It’s Tuesday and that can only mean one thing – it’s our Big Fat Airline Wrap and it’s a delicious special on at the pub.

Cathay Pacific Launch Mid-Year Sale

Travel to China, North East Asia, North America and Europe for less with flights starting from $649 return.

The promotion provides Aussies with the chance to explore cultural delights of Beijing from $649 or Taipei from $823, be inspired by artistic architecture in Shanghai from $649 and discover the lights of Los Angeles from $1,599. For those looking to spread their wings a little further, Cathay Pacific is offering flights to London from $1,415.

The sale is available until 6 July 2017 for travel between 19 June 2017 to 31 March 2018. These dates encourage Aussies who’ve not booked their 2017 holiday to do so and travel in award-winning luxury.

Batik Air Expands to Australia

On June 21st, 2017 Batik Air will officially commence operating flights to Perth, Australia from Denpasar, Bali two times a day. Flights from Denpasar will depart at 1.10 pm, 8.40 pm and from Perth to Denpasar will depart at 8.30 am and 6.20 pm.

“For us in Indonesia, Perth is still the most favorite destination in Australia and we believe that there is still a big market for us in Australia “, said Andy M Saladin, Public Relations Manager of Batik Air.

Currently there are more than 20,000 Indonesian students studying in Australia and in 2016 there are more than 100,000 tourists from Australia visiting Denpasar that is why Batik Air is planning to fly to other cities in Australia such as Sydney, Melbourne and Gold Coast.

Earlier this week Batik Air has also opened another international route to Kuala Lumpur from Soekarno – Hatta International Airport in Jakarta on June 10, 2017, and in the future it will soon operate to India via Chennai City.

 50% off 30kg checked baggage on AirAsia

The world’s best low-cost airline, AirAsia, is offering an exclusive promotion to travel agents who are registered on the AirAsia authorised SkyAgent portal.

The promotion enables AirAsia SkyAgent authorised travel agents to offer clients a 50% discount on 30kg checked baggage for new bookings made between 19 – 25 June 2017 for travel departing Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast or Perth to Beijing, Shanghai or Taipei from 19 June to 31 July 2017.

The offer excludes bookings made on www.airasia.com.

Tigerair Launch New Winter Menu – “Street Eats At 30,000 Feet”

With winter setting in, Tigerair Australia has launched its new Tiger Bites seasonal inflight menu featuring the return of popular year round favourites as well as a number of new additions to cater for every budget and taste.

“The theme is “Street Eats At 30,000 Feet” and offers more hot and cold menu items than ever before, at the same time, catering for a broad range of dietary preferences including gluten free, and vegan,” Tigerair Australia Head of Communications Vanessa Regan

New options start from $11 and include thai-grr green curry, butter chicken, Pete’s penne and meatballs, roasted vegetable pie, marg-high-rita pizza, and if you pre-order you can be served first onboard.

“Popular favourites like the jumbo all day turkish and the savoury pastry pack remain on the menu due to popular demand along with numerous new additions like the toasted meatball sub, veggie pastry pack, airy apple clouds mini apple pies, bite size chicken and chips and the fancy chicken sanga.”

The new winter menu is available now on all Tigerair services and continues to provide an extensive choice of hot and cold beverages, soft drinks as well as a range of wine, beer, cider and mixers.

China Airlines to go daily between Taipei and Brisbane

China Airlines, the national carrier of Taiwan, will grow its Taipei-Brisbane and Brisbane-Auckland services to a daily schedule from December 2017. The airline has flown to Brisbane Airport (BNE) since 2003 from its home hub of Taipei, and currently flies four times weekly between Brisbane and Taiwan, including across to Auckland.

The new schedule operates seven days a week with an evening departure.

From vibrant night markets or world class museums through to famous mountain and nature walks, beaches, diving and our ancient indigenous culture, Taiwan has some of Asia’s best shopping, best Chinese food and Taipei-Taoyuan Airport is an easy and fun transit hub to rival Hong Kong or Singapore any day.

China Airlines operates a modern Airbus A330 aircraft to Brisbane with the flight continuing over to Auckland each day.

Island Air and H.I.S Make Island Hopping Easier and Affordable

Start planning your vacation today and Island hop with Island Air and H.I.S. This new partnership offers customers flight and hotel packages with great savings, starting as low as $99 per person.

