Category Archives: Aviation

RwandAir is set to commence flights to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa from April 2019. The airline will operate five weekly direct flights from Kigali to Addis Ababa with a CRJ-900NG aircraft. With flights to Addis Ababa, RwandAir will be offering seamless connections through its hub in Kigali between Addis Ababa and other African cities in its network. The addition of Addis Ababa is key to RwandAir’s growth in Africa and it’s also a bridge for strengthening the bilateral relationships and improving trade and tourism between the two countries. “As an expanding young airline, it is imperative for us to fly to Addis Ababa Bole International airport as it is one of the important hubs in Africa” said Yvonne Manzi Makolo, CEO, RwandAir. “By starting direct flights to Addis Ababa, we expect to offer better connections to East, West and Southern Africa” she added. With the addition of Addis Ababa to our network, RwandAir will reach out to 27 destinations in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Addis Ababa is not only the administrative, financial and commercial centre of the country but it also hosts the Headquarters of the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and many other regional offices for a number of international organisations.

Launched by Enter Air, a charter airline of reputed tour operator TUI Poland landed its inaugural direct flight carrying 185 passengers from Wroclaw to Ras Al Khaimah. The new route will be served once a week every Sunday, providing Polish travellers a direct and more accessible access to Ras Al Khaimah. Ras Al Khaimah’s attractiveness as a destination for international travellers continues to be strong, accounting for 62% of overall visitors in the first three quarters of 2018. As part of its Destination 2019 strategy, RAKTDA has significantly increased its promotions in Europe showcasing the diversity of the destination to core audiences in key markets. Commenting on the launch of the new route, Haitham Mattar, Chief Executive Officer, RAKTDA, said, “Over the last few years, Poland has become one of the strongest international tourism source markets to RAK, and therefore this step is an important strategic development that will further facilitate the successful bilateral ties between both the countries. Moreover, this new addition expands the network of Ras Al Khaimah International Airport even further, reflecting the strong global confidence in the Emirate’s travel and tourism industry. Europe is a key market for the Emirate, and we are confident that this new route will be extremely successful in increasing visitor arrivals to the Emirate even further.

Etihad Airways will introduce the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on its daily scheduled service from Abu Dhabi to Hong Kong, effective March 31, 2019. The two-class aircraft will replace the Airbus A330-200 aircraft currently operating the route. The new 787-9 Dreamliner service to Hong Kong will feature the airline’s next-generation Business and Economy cabins, configured with 299 seats – 28 Business Studios and 271 Economy Smart Seats –  a capacity increase of six seats in Business and 31 in Economy in each direction, and an increase in belly-hold cargo capacity of four tonnes.

Launched by Enter Air, a charter airline of reputed tour operator TUI Poland landed its inaugural direct flight carrying 185 passengers from Wroclaw to Ras Al Khaimah. The new route will be served once a week every Sunday, providing Polish travellers a direct and more accessible access to Ras Al Khaimah. Ras Al Khaimah’s attractiveness as a destination for international travellers continues to be strong, accounting for 62% of overall visitors in the first three quarters of 2018. As part of its Destination 2019 strategy, RAKTDA has significantly increased its promotions in Europe showcasing the diversity of the destination to core audiences in key markets. Ras Al Khaimah International Airport now welcomes direct charter and scheduled services from various global destinations including Cairo, Islamabad, Jeddah, Lahore, Peshawar, Calicut, Katowice, Poznan, Warsaw, Luxemburg, Prague and Moscow in addition to Wroclaw. Haitham Mattar, Chief Executive Officer, RAKTDA said, “Over the last few years, Poland has become one of the strongest international tourism source markets to RAK, and therefore this step is an important strategic development that will further facilitate the successful bilateral ties between both countries. Moreover, this new addition expands the network of Ras Al Khaimah International Airport even further, reflecting the strong global confidence in the emirate’s travel and tourism industry. Europe is a key market for the emirate, and we are very confident that this new route will be extremely successful in increasing visitor arrivals to the emirate even further.”

dnata has expanded its operations and production in the Czech Republic to meet the growing demand for its quality inflight catering and inflight retail services. Operating a state-of-the-art facility at Vaclav Havel Airport, the company currently serves 18 airlines in Prague. dnata’s growth in 2018 has been driven by a new partnership with American Airlines and the additional flights of its existing customers, including Emirates and Air Canada. In the first 10 months of 2018, the dnata team prepared over five million inflight meals for a total of 35,000 Prague flights, which represents a 15 per cent increase year over year. To support the growth, the company has hired 25 additional, local staff in the past 12 months and now employs over 300 dedicated professionals in the Czech capital. Frantisek Sir, Managing Director, dnata Catering, Czech Republic, said, “2018 has been an exceptionally successful year for dnata in the Czech Republic with double-digit growth and a number of significant achievements. We are proud to have successfully expanded our operations and team to meet the increased demand for our services, while never losing focus on safety and quality. We continue to deliver the best possible products for our 18 airline customers and their passengers.”

flydubai has announced the launch of direct flights to Kozhikode in Kerala, India. The three-times weekly service from Dubai International (DXB) to Kozhikode Calicut International Airport (CCJ) will start from February 1, 2019. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer, flydubai, commenting on the new announcement, said, “We have always been proud of the strong ties between India and the UAE. We have seen a stronger flow of trade and tourism between the two countries over the past few years. In 2017, India became the first source market to top 2 million annual visitors representing an impressive 15 per cent year-on-year increase in total number of visitors to Dubai. We are grateful for the support we have received from the Indian authorities and we remain committed to serving the market. We look forward to more opportunities to strengthen the airlinks between the two countries in the future.” Commenting on the announcement, Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President, Commercial (UAE, GCC, Subcontinent and Africa), flydubai, said, “We are pleased to add Kozhikode to our network of eight destinations in India, offering greater connectivity and an unrivalled travel experience to our passengers in India. The new route will provide more passengers from India with access to Dubai and beyond via its aviation hub together with the new codeshare agreement.”

