Carry on: Hawaiian's switch, tourism numbers rise, Qantas First and more

Hawaiian opts for A330neo over A350
Hawaiian Airlines has confirmed an order for six Airbus A330-800neo (new engine option) aircraft worth $US1.5 billion, swapping them for a previous A350 order. The order brings to just over 100 the number of firm orders for the A330neo, a reworked version of Airbus' most-sold wide-body jet which was launched earlier this year.

The A330neo is Airbus' alternative for the 250-300 seat market after sales of the smallest version of the new A350 aircraft family, the A350-800, proved disappointing.

Hawaiian's new order, which has Rolls-Royce engines, replaces an order for six A350-800s, which would be worth $US1.6 billion at today's list prices.
Airbus is likely to scrap the 270-seat A350-800 to focus on stronger-selling larger types of the new jet, the first of which will be delivered today to Qatar Airways in Toulouse.

One billion to travel in 2014
The World Travel Organisation says a record 1.1 billion will travel internationally this year. Latest show the number who spent at least one night out of their country rose 5% between January and October 2014, the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer says.

The total of 978 million was 45 million up on the corresponding period in 2013 and is ahead of expectations and is increasing well above the long-term trend projection for the period 2010-20.

International arrivals in  Asia and the Pacific increase 5% (through October), consolidating the region’s growth trend of recent years. The best results came from South Asia (+8%), led by India (+7%), and from North-East Asia (+7%) where major destinations such as Japan and the Republic of Korea registered double-digit growth.

Arrivals in Oceania grew by 6% owing mostly to the increase of arrivals in Australia and New Zealand. In South-East Asia (+2%), growth slowed down compared to 2012 and 2013 as a result of the decline in arrivals registered in Thailand. Strong growth was also registered in North America (up 9%), South Asia (up 8%) and Southern and Mediterranean Europe, Northeast Asia and Northern Europe (all up 7%).

Visitor arrivals rise 5.1% in November
International visitor arrivals rose 5.1% to more than 2.8 million visitors for the year ending November 2014, continuing a 15-month trend. Overall growth has been supported by strong holiday arrivals from Asian markets including China (10.4%), Singapore (up 15.0%) and Korea (up 3.0%).

Holiday arrivals from Japan are also back in growth, up 2.1%. Western markets are continuing to perform well with holiday arrivals from Germany, the US and the UK up 16.7%, 12.7% and 2.9% respectively.

Qantas First lounge opens at LAX
Qantas opened its first overseas Qantas First lounge at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). It is based on the flagship lounges at Sydney and Melbourne airports designed by Marc Newson. “The new lounge is more than triple the size of the previous space, and the design and service is equal to the world’s best five star hotels and restaurants,” Qantas group chief executive Alan Joyce told the official opening. The lounge features Californian Knoll furniture, American oak walls, Tuscan Carrara marbled floors, a 14.6m-long bar, and Tai Ping wool carpets from Hong Kong.

Jetstar adds more routes
Jetstar will enter the Wellington-Melbourne route with a four days a week service from March 30 up against existing operators Air New Zealand and parent Qantas. Jetstar is also bringing back a non-stop service between the Gold Coast and Perth from March 29 and launch three-times-a-week flights between Cairns and Bali from March 31.

All routes will use Airbus A320 aircraft. Jetstar Australia and New Zealand chief executive David Hall said the new services represented about 4000 extra seats a week and was achieved through better use of the existing fleet.