“Island Air’s partnership with H.I.S. offers locals and visitors another affordable option to fly the Island Way this summer and fall,” said David Uchiyama, Island Air’s president and CEO. “The air and hotel packages offered for all islands are a great deal for those looking to get away for a weekend, or an extended vacation to visit family and friends.”

Customers may book now through July 31, 2017. Travel period is June 3 – October 31, 2017. Price varies by availability of flights and hotel, and applies to flights between Honolulu, Kona, Kahului and Līhuʻe.

Some of the hotels offered include the Kauai Marriott Resort, Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa, Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows and Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa. Cancellation after purchase is non-refundable and changes are not allowed. Other restrictions may apply. For more information on travel packages, visit www.hisgo.com/hawaii.

Virgin America ends Virgin Australia frequent flyer partnership

Virgin America will pull down the shutters on its frequent flyer partnership with Virgin Australia in September 2017, as the Branson-backed US carrier makes ready to be swallowed whole by new owner Alaska Airlines.

The last date for booking Virgin America flights using Velocity points is September 30 2017, with travel no later than January 15 2018. Virgin America’s own Elevate frequent flyer scheme will cease to operate as of January 1, 2018.

The partnership proved more fruitful for many Virgin America frequent flyers, who were able to book Virgin Australia’s superb Boeing 777 business class from Los Angeles to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane for just 45,000 Elevate points, or 80,000 points for a return ticket.

Lufthansa Expands destinations from Munich and Frankfurt in Summer 2018

New from Frankfurt Hub will be San Diego, the second largest city in the U.S. state of California and eighth overall in the Unites States. Beginning in summer 2018, Lufthansa will offer five weekly San Diego flights from Frankfurt.

Lufthansa will reintroduce the Singapore route from Munich in summer 2018. Five times a week, passengers will be able to fly from the Bavarian capital to the lively economic metropolis in Asia. At the same time, Lufthansa will offer more additional flights from Munich to Chicago, USA. Instead of seven times a week, Lufthansa will fly from Bavaria to the Windy City ten times per week.

Starting in summer 2018, Lufthansa will introduce the Airbus A380 in Munich on long-haul destinations to Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Beijing. For this reason, Lufthansa will transfer five of its 14 Airbus A380s from Frankfurt to Munich. As a result up to 500 new positions will be staffed in Bavaria.

Sydney Airport Celebrates Star Alliance 20th Anniversary 

From reducing connection times to setting new benchmarks for lounges and terminal design, Star Alliance has helped transform the airport experience for international travellers.

With Sydney Airport adorned in balloons and banners, more than 180 airport-based staff – representing 11 member airlines – gathered together to wish Star Alliance a happy birthday and enjoy some branded cupcakes. The airport staff also celebrated 20 years of ‘connecting people and cultures’ by giving away balloons and hundreds of packets of colouring pencils – donated by Star Alliance’s chosen charity Jeans for Genes – to young passengers.

Over the past 20 years Star Alliance has continually looked for ways to enhance the airport experience, including co-locating members in the same terminal in order to reduce connection times. Most recently the Alliance launched an IT hub that facilitates baggage message transfer between the member airlines, their ground handlers and the baggage handling systems at airports.

Already the baggage hub processes on average five million baggage messages a day, allowing airlines to better steer baggage operations and to keep customers informed on the status of their bag. Once implemented across the entire Star Alliance network, it will become easier to give customers proactive updates on their baggage delivery status.

Star Alliance has also introduced new IT functionality that makes it faster and easier for front line employees to rebook customers whose connections are impacted by delays in feeder flights.

Melbourne Airport unveils T4 terminal upgrade

Melbourne Airport has revealed its new-look Terminal 4 (T4) gate-lounge precinct to travellers flying on Tigerair. The enhancements made to the end of Pier F, almost doubled the space by adding 1,600m2 creating a 2,000m2 area equivalent to two Olympic-size swimming pools. Other upgrades include more seating, additional toilet facilities, lift access and improved wayfinding.

“Terminal 4 offers a significantly enhanced and seamless customer experience at our busiest port. Our customers are telling us they love these new state of the art facilities here at Terminal 4 and that’s important given Tigerair is an airline that evolves based on consumer demand,” Tigerair Australia Head of Communications Vanessa Regan said.

To celebrate the completion of the upgraded facilities, Tigerair management and cabin crew will be at Terminal 4’s Tigerair departure gates today, handing out gifts to passengers travelling on the same day that airline celebrates flying its 24 millionth customer.

