Category Archives: Aviation

Jet Airways has announced that it will launch a new daily route from Mangaluru (Mangalore) in southern India to Sharjah in the UAE from August 7, 2016. Mangaluru is the main port city of Karnataka, India’s 12th largest state by population. Jet Airways is India’s second largest airline operating flights to 73 destinations, including 22 international flights and 51 domestic flights. Beginning in August, the Indian carrier will fly daily from Mangaluru at 9.30 am, arriving in Sharjah International Airport at 11.45am local time. Return flights will leave Sharjah at 12.45 pm and reach Mangaluru at 5.55pm. Jet already operates daily direct flights from Kochi in the Indian state of Kerala to Sharjah.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Emirates Airline, UAE’s leading airline, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which aims to utilise the airline’s global network to further boost inbound tourist arrivals to Thailand, by focusing on the growth of key niche markets and luxury destinations within the kingdom. Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Emirates together with Tourism Authority of Thailand will put into effect a range of joint promotions to mutually increase tourism and visibility for Thailand through the Emirates Airline Global Network. The promotions will focus on niche tourism markets such as: Green Tourism, Sport Tourism, Luxury Tourism, Weddings & Honeymoons as well as Medical Health & Wellness. The agreement also involves the possibility of launching a new route from Dubai to other key tourism destinations in Thailand such as Chiang Mai and U-Tapao in Pattaya. The agreement was signed by Emirates Airline, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operation – Far East, Badr Abbas, and Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Deputy Governor for International Marketing, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas, Juthaporn Rerngronasa at a commemorative event at State Room, The Dome – Lebua State Tower, Bangkok. They were joined by Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand, Chalermsak Suranant, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand Dubai and Middle East office and other officials from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Etihad Airways has introduced industry-leading technology powered by Sabre Corporation that helps personalise the travel experience for passengers, enabling them to easily purchase customised fares. The national airline of the United Arab Emirates operates more than 1,000 flights per week to over 120 destinations worldwide. Sabre’s Branded Fares will enable it to effectively market and sell its broad and unique roster of fares globally through the Sabre Travel Marketplace, reaching more than 425,000 travel agents globally including Sabre’s growing network in Asia, propelled by the acquisition of the former Abacus operations, which Sabre acquired in July 2015. Sabre Branded Fares allows airlines to address growing consumer demand for more personalised services that meet individual needs. Using Sabre’s enhanced solution, Sabre-connected travel agents can now provide travellers with Etihad Airways’ Fare Choices, enabling passengers to book different classes of travel with a variety of options, such as bags, seats and mileage to meet specific needs. Fare Choices allow Etihad Airways guests to book different classes of travel with a variety of fare options and benefits tailored to their specific needs. “Etihad Airways is experiencing strong growth and has a clear strategy to provide its passengers with more choice when booking fares,” said Harald Eisenaecher, senior vice president EMEA at Sabre. “We have been working with Etihad Airways to find new ways to further personalise its products and make the booking experience more seamless for passengers. Sabre Branded Fares is just one of several ways we are supporting the carrier’s goals to gain competitive advantage and lead the industry in offering a personalised and customer-centric service to its passengers.” Travel agents using Sabre can now offer clients more informed choices and a higher level of customer service, while also driving upsell opportunities based on enhanced visibility …

With existing services to Bucharest and Constanta, Cluj becomes the 3rd destination for Turkish Airlines. Beginning from July 12, Cluj flights will be operated four times per week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays in both directions. Introductory trip fares are available from Istanbul to Cluj, starting from USD129 and from Cluj to Istanbul EUR129 including taxes and fees). Additionally, for the first 6 months of operation to the new destinations, there is a special offer for Miles&Smiles members, with a 25 per cent reduction in the miles needed to redeem either award tickets or upgrades.

Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines, both members of the oneworld alliance, have strengthened their cooperation with a bilateral code-share relationship.The airlines will code-share on flights between their respective hubs – Qatar Airways’ thrice daily Airbus A340-600 operations to Colombo and SriLankan Airlines’ daily Airbus A330-300 flight to Doha. The combination of four daily flights between Doha and Colombo will offer customers additional convenience and flexibility. Passengers travelling to Colombo on Qatar Airways now have additional connectivity to the popular holiday hotspot Male, in the Maldives. SriLankan Airlines passengers can also now transit through Doha’s Hamad International Airport and travel onwards, subject to government approvals, to 20 leisure and business destinations, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, Copenhagen, Moscow, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, Manchester, Milan, Oslo, Sofia, Stockholm, Vienna, Zurich, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Bahrain and Cape Town. Travellers will also benefit from accruing frequent flyer miles, together with other oneworld privileges such as access to spacious lounges, extra baggage allowances, priority check-in and boarding, fast track security lanes and special fares across both carriers’ networks.

