Nepal Airlines, the state-owned carrier of Nepal, will be resuming flights to Dubai, four years after it cancelled services due to fleet reliability issues. ANTA Travels, the airlines’ local sales agent in Dubai, confirmed that the first flight to Dubai will resume from Kathmandu, Nepal on August 18 and reach Dubai on August 19, 2016. The airline has acquired a 158-seat A320 to operate three weekly services between Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, and Dubai. Nepal Airlines will commence operation from Dubai Terminal 2 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4.10 am. The flight schedules and fares are updated in Sabre, Galileo and Amadeus reservation systems. The A320 will consist of 150 Economy Class and 8 Business Class seats in every flight. There will be complementary meals offered for all the passengers. It will operate as a full service carrier. Initially the bulk of passengers will be Nepalese working in the UAE but by next March there are plans to promote tourism within the two destinations. More on this will be revealed in our print version in September.

Qatar Airways has announced that it held a 15.67 per cent shareholding in International Airlines Group (IAG) and reiterated that it may consider increasing its stake further within the allowable limits. Non-EU shareholders of IAG including Qatar Airways are subject to an overall cap on non-EU ownership as a result of the requirement for EU airlines to be majority owned by EU shareholders. As of July 28, Qatar Airways now holds 20.01 per cent of IAG. While Qatar Airways’ interest in IAG is purely financial, the increased shareholding reflects the strength of commercial and strategic ties between the companies and evidences the continued support for the ongoing strategy of IAG.

Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts has entered into an agreement with Mohammed Ibrahim Al Subeaei & Sons Investment Company (MASIC) to manage the 180-room Swissôtel Al Khobar in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With a planned opening in 2019, Swissôtel Al Khobar will be situated within the MASIC Business Park development, occupying an enviable location within the urban area’s commercial and residential district. Encompassing around 55,000 square metres (approximately 592,000 square feet) of retail and prime office space, this development will become a landmark in the Eastern Province. In addition to 180 guestrooms, Swissôtel Al Khobar will feature over 1,300 square metres (approximately 14,000 square feet) of meeting and conference space and a variety of food and beverage offerings from Café Swiss and Swiss Gourmet to a pool and grill restaurant. With an emphasis on vitality and fitness, the hotel will also feature the brand’s signature Pürovel Spa & Sport along with an outdoor rooftop pool. This mixed use property will also present 20 exclusive and contemporary luxury residential apartments, branded under the Swissôtel Living concept offering high-end amenities and round-the-clock service to residents.

Novus Aviation Capital (Novus), a leading global aircraft leasing platform based in Dubai, has announced the acquisition of three Boeing 737-900ER aircraft from PT Lion Mentari Airlines (Lion Air), which have been placed on long operating leases with the airline. The successful conclusion of the sale and leaseback transaction with the Indonesian low-cost carrier further expands Novus’ aircraft management fleet. Novus is an independent, privately-held aircraft leasing platform, focused on investing in commercial aircraft assets. Established over 22 years ago, the Novus team operates out of its four global offices in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. The company currently co-owns and manages aircraft-related projects worth about USD 3 billion.

Amadeus IT Holding has reported an adjusted profit of €494.5 million for the first half of 2016, recording a growth of 17.9 per cent compared to the same period of 2015. This was supported by a revenue increase of 15.1%, to €2,275.5 million, and EBITDA growth of 16.5%, to €907.1 million. Free cash-flow generation grew 23.2% in the first half, with the debt ratio at 1.31x EBITDA. They continue to invest in making the GDS the most efficient system for the distribution of travel products, as shown by the success of our merchandising solutions: 157 airlines trust us for the distribution of their ancillaries through the direct and indirect channels. The Airline IT business has also experienced strong growth in the first half of 2016. The number of passengers boarded using their Altéa platform grew by 10.9% supported by the organic growth of their customer base and new customer implementations. This strong performance was complemented by the acquisition of Navitaire from Accenture, finalised in January. Thanks to its contribution, the total number of passengers boarded using Amadeus’ PSS systems increased by 75.7%, to 622.4 million. At the same time, multiple global airlines continued to contract our solutions. Malaysia Airlines chose Amadeus as the their new PSS provider; Singapore Airlines contracted the full suite of Amadeus Revenue Management solutions; Lufthansa Group contracted Amadeus Altéa Departure Control Flight Management for all of its network airlines; and Avianca became the launch partner for Amadeus Anytime Merchandising.

