Category Archives: Aviation

Etihad Airways has implemented a series of consolidated network changes, due to the spread of the COVID-19 and its continuing impact on air travel services globally. This is also being carried out for the safety and convenience of its customers and staff, and to minimise operational disruption during this period. The following services from Abu Dhabi have been temporarily adjusted; Milan (MXP)-all flights suspended until 30 April; Rome (FCO)-EY85/86 suspended until April 30 and EY83/84 suspended until June 30; Beirut (BEY)-all flights suspended from March 16 until March 31; Istanbul (IST)-all flights suspended from March 16 until March 31; Casablanca (CMN) and Rabat (RBA)-all flights suspended from March 16 until March 31; Amman (AMM)-all flights suspended from March 17 until March 31; Madrid (MAD) and Barcelona (BCN)-all flights suspended from March 17 until March 31; Jakarta (CGK)-reduced from double-daily to daily (suspension of EY472/471) from March 18 until June 30; Seoul (ICN)-reduced from daily to four weekly (operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays) from March 30 to April 30; Hong Kong (HKG)-all flights suspended until June 30; Bangkok (BKK)-reduced from triple-daily to double-daily (suspension of EY406/405) from March 21 to May 02. The following previously announced network changes remain in place; Riyadh (RUH), Jeddah (JED), Dammam (DMM), Medina (MED)-all flights suspended from March 16 until March 31; Kuwait (KWI)-all flights suspended until March 31; Bahrain (BAH)-reduced from triple-daily to double-daily until March 31; Muscat (MCT)-reduced from triple-daily to double-daily until March 31; Shanghai (PVG)-all flights suspended until March 28; Chengdu (CTU)-all flights suspended until further notice; Nagoya (NGO)-all flights suspended until June 30.

Effective June 1, 2020, Etihad Airways will transfer all its flights to and from Abu Dhabi and Beijing, and its flights to and from Beijing to Nagoya, Japan, to Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX). Robin Kamark, Etihad Aviation Group Chief Commercial Officer, said, “Since launching flights between Beijing and Abu Dhabi 12 years ago, we have experienced huge growth in China’s tourism and aviation markets, and enjoyed strong demand from business and leisure travellers, and cargo, assisted by direct services, codeshare partners, the mutual visa-exemption policy between the two nations implemented in January 2018, and the great joint efforts put into promoting bi-directional routes. The move also further reinforces our commitment to the China market and our Chinese guests, and contributes to the promising bilateral relationship. “Whilst the spread of COVID-19 has posed a major challenge for all airlines serving China, with a massive drop in demand on key routes, we remain optimistic that the situation will improve by the summer and we continue serving Beijing from Abu Dhabi presently, demonstrating our unwavering support and commitment to our Chinese partners and the China market as a whole,” Kamark added. Maarten de Groof, Chief Commercial Officer, Abu Dhabi Airports, said, “Our sister-airport partnership with Beijing’s brand new airport reflects the importance of our long-standing relationship with the Chinese airport sector. Such cooperation and the ever-growing popularity of Abu Dhabi as a destination has enabled this transfer of flights to Beijing’s new airport and we look forward to continue working with Etihad and our Chinese colleagues to enhance our partnership at all levels in the years ahead.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the announcement by the European Commission (EC) granting the temporary suspension until June 2020 of the 80-20 ‘use it or lose it’ rule for airport slots. The decision reflects the unprecedented situation facing the airline industry. However, granting the suspension only until June is the very minimum the industry needs, and a decision on a full suspension until October will be needed within the next month to allow airlines to plan their schedules. The COVID-19 virus has caused a collapse in global air travel demand. Owing to the requirement to continue to operate an airport slot for at least 80 per cent of the time, airlines have been unable to respond by adjusting their capacity. The suspension of the slot use rules until June will allow airlines to begin putting in place measures to cope with the unprecedented fall in traffic, but it is a shorter period than airlines had requested. Airlines need the suspension to be extended to cover the whole season (to October), as other regulators worldwide have already agreed. The EC will therefore need to review the extension request by April 15. “The collapse in demand is unprecedented. And airlines are struggling to match capacity to the fast-changing situation. The commission’s decision to suspend slot use rules until June means that airlines can make these critical decisions immediately—without worrying about the impact on future availability of slots. However, given all the uncertainties, it is disappointing that the decision does not cover the full season. Airlines are implementing emergency measures under severe cashflow conditions. Along with relaxing slot rules, governments must also consider other forms of emergency relief,” said Rafael Schvartzman, …

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.