Category Archives: Aviation

Turkish Airlines will launch a new animated safety video, complete with familiar LEGO minifigures in surprising new roles. The custom-animated safety video for Turkish Airlines was created by the teams who assembled “The Lego Movie”, “The Lego Batman Movie”, “The Lego Ninjago Movie” and the highly anticipated sequel “The Lego Movie 2” due in cinemas beginning February 2019, which reunites the heroes of the first film in an all new action-packed adventure. In partnership with Warner Bros and featuring the popular characters from The Lego Movie franchise, the safety video will be shown on all flights starting today and will also debut online. The safety video, which is the first Lego safety video ever made, demonstrates step-by-step safety procedures to passengers in a fun, unique style – complete with sensible airline-approved humor, celebrity cameos and an unforgettable song and dance number. Turkish Airlines is proud to have one of the youngest fleets in the world and strives to achieve the best in aviation safety standards. Whether frequent travellers or first-time fliers, the video aims to inform and entertain passengers, alongside an extensive selection of movies, TV shows, music and games available in different languages on the in-flight entertainment system. The safety video will kick off the “biggest partnership with the smallest cast ever assembled”, hinting there is much more to come from the Turkish Airlines and Lego Movie franchise alliance. Leading up to the worldwide release of “The LEGO Movie 2”, Turkish Airlines will roll-out a global TV campaign, film themed wrapped airplanes, in-flight and in-airport activations and even a second safety video.

The officials results released by Air Arabia reported strong financial results for the first half ending June 30, 2018 as the low-cost carrier continued to deliver solid and sustained financial performance. Air Arabia reported a net profit of AED 230 million for the first half ending June 30, 2018; a 12 per cent less than the AED 261 million reported for the same period last year. The company’s turnover for the first six months of 2018 reached AED 1.816 billion, an increase of 6 per cent compared to AED 1.716 billion in the corresponding period last year. Air Arabia’s strong profits are registered despite the economic pressure that airlines have witnessed in the second quarter of this year, which was driven by lower yield margins, higher fuel prices and seasonality shift in traffic that the market has experienced. Marking strong growth in passenger demand, Air Arabia flew 4.2 million passengers during the first half of 2018 and the airline’s average seat load factor for the first six month of 2018 – passengers carried as a percentage of available seats – stood at impressive 79 per cent. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Al Thani, Chairman of Air Arabia said, “Air Arabia’s strong financial results are a testament to the airline’s robust growth strategy, operational efficiency and unwavering commitment to delivering on its value-added proposition for customers. The global aviation industry had to cope up with pressing economic challenges during the second quarter of this year and we are glad to see Air Arabia continuing to deliver strong financial and operational performance while maintaining its momentum growth across the breadth of its network.”

RwandAir has recently appointed Cozmo Travel as its Passenger General Sales Agent (GSA) for the GCC countries (Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (Offline). “These strategic partnerships play a very important role especially for airlines entering new markets and the practice is that airlines look competitively for established and well known GSA’s when entering particular markets which saves airlines associated costs for new market entry and, or development such as infrastructure, human resource etc while focusing on results. We are already established in the UAE, flying into and out of Dubai and we do cover the entire UAE market from a passenger and cargo sales perspective. This partnership is part of a growth strategy, though offline and it gives us an opportunity to assess the GCC markets for any other decisions in the future,” stated  Timothy Njihia, Country Manager—UAE | GCC | Pakistan, RwandAir.” Jamal Abdulnazar, CEO, Cozmo Travel stated, “With Cozmo Travel’s extensive retail presence in all the GCC countries, RwandAir will be able to capitalise on Cozmo’s  network in the region ensuring a wider market reach. Likewise Cozmo will be able to represent and sell the various RwandAir destinations within the African continent as well their expanding network into Asia and Europe. With a significant population of African nationals working and residing in the GCC region, the focus will be to capitalize on the large network of destinations within the African continent served by RwandAir.”

