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Dnata looks into Kabul expansion
Airport service company Dnata has said Kabul, Afghanistan is one of the locations it is looking for international expansions, Gulf News has reported. The report mentioned Dnata is close to secure a deal, taking over the operation and management of Kabul International Airport. The timeframe on when the deal could materialise was not given.
SAS to up Dubai services
The multinational airline of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, SAS Scandinavian Airlines plans to expand in the Middle East and to South Asia by using Dubai as its regional hub, Gulf News has reported. The carrier plans to increase the frequency on its current Dubai flights because 'Dubai is a good and increasing market and the region is becoming more and more important for us,' according to Albert Henschel, the airline's UAE manager.
Royal Jordanian, S7 ink codeshare deal
Royal Jordanian (RJ) has signed a unilateral Free Sale Code-share Agreement with the largest Russian domestic carrier, Siberia airlines (S7), where S7 will place its code on RJ flights operated on Amman-Domodedovo-Amman route. The agreement will enable RJ to operate three flights a week, which will run on on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The carriers plan to expand the agreement to be bilateral once the necessary approvals for the Moscow, St Petersburg sectors.
Emirates, V Australia ink code share deal
Dubai-based Emirates and Virgin Blue Group's new international airline, V Australia, have announced a code share partnership on the trans-Tasman route, effective 25th October 2009. The code share agreement - Emirates' first with an Australian carrier - will provide V Australia guests seamless connections when travelling between New Zealand and the USA.
Oman Air receives new aircraft
Oman Air has taken delivery of the first of seven ordered Airbus A330-200s, as part of the airline's international network expansion. The new aircraft, which was acquired through a lease agreement with Dublin-based AWAS, is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines and is configured with 20 business-class and 196 economy-class seats. By the end of this year, the Sultanate's national carrier's fleet will feature two A330-200s and two A330-300s. During 2010-11, the airline will take an extra three A330-300s.
IATA forecasts deeper losses for airlines
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced a revised global financial forecast predicting airline losses totaling $11bn in 2009, raising an earlier loss forecast of $9bn due to rising fuel prices and exceptionally weak yields. Industry revenues for the year are expected to fall by $80bn (15%) to $455bn compared with 2008 levels. However, IATA has improved its outlook for Middle East carriers by reducing its earlier losses forecast by $1bn to only $500m. Middle East carriers will continue to gain long-haul market share with expanded capacity and hub connectivity, the international body said. The weakness of economic recovery, however, could mean continued excess capacity and further losses, IATA noted.
Mideast air transport activity grows
Majdi Sabri, Regional VP of the International Air Transport Association, has said that air transport activity in the Middle East and North Africa region had improved during the first seven months of this year compared to the same period last year, the Jordan Times has reported. The improvement may be attributed to the limited impact of the global economic downturn on the region, as well as the improved air transport services, he said. The region is the only part of the world which had recorded a 6.8% growth in air transport activity compared to a drop on the world level by a similar percentage, he noted.
Dubai expects 13.6% passenger growth in 2010
Dubai's location and advancements in aircraft technology will help passenger traffic through the emirate's two airports to grow to 13.6% in 2010, the Dubai Airports Company has predicted. Total passenger traffic through the Dubai International Airport and Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International Airport is expected to reach 40.5 million by the end of 2009 and top 46 million in 2010. Dubai International is ranked the world's fifth busiest airport in terms of international passengers, and fourth busiest for international air cargo volumes according to Airport Council International's latest published figures.
Dubai airport open to having foreign anchor
Dubai's new Al-Maktoum International Airport is open to having a non-home airline as the anchor carrier, according to a Dubai International Airport senior executive. 'It does not have to be on of our home-grown carriers,' Anita Mehra Homayoun, VP for marketing at Dubai International Airport told website Flightglobal. 'It could be an Asian or European airline that feels that Dubai will be a good base to be in, and we will welcome that.'
Air Arabia Egypt expects launch by year-end
The recently announced low-cost airline formed by Egypt's Travco Group and UAE-based Air Arabia may launch operations by the end of 2009 from as many as five Egyptian airports, Travco's chief executive has said. The new airline, Air Arabia Egypt, will seek Egyptian government permission to use airports at Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. The company will lease aircraft from Air Arabia or other sources, he said.
Bahrain Air trims Airbus order
Budget airline Bahrain Air plans to conclude the purchase of three Airbus planes this year but has cancelled plans to buy a fourth one, Reuters has reported. 'Due to the current international financial issues there is a delay in the purchasing process and a reduction in the number to three airplanes,' Ibrahim Abdulla Al-Hamer, the airline's managing director, was quoted as saying by Al Waqt newspaper.
Free wi-fi at Abu Dhabi International Airport
Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has launched free wi-fi and internet access throughout Abu Dhabi International Airport. In addition to the 65 touch screen walk-up kiosks offering 20 minutes of free internet access per session, the wi-fi service provides one hour of free access per session, with users able to reconnect for subsequent sessions, ADAC said.
Recession creating aircraft oversupply
Switzerland-based investment bank, UBS has predicted that there will be a surplus of 1,400 aircraft by the end of this year. It said the upshot will be production cuts at both Airbus and Boeing, according to website FlightGlobal. It would mean Airbus production rates could fall by about 40% by 2012 and in order to avoid the cuts, passenger traffic would have to grow at an estimated rate of 14%, far higher than the expected growth of 5%, UBS said. Plane lessor AWAS believes the surplus will be about 1,000 aircraft by the end of this year, rising to 1,600 by the end of 2010.
Egyptair launches mobile information portal
Egypt's national carrier, Egyptair has launched its mobile portal with Star Alliance. The portal provides information and services to Egyptair customers, including flight schedules, real time of Egyptair flight departures and arrivals, lounge information, currency converter, and weather for next five days in the arrival destination, baggage tracing and information on destinations. More interactive services will be launched in the coming weeks, the airline said.
Jet strike ends
Pilots of India's Jet Airways have ended their strike yesterday, which had forced the airline to suspend flights to various destinations including the UAE over the past five days, Reuters has reported. The standoff had ended after talks between the two sides late on Saturday, the airline has said.
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