Page 30 - AAA MARCH - APRIL 2015 Online Magazine

NEWS

INduSTRy NEWS ANd uPdATES

Langkawi is AirAsia’s Latest
International Hub
AirAsia has announced the premier
holiday destination of Langkawi as its
latest and newest international hub
in Malaysia, right after it unveiled
the ASEAN-Malaysia Chairmanship
Vietjet Launches New Domestic Route aircraft livery during the LIMA-2015 .
Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (local time) and arrive in ho Chi Minh Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Group CEO
(“Vietjet”) has announced the launch of City at 10.50am (local time). The flight of AirAsia said, “We are very excited
a new domestic route between ho Chi duration per section is approximately 1 about this…We plan to put five planes in
Minh City and Chu Lai. hour and 15 minutes. Langkawi and generate approximately
The new route will commence Located in the Quang Nam Province on 1 million to 1.5million passengers
operations on May 27 with four flights the South Central Coast of Vietnam, Chu through Langkawi very quickly. We will
every week on Monday, Wednesday, Lai is well known to be a sea port, urban obviously focus on ASEAN destinations
Friday and Sunday. The flight will depart industrial area and is the site of the Chu Lai and gradually expand the connectivity
from Tan Son Nhat International Airport Open Economic Zone. By launching this new to China and India, which are both very
in ho Chi Minh City at 7.45am (local route, Vietjet hopes to further boost tourism, strong routes. It is exciting news for the
time) and arrive at Chu Lai International economic development and potential trade state of Kedah and exciting news for job
Airport at 9.00am (local time). The return relations between the region and other creation as we will base pilots and cabin
flight will take off from Chu Lai at 9.35am major cities across Vietnam. crew in Langkawi”.
“By making it a hub, we hope to
contribute further to the growth of
Inmarsat Completes Successful Transition of Key Services to Alphasat traffic of this airport. Kudos to the
Inmarsat, the leading provider of Alphasat was built through a public– Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun
global mobile satellite communications private partnership (PPP) between Razak, Dato’ Seri Idris Jala and Minister
services, announced the successful the European Space Agency (ESA) and of Transport, Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai,
transition of key voice and broadband Inmarsat, and remains one of the largest for having a great vision, and taking
data services for the EMEA region from PPP telecom projects in Europe. It was proactive steps in making the Asean
Inmarsat-4 F2 (I-4 F2) to Alphasat, constructed under the ESA initiative policy work,” added Fernandes.
Europe’s largest and most sophisticated to provide a new spacecraft platform Aireen Omar, Chief Executive Officer
telecommunications satellite. (Alphabus), capable of carrying the largest of AirAsia Berhad said,“We have been
The services transitioned overnight state-of-the-art communications payload. campaigning for a while now, and we
(24-25 March), during a regular Alphasat and I-4 F2 will continue to are pleased to know the government
maintenance window for the EMEA jointly provide services over the EMEA and the airport are beginning to see
region, include four of Inmarsat’s market- region until the transition of the last two the benefits of low cost carriers and
leading mobile satellite communication services – L-TAC1 and IsatData Pro2 – understand that with the right cost
services; FleetBroadband (for maritime), scheduled to be completed by the end of structure, we can grow the airport and
SwiftBroadband (for aviation), BGAN Q2 2015. Following this, I-4 F2 will be churn new businesses. We have a great
(for land-based communications), and flown to a new orbital position to create a airport here in Langkawi but it is under-
Classic Aero. Inmarsat’s GSPS services fourth L-band region, serving the Middle utilised. We firmly believe Langkawi
for EMEA have been operating on East and Asia (MEAS). developed in have a huge potential to grow as an
Alphasat since November 2013. partnership with ESA.” international hub.”

30 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS MARCH / APRIL 2015 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM