Category Archives: Aviation

marhaba, part of dnata and one of the world’s fastest growing passenger services providers, continues to expand its global network. In addition to its popular facilities in Dubai, Melbourne, and Karachi, marhaba opened another airport lounge in Singapore and now offers excellent value services for passengers of all airlines and travel classes at Changi Airport too. Located at Terminal 3, the newest marhaba lounge features comfortable seating for over 130 guests, a quiet zone for relaxation, and shower facilities. It is open 24 hours a day and offers superfast Wi-Fi and all-day dining with an international buffet catering to a wide range of dietary and ethnic requirements. The comfort of guests is ensured by a diverse team of 40 customer-oriented staff, who speak a total of six languages. Passengers wishing to relax or catch up with work in the pleasant marhaba lounge can make online bookings at marhabaservices.com from S$55 or gain access via one of the lounge loyalty card programmes. Dirk Goovaerts, Regional Chief Executive Officer for Asia Pacific, dnata, said, “We are delighted to open our newest marhaba lounge at Changi Airport, one of our largest bases. Today’s passengers expect a seamless travel experience and we are passionate about supporting our airline customers in delivering this, by providing quality and reliable ground handling and catering services at some of the world’s busiest hubs. Offering the same excellent quality globally, our 12 lounges also contribute to a pleasant passenger journey at the airports. Our dedicated team looks forward to welcoming all passengers departing or transiting in Singapore to our brand new marhaba lounge.”  

Etihad Airways is preparing to launch seasonal flights between Abu Dhabi and the coastal city of Salalah, southern Oman, in time for the region’s unique Khareef, or green season. Etihad will fly to Salalah four times per week between July 2 and  August 31, the peak of the green season.  The flights, to be operated with two-class Airbus A320 aircraft, will depart Abu Dhabi at 8.05 am each Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, arriving at 10.00 am, and enabling guests to begin their break by early afternoon. Salalah is one of the few locations on the Arabian Peninsula that experiences a monsoon season, creating extensive vegetation growth and spectacular waterfalls throughout the coastal ranges, and delivering significantly lower temperatures than the rest of the GCC. Robin Kamark, Chief Commercial Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said, “Salalah is one of the most sought-after destinations in Oman, and Khareef is an amazing season in which to visit. The green mountains and flowing waterfalls are rare and beautiful in this region, and less than two hours flying time from Abu Dhabi. Our new seasonal flights provide a great opportunity to experience this extraordinary destination at one of the best times of the year, either for a short break or an extended period.”  

Emirates will be expanding its services to Jeddah and Medina with an additional 46 flights to help facilitate travel for Hajj pilgrims heading to and from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The flights will be operated between July 27 and August 22 to support the Hajj journey to the Holy City of Mecca. The services will run in parallel with Emirates’ regularly scheduled services to Jeddah and Medina, and will be available to travellers holding a valid Hajj visa. This year, Emirates expects thousands of pilgrims to travel on its services for Hajj, coming from top inbound destinations such as Pakistan, the United States, Senegal, the UK, Nigeria, Indonesia, South Africa and Ivory Coast. Adil Al Ghaith, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran, Emirates, said, “Hajj is one of the most significant events in the Muslim faith, and every year, Emirates’ primary focus is to help facilitate seamless travel for our Hajj passengers as they converge on the Holy City of Mecca for this once in a lifetime journey.” On the ground in Dubai, Emirates has commissioned a dedicated team to manage check-in and transfers for the seamless movement of Hajj passengers leaving from and transiting in Dubai. In the air, Emirates has planned several initiatives that uphold the values and traditions of pilgrims when travelling for Hajj. Extra provisions will be made to accommodate Hajj traveller needs such as performing ablutions and other cleansing rituals as well as advising passengers when they have entered Al Miqat zones to ensure readiness for Ihram (the point when pilgrims enter a state of sanctity) through dedicated passenger announcements.

Etihad Airways celebrated the introduction of its newest aircraft type, the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, on daily services to Rome, with a special dinner at the Rome Cavalieri Hotel. The airline is now flying the largest variant of this technologically-advanced aircraft from Abu Dhabi to Rome every morning, complementing a second flight each evening with Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The dinner, hosted by Italian anchorwoman Roberta Capua, was attended by His Excellency Ahmed Al Mulla, UAE Deputy Ambassador to Italy, and Martin Drew, Vice President, Europe & the Americas, Etihad. Guests were treated to traditional Arabic calligraphy on arrival and music inspired by traditional Arabic instruments. The event also featured a special panel discussion dedicated to Destination Abu Dhabi, in which three guests from different industries shared their common affection for the UAE’s capital city. Guillermo Mariotto, fashion stylist and TV personality, Irene Saderini, sports reporter covering Superbike and Formula E events for Sky Sport, and Clelia Patella, art influencer and writer, passionately described their experiences about working in the city. Robin Kamark, Chief Commercial Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said, “We are delighted to be here in Rome, celebrating a very special aircraft, serving a very important city in our network. The introduction of Boeing 787s across our network will enable us to further enhance our inflight experience, giving our guests the opportunity to enjoy the highly customised Dreamliner cabins in the world. We are delighted that Rome is among the first cities to receive our new 787-10 aircraft, and look forward to celebrating the introduction of the 787-9 to Milan in September.”  

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, …