Carry on: Queenstown’s new Snooze, Hong Kong boosts for Qantas and more

New Snooze in Queenstown
A third Jucy Snooze budget hotel will open next year in Queenstown. The five-storey, 256 bed building will be a mixture of pod style accommodation and private rooms with ensuites suitable for families. It will be the third in the chain within two years. Others are in Auckland and Christchurch.

Air Mauritius opts for Changi
Air Mauritius is shifting the focal point of its Southeast Asian routes from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. Chairman Arjoon Suddhoo says: "We've been flying to Kuala Lumpur for about 15 years now, but Changi Airports offers us a new opportunity, and this is the right time to exploit it." This means the only direct route to Southeast Asia will be through Singapore. Air Mauritius will serve 18 cities in 10 countries from Singapore; it will fly to Kuala Lumpur or Taipei, with partner airlines serving the rest.

Qantas boosts Hong Kong service
Qantas will boost its Sydney-Hong Kong route between April and October, with most weeks seeing two flights per day. An extra Airbus A330 will run daily from April 4 to May 1 and again from July 18 to October 29, but pull back to six days a week – with no flights on Friday – from May 2 to July 17. The extended service provides an alternative to Qantas' daily Boeing 747 service. 

A380 orders dropped
Air France-KLM no longer has firm orders or options for Airbus A380s, a spokeswoman says A source close to the company also says the airline has dropped an order for two Airbus A380s in favour of three Airbus A350s.

Route news of the week
Singapore Airlines will again expand its Singapore-Adelaide flights to 10 weekly from July 3 to August 28. The extra services will be operated by Airbus A330-300 aircraft. Vietnam Airlines has delayed the planned introduction of a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on its services to Australia. These will now start on December 1 rather than October 29. A Boeing 777 will continue to operate the service to Sydney and an A330 to Melbourne until November 30.

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