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Emirates Airlines inaugural flight to Durban, South Africa landed recently at the Durban International Airport. Minister of Economy Sultan Bin Saleed led a high level delegation on the airlines maiden flight to the South African port city. Al Mansouri said “This is an important development for Dubai, Emirates Airline, and for the UAE as a whole.” He said South Africa is an important trading partner and an…
The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) initialed an “open” Air Services agreement and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kyrgz Republic on September 30. The agreements were signed at the ICAO’s 2009 Air Services Negotiations Conference in Turkey. Director General of the UAE GCAA and Director of the Civil Aviation Authority for the Kyrgz Republic signed the accord. Representatives…
Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing said the opening of their new cruise terminal in January will boost the expanding cruise industry and strengthen Dubai’s position as an important regional tourism destination and hub. The 3,450 square meter cruise terminal, which can handle four ships at once, will have all tourist infrastructure, including ATM machine, money exchange, duty free shop, post…
Renaissance Hotels and Resorts will open five hotels in the Middle East by 2012, according to a senior executive with Marriot group’s lifestyle brand. Rene Mooren, Marriot’s Regional vice president for sales and marketing said they have 24 pipeline hotels in development around the world and these will open between now and 2012. Renaissance Doha will have 257 rooms and open later this year, followed by two…
The UN World Tourism Organization predicts that the number of visitors to the Middle East will more than double by 2020 because of ongoing investment in the sector. UN WTO regional representative for the Middle East said the growth rate will be more than double the world average. Amr Abdel-Ghafar said the number of tourist arrivals will increase to 136 million by 2020, compared to 54 million last…
Rotana Hotels has appointed Hussein Hachem as Cluster General Manager for two five star properties in Dubai – the Al Bustan Rotana and Al Murooj Rotana. Mr. Hachem is a veteran in the hospitality industry and has worked in with Rotana since the opened the Al Murooj Rotana Dubai. He is a specialist in award winning innovative hotels, who previously started and operated many hotel properties throughout the…
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) put up the first new hotel classification sign outside the main entrance of Emirates Palace. The new hotel classification system is being implemented following two years collaboration between the ADTA and the emirates hospitality sector. ADTA will unveil a total of 110 signs classifying 63 hotels and 47 hotel apartments, ahead of the much anticipated Formula 1 Grand Prix…
Etihad Airways moved its three daily flight departures to Abu Dhabi at London Heathrow from Terminal Three to Terminal Four. The carrier opened a new lounge for premium customers across from the gates usually used for flight departures. To celebrate the move, a judge from the hit television show the X-Factor welcomed the first Etihad passengers and talked at length as they checked in. Etihad Chief…
Etihad Airways successfully negotiated the first export credit guaranteed transaction in $1 billion aircraft financing program for 2009-10. The airline said in a statement “The recently acquired Export Credit Agency (ECA) rating, which is also endorsed by all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, effectively places Etihad alongside investment-grade airlines.” Chief Executive…
Kuwait will triple capacity at its international airport by building a new passenger terminal at an estimated cost of 213 million dinars ($2.72 billion). The new terminal is scheduled for completion in November 2016 and will have an annual capacity of 13 million passengers. This will bring the airports total annual passenger capacity to 20 million people. Minister of Public Works Faisal Al Ostad said four…
Interior contracting company Depa finalized an AED207 million contract to fit out all guest rooms, suites, and public areas in the Conrad Hotel, Dubai. The luxury hotel is scheduled for completion in 2012 and will be built on Sheikh Zayed Road. The contract includes work on all 500 guest rooms, suites, lobbies, executive lounges, two ballrooms, 11 meeting rooms, and a business center. Depa chief executive…
The Al Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh, a Rosewood Hotel will introduce a month long Canadian Food festival, featuring Canadian meats and seafood every day. The festival will be open for dinner between October 5-15 at the hotels Crystal restaurant. A Canadian night will be offered every Wednesday and Friday at the Brasseire, The Canadian food festival is the first of its kind in the Kingdom giving Riyadh…
Local Air India offices have stopped making new bookings because the airlines closed flights until October 15 due to the pilots strike. A major travel agency executives said “Even if we want, we cannot make new bookings as the flights are closed on the system.” There were no incoming or outgoing flights from the Kingdom on Air India and passengers have been referred to other international…
A World Tourism Organization (WTO) senior official said the tourism sector in Abu Dhabi and Dubai is already showing signs of recovering and will soon be out of the recession doldrums. Amr Abdel Ghaffer said the tourism sector in Abu Dhabi and Dubai was impacted by the economic downturn but in a limited way and the effects are disappearing noticeably. Mr. Ghaffer said “I expect the number of tourists to the…
Air India pilots called of their strike on its fifth day, after 180 pilots called in sick in protest of planned pay cuts. The strike caused dozens of flight cancellations and delays and a temporary freeze on new bookings. Captain V.K. Bhalla, who represented the striking pilots said “The strike is being called off in view of the assurances by the Civil Aviation Minister that status quo will…
Kuwait based Jazeera Airways is increasing its capacity again by increasing its Dubai to Bahrain flight service from three times a day to four times a day by the end of October. Jazeera previously boosted its Dubai to Abu Dhabi service to twice daily. The airline now operates six flights a day between Dubai to Kuwait. The airline continues to move forward with its growth plans and is better able to generate…
Kuwait will triple capacity at its international airport by building a new passenger terminal at an estimated cost of 213 million dinars ($2.72 billion). The new terminal is scheduled for completion in November 2016 and will have an annual capacity of 13 million passengers. This will bring the airports total annual passenger capacity to 20 million people. Minister of Public Works Faisal Al Ostad said four…
Tour operators are hoping that the number of Russian visitors to Dubai will increase again in 2009. Last year there was a 21 per cent increase in the number of Russian tourists to Dubai. Russian based Natalie Tours CEO said “Dubai has attracted 51,000 Russian tourists so far this year, which is at a par with the numbers last year. We still have three months to improve that.” Natalie Tours is hosting a…
