Global
equities tumbled, U.S. Treasury 10-year yields slid to a record and the euro
weakened to a two-year low. An opinion poll showed most Greeks want to see the
terms of a financial rescue revised. Costs to protect Spanish government debt
with default swaps climbed to a record. In the U.S., the number of Americans
signing contracts to buy previously owned homes fell in April by the most in a
year.
Concern
about Europe’s debt crisis drove the S&P 500 down 6.1 percent so far in
May. Commodity, financial and technology companies have fallen at least 7.2
percent in the period. The gauge is on pace for a second straight monthly
decline, following the best first-quarter gain since 1998.
The
euro declined 1 percent to $1.2377 at 3:07 p.m. New York time. The single
currency fell 1.5 percent to 97.93 yen. It dropped to 97.76 yen, the lowest
level since Jan. 18. The yen gained 0.5 percent to 79.08 per dollar after
touching 78.87, the strongest since Feb. 17.
The
shared currency fell to its weakest since July 2010. It reached $1.1877 in June
that year, which was the lowest level in four years, after escalating concern
about Greece led to the bloc’s first bailout. Since its inception in 1999, the
euro has traded as low as 82.30 U.S. cents, in 2000, and as high as $1.6038 in
July 2008.
Vietnam
Emirates
from the Gulf will launch a Dubai – Ho Chi Minh City daily service on June 4,
making the southern Vietnamese economic hub its 124th international
destination.
The
non-stop flight, with 27 Business Class and 251 Economy Class seats, will
depart Dubai at 9:25 am, arriving at Tan Son Nhat Airport at 7:20 pm.
From
that day, travelers from Kenya will be able to fly from Nairobi to the
Vietnamese city via the UAE carrier’s Dubai hub. Emirates will begin daily
flights to Ho Chi Minh City using an Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a two class
configuration, which would change to a Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft late this
October.
“Emirates
will offer tourists and business travelers from Kenya a convenient and
comfortable option to access the fascinating and diverse country of Vietnam. Ho
Chi Minh City is one of the most vibrant places in South East Asia and we are
convinced that this will prove to be a highly popular route,” Emirates Regional
Manager for East Africa Essa Sulaiman Ahmad said when announcing the new route
in Nairobi on May 15.
“Vietnam
is full of fascinating history and culture, from the UNESCO World Heritage Site
of Hoi An to the islands of Halong Bay, to the beaches of Nha Trang and the
floating markets of the Mekong River Delta.
Now,
thanks to Emirates’ new service, this must-see destination is within even easier
reach for Kenyans,” he added.
Vietnamese
Deputy Minister for Trade Le Duong Quang, while receiving Kenya’s Ambassador to
Vietnam Richard Ekai mid last year, said Vietnam was keen on working closely
with Kenya and promised to pursue opportunities for high level trade visits to
the African country.
Starting
June 4, Emirates SkyCargo of Emirates will also offer belly hold cargo capacity
on the passenger flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Dubai.
Etihad
Airways, another fast-growing Gulf carrier, has plans to include Vietnam in its
new routes in the next 18 months.
Etihad
CEO James Hogan said his carrier was looking forward to a “significant”
expansion, which would include a new service to Vietnam and flights to South
America. Services to Etihad’s first South American destination would begin next
year. Additional frequent flights to Asia and Australia are also in the works.
Meanwhile,
Air Hong Kong, Jeju Air of South Korea, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Air China
Cargo, have registered with the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV)
to open new routes to Vietnam by the end of the year, bringing the number of
foreign airlines operating in the country to 48.
Jeju
Air said it would operate daily flights between Seoul and Ho Chi Minh City, but
has not announced the launch time.
According
to CAAV, Silk Air of Singapore is eyeing a route to Hanoi in addition to its
current service to Da Nang on Vietnam’s central coast.
In
early May, Finland’s Finnair, a member of international airline alliance One
World that provides more than 800 flights daily worldwide, announced its
official presence in the Vietnamese market by naming Bien Dong Travel as the
general sales agent.
Retteri
Kostemaa, South East Asia business director of Finnair, said with 11
destinations, Asia now brought 65 percent of the carrier’s total turnover, and
Vietnam was one of its most important markets. He said the airline was
considering opening a direct route from Helsinki in the near future. From
Vietnam, Finnair would team up with other carriers such as Vietnam Airlines, Cathay
Pacific and Jetstar to create transit points connecting with Finnair flights to
the Finnish capital.
Thailand’s
Bangkok Airways has also just appointed Transviet Promotion Co., Ltd. as its
general sales agent for Vietnam.
In late
March, America’s United Airlines and Japan’s All Nippon Airways announced the
expansion of their trans-Pacific joint venture to enable them to cooperate in
terms of airfare and network on the Vietnam-US routes starting in April.
Earlier
on March 23, Cebu Pacific of the Philippines launched its Manila-Hanoi
services, operating two weekly flights.
Also in
March, Saudi Airlines Cargo launched its new freighter flights from Ho Chi Minh
City, operating twice a week linking Vietnam with the Middle East and Frankfurt
in Germany.
In late
April, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved a new aviation
transport pact between Vietnam and the UK signed last December to enhance air
transport ties between the two countries as well as investment and cooperation
relations.
The agreement
highlighted a significant increase in flight frequency between the two
countries. British and Vietnamese transport officials agreed to bring the
number of weekly services between the two countries up from only three flights
a week in their first aviation agreement inked in 1994 and revised in 1999 to
14.
Last
year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicted that Vietnam
would become the third fastest growing market in the world by 2014 after China
and Brazil, with a growth grate of 10 percent compared to the current world
average of 5 percent.
CAAV
said the Vietnamese market posted a 14 percent growth rate last year. It
estimates Vietnam would see 34-36 million air passengers a year by 2015, and
52-59 million passengers by 2019. Meanwhile, cargo transport would witness a
rapid increase to 850,000-930,000 tons by 2015 and 1.4-1.6 million tons by
2019.
Economist
Shayne Heffernan of www.livetradingnews.com Market Outlook
Live
Asia Markets
Business & Investment Opportunities
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