KOTA KINABALU: Cathay Pacific Airways Limited has regained 50 per cent of its sales in Sabah since a challenging 2014.
Its country manager for Malaysia and Brunei, Mary Chan, said the airline has seen a lot of ups and downs last year and business in the state was minimal when she assumed her current position a year ago.
“My team started from a challenging base. Today, we actually got back 50 per cent of what we used to have,” she said during Dragonair’s Top Agent Award 2015 here on Friday.
The top five Dragonair agencies in Sabah for 2014 are Popular Express Travel Sdn Bhd, Kota Kinabalu, Beautiful Holidays Sdn Bhd, Kota Kinabalu, Antara Travel & Tours (M) Sdn Bhd, Sandakan, Tay Travel Service Sdn Bhd, Kota Kinabalu and Airworld Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd, Kota Kinabalu. The event also marked Dragonair’s 30th anniversary.
Dragonair is the sister airline of Cathay Pacific Airways, which caters for regional flights.
The regional carrier was established in May 1985 and flew to Kota Kinabalu for the first time in July of the same year.
“Thirty years ago, we (Dragonair) flew into Kota Kinabalu and we are glad that 30 years later, we are still here,” Chan said.
She also disclosed that Dragonair was awarded the World’s Best Regional Airline by Skytrax earlier this year, an accolade the airline has received four times.
“Without our passengers and trading partners, we would not have been able to do that.”
Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific Airways Limited sales and marketing manager for Malaysia and Brunei, Danny Tham, said last year was a challenge for airlines due to the MH370 and MH17 incidents as well as the kidnapping cases which affected the sentiments of tourists, especially those from mainland China.
“Last year was quite bad. The occupancy rate of hotels was lower than 50 per cent.”
Towards the end of last year, Tham said the airlines have brought in Chinese, Korean and Japanese agents and media for familiarisation to promote Sabah, with the aim to revive the local travel industry.
He said the tourists started coming back after media publicity in magazines and newspapers following the familiarisation trips.
The recent earthquake in Ranau, on the other hand, did not have a major impact on ticket sales, he noted.
On Dragonair’s performance in Malaysia, Tham said the airline is seeing a double digit growth compared to the previous year.
Despite the weak Ringgit, Malaysians are still travelling, mostly to regional destinations such as Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan and China, he said. Japan has also become a popular destination for Malaysian tourists.
According to Tham, many Malaysians had also opted for European tours as prices were getting cheaper. European tours used to cost RM 8,000 to RM 9,000, he said, but they are now available for RM 5,000 to RM 6,000.
“Now you see Malaysians who are more affluent choose to go to Europe because of the low fares offered by other carriers, especially the Middle Eastern carriers.”
Based on the current trends, Tham said tourists nowadays, especially the younger generation, preferred to travel with a group of friends or family rather than travel in tours due to their restricted itinerary.
Moreover, with Google Maps and other mobile applications, tourists can easily find information on the best restaurants, places, reviews and directions.
“Consumers are becoming smarter and more knowledgeable. Language is no longer a barrier.
“With the online tools you have, you can download apps to your phone and go on your own. All these are changing the way consumers travel and buy tickets online,” he said.
On another note, he said the Dragonair and Cathay Pacific networks offered 140 international destinations worldwide from Hong Kong.
Tham also dismissed the misconception that Dragonair was a low-cost carrier.
“Dragonair is a regional airline. It concentrates on secondary cities like Kota Kinabalu and Penang.
“But the quality of inflight service is the same as Cathay Pacific,” he clarified.
Dragonair will commence a twice-weekly service between Hong Kong (HKG) and Hiroshima (HIJ) in Japan starting August 16 this year, subject to government approval. It will be the only carrier offering non-stop service between Hong Kong and Hiroshima.
With this new service, Dragonair and Cathay Pacific will operate more than 140 flights a week to eight destinations in Japan, including Tokyo (Narita), Tokyo (Haneda), Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Okinawa and Hiroshima.
Cathay Pacific is also offering a new four-times-weekly passenger service to Düsseldorf beginning September 1 this year, subject to government approval.
Düsseldorf will become the airline’s second destination in Germany, after Frankfurt, and marks the latest enhancement to its Europe network following the launch of Manchester in December 2014 and Zurich. Tickets for the Düsseldorf service are now open for sale.
Also present at the event were Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei manager Eva Ng, district sales manager Jimmy Liew and Eva Ng from headquarters.