Category Archives: Aviation

Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) has announced its decision to implement International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) New Distribution Capability (NDC) in a modular approach. Saudia has appointed TPConnects, a leading technology solutions provider, as its NDC distribution partner to manage the NDC standard platform. At Saudia, implementation of NDC is seen as a major Transformation project focusing on revenue drivers, major cost reducing programs and implementing ONE Order initiatives, beyond opportunities in distribution. NDC standards enable Saudia to offer our guests the opportunity to have a consistent shopping experience, including access to rich content, ability to buy ancillary products and services and to be recognized and receive personalized offers, wherever they shop for Saudia products, especially from the travel agents and Online Travel Agency channels. The introduction of NDC could help travel agents to improve the offering to the customer, to upsell additional services including branded fares or fare families which are of value to both the traveler and the corporation and create business process improvements.

Over 50 travel agents and tour operators from Dubai and Sharjah attended the Educational seminar session conducted by Qatar Airways and Orange County. The event took place at Raffles Dubai in association with AVIAREPS the representative for ME region for Orange County. They shared the importance of the destination and the many facilities, language, social etiquette etc to welcome guests from the ME region. Glenn Johnston, Vice President Corporate Communications & Public Relations, GM, UAE/Middle East, AVIAREPS, reiterated key ways to reach out to the clients with the many value added options with the one year partnership with Qatar Airways. They also launched the special privilege e-card for the travel agents and tour operators.

Air Arabia has expanded its international route network with a new service to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Starting 23 March 2017, the airline will operate four weekly flights from its primary Sharjah International Airport hub. On Thursdays and Sundays, the flight will depart Sharjah at 07:55 and arrive at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku at 10:50 local time, with the return flight scheduled from Baku at 11:30 destined to reach Sharjah at 14:10 local time. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, the flight will depart from Sharjah at 14:55 to land in Baku at 17:50 local time, and make its return journey starting 18:50 at Baku and land at Sharjah International Airport at 21:30 local time. The launch of the new flights follows a joint cooperation between Air Arabia, Azerbajian Airlines and local authorities aimed at promoting the new route connecting Baku and Sharjah. Sitting on the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Azerbaijan’s largest city also serves as the country’s financial nerve centre. Baku invites business and leisure travellers to its unique urban setting where ancient stone mansions co-exist with newly developed skyscrapers and mosques that stand as architectural marvels.

Travelport has announced a new multi-year, global full content agreement (FCA) with Turkish carrier Atlasglobal Airlines. Under the agreement, Atlasglobal will now offer Travelport-connected agencies in over 180 countries, servicing hundreds of millions of consumers around the world, real-time access to its fares and inventory-through the Travel Commerce Platform. The airline also joins over 180 airlines now live on Travelport’s industry leading merchandising solution, Travelport Rich Content & Branding, which enables the airline’s fare families to appear on travel agency screens, on a fully integrated basis, in exactly the same way it displays fares and ancillaries on its own website. Operating in the region since 2001, and under the name Atlasglobal since 2015, the airline has a legacy of innovation in customer service and passenger quality and comfort, having introduced unique initiatives such as the “Flying Chef” and “Fly & Bus” services for its passengers. Atlasglobal operates a network across three continents and flies to almost 50 destinations. Travelport’s unsurpassed ability to provide detailed product descriptions- including images and related ancillary options- will support Atlasglobal in demonstrating its unique attributes to the 68,000 Travelport connected travel agents around the world. The merchandising solution also offers the airline the ability to send tailored offers to travel agents and corporates to help drive additional bookings and revenues per seat.

Qatar Airways will provide travellers with greater access to the idyllic white sand beaches and turquoise waters of the Seychelles with daily flights from Doha starting on December 12, 2016. Travellers wishing to explore Seychelles – one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations in the Indian Ocean – will enjoy convenient flights and award-winning service when travelling with Qatar Airways. Residents of the Seychelles will also benefit from the opportunity to connect to the airline’s network of more than 150 business and leisure destinations around the world via the airline’s hub in Doha. The airline’s expanding global reach and modern fleet will take travellers to exciting places across the globe including the airline’s latest destinations launched in 2016: Adelaide, Atlanta, Birmingham, Boston, Helsinki, Los Angeles, Marrakech, Pisa, Ras Al Khaimah, Sydney, Windhoek and Yerevan.

Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) has welcomed 2.1 million passengers throughout September, marking an increase of 5 per cent on September 2015. Since the beginning of the year, passenger traffic has grown 6 per cent from the same period last year, with 18,528,723 passengers between January 1 and September 30. Total departures numbered 352,067, which signify a 10.1 per cent increase on September 2015. Passenger traffic to India grew 10 per cent on 2015, which maintained its position as the top destination, with 355,328 passengers throughout September. Passengers to Qatar totaled 70,627, representing an increase of 18.4 per cent compared to September 2015. Saudi Arabia rose to become the third busiest destination, with traffic to and from the country increasing by 19 per cent. Traffic to and from Egypt rose by 37.9 per cent to 57,885 passengers.

Turkish Airlines has unveiled its new mobile application. Users can now buy tickets, make reservations and check in, manage Miles&Smiles account and follow departure-arrival status via the recent application. All processes can be done quickly under favor of the simple and easy to use design. It is now possible to add passengers, display the latest airport searches, and gain time by choosing favorite airports. Also the flights can be reserved easier due to the interactive map. The promotions which provide new discoveries via Turkish Airlines can be reached at any place and any time. The new functionalities of the mobile application allow passengers to change tickets, make cancellations, add infants, and add flights directly. The application includes the terminal maps in order to make mobile users find their desired location. Also the mobile application users will have ability to buy emergency row seats to have a more comfortable journey. Also it is now possible to upgrade Economy tickets to Business via new update. Turkish Airlines’ updated mobile application can be downloaded on AppStore and also Google Play to all mobile devices.

The UAE successfully took part in a special meeting for GCC tourism undersecretaries held in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of the preparations for the 3rd GCC Tourism Ministers Meeting. The UAE delegation was headed by H.E. Mohammed Khamis Al Muhairi, Undersecretary, Ministry of Economy, and was joined by Saeed Al Samahi, Director General, FTAA; and Abdullah Al Hammadi, director at the Ministry of Economy. The delegates discussed key points from the minutes of its previous meeting — strongly focused on the development of the GCC region’s tourism industry, the further promotion of joint tourism work among GCC countries and the continuation of efforts to achieve common strategic goals and objectives in support of enhancing and improving national tourist attractions of respective member countries. H.E. Al Muhairi shared that tourism in the GCC region has witnessed a positive upward shift in the last few years and has resulted in the region’s tourism segment’s ability to contribute significantly to the economies of countries in the GCC, supplementing contributions that has helped in promoting economic diversity. The Undersecretary revealed that the recommendations produced in the recent meeting complements the move to further enhance joint cooperation among GCC countries.

Qatar Airways has opened a new route from Doha to Helsinki, the Finnish capital. His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, Group Chief Executive, Qatar Airways, hosted a press conference at Hotel Kämp in the centre of Helsinki following the arrival of the airline’s first flight to the Finnish capital. Qatar Airways is the first Middle Eastern carrier to serve all four Nordic capitals. The new route will also give the people of Finland the opportunity to connect to more than 150 destinations on the airline’s global network via its hub, Hamad International Airport, in Doha. Qatar Airways, already one of the fastest growing airlines in the history of aviation, flies daily to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and now Helsinki. This will give Finnish passengers the opportunity to travel seamlessly to destinations such as Krabi and the Seychelles, which will launch in December, and Auckland, which will launch on February 5, 2017, with many more new destinations to come.

Air Europa and Turkish Airlines have jointly announced the start of a code-sharing partnership effective as of October 1, 2016 that enables both carriers to tap into new markets and offer their passengers more travel options. At the initial stage of their cooperation Air Europa will place its marketing code on Istanbul-Madrid v.v. route operated by Turkish Airlines while Turkish Airlines will place its marketing code on Madrid – Las Palmas/Ibiza/Palma de Mallorca v.v. and Madrid – Havana/Santo Domingo/Lima v.v. flights operated by Air Europa. Such an expansion of the codeshare agreement will allow passengers to benefit from better connectivity and increased travel flexibility between Spain and Turkey and beyond the carriers’ respective networks. Turkish Airlines connects 242 international destinations with Istanbul, which is the only city in the world having settled on two continents, and serving as the main hub of the global carrier. It offers transcontinental advantages of its location in Eurasia and makes connecting flights to destinations all around the globe easier than ever.