The lucky 24 millionth Tigerair customer travelling from Melbourne will be greeted at the departure lounge and presented with a $500 travel voucher for future use on the Tigerair network.

AirAsia & Pedestrian.TV search for Australia’s karaoke superstar

The world’s best low-cost airline, AirAsia has teamed up with Australia’s fastest growing publishing brand, Pedestrian.TV to launch a competition to find Australia’s karaoke superstar. Self-proclaimed kings and queens of karaoke can be in to win return flights to Tokyo with AirAsia, four nights accommodation and of course, a night out singing popular karaoke songs with AirAsia ambassador, Guy Sebastian.

After gatecrashing some of Sydney’s top karaoke bars, Guy Sebastian says the competition provides karaoke fans the opportunity to experience firsthand just how seriously Japan takes it karaoke, “I love karaoke – it brings people together and you seriously don’t need to be a trained vocalist to win! It’s all in the delivery, having the right attitude and giving it a go. I’m looking forward to some good ol’ karaoke in Tokyo! We can’t wait to see the entries and announce the winner.”

To be in to win, karaoke ninjas must upload a video of them singing karaoke via http://pezn.tv/2s5qSlQ. The competition closes 31 July 2017.

Those who aren’t quite brave enough to upload a video can be in to win a trip for two to Bali by sharing their thoughts on the worst karaoke song and why.

Inaugural Qatar Airways Flight Lands at Dublin Airport 

Dublin welcomed the first Qatar Airways flight from Doha, inaugurating the new daily service that connects Dublin to the world. Going forward, Qatar Airways will operate its daily Dublin service with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which has a two-class configuration including 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class.

The launch of the new route to Dublin will be Qatar Airways’ first-ever service to the Republic of Ireland, giving passengers easier access to the Middle East, Asia and Australia, with seamless connections to Sydney, Hong Kong, Melbourne and many more attractive destinations.

The new direct flights to Dublin will also provide Qatar Airways Cargo customers 80 tonnes of belly-hold capacity each week. Temperature-controlled products are the major exports out of Ireland and the cargo carrier is proficient in supporting air logistics through its specialist solutions QR Pharma, for pharmaceuticals and QR Fresh, for perishables.

Customers are offered a seamless cool chain transfer for their temperature-sensitive products via the state-of-the-art and fully automated hub in Doha. Its facility at Hamad International Airport is wholly compliant with both IATA Chapter 17 standards and Good Distribution Practice (GDP).

Following the Dublin launch, Qatar Airways will be adding flights to many more exciting destinations to its network in 2017 and 2018, including Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Accra, Ghana; Canberra, Australia; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Chittagong, Bangladesh; Mombasa, Kenya; and Utapao, Thailand.

Oman Air special air fares to London

Oman Air have launched epic air fare deals from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide to London.

Departures on economy OW from Melbourne and Perth start as low as $785, while from Adelaide its $787, and Sydney  $794. on Economy RT, flights are as low as $1,707 from Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, and $1,728 from Sydney.

Fly Business class from Melbourne and Perth for $2,582, Adelaide from $2,584, and Sydney from $2,591.

All base fare attracts 7% commission, and levels all inclusive of fuel and airport taxes for departures 20 Jul-15 Sep 17, 26 Sep- 09 Dec 17,  23 Dec – 01 Jan 18,  12 Jan – 19Feb 18 & 25 Feb – 26 May 18.

New Codeshare Services with Alaska Airlines and Reciprocal Lounge Agreement

Qantas and Alaska Airlines have enhanced their partnership agreement with new codeshare services and reciprocal lounge access for eligible customers.

From Monday, 26 June 2017, Qantas will add its code to four new Alaska Airlines routes between San Francisco and Orange County, Minneapolis, Albuquerque and Kansas City, as well as on its service between Los Angeles and San Jose. The new flights are in addition to Qantas’ existing codeshare arrangements with Alaska Airlines to 15 destinations within North America.

In addition, from today, Qantas Frequent Flyer members with a Gold status or higher, and Qantas Club members, will have access to Alaska’s lounges in Los Angeles, Seattle, Anchorage and Portland whenever they travel on an Alaska flight, connecting to, or from, a Qantas international flight.

Alaska Airlines’ top tier frequent flyers with Mileage Plan™ MVP Gold and above, and Alaska Lounge members, will have access to all 13 Qantas operated International Business and 24 Domestic Qantas Club lounges when they travel on a Qantas operated international or domestic flight.