Category Archives: Aviation

Following the success of the recently extended Business and First-class stopover offer, Oman Air is launching another attractive offer for all its passengers. Partnering with the Grand Millennium Muscat, Oman Air’s guests, travelling through Oman on to their end destination, can now enjoy a free night’s accommodation in this luxurious hotel in the centre of Muscat.  Passengers travelling from the Far East on their way to Europe, or vice-versa, can now leave the airport in Muscat to enjoy a complimentary 5-star night in the capital, as well as an opportunity to have a glimpse of the city and its highlights and return to their travels the next day. Visitors wanting to extend their stay can avail attractive rates at the hotel. Richard Bodin, Senior Vice President of Oman Air Holidays, said, “We are delighted with the success of our previous campaign, offering a free stopover option to our premium guests. We are now broadening our offer to include all our passenger base and we are excited to partner with Grand Millennium Muscat for this campaign.” He added, “Oman Air has been successfully attracting passengers from across the world to use Muscat as a connection point to other destinations across our network. Campaigns like this are appealing to them to break their journey, step out of the airport and see some parts of the Sultanate; thereby, promoting Oman and all it has to offer.” Luca Medda, Cluster General Manager at Millennium Hotels and Resorts confirmed his company’s commitment to the campaign, “We are keen to promote Oman to travellers across the globe, and what better way than to get them to actually sample our quality and the famous Omani culture and …

flydubai inaugurated its new service to Naples, becoming the first UAE national carrier to offer direct flights from Dubai. The new route is codeshared with Emirates and gives passengers access to more than 200 destinations worldwide on the combined network. With up to five flights a week, Naples becomes flydubai’s second destination in Italy after it launched flights to Sicily’s Catania last year. Onboard the flight was a senior delegation led by Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai and Thierry Aucoc,  Senior Vice President, Commerical Operations, Europe, Russian Federation and Latin America at Emirates, together with representatives from the regional media. On arrival in Naples, the delegation was met by Roberto Barbieri, CEO of Naples Airport and Margherita Chiaramonte, Business Aviation Development Director, Naples Airport. Commenting on the occasion, Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai said, “We are delighted to be flying to Naples, the second destination we have launched in Italy in a year. It is another example of flydubai’s decade long commitment towards opening up underserved markets and giving those in Italy more opportunities to benefit from direct flights to Dubai and beyond on our network. We look forward to the increased opportunities for trade and tourism that this new route will bring.” “Through our codeshare partnership, Emirates’ customers from across our global network, particularly from key inbound markets such as Australia, Japan and China, will now also be able to easily access Naples, while local travellers in the Naples region can connect seamlessly from their flydubai flight to Emirates flights at our Dubai hub to popular destinations such as Thailand, Australia, Egypt and China,” said Thierry Aucoc, …

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Star Alliance have renewed their collaboration on traveller document verification to improve the passenger experience. Star Alliance and IATA, in a signing ceremony at IATA’s 75th Annual General Meeting in Seoul, agreed that IATA’s Timatic AutoCheck solution will continue to power Automated Document Check (ADC) for Star Alliance member carriers. IATA Timatic AutoCheck enables Star Alliance customers checking-in at the airport counter or online to verify that their travel documents are valid and complete for the whole journey, including any transit point before travel begins. This delivers several significant benefits; preventing the embarrassing and distressing situation for passengers of being denied entry to a country on arrival owing to missing or invalid documents; and enabling a seamless experience when travel encompasses multiple carriers. Passengers will no longer need to see an agent to have their travel documents checked and rechecked at transit points, and avoiding the passenger fine to airlines for transporting inadmissible passengers. Jeffrey Goh, CEO Star Alliance said, “This marks another milestone in our continuing strategy to improve the passenger travel experience, especially for those customers who fly on multi-carrier journeys. Our partnership with IATA to extend collaboration on passenger document verification through use of IATA’s Timatic AutoCheck to support our proven solution of the ADC will help ensure a seamless travel experience for our members’ 775 million passengers, a priority that lies at the heart of our strategic repositioning.” “Digital transformation is essential to meeting evolving passenger expectations today and into the future. Star’s selection of Timatic will give its customers a better experience,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

