MEXICO: Mexico Wants More Asian Tourists As Lourdes Berho Quits As CEO Mexico Tourism Board

DRIVEN by the improvement of direct connectivity and tourism facilitators, such as the visa system, Mexico expects the number of inbound travellers to surge from 35 million last year to about 42 million by 2020, said Maria Teresa Solis, Mexico’s vice-minister for tourism planning and policy.

The number of Asian visitors to Mexico is expected to more than double by 2020 from 500,000 last year.

“In Mexico, we are doing several things. We are working with Mexican destinations and with the private sector to strengthen a sustainability certifications,” she said in an exclusive interview with The Nation.

“We have one destination, called Huatulco, which has been awarded Earth Check Platinum, due to its high standards in terms of energy use [and] water and waste disposal.

“We are also doing the same with hotel, restaurant, small and micro businesses. They are getting sustainability certification,” she said.

The “S” mark will be bestowed by the tourism secretary on any business with good sustainable practices.

The United Nations is promoting 2017 as the international year for sustainable tourism development. Mexico has launched a major campaign, including radio and TV shows, to build awareness among the public.

“In Mexico, our key challenge is to catch up with the rapid growth of tourism in some destinations, such as Cancun, Riviera Nayarit and Los Cabos, especially in the allocation of public services to both tourists and local people, including water supply, light, housing and schools,” Solis said.

“We are building a new airport in Mexico City as the existing airport is insufficient. At a cost of US$9.1 billion [Bt315 billion], the new airport will be ready by 2020, and once fully completed, it will handle about 120 million passengers a year.

“The new airport is designed by well-known British and Mexican architects, respectively Norman Foster and Fernando Romero.”

About 35 million tourists came to Mexico last year, of whom 58 per cent were from the United States, 14 per cent from Central and South America, 11 per cent from Canada, 13 per cent from Europe and 4 per cent from the rest of the world, including Asia.

The growth of the tourism industry in Mexico, which represents 8.7 per cent of gross domestic product, will be driven by the country’s continuing improvement of direct connectivity and such things as easier visa processing, Solis said.

However, 85 per cent of the country’s tourism is by domestic travellers.

All Nippon Airways as of February 16 began operating direct flights between Tokyo and Mexico City.

China Southern as of April 11 began flying directly between Guangzhou and Mexico City.

Aeromexico will launch on May 27 a direct service between Seoul and Mexico City.

“It costs about $170 for the multiple visa to come to Thailand. However, Thai citizens will pay only $36 for a multiple visa to Mexico, which will be valid for six months,” she said.

Guillermo Eguiarte, director of the Mexico Tourism Board, said that considering flight connectivity and growth of the market, a growing middle class and more people heading to long-haul destinations, by 2020 Asia’s share of the Mexican tourism market would double to 8 per cent.

Thailand is a hub for the Southeast Asian market, he said.

“Our objective is to begin to improve awareness of Mexico and each destination with the local travel industry and partner with the main airlines that have flights to Mexico with fewer stops, such as ANA, Aeromexico and China Southern,” he said.

Meanwhile,Lourdes Berho has stepped down as CEO of the Mexico Tourism Board after less than a year in the position to return to the private sector, according to a statement from Sectur, Mexico's tourism ministry.

Tourism secretary Enrique de la Madrid named Hector Flores Santana as her replacement, effective May 1. Flores has held various executive positions with Sectur.

Berho is the founder of Alchemia, a marketing communications company focused on travel and tourism, innovation and sustainability. From 2004 to 2008, she was CEO of Conde Nast for Mexico and Latin America.

De la Madrid thanked Berho for her efforts to streamline the country's tourism-promotion efforts, citing high-profile events such as last month's Tianguis Turistico expo in Acapulco and the National Football League's return to Mexico City last fall.

2017 Best Airlines

For many locals and expatriates in the UAE, frequent travel is a part of life. They spend a great deal of time in the stratosphere, jetting off to another country three times a year, on average, according to a study. This is why choosing the best airline to travel with is very important for a lot of people.

AirlineRatings.com, which regularly reviews carriers around the world, has recently released its list of top 10 airlines for 2017, to let flyers know which ones excel in offering safety, comfort and service in the sky, and are able to maximise their profits at the same time.

According to the ratings agency, the airline that shows "exceptional performance" is Air New Zealand.

Winning the "airline of the year" award for the fourth time in a row, the Kiwi airline bested other carriers for its exemplary financial performance, in-flight innovations, operational safety, environmental leadership and motivation of its staff.

“In our objective analysis, Air New Zealand came out number one in virtually all of our audit criteria, which is an exceptional performance,” said AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas.

Also worthy of high praises are other airlines that comprise the rest of the top ten list for 2017: Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic/Virgin Australia, British Airways, Etihad Airways, All Nippon Airways, Eva Air and Lufthansa.

AirlineRatings picked the top ten airlines using four major international industry and government audits and nine key criteria, including fleet age, passenger review ratings, profitability, investment rating and key product offerings.

Emirates, included in last year’s edition, is missing in the top ten, but it did get the best in-flight entertainment award.

