Twenty airports and destinations have been recognised by the airline network planning community for their outstanding marketing achievements over the past twelve months.
Despite North Korea's nuclear threat against Guam, the small US territory is continuing to expand its aviation market to cater for growing tourist demand.
The recently-announced HK Express flights to Guam and Saipan will further stimulate the US territory island after a number of other recent breakthrough routes, according to Nigel Mayes of ASM.
Philippine visitors to Guam grew by 125 percent in March 2016, compared to the same month last year, latest data from the Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) showed. This led to the second best March in Guam's tourism history, with 133,335 visitor arrivals – just a few notches behind March 2013 with 136,728 visitors recorded. Total visitor arrivals for March 2016 rose 0.8 percent year-on-year.
The new initiative will be led by senior executives from both carriers, who will meet regularly to coordinate new initiative rollouts, promote closer cultural integration between Air China and United, and prepare both companies for future joint opportunities, according to a joint statement.
Senior representatives from Guam’s Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport and Guam Visitors Bureau joined forces with Cebu Pacific Air to celebrate the low-cost carrier’s new link between Manila and the US island territory in Micronesia, in the Western Pacific during Routes Asia. The new route, Cebu Pacific’s first to the United States, will commence on March 15, 2016 and will be flown four times weekly using an Airbus A320.
The surge in passengers has been driven by improving yields with seat load factor reaching a high of 86 per cent. This was particularly evident in the airline’s growing international network but was also buoyed by strong domestic sales.
This expansion will see Cebu Pacific Air offering its trademark low fares to the sizeable Filipino community in Guam, which currently comprises about 26 per cent of the island's population, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency World Fact Book.
In its documentation filed with the US DOT, Air Busan said it “might in the future offer service with other airplanes from its fleet, adjust its proposed service patterns, and introduce service to other points in the United States, including Hawaii and the US mainland”.
