Wednesday, 14 December 2011 12:20
Posted by Imaduddin
SYDNEY: Australian airline Qantas should base its Asian operations in Malaysia rather than Singapore if it is serious about expanding in the region, AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes said Wednesday.
Fernandes, who is in talks with Qantas and Malaysia Airlines on a three-way alliance, told The Australian Financial Review that a Qantas operation based in Kuala Lumpur would be the stronger option.
"Singapore is the better business hub for sure, but the majority of Singapore traffic is transit traffic -- just like Dubai," he said.
"Whether you connect in KL or Singapore, the key is connectivity."
Qantas in August announced plans to establish a joint-venture premium airline in Asia as it repositions itself within the industry's fastest-growing region and seeks to turn around its loss-making international arm.
Talks were reported to be on the backburner given uncertainty over global economic conditions and volatile fuel prices, but Qantas said Monday they were ongoing, with Kuala Lumpur and ...
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SYDNEY: Australian airline Qantas should base its Asian operations in Malaysia rather than Singapore if it is serious about expanding in the region, AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes said Wednesday.
Fernandes, who is in talks with Qantas and Malaysia Airlines on a three-way alliance, told The Australian Financial Review that a Qantas operation based in Kuala Lumpur would be the stronger option.
"Singapore is the better business hub for sure, but the majority of Singapore traffic is transit traffic -- just like Dubai," he said.
"Whether you connect in KL or Singapore, the key is connectivity."
Qantas in August announced plans to establish a joint-venture premium airline in Asia as it repositions itself within the industry's fastest-growing region and seeks to turn around its loss-making international arm.
Talks were reported to be on the backburner given uncertainty over global economic conditions and volatile fuel prices, but Qantas said Monday they were ongoing, with Kuala Lumpur and ...
TOKYO: Japan's Nippon Steel Corp shut the 136 megawatt coal-fired plant at its Kamaishi works on Tuesday due to a problem with a coal conveyor system, said Tohoku Electric Power Co, which buys the power produced by the plant.
Tohoku Electric, which serves the northeast regions that were hit by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March, ruled out a possible power shortage despite the unplanned shutdown.
Tohoku Electric has been meeting peak winter demand with ...
NEW YORK: General Electric Co expects a double-digit increase in 2012 profit on a sales increase of about 5 percent, Chief Executive Jeff Immelt told the company's annual outlook meeting in New York.
Immelt forecast core sales growth at GE's industrial business of 5 to 10 percent and said the company was well-positioned for a volatile environment.
"2011 is really on track, we'll have a good finish to the year, we see strong double-digit growth next year," ...
CHICAGO: Boeing Co is on track to meet its target production rate of 10 per month for the 787 Dreamliner and could book orders for 1,300 to 1,400 of its upcoming narrow-body 737 MAX in the next 12 months, the chief executive of the plane-maker's commercial airplanes division said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Reuters Manufacturing and Transportation Summit, Jim Albaugh said the supply chain on the 787 is "in pretty good shape." absolutely ...
SINGAPORE: SilkAir, the full-service regional wing of Singapore Airlines (SIA), will in March launch direct flights between the city-state and Darwin in Australia, it said Tuesday.
It will be SilkAir's first Australian destination and is part of an overall plan by parent company SIA to expand services to northern Australia, the airline said in a statement.
Starting March 26, SilkAir will fly four times a week to Darwin with next-day return flights, subject to regulatory approvals.
It will ...
STOCKHOLM: Volvo proposed on Monday that BP's criticised chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg be appointed head of its board at the truck maker's annual general meeting in April, the Swedish company said.
"The election committee of AB Volvo proposes the election of Carl-Henric Svanberg as new chairman of the board at the annual general meeting on April 4, 2012," the world's second-largest truck maker said in a statement.
Svanberg is expected to stay on at BP. "He ...
HONG KONG: Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd said on Monday that November vehicle sales volume rose 0.8 percent from a year earlier.
Geely sold 44,520 vehicles last month, up 24.1 percent from October, it said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
For the first 11 months of 2011, Geely said it sold 373,630 vehicles, up 4 percent from a year earlier, or 77.8 percent of its full-year sales target of 480,000 units in ...
