Category Archives: Aviation

Cebu Pacific will continue to operate flights from Dubai to Manila. However, all their domestic flights will be cancelled to and from Manila from March 15 until April 14, in line with Philippine government’s directive for a community quarantine over Metro Manila to contain the spread of the COVID-19. Cebu Pacific is in the process of completing the cancellation of domestic flights from their system. Once done, they will enable its passengers to manage their bookings online to avail of either a full refund, rebooking with waived change fees or booking conversion to travel fund. Notifications will immediately be sent to affected passengers via email addresses provided to CEB upon booking. Bookings can be managed online so passengers need not go to the ticket offices.

Lufthansa reduced flight schedules of its passenger airlines for the period from March 29 to April 24, to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. For all passenger airlines in the Group, a total of 23,000 flights will be cancelled. The flight cancellations will be implemented successively in the booking systems, and affected passengers will be informed of the changes and rebooking options. Further cancellations are expected in the coming weeks. Flight schedule adjustments for the period after April 25 will be made at a later date. The capacity adjustments mainly affect Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In the cancellations, care will be taken to ensure that all destinations on all continents can be reached with a Lufthansa Group airline via the hubs of Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and Brussels.

Etihad Airways will launch new daily scheduled year-round flights to Vienna. The service will initially operate with four weekly flights between May 22 and June 30, 2020. Etihad is introducing the new service to provide greater choice and convenience for point-to-point business and leisure travellers between the UAE and Austria, and to promote direct inbound tourism to Abu Dhabi. Departures have been conveniently timed to arrive early morning in Vienna, and to connect seamlessly in both directions via Abu Dhabi to gateways across the Etihad network including the GCC, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Robin Kamark, Chief Commercial Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said, “The announcement of this route brings the number of our European passenger destinations to 22. Austria is an important trade and tourism partner for the UAE and the new flights will enable us to take advantage of the increasing business and leisure demand between the two countries. Trade between the UAE and Austria is strong and there are approximately 180 Austrian companies operating in the emirates. Tourism has been increasing in both directions with Austria becoming an increasingly popular year-round destination with UAE nationals and residents, attracted by the centuries old culture, breathtaking scenery, and famous ski resorts.” Etihad’s two-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner features next-generation Business and Economy cabins configured with 290 seats – 28 Business Studios and 262 Economy Smart Seats. The introduction of the widebody aircraft on the route will provide Etihad with opportunities for belly-hold cargo between Abu Dhabi and Vienna, and onwards across the Etihad Cargo network.

Air Arabia is providing its customers with more flexibility by introducing a new modification fee waiver policy in light of current travel restrictions and to allow customers the choice of changing travel dates. The customers can change their existing and new bookings made until March 31, 2020 for travel until December 31, 2020 with confidence up to 72 hours prior to departure. This applies to all flights across Air Arabia network from its four hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Egypt. The new waiver policy offers passengers the flexibility to modify their travel bookings without charge and reissuance fees, further underlining Air Arabia’s commitment to provide flexibility and prioritise the convenience of its customers. Customers will only need to pay fare difference if there is any at the time of rebooking their flights. Air Arabia’s dedicated call centres and sales offices available throughout their entire network will assist customers with their bookings and enquiries.

Etihad Airways has temporarily suspended all flights between Abu Dhabi and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in response to a directive from the General Authority for Civil Aviation, Saudi Arabia, to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The airline operates up to 12 flights per day between Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. It has cancelled a total of seven flights today between Abu Dhabi and the Saudi cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Medina, and is now advising passengers who were booked to travel today. Another four flights which were en-route to Saudi Arabia at the time of the directive were permitted to land. When flights arrived in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, nationals of Saudi Arabi were permitted to disembark but all other passengers remained on the aircraft, which will return to Abu Dhabi. The fourth flight operated to Medina to repatriate Umrah passengers. In addition to the flight suspensions to and from the UAE, Saudi Arabia has also banned Saudi nationals and Saudi residents from travelling to countries including the UAE and on passengers travelling from or transiting through Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Italy, Egypt and Korea. Etihad Airways is working closely with regulatory authorities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and is continuing to monitor this situation closely. For passengers impacted by the flight cancellations, procedures are in place for fare refunds or for flight changes when services resume.