Dubai Airports, along with HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and representatives from aviation sector and the emirate of Dubai recently welcomed its billionth passenger at Dubai International Airport (DXB). Nine-year-old Arjun and his family arrived from Orlando, Florida. At a celebration held in DXB, Arjun, along with his mother Ramya, father Venkatesh and thirteen-year-old brother Varun, were personally greeted by HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman, Dubai Airports. The family was delighted with details of an unforgettable and surprising set of experiences that showcase Dubai’s longstanding reputation for excitement, luxury and modern Arabic hospitality, organised for the next few days of their trip. At the airport, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman, Dubai Airports, said, “This landmark billionth-passenger achievement is the result of team work and collaboration, and special thanks goes out to each and every member of the airport community who have played a role in this journey. Of course, we would not be in this position if it weren’t for the visionary leadership of HH Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum and HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler, Dubai both of whom foresaw the development of Dubai into a global centre for trade, tourism and commerce enabled by a fast-growing and world-leading aviation sector with top-flight airport infrastructure.” The billionth customer is arguably the most significant in a long litany of achievements since the airport first opened on September 30, 1960. Today, the hub is widely considered a benchmark for its quality infrastructure, passenger and cargo volumes and high-service levels despite unrelenting …

Emirates and South African Airways (SAA) are expanding their strategic cooperation with enhancements to its codeshare agreement, opening up new destinations for customers of both the airlines. Pending governmental approval, SAA and Emirates have signed an enhanced commercial partnership which will see the relationship between the two carriers grow and strengthen their already successful codeshare agreement signed in 1997, across a wide spectrum of commercial and customer touch points. Vuyani Jarana, CEO, SAA,  “This agreement marks a forward step in the execution of our strategy and in transforming our business. It will enable us to explore and leverage synergies between ourselves in a much enhanced relationship of mutual benefit. Our route network and that of Emirates complement one another. The expansion of our partnership will further strengthen key focus areas of the implementation of our turnaround plan.” Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline, said, “We remain committed to our decades-long relationship with SAA, and the forthcoming expansion of our codeshare agreement is an exciting development and a significant milestone in our history in South Africa.”

flydubai will operate up to five direct flights a week to Naples and Budapest in Europe from June 4 and June 27, 2019, respectively. Emirates will codeshare on both routes strengthing the partnership between the two airlines, which aims to provide more options for travelling to passengers. Both routes will operate from Terminal 3 at Dubai International (DXB). To offer passengers more comfort and an enhanced travel experience, flydubai will operate the new routes on the brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8. The new cabin offering features a flat-bed in Business Class, while the Economy Class offers new RECARO seats, which are designed to optimise space and comfort. flydubai also offers exceptional inflight entertainment with a full HD, 11.6-inch screen, featuring a wide selection of movies, TV shows, music and games in English, Arabic and Russian. Commenting on the launch, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer, flydubai, said, “We are delighted to be launching flights to Budapest and Naples. These destinations provide our passengers with more choice on our network while reaffirming our commitment to the vision to create free flows of tourism and strengthen direct airlinks with the UAE.” Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and e-commerce, flydubai, said, “Budapest and Naples are important centres for commerce, trade and industry and are incredibly popular leisure destinations, especially during summer. Making these destinations more accessible to travellers looking for new places to explore will undoubtedly stimulate traffic flows and tourism.”

Emirates will introduce a daily A380 service for a temporary period between Glasgow and Dubai from April 16, 2019. It will be the first time the popular double decker aircraft will operate on a scheduled basis to Scotland. The larger capacity A380 will replace Emirates’ current twice daily Boeing 777 service between Glasgow and Dubai from April 16 until May 31, 2019, during which time Dubai Airports plan to close Dubai International’s (DXB) southern runway for upgrade works, and the single runway operations require airlines to reduce and adjust their operating schedules. The deployment of the A380 is to minimise the reduction of Emirates’ capacity from Glasgow to Dubai and beyond, during this period. The A380 flight will depart Dubai at 1450hrs and arrive in Glasgow at 1945hrs, while the return flight will leave Glasgow at 2130hrs and land in Dubai at 0755hrs the next morning. From June 1 until September 30, the double daily service will be reinstated on the route, with the A380 operating on the first flight of the day, and a Boeing 777 on the second, increasing capacity on the route during this period to meet seasonal summer demand. Thereafter, the service will revert back to a twice daily Boeing 777 operation. Launched in October this year, Emirates also offers a daily service to Edinburgh, bringing to three the number of daily flights between Scotland and Dubai. The Emirates A380 will have a three-class cabin configuration, offering 14 private suites in First Class, 76 lie flat seats in Business Class, and 399 spacious seats in Economy Class.