On the runway . . .

WORK will begin this month on the expansion of Adelaide Airport’s main terminal in South Australia. The expansion will significantly improve the arrivals and departures experience for international passengers and create more retail and dining options for domestic and international travellers. 

The overall terminal footprint will be increased by 16,500sq m with the retail area growing by more than 80 per cent to 7257sq m. Due for completion in 2021, the project is the largest upgrade at the airport since the existing terminal was opened in 2005. 

Carriers offering international services in and out of Adelaide include China Southern Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand.

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State of the art arrivals at Dubai International

THE inauguration of the new experience at arrivals at Dubai International Airport coincided with UAE’s Month of Innovation. The roll out of the latest generation of Automated Border Control SmartGates has gone live this month as part of a transformation program which aims at offering passengers a state-of-the art Border Control experience as well as enhancing the immigration security process.

The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) from #Dubai awarded the challenge to Emaratech and partner Vision-Box. This ground-breaking project includes the development, delivery and maintenance of a new generation of multimodal biometric passenger flow solution comprising 122 #SmartGates, deployed across all three Dubai International Airport terminals.

The SmartGates are able to expedite passenger clearance at Dubai Airports’ borders, offering a speedy self-service transaction by way of multi-biometric verification, sustained by passport, Emirates ID and SmartGate cards authentication.

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At the airport . . .

TRAVELLING is one of life's great adventures, but it can also bring its fair share of headaches. Like getting a taxi that can be counted on to be clean, driven competently and coming along with a fair price. In Birmingham, England, Beaufort Airport Taxis Birmingham have all those areas covered the company recently announced the launch of their new website, designed to be even easier to navigate, find out information and book Birmingham taxi appointments online. 

They even offer a professional “meet and greet” service, where the driver will wait for their passenger holding a sign with their name making finding them as easy as possible.

Taxi transfer service is available from Birmingham Airport to all UK airports including Heathrow Airport, East Midlands Airport, Gatwick Airport, Manchester Airport, Luton Airport, and Stansted Airport.

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On the runway . . .

PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) will bring its passenger lounge experience to the next level when the flag carrier opens a new, bigger and more sophisticated Mabuhay Lounge by the second quarter of 2018.

PAL has begun the construction of a two-level International Mabuhay Lounge at NAIA Terminal 2 that will showcase the best of Filipino food and offer world class amenities including private work stations, a meeting room, sleeping pods, showers and changing rooms, and a massage room.

For long-haul flight options, PAL offers the only nonstop flights from Manila to Toronto, London, Auckland, Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and Melbourne.

PAL also operates the only daily nonstops to Sydney and four weekly services to New York JFK via Vancouver.

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Up in the air . . .

BERGEN Airport is following the example of its Avinor sister airports, Oslo and Stavanger, by implementing BlipTrack queue management technology to eliminate wait time guesswork, optimise resource utilisation and improve the passenger experience. 

Bergen Airport, Norway´s second busiest with over 6 million passengers annually, has adopted the BlipTrack queue management solution to accurately measure and predict how many people are standing in line and for how long. The detailed, minute-by-minute measurements and prediction insights will help the airport to better comply with service level agreements and minimise queue build-up in, to ensure that passengers have an optimum airport experience.

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Picture Credit: 62954923@N03/16198833426 via photopin

Bristol Airport Reports Busiest Year

MORE than 8.1 million passengers used Bristol Airport last year, surpassing the total for 2016 by over six hundred thousand passengers. This represents an 8 per cent increase year on year, and the eighth consecutive year of growth for England’s third largest regional airport.

Both charter and scheduled airline sectors contributed to the rise with the number of direct routes served reaching over 125. Highlights in 2017 included TUI’s long haul programme operating the 787 Dreamliner aircraft from the Airport for the first time. easyJet added two new destinations to its route network to Stockholm and Athens, and Ryanair started a new service to Cologne. 

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Costa Rica records a rise in UK visitor numbers

COSTA RICA has recorded an increase in visitors from the UK up by 7.8% in the first nine months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016. 

From January to September 2017, a total of 57,906 Britons travelled to #CostaRica, compared to the 53,700 from the same period last year.

www.visitcostarica.com

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Edinburgh Airport sees another record month

IT'S the seventh consecutive month with over one million passengers using Scotland’s busiest airport.  A total of 1,226,109 people came through the terminal in October, an increase of 8.5% on the same month last year.

