ANA has confirmed it will start a daily Tokyo to Perth service from Sept 1 with a Boeing 787. Western Australian Tourism minister Paul Papalia said that “securing a direct air link between Perth and Tokyo is a massive win for the State, which will bring more Japanese visitors to WA and help us grow this important market.” Boeing studies show that when a new direct service is introduced traffic triples. Over 3 years it is estimated the new service will bring about 76,000 new visitors from Japan to Perth, providing an A$175m boost to the State’s economy and creating hundreds of new jobs. Seiichi Takahashi, senior VP of ANA said: “The city is celebrated worldwide as a tourist destination and economic hub, and we look forward to making it easier to travel there from Japan.” <br/>
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South African Airways, Kenya Airways, Air Mauritius and RwandAir are in talks to create an alliance, as they face mounting competition. “Air Mauritius took the initiative to join forces with 3 other African airlines in a bid to create an alliance that would develop air connectivity in the region,” CE Somas Appavou said Wednesday. “In a highly competitive environment, this alliance would allow the potential partners to create a consolidated network using the individual strength of each airline to offer passenger better choice and flexibility.” The talks come at a time when Kenya Airways is going through a restructuring after reporting loses for 3 consecutive years. And SAA received an unsolicited US$1.4b loan offer in return for a 51% stake in the cash-strapped carrier, it was reported Dec 23. <br/>