Asia

We tend to forget that Hong Kong is not the only territory to enjoy Special Administrative Region status. Less than an hour away by boat or road, the former colony of Macau, a Portuguese territory for five centuries, enjoys the same semi-autonomous status as the former British colony of Hong Kong. Macau...

Haneda airport has one major advantage: it is located just 30 minutes by public transport from the heart of Tokyo, compared with over an hour for the Narita hub. This advantage is also supported by the local authorities, as the Japanese government is helping Haneda to grow by freeing up air slots. The recent award of...

For Air France-KLM passengers doing business in South-East Asia, there has until now been the Skyteam alliance to cover this part of the world, thanks to cooperation agreements with alliance members Garuda Indonesia and Vietnam Airlines. From the end of December, passengers will benefit from a new alternative thanks to the signature of a new agreement with...

While the Cathay group is generally the first name that springs to mind when you think of air transport in Hong Kong - the airline carries 75% of the territory's passengers - another carrier has managed to carve out a place for itself in the metropolis over the last decade: Hong Kong Airlines. The company born...

Business travellers accustomed to transiting via the Astana hub for their trips to Central Asia are going to have to rethink their flight plans. Five years after its arrival on the Paris-Astana route, the Kazakh airline has decided to transfer its operations from the current administrative capital to the historic centre of Kazakhstan: Almaty. In June...

It's a tradition in the Asia-Pacific region, and not a new one. As far back as 1911, the British Crown built a new city, called New Delhi, which became the political centre of British India. Around the same time, the British created Canberra in Australia. This was followed by Islamabad in Pakistan, which replaced Karachi as the...

Finnair continues to expand its services to Japan. In December, the Finnish carrier will become the only European carrier to fly to Sapporo twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays. Sapporo New Chitose International Airport has not been served by a European carrier since KLM left in 2002. The flight...

Asian airports, long benchmarks for service and capacity, are increasingly suffering from congestion. In Bangkok and Jakarta, the authorities are busy developing new terminals or expanding existing ones, while in Ho Chi Minh City work continues on the brand new airport. But it is Manila that should...

It was a predictable development. Hong Kong, which has been mired in demonstrations and violence for 14 weeks now, has been abandoned by businessmen and tourists. A situation that is now affecting airlines, first and foremost Cathay Pacific. According to information provided by the company, Cathay saw its passenger traffic fall by 11%...

After three months of protests, the situation in Hong Kong remains tense and there is no immediate end to the crisis. China is keeping a close eye on developments in the former British colony but is still reluctant to intervene, fearing for its image as a responsible international power. As a result, acts of violence and demonstrations have become commonplace...

By the end of 2020, Hyatt Hotels Corporation will offer 25% additional rooms in Asia. This expansion will affect all the group's brands, with the grand luxury segment best represented by five Park Hyatt hotels, but also by five hotels under the more contemporary Andaz brand in the 4/5 star segment. The next largest number of...

Until now, Hong Kong has had a reputation as an island of stability, thanks to its economy that is totally open to the rest of the world and its status as a gateway to China. Hong Kong's return to the bosom of the 'Motherland' - as fervent patriots like to describe the country - is a...

The trade war in which the United States and China appear to be embroiled is beginning to have an impact on Asia's leading economic power. Uncertainties over the country's economic future are leading to a fall in investment and a slowdown in consumption. Admittedly, China's GDP grew by...

Founded in 2013, Hong Kong Express is well known to Asian passengers. The company operates a network of 25 destinations, in particular to Japan (11 cities), Thailand (4) and Korea (3). Hong Kong Express also serves Taichung in Taiwan, the Mariana Islands and Ningbo in China, Danang and Nha Trang in Vietnam, as well as...

How has 2018 gone for Finnair in France? Javier Roig - I have to say that it was an excellent year. The number of passengers increased by 20 %, while our revenue grew by 21 %. This means that our revenue per passenger has remained constant on the French market. Worldwide, our passenger traffic...

JAKARTA High standards for Jakarta's Terminal 3 For years, Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport, one of the largest hubs in South-East Asia with 65 million passengers, had to route all its traffic through two terminals, with a combined capacity of 25 million passengers. This will continue until the opening of...

For decades, Asia has epitomised quality of service in air transport. It's an image that's been fantasised about and reinforced by clever advertising campaigns showing stewardesses in traditional dress, smiling as they pamper their passengers. In fact, in-flight service is still one of the main selling points of...

Korean Air has launched a new frequent flyer programme aimed at small and medium-sized European businesses. Available to SMEs in EU countries, as well as the UK, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey, the programme, known as Kalbiz, offers discount coupons and upgrades. The gains are...

After Phnom Penh in Cambodia and Luang Prabang in Laos, Rosewood is preparing to inaugurate what should be one of the flagships of the Asian hotel industry in Rangoon, before moving on to Bangkok and Guangzhou in 2019. For several years, Beijing was the only place where the American luxury hotel chain Rosewood had a presence in Asia, and then it moved on to...

"Imagine an urbanised Paris from Melun to Rouen: here is Beijing!" says Jean-Philippe Dufour, sustainable development and transport adviser at the Economic Mission of the French Embassy in Beijing. A polycentric city with a population of almost 23 million, Beijing is also polymorphous, architecturally eclectic, with buildings by Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid and Paul Andreu rubbing shoulders with...