Growth in passengers came from the following:

• Ryanair’s six new routes to Milan Bergamo, Girona, Porto, Vigo and Warsaw Modlin which launched in March and the new three per week service to Eindhoven, which launched on the 1st of September.
• Overall more people flew with easyJet with more flights operating to city destinations such as Geneva, Amsterdam, London Gatwick, Paris CDG, Basel and Prague. Bilbao was launched on 30th April and has proved popular with the Edinburgh market.
• Jet2.com operated more services to popular holiday destinations including Las Palmas, Malaga, Pula, Split, Tenerife and Las Palmas. Girona, Almeria, Fuerteventura, Murcia and Naples which have all launched since last year were also popular.
• More passengers travelled between Oslo and Edinburgh with Norwegian as more flights operated and the aircraft were fuller than last year. The new services to Stewart International (New York), Providence Rhode Island and Bradley International (Hartford/Connecticut) further boosted passenger numbers.
• Eurowings launched a new six per week service to Munich in March to join its services to Cologne and Dusseldorf.
• Flybe’s London Heathrow service which launched for the start of the Summer season in March 2017.

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Check-In reinvented

TRAVELLERS today have numerous ways to check-in – on a computer or mobile, at a kiosk or desk, or outside of the airport. However for the airport, this means many different types of systems and expensive infrastructure to do the exact same thing. 

With 42.2 million departing passengers in the first seven months of 2017, Hong Kong International Airport’s check-in process needs to be as efficient, flexible and cost-effective as possible. The new versatile cloud-based mobile kiosks are powered by Amadeus’ common use technology and can be rapidly deployed and relocated for use by the traveller to check-in themselves or by the airport staff to provide full-service operations.

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100% baggage tracking at Istanbul New Airport

SITA is to provide 100 percent baggage tracking at Istanbul New Airport, its innovative baggage tracking solution at what will be one of the world’s largest airports, will allow airlines to meet IATA Resolution 753’s baggage tracking requirements from day one. 

The airport, due to open in 2018, will have capacity to accommodate 90 million passengers a year. Upon completion of all four phases, the passenger capacity will reach over 200 million passengers annually and will be required to track more than 75,000 bags an hour. 

The potential for bags to be mishandled in such a busy environment will be significantly reduced with SITA’s baggage solution by providing information on where every single bag is on its route through the airport.

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Up in the air . . .

ETIHAD Airways offers Early bird travel deals for 2018 , the offers are available for departures out of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, meaning there is no better time to book a 2018 European holiday and to enjoy Etihad Airways’ acclaimed service and hospitality. With connections via Abu Dhabi, travellers have a host of European destinations to choose from, including London, Paris, Rome, Dublin and Athens. The promotion is available for bookings until 6 October, for travel from 1 February – 26 September 2018.

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Up in the air . . .

HEATHROW is proud to announce the unveiling of over 200 stunning GREAT campaign images across Terminal 3, displaying a mix of heritage sites, pioneering British businesses and cultural attractions across the UK.

The UK Government's GREAT Britain campaign artwork at Heathrow showcases the many benefits of visiting and doing business in the UK. The images, which capture the beauty of different parts of Britain and Northern Ireland, have been curated as part of a joint initiative by GREAT and Heathrow.

More than 12 million passengers will be able to view the pictures which highlight scenes unique to the UK - from the Angel of the North located in Gateshead, to the Queen's Guard posted at Edinburgh Castle.

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Great June for Nova Scotia Tourism Operators

TOURISM statistics show an 11 per cent increase in non-resident, overnight visitors to Nova Scotia in June. This is the fourth straight June that tourism numbers have gone up. 

Visitation by air was up 18 per cent compared with June 2016 while visitation by road increased eight per cent.

Most of the increase in visitation is from Canada, specifically Atlantic Canada (up 26,000), followed by Ontario (up 25,000). Visitors from the United States increased by 6,000, while visitation from overseas markets increased by 1,000.

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Heathrow soars to new heights

HEATHROW recorded its best-ever single month in its history in July as the summer getaway sent passenger numbers soaring to record highs
Breaking all previous monthly records, Heathrow welcomed 7.53 million passengers in July (+1.2% on last July) – averaging 243,000 passengers or the equivalent of the population of Plymouth every day.

Middle Eastern destinations were particularly popular for travellers as fuller aircraft led to a seven per cent increase in passengers to the region, while more flights to Brazil pushed up passenger numbers to Latin America by three per cent.

UK destinations saw five percent passenger growth on the back of recently launched Flybe flights to Scotland.

