, it is expected to take only 90 minutes to travel from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and vice-versa.

According to Noor Ainee, the high speed train will not just see the increase of arrivals into Kuala Lumpur alone. "We are certain that there will be spill-overs to other nearby states such as Perak, Kedah and Pahang," she said.

When asked whether, the rail link would have an impact to other mode of transport, Noor Ainee replied: "Some travellers’ travelling pattern will definitely change when given the option of the high speed train as it serves as a solution to a few issues that may be encountered in travelling (from Singapore) to Kuala Lumpur or beyond.

Citing travelling via road (coach/self-drive), she said travellers may think of encountering traffic congestion, long travelling hours or safety aspects of self-drive. Travelling via flights, for instance, she said the airport might be far from the city, transfer to airport from the city would take approximately 1.5 hours by road, whilst prices were subject to fluctuation    Quoting a poll conducted by Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Noor Ainee said:" CNA in getting viewers’ choice of transportation with the new high speed train being an option, 89 per cent out of 117 respondents preferred the new option.

She pointed out that the rail link could also be an opportunity for local coach companies to explore other business models that could complement the new rail link and expand their services to further destinations in Malaysia. Besides that, she said coach companies would still have an edge over the rest in terms of cost. - BERNAMA

Copyright © 2011 The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad

Singapore-KL travel to benefit from new high-speed rail link.

Date: 20 February 2013

Singapore-KL travel to benefit from new high-speed rail link.

THE proposed high-speed rail system linking Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in 90 minutes is set to be a game changer for travel between the two cities, as airlines and bus companies mull over how to remain competitive.

Scheduled for completion in 2020, it will dramatically cut the journey between the two cities, which currently averages eight hours by rail. Ticket prices and end-point station locations have not yet been announced.

The agreement, touted to be the biggest joint infrastructure project by the two countries, was unveiled by Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak as they wrapped up their annual leaders’ retreat in Singapore yesterday.

Responding to the development, Sebastian Yap, a committee member of the Express Bus Agencies Association, told TTG Asia e-Daily: "This is a huge blow to our routes between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, but this is all part of the developing technology today so we have no choice but to embrace it.”

Yap said that coach operators would have to change the way they operate and added that buses could offer travellers the option of visiting other cities in Malaysia apart from Kuala Lumpur.

Lotus Ooi, general manager, Konsortium Express & Tours, agreed. “We will have to look at new options now to complement each other (in order) to meet changing market demand,” he pointed out.

Logan Velaitham, CEO of AirAsia Singapore, however, felt there would be minimal impact on the LCC. “We compete against our cost at all times and not against others’. In addition to a cost strategy, AirAsia adopts a ‘value innovation’ strategy by carefully studying market relevance and embracing technology to help improve efficiency and stay relevant in the ever-changing market.” (See CAPA's detailed analysis on air traffic impact.)

Apart from the planned fast trains, the two leaders visited joint projects in Johor and broke ground for the first of two wellness projects in Medini Iskandar, reported local broadsheet The Straits Times. The two-hectare Afiniti in Medini North will have a wellness centre, shops, residences, a corporate training centre, as well as a 310-unit serviced apartment managed by CapitaLand's Ascott. The other project, Avira, will be located at Medini Central.

The prime ministers also witnessed the signing between CapitaLand, Temasek Holdings and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings for a waterfront township to be built on a manmade island in Danga Bay, which will have a marina, a shopping mall, office space, homes and recreational facilities.

By Lee Pei Qi, Singapore

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