AirAsia hands business to Mindshare

21 April 2010

KUALA LUMPUR - AirAsia has handed its media business to Mindshare after a four-way pitch that involved Zenith, MPG and incumbent Carat.

A press statement from AirAsia said that the agency was appointed "for its synergy and strength of its global network, supported by its holding company, GroupM, which is similar to AirAsia’s brand presence worldwide."

According to this statement Mindshare "beat the other three for its outstanding creative ideas, exceptional value, global brand fit and support."

Kathleen Tan, regional head of commercial at Air Asia said that the airline believes that the media agency shares similar global traits with AirAsia.

"As AirAsia is fast expanding its route network across Asia and beyond with strong brand presence internationally, Mindshare, working with the GroupM network definitely has the right fit as they are globally strong and carries the strong media clout we need. This would ensure that the airline will be given the global top level commitment from the agency with exceptional creative expertise. We look forward to working with Mindshare Malaysia and its global network supported by GroupM in our commercial endeavors and are thrilled that they met our exact requirements during the pitch.”

Ashutosh Srivastava, regional head of Mindshare for Asia-Pacific said that the agency is "delighted to get the opportunity to partner Air Asia in growing its business."

"Air Asia is already an iconic brand in Asia and is aggressively building itself up as a global brand. The Tune group is an equally dynamic brand and rapidly expanding its footprint at this stage. We look forward to combining the best of our talent, creativity and technology to help them create breakthrough communications solutions”.

AirAsia which started operations in 2001 has grown its fleet from 2 to 92 aircraft to date and carried over 85 million passengers within a span of eight years.

The airline will embark on a regional media agency review following the success of this appointment in phases through the next few months.

AirAsia announced a pitch process in December. In an exclusive interview given to Media in December, AirAsia's head of commercial, Kathleen Tan, revealed that the budget carrier would be putting its media account up for pitch in 2010.

According to sources, the four agencies were briefed by the client from 3 to 5 March.

AirAsia concluded its last media review in May 2008 when it split the business between Carat and OMG, with a bigger share of the account going to Carat. It is believed that OMG later parted ways with the brand.

In January this year, AirAsia and Qantas Airways subsidiary, Jetstar, formed a historic alliance aimed at lowering costs and generating more competitive fares for travellers in this region.

The budget carrier's fiercest rival, Malaysia Airlines, concluded a high-profile review process in December last year and appointed Starcom to handle its media, displacing incumbent Mindshare.


By Asiya Bakht

MEDIA

10,000 passengers still left stranded

20 April 2010

SEPANG:About 10,000 Europe-bound passengers may still be stranded as AirAsia X has cancelled its flights to London while Malaysia Airlines had no available flights to the continent yesterday.

The AirAsia X flight to Stansted, scheduled to depart from the low-cost carrier terminal here at 2pm yesterday, was cancelled due to fears of a new eruption of the volcano under the Eyjafjallajökull glacier in Iceland.

In a statement issued yesterday, MAS said it had to cancel 46 flights between April 15 and yesterday, leaving 14,000 passengers stranded.

However, the airline had flown three times to Rome since then.

MAS flights from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to London, Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt, and vice versa, were affected when flights were cancelled after ash and other particles spread across Europe from the volcano which began erupting last week.

MAS, however, is planning to resume scheduled flights to London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt today. Its operations director, Captain Azharuddin Osman, said the airline was also looking at mounting additional flights to the four destinations tomorrow Scheduled flights to Rome are not affected and will operate as normal. MAS flies thrice weekly to Rome, on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

“However, passengers are advised to be mindful that the flights will be subject to airspace and airports being open as the situation remains fluid,” said Azharuddin. AirAsia X operations head Moses Devanayagam said yesterday’s flight to Stansted had been planned when the airline received approval on Monday night from British authorities to fly into UK airspace.

“The flight was planned, in addition to our regular scheduled flights, when we were informed that Stansted Airport may be fully operational by 1900 (UK time) Tuesday.

“However, the situation changed overnight due to variable changes in the ash cloud, and we are not able to determine when Stansted Airport will be open to commercial aviation traffic,” he said in a statement.

Devanayagam said with the latest developments and after reviewing all possible options, the airline determined that it would not be able to operate either the scheduled flights or the additional flight.

“We are monitoring the situation closely and will re-commence our flights to London once Stansted Airport reopens and UK airspace conditions improve,” he said.