Emirates’ first scheduled A380 services have just touched down in Boston and Amman for the summer season peak. The first scheduled A380 service landed in Amman on June 1 at 15:55 hrs local time and the second A380 service from Dubai to Boston landed at 13:50 hrs local time. Led by Captain Arif Al Reyami and Jordanian First Officer Laith Saudi, the A380 Amman service was greeted by a traditional water cannon salute. Emirates will operate its A380 aircraft to and from Amman until October 26 to cater to the increased demand for travel during the peak summer period. The airline has adjusted its schedule on one of its three daily flights (EK 903/904) with the A380. Emirates A380 operations to Boston also coincide with high customer demand during the peak summer and winter travel season and will see overall capacity increase around 45 per cent between June 1 to September 30, 2019 and December 1, 2019 to  January 31, 2020. The move to deploy the popular A380 on both routes demonstrates the airline’s flexibility to optimise the usage of its fleet to cater to passenger demand within its network. The Emirates A380 flying to Amman is set in a three-class configuration, and will have 427 seats in Economy Class on the lower deck over the months of June and July, 76 flat-bed Business Class seats and 14 luxurious First Class Suites. First and Business Class customers can catch up, network and enjoy an extensive range of beverages and delicacies in the Onboard Lounge. The Emirates A380 flying to Boston is also set in a three class cabin configuration, offering 14 private suites in First Class, 76 seats in Business …

IndiGo commenced two new daily direct flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Abu Dhabi. The inaugural flight from Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi to Abu Dhabi took flight on Wednesday, June 5 at 19:55 local time, while the flight from Abu Dhabi to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai departed at 23:30 local time. The new flights were celebrated with a cake cutting ceremony on Wednesday, June 5 and was attended by key representatives from Abu Dhabi International Airport and IndiGo. Bryan Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said, “This enhanced connectivity reflects the strong connection between the UAE and India in a variety of areas including commerce and tourism. IndiGo is one of the busiest Indian airlines operating at Abu Dhabi International Airport to now four destinations; Cochin, Calicut, Delhi and Mumbai. With the two new routes we look forward to continuing to facilitate the travel of Indian expats between their homeland and the UAE and attracting tourist traffic between the multiple destinations.” On the occasion, William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo, said, “As we strengthen our operations from Delhi and Mumbai for domestic and international connectivity from India, Abu Dhabi being a major cultural and commercial centre in UAE, is a critical market for strengthening our presence in the Middle-East. With the addition of these new international flights and enhanced domestic frequency, we are committed to expanding our network to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travellers.” IndiGo passengers traveling from Abu Dhabi International Airport will be able to take advantage of Abu Dhabi Airports’ remote check-in locations at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) and at the heart of capital opposite Abu …

This summer Emirates has partnered with Uber to offer UAE travellers discounted airport transfers  for those who fly Emirates Economy Class Flex Plus and Economy Class Flex. Customers can avail free or discounted airport rides to and from DXB on bookings made until July 31 for travel until August 31, 2019. UAE nationals and residents can now plan ahead and enjoy a seamless end-to-end customer travel experience this summer. Customers who book their travel in Economy Flex Plus can avail two free rides to and from DXB from anywhere in Dubai up to the value of AED 120 per trip. Customers booked in Economy Flex will get 50% off two rides, to and from DXB to anywhere in Dubai up to the value of AED 60 per trip. Passengers can avail the special offers by booking via the Emirates website during the promotional period. Khalid Bel Jaflah,  Divisional Vice President Commercial Operations — UAE and Oman, Emirates, said, “We are very pleased to strengthen our partnership with Uber and extend this popular offer to customers in our home market of Dubai. We remain committed to providing a fantastic customer experience for our customers in the UAE so they can enjoy a seamless journey on the ground and in the air.” Abdellatif Waked, General Manager, Middle East and North Africa for Uber, commented, “At Uber, we’re focused on bringing reliable transportation to the millions of customers we serve everyday, and we are delighted to see our partnership with Emirates extend to serve outbound travellers from Dubai.” The Uber promotion code offer is currently also available for Emirates passengers visiting Dubai from more than 50 global destinations within North America, South America, …

After completing its rehabilitation programme, Dubai Airports Southern Runway is now ready again after 45 days. The Emirates Boeing 777 travelling from Seattle was the first aircraft to touch down on the newly refurbished tarmac reopening DXB to return to full capacity. Scheduling experts optimised DXB’s one runway operation so there was only a 32% reduction in flights for the period at DXB. Traffic at Dubai’s second airport, DWC, increased by nearly 700% during the period and was applauded by customers and airlines for its speed, efficiency and convenience.

