Air Arabia has touched down in Batumi, the second largest city of Georgia. The airline operates two weekly flights to Black Sea port city from its primary Sharjah International Airport hub on Thursday and Saturdays at 13:15, arriving at Batumi at 16:40. The return flights are scheduled to leave Batumi International Airport at 17:30 to arrive in Sharjah at 20:50.

Qatar Airways Group has announced a 3 billion QAR operating profit for fiscal year 2016 – nearly three times greater than fiscal 2015 profit of 1.1 billion QAR, resulting in an 8.6 per cent operating profit margin, an improvement of nearly six percentage points from the prior year, from 35.6 billion QAR in revenues. The company reported a net profit of 1.6 billion QAR, resulting in a net profit margin of 4.5 per cent. Net profit for fiscal 2015 was 1.1 per cent, at 374 million QAR. Qatar Airways growth rate (CAGR) in ASK term since the re-launch in 1997 to 31st March 2016 is 28 per cent. For the year ending March 31, 2016, Qatar Airways Group reduced its expenses 1.5 per cent and increased its cash and bank balance from 5.5 billion QAR to 12 billion QAR, despite the significant growth in operations and an adverse movement in foreign currency exchange. Over the course of fiscal 2016, Qatar Airways added 13 new destinations and increased its overall network to more than 150 destinations on six continents. The airline was also the global launch customer of the Airbus A350XWB, the most technologically advanced aircraft in the world, and was the first commercial airline to fly it to the United States.

Seawings Lifestyle, the seaplane operator on the Arabian Peninsula, has partnered with Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (TDA) and four luxury resorts in the emirate to welcome summer vacationers to the destination. The collaboration is an integral part of the TDA’s campaign to enhance the visibility of Ras Al Khaimah as a leading tourist destination. Seawings Lifestyle has created a unique collection of staycation packages that combine scenic flying with Ras Al Khaimah’s finest accommodation. These holiday packages start with a 45-minute seaplane flight from Dubai Creek to Ras Al Khaimah. Travellers can enjoy the views of the Dubai cityscape and Arabian coastline before touching down on the waters of Ras Al Khaimah. Guests can choose from day packages to one or two-night staycation escapes at DoubleTree by Hilton, The Cove Rotana Resort, Banyan Tree Al Wadi, and the all-inclusive Rixos Bab Al Bahr. Day trip spa packages are also available and guests have access to all of the resorts’ facilities. Travellers will return to Dubai by chauffeured land transfer. To launch the packages, Seawings Lifestyle is offering exclusive discounts that knock over 50% off the listed price. The lowest discounted package is the one-night stay at just AED 999 per person, inclusive of the scenic flight and land transfer. These will be predominantly marketed towards neighbouring emirate residents seeking a getaway from the city.

SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier and a member airline of oneworld, has launched its new Arabic website, providing its Middle Eastern travellers an enhanced and personalised browsing experience. The new site is equipped with advanced features to provide a comprehensive web experience, allowing the users the convenience of fulfilling travel preliminaries at their fingertips, offering them the opportunity to independently control their own bookings. In addition to that, travellers can also instantly claim the online offers that SriLankan launches and make their payments via credit card, earning more credit in the process. In celebration of the launch of its Arabic site in the native language, SriLankan is offering its passengers a discount of 30 per cent on all online bookings out of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE, to SriLankan’s directly operated destinations right in time for Ramadan celebrations. Bookings can be made till July 10 and the travel period will be from July 25 to November 30. This seasonal offer is the ideal chance for Middle Eastern travellers to go out on a vacation or for purchasing air tickets for expatriate workers.

Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts has signed an agreement with Sarah Towers For Real Estate Investment Company to manage the 1,624-room Swissôtel Al Maqam, Makkah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Swissôtel’s second property in the Holy City, Swissôtel Al Maqam will be situated in the prestigious Abraj Al Bait complex, part of the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project, overlooking the Masjid Al Haram. The property is scheduled to open in September this year and will join the existing Swissôtel Makkah. Approximately one hour from King Abdulaziz International Airport, the property is footsteps away from the Masjid Al Haram, the largest mosque in the world, and the Ka’aba, known as the most sacred site in the Muslim faith. Swissôtel Al Maqam will be flanked by other properties already within the FRHI Hotels & Resorts (FRHI) portfolio, Raffles Makkah Palace and Fairmont Makkah Clock Royal Tower, in addition to Swissôtel Makkah, with the entire complex currently housing the largest number of guestrooms within the Abraj Al Bait complex.

Turkey has ranked fourth in the list of top 20 destinations for Muslim travellers during the holy month, as per the Ramadan Travel Report 2016. According to the recently released Global Muslim Travel Index, Turkey comes third on a list of top five destinations for Muslim travellers.“The trend for Muslims to travel to the GCC during the fasting period has been growing over the last few years – these countries offer them Muslim-friendly services and facilities such as Halal food, prayer rooms and post-iftaar activities. Turkey not only offers all of these, but serves up a world-class tourist destination, with popular sights to visit and activities to be a part of,” says Salih Ozer, Attaché of Culture and Information from Turkey to the UAE, on the nation’s unwavering popularity as a Muslim tourist destination during Ramadan. Turkey featured in the list of top five destinations for Muslim travellers in 2015 as well. The Ramadan Travel Report 2016 also forecasts that GCC destinations will rise further in popularity by 2023, when Ramadan will fall during the cooler winter months. Ozer further adds that Turkey is preparing to accommodate this projected surge in tourist numbers.

