Enrich,
Malaysia airlines frequent flyer program, has joined forces with Worldhotels to offer more opportunities to obtain mileage points. From October 31st participating
WorldHotel properties will offer special room rates and double mileage points for Enrich members.
Reward Pass Program Prospers
Diners Club, ANZ Bank and the Commonwealth Bank have joined Flight Centre�s Reward
Pass program in a move to increase flexibility and membership. The new venture allows credit card holders to convert daily expenses into points that can contribute to the cost towards travel bookings with Flight Centre.
Reward Pass points can be used to book international and domestic airfares on all carriers, cruises, accommodation and tours. �Reward Pass points do not expire and the program is probably the most flexible travel rewards offering in Australia because there are no airline or product restrictions� Flight Centre CEO Shane Flynn said. The company aims to sign up 500,000 new members by the end of the financial year.
Machines Replace Staff at Qantas
Over 90 Qantas staff members will be replaced by the tripling of self-service check in machines at Australian airports.
The move comes just months after Qantas slashed 200 senior management positions.
Qantas justify the move by citing the ever increasing fuel prices (isn't that
what the fuel levy is for?) and their recently announced fleet replacement
program.
The job cuts come in the wake of a 763.6 million dollar net profit, a 17.8%
increase on last years figure.
A Series of Unfortunate Events for Qantas
Nine people were injured last month when a Qantas jet made an emergency landing
in Japan and passengers were forced to evacuate. The evacuation came after
sensors detected smoke in the cargo hold.
Two Australians received minor
injuries and a Japanese woman suffered a broken hip on departure via the
emergency slides. The Perth bound Airbus A330 had 191 passengers when the plane
was forced to land at 1am. Despite passengers claiming to have smelt smoke, the
Qantas head of engineering and maintenance said the event was most likely caused
by a faulty sensor in the cargo hold.
In another incident earlier this month a Qantas captain collapsed on a Boeing
767 flight from Auckland to Melbourne. The co-pilot managed to land the plane
safely but emergency crews were on standby.
The Tourism Industry Tackles Terrorism
The third global summit on peace through tourism in October will include a major
session to debate the travel industries response to International terrorism. The
talks will focus on a strategic plan to reduce the risk of terrorism and will
include tourism and travel industry leaders.
Qantas has already taken independent action in its aim to combat terrorism. Concerns about the weak security measures in
some South East Asian airports caused Qantas to beef up security. Qantas have introduced its own explosive detection equipment to check passengers and luggage and have increased staff screening of passengers at its Denpasar and Jakarta terminals.
International aims for Jetstar
Budget airline Jetstar is set to launch its first international routes later this year. The budget carrier is expected to take over some Qantas low profit routes but has refused to reveal destinations.
New Zealand will be on Jetstar�s agenda for December and Europe and North America have also been named as potential destinations.
Jetstar will launch a new range of Airbus A320�s to increase its capacity for long- haul flights.
France Blacklists Unsafe Airlines
France and Belgium have listed over 14 airlines banned from landing at their airports due to their failure to comply with international safety standards. France�s civil aviation director hoped the list would encourage other European nations to follow suit. France also published �white lists� of approved charter airlines.
The lists were developed in response to the death of 152 French nationals on August 16 when a Colombia�s West Caribbean Airways crashed in Venezuela. A full list of the banned airlines can be found on
www.dgac.fr (its a French site).