Qatar Airways has partnered with Malaysian based airline Malindo Air to offer passengers seamless travel and greater connectivity when travelling between Southeast Asia and over 100 destinations in Qatar Airways’ network. This bilateral agreement enables Qatar Airways to tap into Malindo Air’s growing short haul regional network currently serving 40 cities in 12 countries which includes 13 major airports in Malaysia. Passengers can now travel to over 140 destinations in the world. Malindo Air passengers travelling from cities such as Langkawi, Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru and Kuching can also easily book interline itineraries using one of Qatar Airways’ thrice-daily flights departing from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and seamlessly connecting to more than 100 onwards destinations within the Qatar Airways global network.

Travelport and Roibek Travel have announced a new long term agreement that will see Roibek exclusively use Travelport’s industry leading technology across their 55 branches in the Kingdom. Travelport’s agency point of sale solution, Travelport Smartpoint, will give Roibek access to air and other travel content and services aimed at transforming the way agents work by maximising revenues, increasing productivity and improving the customer experience. Smartpoint also allows travel agents to sell not just air fares, but an airline’s full range of ancillary products and services in real time from over 400 of the world’s leading network airlines and low cost carriers. There are also more than 650,000 unique hotel properties and 36,000 car rental locations available from Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform. Ibrahim El Mohandes, Country Manager, Saudi Arabia, Travelport commented; “Travelport is delighted to announce this business partnership with Roibek Travel. Our technology solutions are redefining how travel is being search, bought and sold across the globe and our Travel Commerce Platform creates synergies that facilitate revenue growth for our customers, which will empower Roibek’s growth online, increasing revenue as well as improving customer service for the Roibek’s customers.”

Luxury operator Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has announced the signing of two new luxury hotel developments in Morocco and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The two new projects include Fairmont Taghazout Bay, Morocco and Fairmont Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, which are both scheduled to open before 2020. Fairmont Taghazout Bay is scheduled to open in 2019, the project is situated in Taghazout Bay, a 615 hectare seaside resort located 18 km north of Agadir on the Atlantic coast. The hotel sits on 180,000 square meters (1.9M square feet), of beachfront adjacent to the 18-hole golf course designed by Kyle Phillips which was recently completed in 2014. Fairmont Taghazout Bay will feature 155 spacious guestrooms, with sea facing views, in addition to 52 Fairmont branded villas, to be released for sale later this year, which will be the first luxury waterfront villas of this kind in the country. The development of these properties will see Fairmont’s luxury hotel portfolio in the Middle East, Africa and India (MEAI) region increase to 20 hotels by 2020, more than doubling the regional pipeline and boosting the brand’s presence within two major economic and tourist hubs.   Fairmont Al Khobar currently in development and set to open in 2020, Fairmont Al Khobar will be situated in Al Khobar on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. This area, together with the neighboring cities of Dammam and Dhahran, form the Dammam Metropolitan Area, the capital of the Eastern Province. In addition to the 240 guestrooms and 12 serviced residences, the property will feature over 4,000 square meters (approximately 43,000 square feet) of meeting and conference space including the largest ballroom in the province. A variety of food …

According to news sources, the latest property to be completed under Taj Vivanta brand is expected to be completed by 2018 at the Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT). This 46 storied development will feature 201 hotel rooms with 130 serviced apartments. It is said to be the first development of its kind in the UAE launched in partnership with India’ s Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. More information is soon to be released in our print version.

Steigenberger Hotels with its head office in Germany, has announced opening its first IntercityHotel in the Middle East. The first IntercityHotel outside Europe is now opened in Salalah, located 1,000 kilometres to the South-West of the capital Muscat in Oman. This is the first international mid-market hotel in the city.The new hotel extends over eight stories and offers 70 rooms as well as a restaurant and a modern gym. Puneet Chhatwal, CEO, Steigenberger Hotels , commented: “Following our Steigenberger début in Dubai in November last year, we are now bringing our IntercityHotel brand to the Middle East for the first time. This represents a further important milestone for us.” The project was implemented in conjunction with the owner Al Sedra Real Estate of Oman, a subsidiary of the Golden Group of Companies, which is a multi-national operating in more than ten countries.