Qatar Airways celebrated the addition of tourist favourite Marrakech to its global route map, with the airline’s inaugural flight landing at Marrakech Menara Airport on 1 July and opening up a world of more than 150 destinations to customers travelling from the Moroccan city. On board flight QR1395 was a Qatar Airways delegation lead by Dr. Hugh Dunleavy, the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer, who was greeted by the Marrakech Menara Airport General Manager,  Nawal Mounir; Morocco’s Minister of tourism, Lahcen Haddad; and the Qatari Counselor to Morocco, Mansour Abdullah Al Sulaiteen. To celebrate the first flight, Qatar Airways hosted an Iftar for VIPs, officials, authorities, trade and media, at La Mamounia hotel in Marrakech. The return flight from Marrakech travels directly non-stop to Doha. Qatar Airways began its Morocco operations in 2002. Additionaly through a codeshare partnership with Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways offers customers the opportunity to seamlessly connect to destinations throughout Morocco, Spain, and north- and west Africa, with the additional benefit of enhanced frequent flyer benefits. Import and export businesses in Morocco will also benefit from the new service which provides up to 33 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity a week.

Al Wasl Dhow has launched its new biggest dhow in Dubai Marina, in partnership with Iftikhar Hamdani, Cluster General Manager, Ramada Hotel & Suites Ajman and Ramada Beach Hotel Ajman. Al Wasl, owned by Ishrat Ali Khan and comprised of Al Wasl Dhow, Al Wasl Yachts, Asia Pacific Travel and Tourism, and Oasis Palm Tourism, is a prominent excursion provider in Dubai. Under the supervision of Hamdani, internationally reputed chefs will create masterpiece dishes for guests onboard the Al Wasl, so that they could enjoy the dhow cruise dinner along Dubai Marina. These chefs will create fusion dishes from European, Asian, and Arabian cuisines which offers a five star dining experience, having multiple choices from salads, soups, main course, desserts, and beverages. Al Wasl Dhow is the first five-star dining dhow which is the perfect match for Dubai Marina. Combining sophisticated class with modern facilities. It is an ideal venue for wedding parties, family get together events and business launches/events. It is operated on daily basis in the evening.

Global travel technology leader Sabre Corporation has given travel consultants and suppliers across the airline, hotel, rail, cruise and car rental industries a sneak-peek at its game-changing Sabre Red Workspace. The software solution will harness the changes in the industry and provide both retailers and suppliers with a content rich marketplace, intelligent decision support tools and predictive data insights that enable agents and suppliers to more easily create personalised experiences for travellers.  Developed on Sabre’s merchandising platform providing access to its award-winning GDS, travel consultants around the world will benefit from a more intuitive way to book travel, while airlines, hotels and other industry suppliers are now empowered to market their brands in the same way they market in other channels. Sean Menke, President of Sabre stated that Data, analytics, personalisation and mobile have been trending in the marketplace for some time and offer exciting opportunities for buyers and suppliers to meet changing traveller needs. Travellers want more than an itinerary; they want to feel confident about their purchases and expect a trip built around choice. That’s why in addition to a superior user experience, the new Sabre Red Workspace will provide travel consultants with data insights, relevant offers and price transparency. Data and analytics are critical assets to increase productivity and efficiency in the retail world, and their travel insight engine will help drive decision-making, revenue optimisation and true personalisation. Sabre will begin upgrading travel agency customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to the new solution in early 2017, after a pilot later this year.

Leading travel commerce platform, Travelport recently hosted a congregation of Abu Dhabi’s leading travel agencies at a series of innovation workshops at the Travelport office in Beirut, Lebanon. Among the attendees were representatives from well-known travel agencies such as Asian Gulf Travel, Shams Abu Dhabi Travel, Al Badie Travel Agency, Al Dana Travel, Liberty Travel, Smart Travel and Latakia Travel. The workshop provided the platform for the agents to learn about leveraging the most innovative technology that is redefining travel commerce around the globe and how this technology can utilised to meet traveller demands and grow the UAE’s travel industry. Travelport is a key technology partner for the Abu Dhabi agents who were in attendance, all of whom have recently signed long term agreements with Travelport. The three-day workshop was an interactive gathering where Travelport’s product experts showcased technologies such as Travelport Smartpoint, the industry leading desktop solution, which can truly transform the way agents work; maximizing revenues, increasing productivity and improving the customer experience. They allow travel agencies to sell more airline content more often, allowing agents to keep up-to-date with the widest range of real-time content from over 400 of the world’s leading network airlines and low cost carriers, all from within their workflow. They can also upsell more hotel rooms and car rentals. There are more than 650,000 unique hotel properties and 36,000 car rental locations available from within Travelport Smartpoint, which essentially means that travel agents can be confident and efficient in offering the right choices for their customers’ unique needs. Matthew Powell, Regional Director, Middle East and South Asia, commented that in order for traditional travel agents to remain competitive they need to be ‘consultants’ …