14 NEWS BROUGHT TO YOU
14 NEWS BROUGHT TO YOU BY AMERICAN AIRLINES RETURNS TO BERLIN AFTER 25 YEAR ABSENCE Mohamed Sallauddin Hj Mat Sah General Manager Airline Marketing, Malaysia Airports The world’s largest airline American Airlines is back in Berlin after 25 years absence and will also inaugurate new flights to Munich on a seasonal basis. And there are positive signs that new routes from Berlin to Philadelphia and from Munich to Charlotte and Dallas might turn permanent in the future. Malaysia Airports: Kuching sees fastest growth Malaysia Airports (MAHB) is expecting to accommodate over 104 million passengers at its 39 airports in 2019, after passing the 100-million mark in 2018. We asked General Manager Airline Marketing Mohamed Sallaudin Hj Mat Sah which airports grew the fastest. Connectivity is improving in many of our airports and we have registered large interest from airlines for Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu and Penang. For example, Penang is now linked to the Gulf for the first time, thanks to Qatar Airways, which also launches flights this year to Langkawi. Last year, Kuching was however the fastest growing airport up by 9% in total passengers traffic followed by Kota Kinabalu and Penang with 8%. Please tell us more about the group’s evolution in 2018. We are generally happy that we reached the 100-million passenger mark last year although we saw growth moderating due to external factors such as national elections. For 2019, we now expect further growth of 3.5% to around 104.5 million passengers. How is your future development going? Any increases in capacity? We are already thinking about the way to extend Kuala Lumpur International Airport as we slowly approach our saturation point. Our two terminals have a total capacity of 75 million passengers and we are currently working to optimize KLIA Main Terminal to stretch capacity to 33 million. We also look at expanding Penang as total capacity is currently for 6.5 million passengers while last year the airport received 7.7 million passengers. We are working on a masterplan which is due to be released soon. Kuching is also to be expanded in the near future. How important is ITB Berlin for MAHB? We actually chose Berlin to renew our marketing cooperation with Condor airlines in partnership with Tourism Malaysia. We also seized opportunities to talk with airlines and tour operators American Airlines is expanding its services in Germany by adding three new routes in 2019 from Berlin Tegel to Philadelphia and from Munich to Charlotte and Dallas/ Fort Worth. For Berlin it will be a historical event as American only flew there for a brief time 25 years ago. “Launching three new routes from Berlin and Munich to the US is a welcome addition to the German market,” said Tom Lattig, Managing Director Europe Middle East Sales for the airline. “We chose the route from Berlin to Philadelphia as it is one of our most important hubs in the Northeast. For Charlotte and Dallas Fort Worth to Munich, we see strong economic potential. These new routes will also facilitate connections from Germany to the rest of North America, the Caribbean and Latin America.” “Philadelphia is the third North American destination to be served non-stop from Berlin. This will further strengthen tourism and the economy of the capital region. Almost 950.000 passengers flew from Berlin to North America and back in 2018. And I can assure American Airlines that the new BER airport will open its doors in October 2020, providing excellent facilities to the airline,” said Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, CEO of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH. “With 2.7 million passengers per year, the USA is Munich Airport’s largest non- European market. The new routes will significantly enhance the overall connectivity for Munich and Bavaria”, added Thomas Weyer, Chief Financial Officer Munich Airport. Berlin will be flown four times weekly over the summer from Philadelphia while both Munich-Charlotte and Munich-Dallas will be served on a daily service. Charlotte will however be flown on a year-round basis American Airlines press conference at ITB Berlin 2019 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 15 th March 2019 www.itb-berlin-news.com
BROUGHT TO YOU BY NEWS 15 MESSE BERLIN TO BECOME MEMBER OF THE WORLD TOURISM ALLIANCE (WTA) James Jianzhang Liang Co-founder, Executive Chairman of the Board, Ctrip, at ITB China 2018 Ctrip chairman to deliver keynote at ITB China 2019 Event set to build on the success of the 2018 edition with even more industry insights With 4,000 attendees featuring 120 speakers and 70 topics last year, ITB China trade show and conference is expecting to build on the success of the 2018 event. Top speakers from China’s leading travel service provider and Conference Partner Ctrip, Partner Hotel Wyndham, Partner limousine services Shouqi, Mafengwo and many more will provide exciting insights into their markets. China’s travel think tank will kick off with a keynote speech by James Liang, Chairman of Ctrip, on 15 May, 10.10 am in Room A. He said: “I am proud to be in the travel industry, which enables people to move around, facilitates the communication of information and cultures, stimulates innovation in the society, and leads mankind to constant exploration. Thanks to ITB China for providing a platform of communication and cooperation in travel.” Decision-makers and opinionformers from the Chinese and international travel industry will impart their knowledge at the third ITB China Conference 2019, set to take place from 15 to 17 May at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Conference Centre. The Conference runs in parallel to ITB China, the business to business travel trade fair that focuses exclusively on the Chinese travel industry, and is coorganised by leading conference organizer TravelDail. THANKS TO ITB CHINA FOR PROVIDING A PLATFORM OF COMMUNICATION AND COOPERATION IN TRAVEL The three-day conference will provide up-to-date key insights relating to topics such as: Destination, Travel Tech, Online Travel, MICE, Business Travel and Education and Job Day WTA members include national tourism associations, influential tourism enterprises, academic institutes and other institutions from around the world. Messe Berlin, which is among the top ten trade fair and event organizers worldwide, has been officially awarded membership of the World Tourism Alliance. The partnership will help strengthen the communication between the global and Chinese travel industry. Through deep cooperation and the support and commitment of the WTA sustainable tourism growth WTA’s Secretary-General, Mr. Liu Shijun and Dr.Martin Buck, Senior Vice President, Travel & Logistics Messe Berlin In other ITB Chinarelated developments, the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) has been confirmed as the Official Adventure Travel Partner for ITB China 2019. For the first time, the association will join China’s travel trade show with a dedicated pavilion supporting its members, destinations and tour operators, in doing business with Chinese buyers. Shannon Stowell, CEO, ATTA said: “We are thrilled to cooperate with ITB China and co-host the first Adventure Pavilion. from China can be fostered. WTA’s Secretary-General, Liu Shijun attended multiple events at ITB Berlin and met with David Axiotis, General Manager of ITB China and Dr Martin Buck, Senior Vice President, Travel & Logistics Messe Berlin, to talk about possible initiatives and projects. “We are very much honored that Messe Berlin has joined WTA and confident that with its expertise and experience we can build a more competitive and responsible tourism industry for the benefit of all”, said Liu Shijun ATTA PARTNERS ITB CHINA The ATTA is committed to developing a high standard of adventure travel throughout the world, and believe that our partnership with ITB China can bring long-lasting benefits. ITB China’s foresight to include adventure travel as a main component of the 2019 event is exemplary. It will undoubtedly stimulate the delegates to explore the authentic and meaningful experiences that adventure travel can bring. We look forward to this next step in developing adventure travel connections between China and our international community” ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 15 th March 2019
