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Movenpick Hotels and Resorts announced the creation of 2,000 new jobs in Dubai. Movenpick is on schedule to open five new hotels in Dubai over the next twelve months, as part of an ambitious expansion plan - starting with the Movenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach this year. Thomas Tapken, MH&R General and Regional manager for Dubai said “We have taken on 10 people on board now, so there’s a fair way to go.” The…
Thai Airways returned to the UAE capital after a six year absence. The airline announced yesterday flight service between Bangkok and Abu Dhabi International Airport will begin 26 October 2009. Thai Airways will operate the new service four times a week on the wide bodied Airbus A330-300 with 239 economy class and 41 business class seats. The Abu Dhabi sales manager for Thai Airways said they will also…
Jet Airways begins its new Mumbai to Riyadh flight service on 6 August 2009. The service will operate four times a week – Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The new service is Jet Airway’s eighth destination in the Gulf and second in Saudi Arabia. Currently they have a daily Mumbai-Jeddah service. Jet Airways provides flight service to Bahrain, Kuwait, Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, to numerous…
Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways said the number of passengers traveling with them increased 9% to 616,000 in July compared to the same period last year. This make July 2009 the busiest month in the airline’s history. Etihad Airways flights were 88% full and weekly flights increased 20%. Chief Executive James Hogan said “We now look forward to building upon this for the remainder of the summer holiday…
Abu Dhabi has emerged as a front runner to be the Middle Eastern hub for Air Asia X. Group chief executive for Air Asia said Air Asia X will be located in the UAE capital. Air Asia X is a popular long haul budget carrier based in Kuala Lumpur. Abu Dhabi executives said they still have not received an official letter of intent from the airline. Air Asia X said they plan to open the base initially with a…
Lufthansa Airlines last year signed an agreement to acquire a 41.6% stake in loss making Austrian Airlines (AUA) and last week the European Commission granted a cautious approval for the deal. Austria had to make big concessions to secure the agreement including a €500 million (Dh 2,617m) payment. Niki Lauda, owner of budget carrier Niki Airline and former Formula 1 world champion describe it as “The biggest…
India’s private international airline, Jet Airways, begins new Mumbai-Riyadh flight service from 6 August 2009. This is the airlines second destination in Saudi Arabia. They currently have a daily Mumbai-Jeddah service. The new service will operate on a Boeing 737-800 aircraft on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. With the addition of this new service Jet Airways now flies to 8 cities in the Gulf…
Emirates Airlines has partnered with Virgin Blue Airlines to offer the Emirates Visit Australia Pass which provides great air travel bargains in Australia. Domestic connections to 22 additional Australian destinations on Virgin Blue are offered from the four Australian cities currently served by Emirates – Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney. In the future Virgin Blue will expand the list of cities…
Emirates Airline said the European Union should carefully consider implications of international airline alliances to ensure they do not violate antitrust rules. Airlines have been severely affected by the global economic crisis, after years of building their international operations. Many airlines have been developing relationships so they can cut costs and capacity. Andrew Park, a senior Vice President at…
Gulf Air will restructure again this summer to help restore the carrier after several years of losses. The Bahrain based company Mumtalakat Holdings is looking for advisors to help rebuild the airline which has spent most of the decade in and out of recovery campaigns. Gulf Air has talked with a number of different asset companies and specialist aviation consultancies including Seabury and Cesart Consulting,…
The international luxury executive flight services company Royal Jet seems to be pulling out of the economic downturn, with a 15% increase in holiday bookings compared to the same period last year. President and CEO of the Abu Dhabi based company said travelers tend now to book their flights much later than they used to – between two and four days prior to departure. Shane O’Hare said “We are finding that…
British Airways will begin new thrice weekly service on 25 October from Gatwick to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt and to Male in Maldives. The new flight services will operate on a Boeing 777 aircraft with three classes - Club World, World Traveler, and World Traveler Plus. The airline has previously offered service to Sharm El Sheikh but this is the first time it has flown to Maldives. Hotels can be booked at the…
Despite Canada’s official ‘open skies’ policies, Emirates Airline is fighting with the Canadian government ministry Transport Canada over attempts to limit the carriers access to the country. Transport Canada is responsible for enforcing the ‘open skies’ policy, which is intended to encourage foreign carriers to begin services to Canadian destinations. However, Transport Canada is actively attempting to limit…
Safi Airways will shift operations at Dubai International Airport from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 this month. President and CEO of the carrier said the timing is good because they will begin distributing tickets worldwide through their reservation system. Tilmann Gabriel said the move to Terminal 1 will allow them to “serve connecting traffic from around the world via Dubai to and from Afghanistan.” IATA sells…
Jet Airways announced they will begin service from Sharjah to Kochi from 1 September 2009. The airline’s general manager for Dubai and northern emirates said they decided to launch the new service because “there is a large Keralite community residing in Sharjah and the northern emirates, who would like to travel on a full service premium airline which offers very good ‘value for money’”. With the addition of…
Dubai based Emirates Airline has launched its first airport lounge in Africa at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. With this latest opening, Emirates has now established 23 lounges across its international network. They are for the exclusive use of Emirates Airline customers. Emirates plans to open three more lounges catering to first and business class customers within the next twelve…
Emirates Airlines denied recent reports that fares to and from Australia have increase. According to weekend reports in Australia, ticket prices to and from Australia had been increased 7% for all cabins. The reports said that the airline was raising prices now to make up for losses after months of steep discounts. Emirates Airlines said from 23 July, only outbound flights booked in Australia would be subject…
A flydubai flight to Berlin was cancelled at the last minute on Saturday, stranding over 100 passengers who had traveled from other emirates to take the flight. An airline staff said the 10:30 am flight was cancelled because of technical reasons. The low cost carrier issued a statement apologizing to passengers for the cancellation. The statement said “As a gesture of good will we have offered all passengers…
