Category Archives: Aviation

Emirates SkyCargo has launched Emirates Pets – a new and improved air transportation product developed by a team of experts to offer a convenient and comfortable air transportation experience for domestic pets. The product builds on Emirates SkyCargo’s existing capabilities to transport pet animals on its flights and offers new features such as door to door transportation as well as booking return flights for pets. With Emirates Pets, the entry level solution, Emirates SkyCargo will offer airport to airport transportation for pets across the carrier’s network of over 160 destinations. The owner of the pet will be responsible for completing all the required paperwork and clearances needed for the transport of the pet from one country to another. In addition, Emirates SkyCargo has also entered into a partnership with Snoopy Pets, a leading pet relocation service provider based out of Dubai, to offer a new premium door to door transportation service, Emirates Pets Plus, across 16 markets. Under its premium service, the complete logistics of transporting the pet, including filing all the required documentation, taking the pet for any required veterinary checks and transporting the pet to and from the airport, will be managed by Snoopy Pets on behalf of the customer and Emirates SkyCargo. The markets where this service is available are Bahrain, Brazil, Cyprus, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, UAE and UK. With Emirates Pets and Emirates Pets Plus, owners wishing to take their pets with them on extended holidays also have the option of also booking a return flight for their pets with Emirates SkyCargo.

Sharjah Airport Travel Agency (SATA) has geared up on the online space to provide additional travel products by partnering with Tune Protect EMEIA – the online facilitator of Travel Assurance. The travel assurance plans are extremely important as they cover unplanned expenses in case of an emergency, before, during & after travel. Unforeseen events whether traveling domestic or internationally can put travelers under a financial strain. It is extremely important to have the right travel protection cover. Tune Protect offers travel protection plans for different types of travellers be it for leisure, business or visitors traveling to meet family or friends, adventure seekers, golf lovers & more. Catering to varied types of international travelers requiring products customization, SATA, in partnership with Tune Protect EMEIA, offer travel products to meet need the travelers including travel protection plans with ease. Moses Paul, Manager IT & eCommerce at SATA believes, “With 17 years of dedicated commitment and 14 branches across the UAE, SATA has kept ahead of the travel game by providing tailor-made services and enhancing existing travel products to meet the ever-growing travel needs of our customers”. Speaking on the tie up with Tune Protect EMEIA, “With regards to SATA’s digital transformation strategy, i.e. bringing our multi-faceted travel products to the travellers on a single platform with the ability to customise, it was extremely important to provide additional value-added products personalized for Travel protection plans facilitated by Tune Protect EMEIA, makes it a perfect fit to our business ethos.”

Travelport has announced the signing of a new multi-year content agreement with Cobalt Air, which includes the use of the company’s leading merchandising tool, Travelport Rich Content and Branding. From its base in Cyprus, Cobalt Air, offers regular flights to 22 destinations in Greece, UK, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Spain, Israel, Denmark, Lebanon and the UAE. Under the new agreement, its full content and inventory will be made available for the first time to over 68,000 Travelport-connected agencies servicing hundreds of millions of consumers around the world. With Cobalt Air joining over 260 airlines using Travelport Rich Content and Branding, agencies and travel bookers will also be given a graphically rich experience when searching for and booking the airline’s branded fares, as well as greater access to its ancillary offers. Through delivering these benefits, Travelport’s merchandising tool will help drive increased revenue. Philip Saunders, Vice President, Air Commerce, Europe Middle East and Africa at Travelport added, “We are delighted to welcome Cobalt Air to Travelport’s platform and look forward to supporting its growth objectives. Our Rich Content and Branding solution will help promote the airline’s brand and increase revenue by facilitating upsell of branded fares, ancillaries, and special promotions while continuing to develop Travelport’s position in the Cyprus travel industry.”

