News in Brief: Friday March 15

News in Brief: Friday March 15
By admin


Malaysia Airlines' five times weekly Kuala Lumpur-Brisbane service will rise to daily from June 20, ahead of its previously planned start of September 15. Meanwhile the airline's codeshare with American Airlines has opened for reservations with the reciprocal services to start from March 25.

 

Philippine carrier Airphil Express has rebranded to PAL Express as it strengthens its alliance with Philippine Airlines. The rebrand will take effect from today, March 15.

 

This weekend's Australian Grand Prix has already yielded record occupancies for Accor's 20 plus Melbourne properties, the hotel firm has revealed.

RevPAR is showing growth of 15.3% on last year with all of Accor's central Melbourne hotels expected to be 100% full over the period.

Adrian Williams, Victorian regional manager, highlighted the race as a "crucial special event" for the city's hotels.

 

Singapore Airlines will switch operational aircraft on its SQ231/222 Singapore-Sydney service from an Airbus A380 to a Boeing 777-300ER between August 10 and August 18.

 

Scenic Tours has invested $10 million on a refurbishment of its ‘spaceship’ river cruise ships. The revamp brings the ships in line with the Scenic Jewel, which is launched in April.

 

Hotel revenue in Taiwan climbed 5% to more than NTD52.5 billion (AUD1.73 billion) in 2012 on the back of rising visitor arrivals, Taiwan Tourism Bureau has revealed. International arrivals broke the 7.3 million mark for the first time over the period. Meanwhile the tourism body reported a strong start to the year with January arrivals soaring 14.5% to 527,000 including more than 7,800 Australians.

 

This month's launch of the MSC Preziosa will make MSC Cruises the world's third largest cruise line in terms of passenger capacity. The new ship will take its annual capacity to 1.45 million guests across its 12 ships, ranking it behind Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

 

The 2013 French Cheese Festival will take place at Le Meridien Noumea from May 28 to June 8, with "maitre fromagier" Gerard Poulard.

 

Aircalin has extended its W-class wholesale product to include Brisbane. A new special fare of $305 gross now applies on the route, representing a discount of 20% on the previous lowest wholesale fare from the port.

 

 

 

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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