Etihad Airways’ much-anticipated A380 touched down in Melbourne on June 3, beginning a new era of luxury travel on the Melbourne-Abu Dhabi and Melbourne-London routes. The A380 features The Residence, the world’s first three-room private suite on a commercial aircraft, as well as ground-breaking innovations in all cabins. The inaugural Abu Dhabi-Melbourne A380 flight – EY460 – departed Abu Dhabi Airport at 10.15pm last night and arrived at Melbourne Airport at 5.45pm. The aircraft, in the airline’s ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi livery, will be welcomed to the Victorian capital by a traditional water cannon salute. The return Melbourne-Abu Dhabi flight – EY461 –departed Melbourne at 10.10pm tonight. From today, the flagship superjumbo will operate one of the airline’s double daily flights between Melbourne and Abu Dhabi. It will replace one of the three-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft currently deployed on the route. Etihad Airways Senior Vice President of Marketing, Shane O’Hare, said: “Today marks another major milestone for Etihad Airways in Australia. With Melbourne joining our A380 network, Australia is the only country in our global network with daily A380 services to two cities – Melbourne and Sydney. “Deploying our latest technology aircraft and class-leading product and service to Australia recognises its importance to our business and the strong demand from Australian travellers for premium travel experiences. The A380 will increase the total number of two-way seats on the Melbourne-Abu Dhabi route by 26 per cent to more than 11,500 seats per week. Mr O’Hare said this would ease the capacity constraints on the Melbourne-Abu Dhabi, particularly for business and premium leisure travel.

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, celebrated the airline’s inaugural 5 weekly service to and from Dhaka, Bangladesh, on June 2. Gulf Air flight GF248 was welcomed into Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, the biggest airport in Bangladesh, with a water cannon salute and, upon arrival, a celebratory event was held in the airport that saw the attendance of various dignitaries, Gulf Air flight’s captain and crew, Gulf Air’s Country Manager to Bangladesh, Hussain Ghuloom, and a number of local media and travel industry representatives, alongside official Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport officials. Serving 7 destinations in Pakistan and 6 in India, Gulf Air’s Dhaka service enhances the airline’s existing Indian Subcontinent operations providing strong connectivity to destinations across Gulf Air’s Middle East network and beyond via the airline’s hub, Bahrain International Airport. Gulf Air 5 weekly flights to Dhaka are operated by an Airbus A320 aircraft with a total of 16 Falcon Gold Business Class seats and 120 Economy Class seats.

Air Arabia introduces SITA’s next-generation passenger management system to extract even greater efficiency across its operations. Air Arabia carried close to 8-million passengers in 2015, serving 101 destinations spread across the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Europe from five hubs in the UAE, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan. SITA’s latest passenger service system will help the airline better manage the boarding of passengers across all destinations while streamlining the turnaround of the airline’s aircraft. Through the Horizon Passenger Management and Distribution portfolio, SITA will provide the airline with its latest departure control and weight and balance systems. Horizon Weight & Balance will increase fuel savings for the airline by providing full load planning capabilities, including a graphical user interface framework, for all the functionalities required to load and dispatch an aircraft. This includes all legally required documentation for both airlines and ground handlers. SITA’s Horizon  Departure Control Services (DCS) is a fully integrated multi-host system for automated check-in, boarding and load planning and has been used to check in more than 167 million passengers worldwide.

Abu Dhabi Airports has reported a 4.8 per cent increase in passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) for April 2016, compared to the same month last year. A total of 1,960,946 people travelled through AUH last month, exceeding April 2015’s figure of 1,871,337. The top-five routes were London Heathrow, Doha, Bangkok, Bombay and Jeddah. The total cargo tonnage at AUH reached 63,500. Several destinations saw significant growth in passenger traffic with the UK beating its April 2015 figures by 25.6 per cent last month, and Australia recording a 20.6 per cent increase in the same period. “Abu Dhabi is growing, both as a global tourism destination and strategic transit hub and this is clear from the fact that we are still seeing a year on year increase in traveler numbers at AUH. Several destinations in particular have seen a rise in passenger traffic including India, Germany, Thailand, the UK and Italy,” said Mohammed Al Katheeri, Acting Chief Operations Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports. “We are continuing to invest in the infrastructure and technology necessary to keep pace with this growth, ensuring that we provide our passengers with world class services and facilities when they travel through Abu Dhabi International Airport.”

Emirates’ premium and loyal customers can now look forward to even greater levels of comfort, hospitality and convenience with the opening of the airline’s new two-level premium lounge at the Cape Town International Airport in South Africa. All Emirates First Class and Business Class customers, as well as Skywards Platinum and Gold members travelling from Cape Town to Dubai will have complimentary access to the new facility, which has the capacity to accommodate 123 people comfortably. The lounge, which was recently opened, represents an investment of US$2,89 million by the airline. It is conveniently located in the international departures corridor next to Emirates’ preferred boarding point at Gate A3. Emirates’ airport lounges are an integral part of the airline’s service and product offering for its premium and loyal customers, and the continued investment in airport services ensures the airline pays as much attention on providing luxury and comfort on the ground as it does on board it flights. Cape Town has become Emirates’ 39th lounge in its network of over 150 global points and the 14th destination to feature the airline’s new lounge design concept, which includes Italian marble floors, leather armchairs and walnut wood finishes creating an upmarket contemporary space with a fresh relaxing atmosphere.