Etihad Airways will operate additional flights between Abu Dhabi and its destinations in Saudi Arabia to facilitate the movement of thousands of pilgrims for Hajj. Until August 28, Etihad will operate special charters to carry pilgrims on its additional flights to Jeddah and Medina Airport. All flights will operate alongside regular scheduled services. The top inbound destinations for the Hajj Etihad flights are the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Korea, and Nigeria. Hareb Mubarak Al Muhairi, Etihad Airways’ Senior Vice President, said, “The Hajj pilgrimage is a very important experience for Muslims around the world and Etihad is proud to help its customers make this significant journey. This year we see a 17 per cent increase in the number of pilgrims travelling with Etihad compared the same period last year. To meet this increasing demand, Etihad Airways are adding 16 flights alongside our scheduled services to Jeddah and Medina. We are committed to providing a memorable Hajj travel experience for our customers and to helping them complete their journey with ease and peace of mind.” A dedicated group of airport staff is available to facilitate a seamless ground experience for Hajj travellers. In addition, dedicated check-in counters have been set up at Abu Dhabi international airport. Extra provisions will also be made by cabin crew to meet pilgrims’ needs and requirements and to facilitate the performing of ablutions, advising them about the entry into Al Miqat (state of sanctity), and the changing into Ihram robes.

Air Arabia has announced the introduction of its new European destination, Prague in Czech Republic, direct from Sharjah. Air Arabia’s inaugural flight to the city will commence on December 11, 2018. The 6 hour 50-minute flight will operate five times per week, every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. On Tuesdays and Sundays, the flight will depart Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) at 08:00 hours and arrive at Prague Václav Havel Airport (PRG) at 11:50 hours, and on the return leg, the flight will depart from PRG at 12:35 hours and land at SHJ at 21:40 local time. On Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the departing flight with leave from Sharjah at 15:30 hours and arrive in Prague at 19:20 hours; the return flight will depart Prague at 21:05 and arrive in Sharjah the following morning at 06:10 hours. Adel Al Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia, said, “With the launch of the Sharjah to Prague route, we aim to offer our passengers the chance to discover the colorful and historic capital city, our newest destination in Europe to be available direct from the UAE.” A historic city famed for its Old Town Square and elaborately constructed Baroque buildings, Prague is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic and one of the most popular touristic destinations in Europe.

Emirates has refreshed its premium offering with new luxury products in First and Business Class for a more comfortable travel experience. The new products stem from collaborations with BYREDO skincare, Bowers & Wilkins and Emirates’ longstanding partnership with Bulgari for its refreshed amenity kits. Emirates First Class customers will find the BYREDO travel wellness range of skincare in their private suites. The allergen-free and Chamomile collections were exclusively created for Emirates for a relaxing and hydrating experience inflight. The collection by European luxury brand, BYREDO, was first introduced in Emirates’ new fully enclosed suites on the Boeing 777 last year and is now being rolled out across the fleet. All the products in the collection are manufactured using the best raw materials with a distinct focus on craft and quality. To amplify the viewing experience on ice, Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment system, the airline is rolling out brand new Bowers & Wilkins Active Noise Cancelling E1 headphones in First Class. These headphones were designed by award-winning audio brand Bowers & Wilkins and created exclusively for Emirates using a unique hybrid noise cancellation technology optimised for the Emirates First Class cabins. The headphones are lightweight and made of the finest materials, including aluminium and sheepskin leather for a comfortable fit. Customers can use the headphones to view up to 3,500 channels of on-demand entertainment on a 32-inch TV screen. The entertainment selection on ice across all classes includes up to 950 movies, 400 TV channels and 2,400 music and podcast channels. The headphones’ sound quality can also be tested on The Bowers & Wilkins Superior Sound playlist, a selection of tracks selected for their acoustic excellence available on ice.

Turkish Airlines will launch a new animated safety video, complete with familiar LEGO minifigures in surprising new roles. The custom-animated safety video for Turkish Airlines was created by the teams who assembled “The Lego Movie”, “The Lego Batman Movie”, “The Lego Ninjago Movie” and the highly anticipated sequel “The Lego Movie 2” due in cinemas beginning February 2019, which reunites the heroes of the first film in an all new action-packed adventure. In partnership with Warner Bros and featuring the popular characters from The Lego Movie franchise, the safety video will be shown on all flights starting today and will also debut online. The safety video, which is the first Lego safety video ever made, demonstrates step-by-step safety procedures to passengers in a fun, unique style – complete with sensible airline-approved humor, celebrity cameos and an unforgettable song and dance number. Turkish Airlines is proud to have one of the youngest fleets in the world and strives to achieve the best in aviation safety standards. Whether frequent travellers or first-time fliers, the video aims to inform and entertain passengers, alongside an extensive selection of movies, TV shows, music and games available in different languages on the in-flight entertainment system. The safety video will kick off the “biggest partnership with the smallest cast ever assembled”, hinting there is much more to come from the Turkish Airlines and Lego Movie franchise alliance. Leading up to the worldwide release of “The LEGO Movie 2”, Turkish Airlines will roll-out a global TV campaign, film themed wrapped airplanes, in-flight and in-airport activations and even a second safety video.

