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CNA938 Rewind - CNA938 examines: Autonomous vehicles on Singapore's roads

CNA938 Rewind - CNA938 examines: Autonomous vehicles on Singapore's roads

CNA5 hours ago

CNA938 Rewind
Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow has mooted the idea of autonomous vehicles plying Singapore's roads as soon as five years from now. Andrea Heng and Susan Ng speak with Ku Swee Yong, real estate analyst and former researcher on autonomous vehicles, to assess the possibilities and potential changes to expect.

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Japan's TDK acquires US-based smart glasses company SoftEye
Japan's TDK acquires US-based smart glasses company SoftEye

CNA

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Japan's TDK acquires US-based smart glasses company SoftEye

TOKYO :Japan's TDK said on Thursday it has acquired U.S.-based SoftEye, which makes software and hardware for smart glasses, as the smartphone battery maker looks for growth drivers linked to artificial intelligence. SoftEye, based in San Diego, California, develops technology that facilitates eye tracking and object recognition. Its founder and CEO, Te-Won Lee, was an executive at Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm. The deal is worth less than $100 million, a source familiar with the matter said. Technology firms are looking to hardware beyond smartphones, with Facebook owner Meta and others focusing on smart glasses that use AI to facilitate interaction between users and the environment. Social media company Snap has said it will launch smart glasses for consumers next year, and last month Alphabet's Google demonstrated smart glasses at its developer conference. Chipmaker Qualcomm also demonstrated a processor for smart glasses this month. TDK, which was once well known for its cassette tapes, is a major manufacturer of electronic components and supplies batteries for smart glasses.

South-east Asia's budget airlines bet on travel demand, despite competition woes
South-east Asia's budget airlines bet on travel demand, despite competition woes

Business Times

timean hour ago

  • Business Times

South-east Asia's budget airlines bet on travel demand, despite competition woes

[SEOUL] South-east Asia's biggest budget airlines are pursuing a bruising capacity expansion race despite rising cost pressures that are squeezing profitability and led Qantas Airways to shut down Singapore-based offshoot Jetstar Asia. Low-cost carriers have proliferated in Asia in the past two decades as disposable incomes rise, supported by robust travel demand from Chinese tourists. Demand for air travel in Asia is expected to grow faster than in other regions in the next few decades, and carriers such as Vietnam's VietJet Aviation and Malaysia-headquartered AirAsia are to buy more planes to add to their already large order books as they seek to gain market share. But margins are thinner than in other regions. The International Air Transport Association (Iata), an airline industry body, this year expects Asia-Pacific airlines to make a net profit margin of 1.9 per cent, compared with a global average of 3.7 per cent. Airlines across Asia have largely restored capacity since the pandemic, which has intensified competition, especially for price-sensitive budget travellers, and pulled airfares down from recent high levels. International airfares in Asia dropped 12 per cent in 2024 from 2023, ForwardKeys data shows. AirAsia, the region's largest budget carrier, reported a 9 per cent decline in average airfares in the first quarter as it added capacity and passed savings from lower fuel prices onto its customers. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 8.30 am Asean Business Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies. Sign Up Sign Up Adding to challenges for airlines, costs such as labour and airport charges are also rising, while a shortage of new planes is driving up leasing and maintenance fees. This shifting landscape prompted Australia's Qantas to announce last week that its loss-making low-cost intra-Asia subsidiary Jetstar Asia would shut down by the end of July after two decades of operations. Jetstar Asia said it had seen 'really high cost increases' at its Singapore base, including double-digit rises in fuel, airport fees, ground handling and security charges. 'It is a very thin buffer, and with margins this low, any cost increase can impact an airline's viability,' said Iata Asia-Pacific vice-president Sheldon Hee, adding that operating costs were escalating in the region. Aviation data firm OAG in a February white paper, said that Asia-Pacific was the world's most competitive aviation market, with airfares driven down by rapid capacity expansion 'perhaps to a point where profits are compromised'. 'Balancing supply to demand and costs to revenue have never been more critical,' the report said of the region's airlines. 'Go big or go home' South-east Asia has an unusually high concentration of international budget flights. Around two-thirds of international seats within South-east Asia so far this year were on budget carriers, compared to about one-third of international seats globally, Capa Centre for Aviation data shows. Qantas took the option to move Jetstar Asia's aircraft to more cost-efficient operations in Australia and New Zealand rather than continue to lose money, analysts say. Budget operators in South-east Asia were struggling for profits amid fierce competition even before the pandemic and now there is the added factor of higher costs, said Asia-based independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie. Low-cost carriers offer bargain fares by driving operating costs as low as possible. Large fleets of one aircraft type drive efficiencies of scale. Jetstar Asia was much smaller than local rivals, with only 13 aircraft. As at Mar 31, Singapore Airlines' budget offshoot Scoot had 53 planes, AirAsia had 225 and VietJet had 117, including its Thai arm. Low-cost Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific had 99. All four are adding more planes to their fleets this year and further into the future. VietJet on Tuesday (Jun 17) signed a provisional deal to buy up to another 150 single-aisle Airbus planes at the Paris Airshow, in a move it said was just the beginning as the airline pursues ambitious growth. The deal comes weeks after it ordered 20 A330neo wide-body planes, alongside an outstanding order for 200 Boeing 737 MAX jets. AirAsia, which has an existing orderbook of at least 350 planes, is also in talks to buy 50 to 70 long-range single-aisle jetliners, and 100 regional jets that could allow it to expand to more destinations, its CEO Tony Fernandes said on Wednesday. 'At the end of the day, it is go big or go home,' said Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines. REUTERS