“The crash of the 777 was a serious blow to the airline’s safety record and thus, it has slipped out of the top ten,” Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief, AirlineRatings.com, said.

Qantas scooped three awards for offering the best domestic airline service, catering and lounges.

The UAE’s Etihad Airways earned the award for having the “best first class”, while Virgin Australia won best business class.”

The “best cabin crew” award went to The Virgin Group
- Virgin Australia
- Virgin Atlantic
- Virgin America.

For excellence in long haul travel, the following airlines did it best:
- Delta Air Lines (Americas)
- Virgin Atlantic (Europe)
- Etihad (Middle East/Africa)
- Singapore Airlines (Asia/Pacific).

In terms of value and safety in the low-cost airline sector, the following stood out:
- Virgin America (Americas)
- Norwegian (Europe)
- Kulula.com (Africa/Middle East)
- Scoot (Asia/Pacific)

JAPAN: 127 ANA Domestic Flights Canceled Due To Systems Failure

A computer system malfunction forced Japan’s All Nippon Airways to cancel more than 120 domestic flights on Tuesday, affecting some 16,000 travelers, the carrier said.

ANA ground staff at Tokyo’s Haneda airport apologised to stranded passengers, some who could be seen making mobile phone calls and sending text messages while children sat on the floor of the crowded terminal hall playing video games.

Passengers lined up patiently at counters to arrange new reservations for later flights as the airline’s reservation and check-in hall overflowed with inconvenienced travelers.

ANA said it spotted something wrong at about 8:20 a.m. Tuesday and though the problem was largely resolved about three hours later, at least 127 domestic flights were cancelled by afternoon.

The trouble stopped reservations, ticket sales and boarding procedures, affecting the travel plans of at least 16,100 passengers at 49 airports throughout Japan as of 3 p.m., the airline said.

“The boarding procedure system recovered at 11:30 a.m., but we still have trouble with reservations and ticket sales,” spokeswoman Natsuki Uota said Tuesday afternoon.

The airline was investigating what caused the system to go down.

JAPAN: Japanese Airline Profits Dive On Tourism

Japan's two-biggest airlines reported soaring profits Friday as a surge in tourism and lower fuel costs beefed-up their bottom line.

Japan Airlines (JAL) and rival All Nippon Airways (ANA) credited a weak yen for helping boost tourism into Japan as it makes a country often seen as too expensive much cheaper for visitors.

Plunging oil prices have also been good for carriers as it cuts down on what is often their single-biggest expense.

"The Japanese aviation industry is enjoying a sharp decline in oil prices and the growing number of visitors to Japan, which continued to sustain its bottom-line," said Hiroshi Hasegawa, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities.

"If oil prices remain low for now, JAL and ANA will likely show sizable profit gains for the next fiscal year."

The parent company of ANA said its nine-month net profit jumped 40 percent thanks to growth in its international business, while it also announced it would buy three Airbus A380s for $1.25 billion as it expands its overseas routes.

ANA Holdings' net profit in the April-December period rose to 73.3 billion yen ($606 billion), and the company revised up its fiscal year profit forecast by about a quarter.

JAL said net profit for the same period soared 20 percent to 143.69 billion yen, thanks to an increase in the number of international visitors to Japan.

"Passenger traffic increased as a result of capturing the robust demand from inbound travellers especially on North America, China and Southeast Asia routes," JAL said in a statement.

ANA said its international demand "on certain routes from Japan" were dented temporarily after the jihadist attacks in Paris in November, but it added that the impact was limited.

JAL has suspended flights between Narita airport and Paris after demand took a hit following the November attacks in the French capital.

The carrier has said it will extend the suspension until March 15.

The airline had operated one round trip a day between Paris and each of the two main Tokyo airports -- Narita and Haneda.

JAL has continued the normal operations of flights between Haneda and Paris.

The two airlines have been locked in a spat over the allocation of landing slots at Haneda, after JAL emerged from one of the nation's biggest-ever bankruptcies following a government rescue.

"JAL is steadily on course to a full recovery," Hasegawa said.

The airline re-listed its shares in Tokyo in 2012 to mark a spectacular turnaround three years after it went bankrupt with massive debts and saw its stock delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

JAPAN: Fifth Postponement For The Mitsubishi Regional Jet

Mitsubishi Aircraft will yet again push back the much-anticipated first flight of its new passenger jet, this time from next week to the week of Nov. 9, citing upgrades to a cockpit part.

The change marks the fifth postponement for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, the first commercial jet airliner developed in Japan. It also goes to show that engineers and senior officials were not keeping in step with one another at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries subsidiary.

The company will modify parts of the rudder pedals in the cockpit. The pedals move the rudder for yaw control, and improvement is intended to broaden the scope of the rudder's side-to-side movement. A wider movement makes it easier to stabilize an aircraft in bad weather should one of the two engines fail.

Still, the upgrade is not absolutely necessary for the first flight, according to Mitsubishi Aircraft. This is because the maiden flight will not take place in rain or other inclement weather as it is designed to check basic performance, such as taking off, flying and landing.

For this reason, the improvement was originally scheduled for after the first flight. Yet a call came at the last minute to make the change out of a concern for safety, indicating a lack of communication among those involved in development.