The officials results released by Air Arabia reported strong financial results for the first half ending June 30, 2018 as the low-cost carrier continued to deliver solid and sustained financial performance. Air Arabia reported a net profit of AED 230 million for the first half ending June 30, 2018; a 12 per cent less than the AED 261 million reported for the same period last year. The company’s turnover for the first six months of 2018 reached AED 1.816 billion, an increase of 6 per cent compared to AED 1.716 billion in the corresponding period last year. Air Arabia’s strong profits are registered despite the economic pressure that airlines have witnessed in the second quarter of this year, which was driven by lower yield margins, higher fuel prices and seasonality shift in traffic that the market has experienced. Marking strong growth in passenger demand, Air Arabia flew 4.2 million passengers during the first half of 2018 and the airline’s average seat load factor for the first six month of 2018 – passengers carried as a percentage of available seats – stood at impressive 79 per cent. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Al Thani, Chairman of Air Arabia said, “Air Arabia’s strong financial results are a testament to the airline’s robust growth strategy, operational efficiency and unwavering commitment to delivering on its value-added proposition for customers. The global aviation industry had to cope up with pressing economic challenges during the second quarter of this year and we are glad to see Air Arabia continuing to deliver strong financial and operational performance while maintaining its momentum growth across the breadth of its network.”

RwandAir has recently appointed Cozmo Travel as its Passenger General Sales Agent (GSA) for the GCC countries (Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (Offline). “These strategic partnerships play a very important role especially for airlines entering new markets and the practice is that airlines look competitively for established and well known GSA’s when entering particular markets which saves airlines associated costs for new market entry and, or development such as infrastructure, human resource etc while focusing on results. We are already established in the UAE, flying into and out of Dubai and we do cover the entire UAE market from a passenger and cargo sales perspective. This partnership is part of a growth strategy, though offline and it gives us an opportunity to assess the GCC markets for any other decisions in the future,” stated  Timothy Njihia, Country Manager—UAE | GCC | Pakistan, RwandAir.” Jamal Abdulnazar, CEO, Cozmo Travel stated, “With Cozmo Travel’s extensive retail presence in all the GCC countries, RwandAir will be able to capitalise on Cozmo’s  network in the region ensuring a wider market reach. Likewise Cozmo will be able to represent and sell the various RwandAir destinations within the African continent as well their expanding network into Asia and Europe. With a significant population of African nationals working and residing in the GCC region, the focus will be to capitalize on the large network of destinations within the African continent served by RwandAir.”

Emirates has announced that it will introduce five additional flights per week from Dubai to Amsterdam. These additional flights will complement its existing double daily services, offer an earlier departure option from Amsterdam that is convenient for visitors to Dubai, and provide enhanced connectivity to destinations on Emirates’ global network. Four additional weekly services will be started effective December 1, 2018 and the fifth will be added from January 1, 2019, increasing frequency to the Dutch capital city to 19 weekly flights. Outbound, flight EK145 will depart early morning from Dubai on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and arrives at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in time for breakfast, allowing customers to make the most of their day in the city*. The flight schedule is conveniently timed for passengers connecting from Emirates global route network to Amsterdam and will be popular for business travellers to the Netherlands from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Sydney and Bangalore as well as for Dutch leisure travellers returning to Amsterdam from Bangkok, Bali, Mauritius, Maldives and Sri Lanka. The return service, EK146, will depart from Amsterdam on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday late morning time, and arrives in the evening in Dubai*. This service adds more convenience to those visiting Dubai, and offers enhanced connectivity to Phuket and Johannesburg. The new service will be operated by an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER in a three class cabin configuration, with eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class and 310 spacious seats in Economy Class. This complements the two existing services between Dubai and Amsterdam, flights EK147/EK148 and EK149/EK150, operated by an Airbus A380.