Emirates has announced that it will introduce five additional flights per week from Dubai to Amsterdam. These additional flights will complement its existing double daily services, offer an earlier departure option from Amsterdam that is convenient for visitors to Dubai, and provide enhanced connectivity to destinations on Emirates’ global network. Four additional weekly services will be started effective December 1, 2018 and the fifth will be added from January 1, 2019, increasing frequency to the Dutch capital city to 19 weekly flights. Outbound, flight EK145 will depart early morning from Dubai on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and arrives at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in time for breakfast, allowing customers to make the most of their day in the city*. The flight schedule is conveniently timed for passengers connecting from Emirates global route network to Amsterdam and will be popular for business travellers to the Netherlands from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Sydney and Bangalore as well as for Dutch leisure travellers returning to Amsterdam from Bangkok, Bali, Mauritius, Maldives and Sri Lanka. The return service, EK146, will depart from Amsterdam on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday late morning time, and arrives in the evening in Dubai*. This service adds more convenience to those visiting Dubai, and offers enhanced connectivity to Phuket and Johannesburg. The new service will be operated by an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER in a three class cabin configuration, with eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class and 310 spacious seats in Economy Class. This complements the two existing services between Dubai and Amsterdam, flights EK147/EK148 and EK149/EK150, operated by an Airbus A380.

Emirates and Trenitalia, Italy’s national railway company have announced a new codeshare agreement which will enable Emirates’ customers to discover new destinations across Italy. With just one easy-to-book ticket, travellers will be able to fly on Emirates and reach some of Italy’s picturesque cities and towns using high speed, modern and comfortable trains that leave from Emirates’ four Italian gateways – Bologna, Milan, Rome and Venice. Customers can now start booking their codeshare trips via Emirates’ website and travel onwards to these destinations. “This codeshare agreement with Trenitalia opens up new possibilities for our customers and complements our current services to Bologna, Milan, Rome and Venice. With Trenitalia, travelling to the Far East from Foggia or to Padova from Sydney has never been easier. Emirates already flies more than 1.6 million passengers to and from Italy every year. With this codeshare agreement, we’re connecting Italian regions to our global network, significantly boosting the Italian tourism industry,” said Hubert Frach, Divisional Senior Vice President – Commercial Operations, West, Emirates.

Etihad Airways will increase its flights from Abu Dhabi to Canada’s largest city, Toronto, from three to five weekly services from October 28. The flights will be operated by Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, featuring 40 seats in Business Class and 340 in Economy Class. Robin Kamark, Chief Commercial Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “We are thrilled to announce more flights to cosmopolitan Toronto, one of the most successful and popular destinations on our global route network. This news has been eagerly anticipated. We have welcomed well over a million guests on our flights to Toronto since we launched the service almost 13 years ago. This development is great news for UAE nationals, for who Canada is an exciting trade, touristic, and cultural partner, and for Canadians, including the thousands residing here in the emirates. The UAE is also Canada’s largest export market in the MENA region, so the extra services are a boost for trade to and from the area and beyond.” Etihad Airways inaugurated services to Toronto on October 2005, and since then the route has proved very successful for the airline, recording consistently strong demand to and from both cities. Approximately 45,000 Canadian citizens reside in the UAE, with over 150 Canadian companies registered across the country. Citizens of both countries now enjoy visa-free entry for business and tourism on stays of up to six months. Etihad Airways has a codeshare partnership in place with Air Canada, with the Canadian flag carrier placing its ‘AC’ code on Etihad services from Toronto to Abu Dhabi and from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi.

Emirates has announced that it will introduce two additional flights to its Toronto (YYZ) service, complementing its existing schedule and providing more choice and convenience to travellers.The additional Toronto flights will be introduced from August 18, 2018 and will operate on a Saturday departing Dubai as EK241 at 03:30 and arrive in Toronto at 09:30. The return flight, EK242, leaves Toronto at 14:25 and arrives in Dubai at 11:40 the next day. On Sundays, EK241 will depart at 03:30 and arrive in Toronto at 09:30. The return flight, EK242, will leave Toronto at 14:30 and arrives in Dubai at 11:25 the next day. Both flights will be operated by the iconic Emirates A380 with private suites in First Class, lie flat seats in Business Class and spacious seats in Economy Class. Emirates recently celebrated 10 years of operations in Canada last October, demonstrating the airline’s ongoing commitment to the market. Over the past decade, Emirates introduced new aircraft on the route from a Boeing 777 in October 2007 to the flagship A380 in 2009. The A380 scheduled service increased passenger capacity on the Toronto service by 40% and since then, passenger occupancy on the route has been consistently full, averaging 90% with demand outstripping supply. The additional frequency will fulfil the strong demand on the route and add 65% capacity to the market. As of June 5, UAE nationals no longer need a visa to travel to Canada for short stays. Emirates also has established codeshare partnerships in Canada with WestJet and Alaska Airlines, connecting travellers from across its global network to more Canadian cities and vice-versa.