Nearly 40 employers offer 450 roles at job fair for retrenched Jetstar Asia staff
Nearly 40 employers offer 450 roles at job fair for retrenched Jetstar Asia staff

New Paper

time2 hours ago

  • New Paper

Nearly 40 employers offer 450 roles at job fair for retrenched Jetstar Asia staff

Nearly 40 employers from a mix of industries, from aviation and aerospace to public transport and hospitality, have come together in an effort to match retrenched Jetstar Asia employees with new jobs. The job fair at Changi Airport Terminal 1 is open to all Jetstar Asia staff and will run from June 17 to 19. It features more than 450 roles, including positions for pilots, cabin crew, customer service, engineering, and safety and quality assurance, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) said on June 18. Jetstar Asia, a Singapore-based low-cost airline, will shut down after more than 20 years in operation, it said on June 11. The airline will continue to operate flights out of Singapore for seven weeks, with a progressively reduced schedule until its final day of operations on July 31. Over 500 Singapore-based employees will be laid off when the airline closes. The Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group said on June 13 that it would create positions for retrenched Jetstar Asia employees across its airlines, including 100 jobs for pilots and 200 jobs for cabin crew. NTUC said SIA and its low-cost arm Scoot are "primarily supporting" the recruitment efforts for pilots and cabin crew and will be at the job fair on all three days. A range of other employers - a total of 38 companies - will be at the job fair on different days, including planemaker Airbus and its aircraft component and service subsidiary Satair, airport operator Changi Airport Group, inflight caterer and ground handler Sats, public transport operator SMRT and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). The job fair aims to provide direct support to Jetstar Asia employees, including career coaching, skills upgrading and employability assistance, and allow them to tap the labour movement's unions for support, NTUC said. In a Facebook post on June 18, labour chief Ng Chee Meng said he had visited the job fair and spoken to retrenched employees at Terminals 1 and 3. "They shared their concerns and uncertainties about what lies ahead, and I completely understand the anxiety that they feel," he said. "I want to assure them that they are not alone." Mr Jerome Tan, 37, who works in flight operations, visited the job fair on June 17. Those affected by the impending closure are "coping with it in their own perspective, speed and pace", he told The Straits Times. Mr Tan, who has worked at Jetstar Asia for nine years, said he has applied for a job at SIA. "I think the common approach would be to (go to) Scoot or SIA" because staff can still be based in Singapore. He added that the job fair had booths where Jetstar Asia staff could scan a QR code to find out more about the roles on offer. While he did not see the closure coming, he said he was taking it in his stride, preferring to see it as a business decision. A cabin crew member who asked not to be named said she was "shocked" when she heard about the airline's decision to stop operations. She was on annual leave at the time. The 24-year-old has worked at Jetstar Asia for nearly three years and applied for cabin crew positions at SIA and Scoot a few days after news of the impending closure. Another member of the cabin crew, who also did not want to be named, said she plans to leave the aviation industry for hotel management. She was in Taiwan when she heard about the airline's impending closure. The job fair was organised by the NTUC Aerospace and Aviation cluster, NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute, the Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers' Union, CAAS and Jetstar Asia. More than 100 employees were at the fair on the first day, with a similar number expected on each of the remaining two days.

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