He said since the airspace restrictions were enforced by the UK National Air Traffic Services, AirAsia X had been unable to operate 12 international flights between Stansted and Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said visas for foreigners stranded here would be extended by a month.


by Alang Bendahara and Maizatul Ranai

newstraitstimes

AirAsia offers special promotion for affected Europe-bound travellers

20 April 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia has launched a special promotion for Europe-bound passengers stranded because of the volcanic ash that has disrupted flights to Europe.

In a statement Tuesday, AirAsia said affected passengers of any airlines could opt for its RM99 (excluding taxes and fees) promotion to any Asean destination.

The promotion is from Tuesday to Sunday, and for a travel period from Tuesday until May 23.

"Guests will only need to show their flight tickets at any AirAsia sales office or AirAsia sales counter to enjoy this promotion to any Asean destinations (except Myanmar) departing from Malaysia and Singapore," it said.

AirAsia Group regional head of commercial Kathleen Tan said this was AirAsia’s small contribution and offer for affected passengers.

"We came up with this special campaign to offer these stranded passengers a special fare to an alternative holiday destination in Asean," she said.

AirAsia's Asean destinations include Bali, Jakarta, Bangkok, Singapore, Siam Reap, Hanoi, Phuket and Krabi, among others.

On Monday, Airasia Group CEO Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes was reported saying that the airlines would offer flight tickets for as low as RM99 to any destination in the world served by the airline.

The Star

Tune Group files trademark infringement suit

20 April 2010

PETALING JAYA: Tune Group has filed a suit against a company known as “I Tune Management (M) Sdn Bhd” for trademark infringement.

Tune Group, which operates AirAsia and Tune Hotels, is seeking an injunction to restrain the company from passing off any of its business as that of the group’s.

The group also wants the company to remove the name “Tune”, regardless of the prefix “I”, from its registration with the Registrar of Companies and take away the word “tune” from its website name “www.itunecard2u.webs.com”.

Lawyer George Miranda, who represented the group, filed the suit at the Kuala Lumpur High Court registry yesterday.

Tune Group is also set to take legal action against other companies it has identified for infringing on the “Tune” trademarks.

The group said it had received numerous enquiries from the public asking whether “I Tune Management (M) Sdn Bhd”, which was incorporated last year, was affiliated with the group.

“Upon further investigation, Tune Group discovered that the company was marketing products and services using the trademark ‘i Tune’ which is in bright red with the word ‘Tune’ slanting upwards from left to right,” it said in a statement yesterday.

“This has a strong resemblance to Tune Group’s ‘Tune’ trademarks.”

Miranda said there was “a high likelihood” of confusion among the public due to the similarity between the two trademarks.

“Furthermore, I Tune Management (M) Sdn Bhd’s act of using ‘i Tune’ as their trademark for identical or overlapping goods and services, namely travel packages and hotel reservations offered through its website, usurps Tune Group’s existing goodwill and reputation in similar industries,” he said.

The Star

Low-cost flight to Bangkok

19 April 2010

Calcutta is scheduled to get a fourth daily direct flight to Bangkok by next year.

Air Asia, a Malaysia-based low-cost carrier, plans to start flights between Calcutta and Bangkok soon. “We have approached the civil aviation ministry in India and expect to start operations by the middle of next year,” Tony Fernandes, the group chief executive officer of Air Asia, said in Kuala Lumpur.

The three existing daily direct flights between Calcutta and Bangkok are operated by Jet Airways, Thai Airways and Kingfisher. Air India Express, too, operates flights to Bangkok three days a week while Biman Bangladesh and GMG Airlines fly on the route through Dhaka.

Fernandes thinks Air Asia will have an advantage over Indian operators flying to Bangkok because of its “excellent” network. “We have connections from Bangkok to various other southeast Asian destinations, including Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, which others don’t have,” he pointed out.

Fernandes also announced plans to spend $200 million for setting up budget hotels in India in the next two years. One such hotel may come up in Calcutta.

Travel industry sources said 800 people on an average flew to Bangkok from Calcutta daily. “For the past several decades, the sector has been drawing the maximum number of tourists from this region,” said Anil Punjabi, the chairman (east) of the Travel Agents Federation of India.

The Telegraph

Lotus boss offers F1 rivals solution to European travel nightmare

18 April 2010

World champion Jenson Button won a rain-hit Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, but the burning question is how Formula One's 12 teams will get their sizeable loads of personnel and equipment back to Europe for the next race amid the region's ongoing travel chaos.

The teams begin packing up as soon as events finish, some even before the checkered flag falls, and that has been the case in Shanghai -- leaving just the problem of what to do after that.

Lotus team boss Tony Fernandes has offered his rivals a possible solution: fly to Kuala Lumpur on his Air Asia airline, and then into Britain's Stansted airport once the volcanic ash from Iceland has cleared from the skies.

