New connections. Fresh perspectives. The travel developments to know.
1,431 reports
An Emirates passenger flight en route to India from Dubai on Sunday went down 200 feet (60 metres) owing to air turbulence. As a result, 20 passengers were injured. The flight that had 350 passengers on board landed safely in Cochin, South India, soon after the incident. The plane "encountered a short period of heavy turbulence while cruising at 35,000 feet," Majid Al Mualla, Emirates Senior Vice President,…
April 25- Emirates Airline speeded up its repatriation of passengers from Dubai in the aftermath of the volcanic ash flight disruption. In addition to the extra flights that have been put on to London Gatwick over the past few days, including an additional flight today, the airline is also boosting services on its Asian routes. Two extra flights are heading to Bangkok today. Richard Vaughan, Emirates’…
April 25- British Airways has speeded up its efforts to send its passengers who got stranded in Dubai back home, in the aftermath of the volcanic ash incident. A Boeing 767 departed from Heathrow Airport on Thursday to get passengers from Dubai while another is scheduled to arrive on Sunday morning. Passengers are also being advised to register with British Airways via a web form to speed up rebooking. Speaking…
The prices of plane tickets will not increase after the reopening of European airspace, said top industry personnel in the UAE. However, several airlines are charging two to three times the normal fare to European cities. For example, the ticket for KLM is costing Dh10,125 while another one for Lufthansa is Dh7,050. Meanwhile, Emirates President Tim Clark said the carrier will try to maintain prices after…
April 22- A top official with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it will probably take at least three years for the global airline industry to recover from disruption caused by volcanic eruptions in southern Iceland, which started on April 14th. IATA estimates that the crisis, which has grounded much of the airline industry, will cost airlines over $1.7 billion (Dh 6.24 billion) by the sixth…
April 22- Bahrain Air, Bahrain's budget carrier, start four flights a week to Dammam in June, said Majeed Maarij, regional manager of the airline for the GCC, Yemen and Iran, during a road show in Jeddah on Monday. Currently, the airline flies to Jeddah daily and six times a week to Riyadh. The airline, which started operations in February 2007, is flying to 21 destinations currently which include Dhaka and…
April 22- Lawyers on Wednesday said that several European airlines are likely to sue government agencies for suspending flights for about a week because of safety concerns. This, they said, is a possibility if their own countries do not compensate the carriers for the losses incurred. According to the International Air Traffic Authority (IATA), airlines have lost about $1.7 billion owing to flight suspension. As…
Kuwait Airways resumed its flights London yesterday at 1400 local time (1100 GMT) while the first British Airways flight from London will land in Kuwait at 0630 local time (0330 GMT) today. All flights to most European destinations were cancelled due to the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud.
April 22- Emirates Airline resumed its flights to some of the major airports in UK including Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow. The resumption of flights will start after a week of suspensions due to the Iceland volcanic eruption and resulting ash cloud lingering over Europe. "We are hoping to make some good progress today in helping the many passengers who have been held up by the…
April 21- Dubai Airports said on Tuesday that passengers are strongly advised to not got to the airport until and unless they have confirmed their flights with their airline. Several contingency plans along with the deployment of extra staff are in place at the airport to facilitate stranded passengers, the authority said. In this regard, various airlines are regularly updating their websites. Meanwhile, the…
April 21- Royal Air Maroc (Morocco) has finally started some of its flights to Europe that remained suspended for almost a week, it was learnt on Monday. According to a statement released on Monday, flights to Barcelona and Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse (France) will resume. Meanwhile, Air Algerie also resumed flights to and from Marseille, Toulouse, Rome, Barcelona and Beijing, as did Tunisian national air…
April 21- Qatari Civil Aviation Authority has said that volcanic ash cloud is unlikely to hover all the way to the Middle East but if the eruptions continue, the cloud just may come to the region. In a statement released yesterday, the authority said that even if the cloud travels all the way to the Gulf region, the density will be much lower. Volcanic ash clouds comprise of dust, volcanic gases and silicate…
April 20- Sharjah’s budget airline, Air Arabia, is keen on starting its operations from Egypt for which work is said to be in its final stages, said Adel Ali, Chief Executive of the carrier on Monday. This will be the airline’s third hub after Morocco and the UAE. Operations from Alexandria, Egypt, were slated to begin this month but was delayed since the Egyptian government did not issue an operating…
April 20- The European Union (EU) announced on Monday the restarting of flights to European countries after almost a week-long suspension, the result of Iceland’s volcanic ash. Sources said the union succumbed to the pressure of scores of frustrated airlines that are losing about $250 million daily owing to the flight cancellations. Monday’s decision will be enforced from today -- 0600 GMT. “From tomorrow,…
April 20- Airlines probably won’t be covered by their insurance companies for the losses that they have suffered owing to flight cancellations, the result of Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud, said Ram Tolani, Managing Director of Good Relation Brokers in Dubai, said the airlines will probably be unable to claim in the case of a natural disaster. "Even though the event is going to be very, very expensive, costing…
April 20- United Airlines has launched its first flight to Bahrain from Washington which means that passengers can now fly directly daily from the Bahrain International Airport to Washington. The first flight from Washington arrived to Bahrain on April 18. This is the first time that an American carrier is flying to Bahrain in many years. Both countries stand to benefit from this significant development, as the…
April 20- The suspension of flights to European countries owing to Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud is costing Arab countries to lose about 50 million euros a day, said airline industry analyst Ayad Al-Baitar. "The losses will grow for airlines if the crisis continues," he said adding that "the tourist industry in the region will also be hit hard." Saudi Arabia is currently in the midst of its Umrah season, which…
April 20- It may take another three to six days to resume normal airline operations after the suspension of flights to European countries since Wednesday, said the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Director, Giovanni Bisignani. The disruption is the result of Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud that led many European countries to close its airspace. Bisgnani, who was speaking during a press conference,…
