News in Brief: Thursday October 10
The regional arm of Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, will become the latest airline partner to join Virgin Australia’s expanding Velocity Frequent Flyer program.
From today, Velocity members can earn points and status credits or redeem points on the SilkAir network across South East Asia, India and China.
Etihad will purchase five Boeing 777-200 LRs from Air India with the long-range aircraft to support its “accelerated” network growth plan.
The deal, signed in Mumbai this week, will see the aircraft delivered to Etihad from the beginning of 2014, subject to approvals. The first will enter service in April, with the 777s earmarked for use on its new Abu Dhabi-Los Angeles route, scheduled to start in June 2014.
The purchase comes as the Abu Dhabi-based carrier finalises details of a new fleet order to meet expansion plans to 2025.
The second Silversea expedition ship, formerly known as Galapagos Explorer II, has emerged from a major refurbishment to be relaunched as Silver Galapagos.
The 100-guest ship now features refreshed public spaces and guest suites, WiFi access throughout the ship and a new fitness centre among other enhancements.
It sails Saturday to Saturday on seven-day roundtrip voyages from Baltra Island.
The new in-built Business Intelligence (BI) solution from Tramada is on limited release this month providing agents with access to data analytics embedded in its system with no separate log-in required.
Features include report writing capabilities, mobile access, visualisations and scheduling along with debtor facing reports and customised dashboards.
“The value of this data and the insights that can be revealed lead to measurable savings, reinforcing the true value of the knowledge and expertise of the agent and leading, ultimately, to greater stickiness with their clients,” the firm said.
New destinations have been added to Intrepid Travel’s range of Food Adventures for 2014 as the operator reported a great response to the offering since its launch earlier this year.
Morocco, Italy, Peru, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Cambodia and Japan have been added to the Real Food Adventure series, while Beijing, Shanghai and Delhi are now included in the range of shorter Bite-size Breaks.
Tourism Australia managing director, Andrew McEvoy, economist Ian Harper and Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive, Ken Morrison, will be among the speakers at the Tourism Directions conference taking place in Canberra on October 29.
The event, to be held at Parliament House, will be moderated by broadcast journalist Tony Jones and is limited to 300 people. Registrations, which cost $300, can be made at www.tourism.australia/directions
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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