The first flight took off from Dubai to Beirut 10 years ago in 2009, marking a new chapter in aviation in the history of the United Arab Emirates; today 10 years later flydubai celebrates a milestone carrying over 70 million passengers in its short span of operations. Commenting on the 10th year anniversary of the start of flydubai’s operations, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of flydubai, said, “For many years the Government of Dubai recognised the need for another carrier to serve our country. In 2009, we were able to achieve this thanks to the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. flydubai was launched with a mandate to open new markets and make travel more accessible to more people. I am happy to see flydubai deliver on that commitment which has seen the airline connect 71 previously underserved cities to Dubai allowing a population of 1.5 billion easier access to one of the world’s leading aviation hubs.” HE Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, said, “The UAE is leading on the global air transport front and the aviation sector has been a major contributor to the overall national economy. The sector has successfully enabled the creation of an attractive environment for trade, investment and tourism to flourish.” Reflecting on the last 10 years and looking to the years ahead, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai, said, “flydubai’s commitment to making travel more convenient and more affordable has only grown stronger over the past 10 years. We are pleased to see that more than 70 million passengers …

Emirates is gearing up for a big summer in Muscat with the deployment of double daily A380 flights from July 1. The airline will operate the A380 on EK 862/863 and EK864/865 to and from Muscat International Airport (MCT). Muscat will become Emirates’ shortest scheduled A380 flight, flying a distance of 340 kilometres each way. The new A380 services to Muscat demonstrate the airline’s agile approach to fleet deployment and its commitment to providing an enhanced onboard experience for its passengers. Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations Centre, said, “The introduction of the A380 services to Muscat means more of our customers will have the opportunity to experience our industry-leading products onboard, and will also enhance choice and travel preferences as they plan their journeys. Oman is an important destination for Emirates, and we will continue to look at ways to grow our operations in the market to best serve our customers. We thank Muscat International Airport and the government authorities for their support in making the A380 double daily operations happen.” Sheikh Aimen bin Ahmed Al Hosni, CEO, Oman Airports, said, “From its side, Muscat International Airport has demonstrated its readiness for this extraordinary event, and the arrival of these scheduled flights for this giant aircraft is a gain to prove the large airport capacity to accommodate an aircraft of this size.” The launch of the A380 flights will come exactly one year after the first deployment of a scheduled one-off A380 service that marked 25 years of operations to Oman, and reaffirmed the airport’s infrastructure readiness to handle double-decker operations. The twice daily A380 services will replace EK 862/863 and EK 864/865.

Emirates anticipates a busy weekend ahead of the Eid holiday with heavy traveller volumes to and from Dubai. The busiest time for departures in Terminal 3 will be on May 31 with over 80,000 passengers travelling abroad. Customers are reminded to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their flight departure to avoid any delays. Peak travel is expected to continue until June 3, 2019 with over 309,000 Emirates passengers travelling from Dubai during this period of time. With expected traffic congestion around Terminal 3, and road works continuing to cause traffic delays around main airport highways and roads during this time – Emirates urges customers to build in extra time for their journeys to avoid potential delays. Passengers can physically check in at the airport as early as 24 hours before flight departure, and are requested to check in no later than two hours prior to departure, regardless of class of travel. Customers who check in less than 60 minutes prior to their scheduled flight departure will not be accepted for travel. Customers can also check in online on both their desktops and mobile devices from 48 hours to 90 minutes before flight departure. In addition to online check-in services, Emirates also offers convenient car park check-in facilities. Customers can use these to check in and drop off their luggage. Alternatively, customers heading to Emirates Terminal 3 can choose to drop their luggage at one of the 46 dedicated bag drop counters in Economy Class or separate counters in First Class and Business Class from six hours to 90 minutes prior to departure. Families travelling with small children can use dedicated Family counters in Check in Zone …