SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines Acquires Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner

Boeing and Singapore Airlines celebrated the delivery of the first 787-10 airplane, the newest and largest member of the Dreamliner family and a jet that will set a new global standard for fuel efficiency.

About 3,000 people marked the milestone at Boeing’s facility in North Charleston, South Carolina where the latest 787 model is manufactured.

Like the other 787 Dreamliners, the 787-10 is designed with strong, lightweight composites, the most advanced systems, and comfortable cabin features.

The 787-10, though, features a longer fuselage which allows it to carry about 40 more passengers or a total of 330 seats in a standard two-class configuration.

With the additional capacity, the 787-10 provides airlines the lowest operating cost per seat of any widebody airplane in service today.

It is an honour for us to be the world’s first airline to take delivery of this amazing aircraft, said Mr. Goh Choon Phong, chief executive officer of Singapore Airlines, the 787-10 launch customer.

The 787-10 is a magnificent piece of engineering and truly a work of art. It will be an important element in our overall growth strategy, enabling us to expand our network and strengthen our operations.

Goh added that the 787-10 underscores Singapore Airlines’ longstanding commitment to operate a modern fleet, and marks the start of a new chapter in our shared story with Boeing.

Singapore Airlines – through its subsidiary Scoot – already flies the 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners. With today’s delivery the group will be the first to operate all three Dreamliner models.

Singapore Airlines has 68 additional Boeing widebody jets on order, including 48 additional 787-10s, and 20 of the new 777-9s.

This is a big day for all of us at Boeing and for our global supplier partners. We are thrilled to deliver the first 787-10 Dreamliner to Singapore Airlines, one of the world’s leading carriers.

And we are honored by Singapore’s partnership and trust, as reflected by their repeated orders for the Dreamliner, said Kevin McAllister, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and chief executive officer.

The 787-10 will extend the Dreamliner effect that we are seeing across commercial aviation as the 787’s superior passenger experience and unmatched fuel efficiency helps airlines open new routes and achieve significant fuel savings and emission reduction.

The 787-10’s superior performance and high commonality with its Dreamliner siblings have attracted strong interest from around the world, including in Asia where the jet can connect all points within the region.

The 787-10 also offers Asian operators the flexibility to fly to Europe, Africa and Oceania.

Singapore Airlines plans to puts its 787-10s into scheduled service in May, with flights from Singapore to Osaka, Japan and Perth, Australia.

Prior to the introduction of these services, the aircraft will be operated on selected flights to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur for crew training purposes.



Tourism Observer

THAILAND: 29,881,091 Tourist Arrivals In Thailand In 2015

Thailand managed to attract just under 30 million international visitors last year, according to final figures released by the Tourism Department.

The total of 29,881,091 foreign arrivals represented an increase of 20.4% from the 24.81 million who visited in 2014, statistics posted late Friday on the department's website showed.

Tourism authorities had been forecasting 30 million arrivals for 2015 but the target appeared to be in jeopardy after the Erawan shrine bombings in August, when 20 people including seven foreigners were killed in the heart of Bangkok. Year-on-year growth in arrivals slowed to 8% in September and stalled at 1% in October before resuming a brisk double-digit pace.

Arrivals from China soared 71% last year to 7.93 million, representing 26.5% of all international tourists. Growth from East Asia overall was 36%, helped by a strong performance from Malaysia, up 31% to 3.42 million and accounting for 11% of all visitors. Japan and Korea each accounted for 4.6% of the total with arrivals from the former up 9% and the latter up 22.3%.

European arrivals declined 8.6% overall to 5.63 million, including a 45% plunge from economically troubled Russia to 884,085. Among other large European markets, German arrivals were up 6.3% to 760,604 and UK tourists totalled 946,919, an increase of 4.3%.

Arrivals from the Americas grew 12.3% to 1.23 million, led by a strong gain of 13.6% from the United States, to 867,520 visitors.

South Asia has also become a more promising market with 13.3% growth last year. Visitor numbers from India edged above 1 million for the first time, up 14.6% from a year earlier.

However, arrivals from Oceania fell 2.3%, led by a 3.1% decline in Australian visitor numbers to 805,946. Visitor numbers from Africa declined 1.7% to 161,640, while Middle East arrivals expanded 10% to 658,129.

538 Million Tourists Travel Overseas In First Half Of 2015

The global number of international tourists increased 4% in the first half of 2015, to 538 million travellers.

According to the latest data from UNWTO, this means that 21m more people travelled overseas in the first six months of this year than in the same period in 2014. That’s the equivalent of the entire populations of the Netherlands and Norway being added to global tourism flows.

By region, the growth was strongest in the Caribbean and Oceania (both +7%), followed by Central & Eastern Europe and Central America (both +6%). Western Europe, Northern Europe, Mediterranean Europe, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East all experienced 5% growth. African tourism declined however, with a 10% drop in arrivals to North Africa and a 4% decline in sub-Saharan Africa.

The UNWTO said tourism in 2015 has been impacted by “safety and security.., lower oil prices and currency fluctuations.”

“These results show that, despite increased volatility, tourism continues to consolidate the positive performance it has had over the last five years and to provide development and economic opportunities worldwide,” said UNWTO secretary-general, Taleb Rifai.

“As UNWTO prepares to meet in Medellin, Colombia, for its 21st General Assembly, this is the appropriate moment to call for a stronger support to tourism as the sector has the potential to deliver on some of the most pressing challenges of our time, namely job creation, economic growth and social inclusion.”

According to the UNWTO forecast issued at the beginning of 2015, international tourist arrivals are expected to increase 3-4% worldwide for the whole year, in line with the long-term forecast of an average growth of 3.8% per year set for the period 2010 to 2020.

In terms of outbound tourism, China and India both started the year with double-digit growth, while the US, France, Sweden and Spain remains strong.