When it announced its fourth postponement in April, Mitsubishi Aircraft said it was giving priority to making a near-perfect jet that would require few improvements after the first flight. What's more, President Hiromichi Morimoto, who was sent to the company in April to oversee the development team, had pledged to make the maiden flight happen in October.

Friday's announcement of the delay disappointed many aviation aficionados. Anticipating large crowds for the MRJ debut, a regional airport in Nagoya selected for the flight test had even decided to close the observation deck from Sunday to Nov. 1.

The jet was initially scheduled for its first takeoff back in 2011. The flight has been postponed several times since for design and manufacturing reviews. This time around, the improvement will not involve any defects in equipment or systems, and the company still plans to stay on schedule with regard to obtaining government certification in spring 2017 and delivering the aircraft to ANA Holdings' All Nippon Airways sometime between April and June of that year.

The jet is set to be screened by the transport ministry next week for a flight permit, to be followed by a high-speed runway test. "We will make the jet ready for flight anytime," said a Mitsubishi Aircraft official.

However, Senior Executive Vice President Nobuo Kishi, who oversees engineering, warned, "you never know what could happen." Aircraft development is full of pitfalls, something newcomer Mitsubishi Aircraft is learning the hard way.

JAPAN: Haneda Expands China Flights To Handle Influx

Haneda Airport has steadily expanded from mostly domestic flights into a full-fledged international airport over the past five years. With its prime downtown Tokyo location, it offers easier access to the capital for passengers on long-haul flights from a wide range of overseas destinations, including major cities in Asia, the U.S., Europe, Oceania and the Middle East.

China, in particular, is making the effects of its bulging economic muscle felt in the skies over Japan, and Haneda is now responding to the soaring number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan. On Oct. 25, the airport's daytime slots for flights to and from mainland China will increase sharply.

Chinese budget carriers, such as Spring Airlines, have also started using the airport by obtaining early-morning and late-night slots.

"This is the kind of growth in passenger traffic we have never experienced before," said a marketing executive at All Nippon Airways, a unit of ANA Holdings, marveling at the explosive increase in the number of Chinese passengers flying to Japan that began in February.

Surge in travelers

In August, some 590,000 people from the Chinese mainland traveled to Japan, a 2.3-fold jump from a year earlier, according to the Japan National Tourist Organization. The ANA's flights on routes between Japan and China are running at around 85% capacity, higher than those for its services involving destinations in the U.S. and Europe, which have been the airline's traditional cash cows.

In response to the deluge of Chinese visitors, the transport ministry decided to expand Haneda-based air routes to China, implementing a plan that had been suspended for some time due to strains in the relationship between the two countries.

Haneda's daytime slots for flights to and from China will be increased to 140 per week, with the added slots allocated to major Japanese and Chinese airlines.

From Oct. 25, both ANA and Japan Airlines will start operating two Haneda-based round-trip flights to Beijing and Shanghai. They will also launch a new daily round-trip flight between Tokyo and Guangzhou. The new services will increase transport options and boost travel convenience for tourists flying between Japan and China's coastal areas.

JAPAN: Vanilla Air Flys To Hong Kong

Where are the mascots? Vanilla Air’s new service from Tokyo Narita to Hong Kong launched initially, thrice-weekly flights.

Frequency will have increased to twice-daily flights. Hong Kong becomes Vanilla Air’s sixth route from Narita. The airport pair is already served by three other carriers, including Vanilla Air’s parent company, All Nippon Airways.

Vanilla Air, the fully-owned LCC subsidiary of All Nippon Airways, launched thrice-weekly (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays) flights between Tokyo Narita (NRT) and Hong Kong (HKG). Frequency will increase to daily and then twice-daily.

The 2,940-kilometre route will be operated by the airline’s A320s and will face competition from Cathay Pacific Airways (28 weekly flights), All Nippon Airways (14) and Japan Airlines (seven).

Hong Kong becomes Vanilla Air’s sixth route from Narita, with a seventh (Kaohsiung in Taiwan)

JAPAN: Japanese MRJ Regional Jet First Test Flight In Late October

Japanese twin-engine MRJ will conduct its first test flight in Japan in late October, announced Monday the aircraft manufacturer Mitsubishi Aircraft, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group (MHI).

After four postponements, the maiden flight is now expected in the second half of October at a date to be precisely defined. The commissioning of the first Japanese aircraft line is still scheduled in 2017. It will be available in two versions: the MRJ-70 with 78 seats as standard single-class layout and MRJ-90 with 86 to 96 seats. Two Pratt & Whitney PW1200G turbofan, whose certification is expected soon, will equip the unit.

The MRJ has so far registered 407 orders including 223 farms, says Mitsubishi Aircraft. The launch customer All Nippon Airways (ANA) bought 15 RJ-90 (plus 10 options). Btw this is the MRJ-90 model which recorded the entire firm orders, including 100 units for the US partner SkyWest Airlines or 32 for Japan, while the little brother the MRJ-70 does not always account . The Japanese regional aircraft will compete with short and medium haul of brézilien Embraer and Bombardier of Canada.