This summer saw Heathrow introduce new travelling friend ‘Little Miss Explorer’ to its tiniest travellers. Alongside Mr Adventure, the travelling duo launched a new augmented reality app to entertain children travelling with an interactive treasure hunt across the airport

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Congestion on arrival in Malaysia

CONCERNS about delays and congestion experienced by tourists at Malaysia’s airports and immigration counters are being addressed by Tourism Malaysia.

YBhg. Dato’ Dr. Siew Ka Wei, Chairman of Tourism Malaysia said, “We are aware of this congestion at the airports from the various comments made directly to us as well as from postings made in blogs, and we would like to give assurance that we are working collectively with the immigration department and airport authority to address the delay in processing the entry of visitors to Malaysia.”

He continued, “We look forward to a quick solution since the situation has become critical. The coming months are the peak holiday season for many markets. In addition, the 2017 SEA Games is just around the corner for which we are expecting to welcome some 15,000 athletes and officials to Malaysia along with their army of supporters,” he added.

He said, “Tourists usually get a first glimpse of a country at the airport. The first impression there counts and will affect the rest of their holiday and time spent in our country. Let’s work together to provide a smooth welcome at their arrival by ensuring a hassle-free entry at the airport and immigration counters.”

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KAZA Univisa shortage in Zambia

WILD Horizons the adventure tour operator based in Victoria Falls has reported that there is presently a shortage of KAZA UNIVISA stickers in #Zambia. 

The entry points namely (Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport, Victoria Falls Border Post, Zambian side and Kazungula Border Post, Zambian side) have run out of KAZA UNIVISA stickers.

The standard Zambian single and double entry visas will be available at these Ports of Entry until this matter has been resolved.

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Up in the air . . .

ETHIOPIAN Airlines Group, the largest airline in Africa, is pleased to announce to its valued customers that it has fully refurbished its Boeing 767-300 ER fleet and availed for service on its India, Middle East and Africa destinations.

The newly refurbished airplane is fitted with brand new full flat-bed seats in Cloud Nine, modern IFE with high resolution 17 inches screen and in-seat power outlets (inflight entertainment), lighting and other modern cabin products. Customers in the main cabin will also enjoy new seats, multiple channels of inflight audio and video entertainments accessible with their own mobile devices /tablets.

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International arrivals numbers surge in Indonesia

HEAD of Indonesia's National Statistics Board, Suharyanto, on 1 August confirmed that international arrivals to #Indonesia for Semester I (January through June 2017) has surged 22.4% reaching a total of 6.48 million visitors, up from the 5.29 million in 2016 year on year.

As for arrivals in June, this has jumped 31.6% reaching 1.13 million visitors, compared to 857,650 visitors in June 2016.

This impressive increase in arrivals is in no small measure due to the excellently coordinated and rapid development of new airports in major tourist destinations, expansion of runways, as at Labuan Bajo's Komodo airport and the Silangit airport by Lake Toba in North Sumatra.

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On the runway . . .

RYANAIR Europe’s No.1 airline has announced that customers who purchase an allocated seat for their flight can now check-in up to 60 days in advance, the latest improvement delivered under Year 4 of its “Always Getting Better” programme.

All Ryanair customers may select and purchase their preferred seat online, both on the Ryanair.com website and mobile app, from the time of booking right up to 2 hours before their scheduled departure, and in turn can check-in online and on the app, from between 60 days and 2 hours before their flight.

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Victoria Falls International Airport welcomes Ethiopian Airlines

Traditional Zimbabwean dancers welcome Ethiopian Airlines's inaugural flight into Victoria Falls International Airport

THE launch of Ethiopian Airlines’ new route into Zimbabwe’s top resort town has been hailed as “a significant catalyst for tourism growth in #Zimbabwe and across the region” by industry leader Ross Kennedy. Ethiopian Airlines became the first international airline to launch flights into the new Victoria Falls International Airport.

The African heavyweight will fly to #VictoriaFalls from Addis Ababa four times a week, enabling tourists from major cities in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa to enjoy hassle-free connections via Addis Ababa.

On March 1, South African Airways boosted its capacity by 88 seats, by launching an Airbus A330-200 to service its daily route between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls; On May 1 Kenya Airways will launch direct flights from Nairobi to Victoria Falls and on to Cape Town; on July 2 SA Airlink will launch direct flights between Cape Town and Victoria Falls six days a week.

These four flights alone could bring as many as 80,000 additional tourists a year into Victoria Falls.

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