The Lufthansa Group airlines Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Air Dolomiti introduced more flexible rebooking options from March 31, 2020. The new extensive waiver policy for rebooking applies to both existing and future bookings worldwide. The airlines will waive the rebooking fees for all newly booked flights worldwide and offer a one-time rebooking – regardless of condition of the original booking fare purchased. Passengers can in future rebook to a new travel date until December 31, 2020 without rebooking fees. The new waiver policy for existing bookings applies worldwide for tickets purchased before March 5 with a travel date up to April 30, 2020. Passengers can rebook to a new date up to December 31, 2020 without any rebooking fee – regardless of condition of the original booking fare purchased. The departure and destination airports must be identical. If the original fare is no longer available, the corresponding difference must be paid. The rebooking must be made before the original travel date. With this new waiver policy, the Lufthansa Group Airlines are responding to the wish of many customers to help make their travel plans more flexible under the exceptional circumstances caused by the spread of the coronavirus.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Airports, inaugurated the Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC), the nerve centre of Dubai International (DXB) – the world’s busiest international airport with 86.4 million international passengers in 2019. The state-of-the-art facility enables a collaborative approach to managing airport operations by providing information and analyses based on data collated from more than 50 systems fed by 7 billion data points. The AOCC allows operator Dubai Airports, government agencies, airlines and other service partners to monitor every aspect of the operation in real time as well as predict developing situations to respond to them more efficiently. Harnessing big data has helped Dubai Airports deliver a smooth experience to some 240,000 passengers daily and achieve breakthrough service improvements including 40 per cent reduction in queue time since 2018 and a record 99.96 per cent baggage delivery success rate in 2019.

Travelport announced signing a new multi-year content agreement with Malaysia Airlines. The agreement also includes the use of Travelport’s leading merchandising tool, Travelport Rich Content and Branding, as well as Travelport’s Digital Media Solutions. With the agreement, over 68,000 agencies servicing hundreds of millions of travellers worldwide will have real-time access to search, book and sell the content and inventory of Malaysia Airlines. It will also join over 300 other airlines using Travelport’s Rich Content and Branding merchandising tool, which gives agencies a graphically rich experience when searching for and booking branded fares. Additionally, Travelport Digital Media Solutions, including Travelport sponsored flights and destination banners, will be used by Malaysia Airlines to promote its flight options through highly targeted advertising tool kits and campaigns. Commenting on the new deal, Lau Yin May, Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer of Malaysia Airlines said, “We fly to over 1,000 destinations around the world and Travelport’s edge in technology innovations, air merchandising and digital marketing will help Malaysia Airlines better fulfill the demands of travellers and seize growth opportunities in today’s highly competitive environment.” Chris Ramm, Vice President Asia Pacific, Air Partners at Travelport, said, “Following the airline’s launch of new flexible fare options last year, I believe Travelport Rich Content and Branding will further empower Malaysia Airlines to offer more flexibility to travellers who increasingly demand personalised travel experience. Our Digital Media Solutions will also support Malaysia Airlines in global and tactical sales campaigns to promote its product offerings.”

Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADDH) announced signing agreement with Wizz Air to jointly establish Wizz Air Abu Dhabi. The LCC plans to start operations in the second half of the year, to a range of destinations across Europe, ME, Asia and Africa. The airline is set to launch its operations at Abu Dhabi International Airport in Fall 2020. The agreement is a major milestone in the launch of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, a new emirati low-cost airline based in the UAE’s capital. His Excellency Mohamed Hassan Al Suwaidi, CEO of ADDH, said, “Significant investment is going not only into our airports but also the tourist infrastructure, including hotels, resorts and cultural attractions. Last year the emirate achieved a record high of 11.35 million visitors and a key driver for this is the connectivity that enables people to visit Abu Dhabi easily and affordably. Our partnerships with Wizz Air and others will help elevate the UAE’s capital as a highly competitive regional and international destination for leisure and business travellers alike.” József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air Holdings, said, “The joint venture agreement underpins our long-term dedication to bringing an economically and operationally highly efficient as well as environmentally most sustainable airline business model to boost Abu Dhabi’s aviation development. Wizz Air’s mission feeds into Abu Dhabi’s diversified economic strategy as we aim to stimulate traffic by creating demand to the benefit of growing Abu Dhabi’s touristic and economic diversity. We look forward to welcoming passengers on board our young, green and ultra-efficient fleet.”

Turkish Airlines will be operating 98 flights every week from 26 international destinations to Turkey’s favourite tourism spots such as Antalya, İzmir, Dalaman and Bodum during the Summer 2020. Turkish Airlines which contributed greatly to the record number of tourists coming to Turkey during 2019 will increase its support during 2020 as well. In line with this support and direct tourism endeavor, the weekly frequency of direct flights from international destinations to Turkey’s tourism centres will be increased by 18 per cent this year compared to 2019. Commenting on the ‘Direct Tourism Endeavor’ protocol that was signed between Turkish Airlines and Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism back in 2018, M. İlker Aycı, Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Turkish Airlines stated; “The direct tourism protocol we signed with our Ministry of Culture and Tourism two years ago opened new ways for our international guests to discover these wonders as well. We carry our guests to heavenly holiday spots in a few hours especially if they are coming from Europe or Middle East. The demand for these flights has been steadily increasing over the course of last two years. With the contributions of our new strategy, our country hosted a record number of tourists last year.” Turkish Airlines will be operating 74 weekly flights from 20 destinations to Antalya. The 7 weekly flights from Moscow to Antalya during 2019 will be increased by 100 per cent to 14 weekly flights following market research and increase in demand. Another important change will be for Dalaman. Last year, there was only a single flight per week to Dalaman from Amman. This year flag carrier will operate direct flights from 4 …