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April 5-Empire Aviation Group (EAG), the Dubai based private aviation company has partnered with Booking.com to allow private jet charter clients to search and reserve online luxury hotels at preferential rates. EAG operates the region’s largest fleet of private jets. Clients can now search Booking.com’s database of 78,000 hotels in 76 countries by logging onto LifeStyle@Empire, a new operating division and…
April 5- Air France-KLM will add two new weekly flights departing from the UAE beginning in May, bringing the total number of flights per week to 30 for its 2010 summer program. Air France will begin a new non-stop service between Abu Dhabi and Paris on May 3. KLM currently flies five times a week from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam, and Abu Dhabi and Muscat. KLM will increase its number of morning departures from…
April 5- Emirates Airline and Masafi are two of the top 10 brands of the country, according to a survey released by YouGov Siraj’s BrandIndex. Nokia stood first with a score of 65.5. Emirates was second at 63.5 and Masafi stood seventh at 53.7. This was the first UAE Top 10 for 2010 released by BrandIndex. The index also reveals that there are seven new sectors as of January 2010, including media, retail,…
April 4- Al Nippon Airways (ANA), said it is returning to profitability because of an increase in travel, especially in the high-margin business class segment. ANA, which is Japan’s second biggest airline by revenue, will probably post a 693 million (Dh2.5 billion) loss for the financial year ended March 31st, 2010. The airline’s president, Schinichirio Ito, said it is considering launching a low cost…
April 4- Oman Air has increased its capital to $1.3 billion (about 67 per cent) and will add new destinations this year, said Peter Hill, the airline’s CEO. He added that this year is going to be difficult for the airline. "Looking forward to 2010, I am under no illusion that this again will be yet another tough year for the aviation industry worldwide, and for Oman Air in particular,” he added. The airline is…
April 4- Malaysia Airlines will start its service to Dammam from May 5. The flights will be twice a week – Wednesday and Thursday -- via Dubai, said Shahrun Nawi Mohammed Salleh, Sales Manager, Malaysia Airline in Jeddah. The airfare for this flight will start from RM2,291 for travel between May 5 to December 31, 2010. Bookings should be made by September 30, 2010 to avail the offer. "We are excited to…
April 2- More inconvenience is headed towards Middle East passengers as Lufthansa, Europe’s second largest airline, will be on a four-day strike starting from April 13. The airline operates 88 flights per week from the region. Late last month, Europe’s biggest airline, British Airways, went on strike causing major flights disruptions to and from the Middle East. Lufthansa, the German national carrier, has…
April 2- More than 80 per cent of the people are opposed to the British Airways cabin crew strike, it was revealed on Arabian Business’ latest poll. A total of 84.3 per cent of respondents said they were against a series of strikes which have grounded a number of the UK carrier's services, including some to the Middle East region. Some 46.8 per cent said the strikes were wrong in the current economic climate,…
April 2- Youssef Al-Hamdan, a Saudi businessman has filed a SR100 million lawsuit against Saudi Arabian Airlines over the purchase of an aircraft from the airline that was ill-equipped. According to the details, Al-Hamdan won the tender for the purchase of a Boeing 747 aircraft, which he checked before the transaction was completed. However, after paying the airline, Al-Hamdan found that most of the aircraft’s…
April 1- James Hogan, CEO of Etihad Airways, said the UAE’s national carrier is flexible and positioned well to withstand the pressures and problems of the financial crisis. Hogan explained that, because the airline, which began operations in 2003, is relatively young, it is able to operate with a ‘clean sheet of paper’ without many of the costs and legacy issues other larger airlines face. He said “This puts…
April 1- Albert Henschel, General Manager of UAE for Scandinavian Airline, said demand for business class and higher priced seats is increasing, helping to push airline yields up somewhat, although a return to pre-recession yields is more than a year away. Henschel was speaking to media before announcing the airline’s fourth winter season on the Dubai-Copenhagen route. He said conditions are gradually improving…
April 1- Emirates Airlines was rated the best carrier for travelers from Australia headed for New Zealand, beating Air New Zealand and Australian carriers in terms of value. The survey, which was carried out by Choice, a consumer advice organization in Australia, asked 9,000 members to rate their satisfaction on recent international flights with cost, in flight service, seat comfort, leg room, time, food…
April 1- The Philippines' civil aviation agency has said that the country’s carriers are safe, thus discrediting the ban imposed by the European Union (EU). The ban on Philippine carriers followed a downgrading by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to category 2 from category 1 on safety ratings in November 2007. "Even if The Philippines is listed by the EU, it does not mean that Philippine aircrafts are…
April 1- Qatar Airways launched its direct route to Copenhagen on Wednesday. The flights will operate four times a week from Doha to Copenhagen. "With 11 flights a week now operating to Scandinavia, this reflects the high demand we have been experiencing in and out of the region, helped by increased economic ties between the Middle East and Scandinavia,” said Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker. Several more…
April 1- Iran Air will continue its services to European Union countries as there are no real restrictions imposed on its flight operations, said the head of Iran's national air carrier in Germany, Mohammad Reza Rajabi on Tuesday. The recent statement issued by the European Commission has not stipulated any specific instructions, he added. Iran Air flights to Germany vary between 8 and 10 flights a week…
March 31- Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, will begin flight services to Alexandria and Aleppo in June. Flights to the Egyptian city of Alexandria will start on June 2 and operate four times a week. Flights to the Syrian city, Aleppo, will start on June 17 and operate three times a week. Gulf Air chief commercial officer, Kyle Haywood said “We have decided to make Aleppo and Alexandria permanent…
March 31- Emirates Airline will deploy the Airbus A380 on its flights to Manchester from September 1 this year, thus marking 20 years of Emirates presence in the city. The A380 will replace Boeing 777 aircraft on EK017 from Dubai and EK018 out of Manchester. At the same time, Manchester will become the world's first regional airport to have a regular A380 service. "Manchester has become one of the strongest…
March 31- Carriers from the Middle East have a definite edge over the competitive long-haul connections to Asia, it was learnt through a monthly report released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The regional carriers posted a 25.8 per cent growth in February this year as compared to the global average of plus 9.5 percent. The region with the second highest growth was Asia-Pacific (13.5 per…