The Malaysian entrepreneur, who resurrected the old Lotus Racing name to bring the team back to F1 this year, announced the plan on his Twitter page after Sunday's race.

F1 standings following fourth race of 2010 in Shanghai

"Many of the teams flying on airasia and then flying back on special charter on airasia. Sauber, Ferrari, Toro Rosso, Renault, Mercedes," he wrote.

After races in Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia and now China, the F1 circuit has a three-week break before the start of the European season in Spain on May 9.

Lotus spokesman Tom Webb said that the extra time should mean most teams will be ready to start in Barcelona, despite needing to make upgrades and other improvements to their cars.

"While the four fly-away races require a huge amount of freight to be flown around, in Europe most teams have motor homes and trucks at their factories that are driven to the race venues," he told CNN, which is one of the team's sponsors.

"But everything in Formula One is planned to the last minute, so obviously the timeframes are going to be a lot tighter. And part of the break is giving the guys a bit of a rest -- most of the crews have been away from home for over a month now."

Drivers to sidestep European travel nightmare

Several drivers indicated after the Shanghai race that they would not be immediately returning to Europe anyway.

Button, who returned to the top of the drivers' standings after winning by 1.5 seconds, said that he was taking a break.

"I was always going to go away for a few days, relaxing after this one, but I'm hopefully going to be heading back to Europe at the end of the week, so we will see about that. We might all be driving back, which would be fun," he told the official F1 Web site.

His McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton finished second despite an early run-in with Red Bull's pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel in the pit lane as both changed tires to combat the wet conditions.

"I've got a sponsor appearance in South Africa, so I've got to travel there and then go back to Europe," the English driver said.

Teams fear a lengthy wait

Britain-based McLaren were hoping that their return home would not be delayed by more than a few days, the UK Press Association reported.

"I am not so much worried about our people as we will find a way home, but we have to get the cars back and we have not had any word yet from the freights," team boss Martin Whitmarsh told PA.

"The cars have been away for some time and we are looking forward to getting our equipment back in the factory as quick as we can, making sure we service all the cars properly. That could be a bit chaotic if we don't get the freight back.

"If we lose three or four days we can live with it, but if we lose the cars for a week and beyond it becomes challenging."

Schumacher struggles in Shanghai

Nico Rosberg finished third for the second successive race to again outperform veteran Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher, who was a disappointing 10th.

"I'd always planned to go to Thailand, so I'm going to go to Thailand for a week and then back to Europe after that," the younger German said.

Ferrari had mixed results as Fernando Alonso finished fourth, with Felipe Massa back in ninth after losing time when his teammate passed him going into the pit lane.

Red Bull's drivers once again failed to translate their qualifying dominance into race results as Vettel finished sixth and Mark Webber eighth.

The revived Renault team again did well with Robert Kubica placing fifth to be seventh overall on 40 points, while Russian rookie Vitaly Petrov completed his first race in F1 to be seventh.

CNN

AirAsia sets Kota Kinabalu-HK direct service

18 April 2010

AirAsia will start direct service from Kota Kinabalu to Hong Kong starting June 1 this year, further expanding its international connectivity from East Malaysia.

To celebrate the introduction of the new route, AirAsia will be offering all-in-fares for Kota Kinabalu Hong Kong from as low as RM139* (HKD299) one way.

Booking starts from 12th to 18th April 2010, for the travel period from 1st June 2010 to 13th February 2011. Promotional seats are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis and made exclusively online via www.airasia.com and mobile.airasia.com.

AirAsia launched its first route connecting Hong Kong from Kuala Lumpur in 2008 with only one flight daily. Due to the overwhelming demand from travellers to and from Hong Kong, the airline increased its frequency for this route to three flights daily within the span of two years.

Following its successful launch, AirAsia continued to boost its international connectivity to Hong Kong by launching more new destinations from its hubs regionally which include Bangkok (two flights daily), Phuket (one flight daily), Penang (four flights weekly) and the latest addition from Kota Kinabalu-Hong Kong (one flight daily).

This brings AirAsia’s total number of weekly flights to Hong Kong from the hubs to 53. Ms Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial AirAsia group said: “With the presence of growing Chinese ethnic population in Kota Kinabalu who are willing to spend more on leisure and a growing interest in East Malaysia to explore metropolitan cities like Hong Kong, we believe that this is a strategic move to create interest and stimulate tourism demand for both cities."

By Edu H. Lopez

manilla bulletin publishing corporation

mb.com.ph