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King Abdullah will open the newly expanded Prince Abdul Mohsen bin Abdul Airport in the industrial city of Yanbu during his tour of Madinah province. King Abdul begins his tour on Sunday and will launch various industrial, developmental and human welfare projects. The tour will last several days. A statement said “The King’s visit is aimed at closely monitoring the conditions of citizens in the province as…
Emirates Airlines is going the extra mile to help small and medium sized business cope with the economic difficulties faced by the business around the world. The Dubai based carriers is offering 5,000 bonus miles for each newly activated account – a program ideally suited for SME’s. The loyalty programme is being offered to celebrate the successful first year of Business Rewards. The online rewards scheme…
TRI Hospitality Consulting research shows that the number of hotel project cancellations or delays has substantially slowed over the past few months. During the second quarter of 2009 only 2 per cent of confirmed planned hotel projects have been postponed or cancelled compared to 28 per cent between the third quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009. Over the last six months only 10 per cent of confirmed…
The Union Railway Company was established by the federal government yesterday. The state news agency reported the President of the UAE, Shiekh Khalifa bin Zayed, established the new railway company to develop a passenger and freight system in the seven emirates. The Union Railway Company has a capitalization of Dh1 billion (US 272m) and will oversee the planned national railway system. The railway will run on…
Five jewelry retailers reported that gold jewelry sales in Dubai dropped 30% this year due to higher prices and fewer tourists because of the economic slowdown. Many of the 8 million tourists visiting Dubai last year were attracted by the tax free gold. However the retailer Reuters say there are far fewer tourists visiting the emirate known as “the City of Gold”. A shop keeper from Al Khaledyah Jewelry said…
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) expects cruise passenger growth to the emirate to double during the next holiday season. ADTA bases their projections on “the 100% occupancy level achieved by the cruise ships using Abu Dhabi as a ‘port of call’ last season” according to ADTA deputy director general Ahmed Hussein. ADTA projects 199,113 cruise passenger visitors will arrive in Abu Dhabi between November and…
Makkaz Governor Prince Khaled Al Faizal will open the eight day Soaq Okaz festival on 19 August 2009. Prince Al Faizal said the cultural events planned at the festival are part of a huge cultural, economic, and intellectual project. Different sections of the festival will have cultural activities, traditional handicraft, and literary activities featuring poets and lecturers from throughout the…
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) is pulling out all stops in preparing to make Summer in Abu Dhabi 2009 one of the biggest events on the GCC calendar this summer. ADTA has made a multi-million-Dirham investment in the summer event for UAE residents and Gulf Cooperation Council visitors. Abu Dhabi’s goal is to become an international tourist destination and aims to draw between two and three million…
A Boeing 737-800 Air India Express flight bound for Kerala had a tire burst just before take off from the Sharjah International Airport. The incident occurred at 12:10 pm on Tuesday. The pilot aborted takeoff. No passengers were hurt but the runway was closed for two hours. One passenger said the tire blow out occurred two seconds before the plane was to lift off. Sharjah Civil Defence and other official…
The company @bahrain said when construction of their new project is completed, it will create 2,500 jobs. The company estimates that their project, called @bahrain, will bring in more than 3.5 million visitors a year when it is fully operational. @bahrain is one of the biggest projects in the country under construction over the past five years, covering over one million square meters. The company worked with…
Abu Dhabi based Royal Jet and ARABASCO signed an agreement forming an alliance between the two companies. Royal Jet CEO and President and ARABASCO President and CEO signed the agreement at a meeting at the Jeddah Hilton yesterday. The agreement is effective immediately and allows Saudi passengers to charter elite business aviation services between Riyadh and Jeddah. Under the agreement Royal Jet will…
Low cost carrier Air Arabia announced it has doubled the frequency of it non-stop flights to Istanbul Turkey – to four times per week. Flight service between Air Arabia’s main hub in Sharjah and Turkey’s capital of Istanbul are now offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Air Arabia Holidays value package currently offers four night packages to Istanbul starting at Dh2,200 per person. Flights…
The Saudi Shura Council has advised the government to reconsider a previous proposal to privatize the nation’s private air carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA). The Shura council unanimously agreed at least 40% of shares should be offered to the public in an IPO sale and the public should maintain 50% ownership. The council also advised SAA to expand it current fleet of small and medium aircraft.
Air Arabia is offering a round trip ticket and one month tourist visa for Sharjah for Dh975. Head of Air Arabia’s commercial department, Ak Nizar, said they are offering the special summer promotion to travelers at any of the 46 destinations they serve. The promotion began on 15 June and is valid for travel to Sharjah until 31 July. Return flights must take place between 16 July and 10 September. Ak Nizar…
Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) has endorsed new software that accurately measures aircraft emissions. The air transport information technology company SITA said four airlines from the Middle East, Europe, and the US are testing their newly developed Aircraft Emissions Manager. SITA claims their software tool is the world’s first monitoring, verification, and reporting software that precisely measures…
The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) began a new summer hospitality training course for UAE nationals. DTCM Training Solutions section and the Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association are jointly offering the course – Introduction to Hospitality Today. DTCM Executive Director of Corporate Support said it will give a broad overview of the service industry…
CEO of flydubai said there has been good passenger demand in their first month of operations. Dubai’s first low cost carrier began operations in early June and Ghaith Al Ghaith maintains the airline is operationally sound. He said “The response from the customer has been very good and the operation itself has been, touch wood, very silky." Flydubai began its first flight services with Beirut on 1 June…
Dubai’s Deputy Ruler, Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said he is satisfied with progress on the new $4.2 billion metro system. During an inspection of the new transport system on Monday, he said the new system will bring in more tourists. He said when completed Dubai Metro will “attract more holiday makers to the UAE, giving a boost to internal tourism and energizing and diversifying the local…