Emirates has recently announced adding two more flights to Lyon, France, raising the frequency between the two cities to seven per week.  Linking the two cities with daily flights is a big move and a powerful boost to the bilateral exchanges between the two nations.  The attractiveness of Lyon as a metropole is thus stronger than ever and the partner cities are boosting their close relationship. “Daily air links towards Dubai is an excellent news for both Lyon Airports and the Metropole of Lyon. Now, more than ever, travel is becoming more flexible with optimum transit between Lyon, the Middle East and Asia. Thanks to those daily flights, Lyon is becoming a valuable international hub.” says David Kimelfeld, President, Metropole of Lyon. Flights from Lyon to Dubai will increase to seven flights per week, from August 2nd 2018, boosting the ever-strengthening ties with Dubai, initiated over the past years. The increasing frequency of flights also helps raise awareness towards economic players and partners of OnlyLyon who have invested in the promotion of Lyon as a destination. The cooperation agreement with the City of Dubai, signed in 2006, aimed to boost exchanges between the two communities in diverse fields, ranging from urban transit, public lighting, services to individuals, smart cities and mobility.  In 2017, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Metropole of Lyon and the Road and Transport Authority of Dubai (RTA).  .

Royal Jordanian and Jordan Hotel Association (JHA) have reached a partnership agreement whereby RJ provides the association members travelling on Business and Economy classes anywhere on its route network discounted tickets aboard its planes. RJ President/CEO Stefan Pichler and JHA Chairman Abdul Hakeem Al-Hindi signed the agreement at the airline’s headquarters. Beneficiaries of the one-year, renewable, agreement include employees of the hotels that are members in JHA and the association staff, whether they travel for duty or personal trips, and their guests attending corporate official events. Found in 1969, JHA is a non-profit association representing more than 500 hotels throughout Jordan. The association seeks to promote cooperation among proprietors in the hospitality industry and plays a key role in coordinating with tourism authorities to develop the tourism business in Jordan. Pichler said: “RJ and JHA are long-standing business partners; we both work in the hospitality industry and our guests are theirs, so we both wish to offer top-notch services. We are glad to offer the association management, hotel employees and guests discounts on tickets all year round, to facilitate their transportation globally.” Al-Hindi said that JHA is proud of the services offered by the national carrier and “that is why our association is keen on choosing RJ for our travels. Thousands of hoteliers and employees are working at the hotels members in the JHA, and we hope that they can make use of the RJ offer to reach their desired destinations.”

Propelled by a double-digit surge in traffic in June, passenger numbers at Dubai International (DXB) topped 43.7 million in the first half of 2018, according to the traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports. DXB handled a total of 43,739,105 passengers during the first half, up 1.6% compared to 43,054,268 passengers recorded during the corresponding period in 2017. Monthly traffic in June surged 11.7% to 6,795,492 passengers compared to 6,084,674 recorded in June 2017 – thanks largely to the impact of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on traffic last year. All the major markets registered robust growth during June with routes to CIS topping the list with traffic growing 50.6% followed by Eastern Europe (33.6%), Africa (20%) and North America (16.9%). In terms of passenger volume, India was the top destination country during the month with 968,931 passengers, followed by Saudi Arabia (504,968), the UK (454477), Pakistan (349,633) and the US (291,391). London topped the list top city destinations during the month with 280,941 passengers, followed by Mumbai (195,213 passengers) and New Delhi (173,820). Flight movements in June totalled 32,805 up 6.4% compared to 30,841 recorded during June 2017. The year to date flight movements were down 2% to 201,784 compared to 205,998 recorded during the first six months of 2017. The average number of passengers per flight during the month stood at 213 compared to 203 during the same month in 2017, a growth of 4.9%. Dubai International handled a total of 214,612 tonnes of cargo during June, a marginal contraction of 0.5% compared to 215,668 recorded during the month last year. The year to date cargo totalled 1,268,161 tonnes, compared to 1,302,911 tonnes, down 2.7%.