Oman Air Celebrates Two Wins

OMAN Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman, has won two prestigious design awards – best New First Class 2018 and Best New Lounge 2018 in TheDesignAir Awards 2018. 

TheDesignAir Awards have been running for six years and celebrate the very best in aviation design across the globe. The judging panel, made up of eight aviation and design experts, awarded Oman Air with the accolades following the unveiling of the new lounge at Muscat Airport and the launch of the three-class Dreamliner earlier this year. 

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Up in the air. . .

BRITISH Airways customers are set to soak up #Osaka next summer as the airline is launching direct flights to Japan’s second largest city. The four-per-week service takes off from March 31, 2019 with flights departing from Heathrow Terminal 5 and landing into Osaka’s Kansai International Airport.

The new route takes the number of daily flights between London and #Japan offered as part of British Airways’ joint business with Japan Airlines up to 32 per week. Japanese tourism is set to grow from 24 million annual visitors in 2016 to 40 million in 2020. Osaka was recently named as the third most liveable city in the world and is considered to be the food capital of Japan. 


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Up in the air . . .

FLYNAS, the national Saudi carrier and leading low-cost airline in the Middle East, announced that its mobile application reached a milestone of more than 2 million users since its launch.

flynas, the winner of the Middle East’s Leading Low-Cost Airline award in 2018, noted that Saudi Arabia has the largest proportion of “flynas” app users, as well as a significant number of users from different countries across the globe. Additionally, flynas points out that the application is most widely used by young people.

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Emirates to operate extra flights for busy Hajj season

EMIRATES will be operating extra flights to Jeddah and Medina to help facilitate travel for pilgrims heading to and from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Hajj. Emirates will be operating 33 additional flights to Jeddah and Medina from 6 to 31 August to support the journey for pilgrims expected to travel to the Holy City of Mecca during Hajj this year. 

These services will run in parallel with Emirates’ regularly scheduled services to Jeddah and Medina. These additional flight services are available to travellers holding a valid Hajj visa. This year, top inbound destinations Emirates is expecting Hajj pilgrims to come from are Pakistan, Senegal, the United States, the UK, Australia, Indonesia, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

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Up in the air . . .

BRITISH Airways is making the longest of long haul flying even easier and increasing the number of flights to Santiago and Washington D.C this winter.

From October 28 the airline will boost the number of flights to the Chilean capital from four-per-week to five and will be adding three flights a week to its Washington Dulles schedule, giving customers even more options on these routes.

An additional three flights a week will be added to the current two-a-day schedule to the US capital from October 29. There will be three daily flights on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with return fares starting from £385 per person.

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Picture Credit: British Airways

Up in the air . . .

EMIRATES has set a new record with over 1 million Wi-Fi connections made on board its flights in March alone. During the month, 1,037,016 Emirates customers connected to the internet during their flight. The connections were mainly made over mobile devices with over 94 percent of users connecting with a smartphone –twice as many connections were made on an iOS mobile phone as compared to an Android mobile, and about 2 percent with a tablet. 

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Qantas, Australia’s best airline

TripAdvisor, the travel planning and booking site, has announced the winners of its Travellers’ Choice awards for airlines, identifying travellers’ favourite carriers around the globe. 

Qantas was recognised as the best airline in Australia whilst Air New Zealand emerged as the best airline in the South Pacific. Singapore Airlines was named the number one airline in the world.


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British Airways celebrates 90th Academy Awards

TO celebrate the 90th Academy Awards ceremony (the Oscars), and the British Academy Film Awards (the BAFTAs) last month, British Airways has added a collection of award-winning films to a newly-created category in its in-flight entertainment. The category, called Award Worthy, features films which won 12 Oscars and 12 BAFTAs in this year’s awards season, as well as receiving 87 nominations across the two ceremonies. 

Customers who fly with British Airways on long-haul flights have free access to over 1,000 hours of films, top TV shows and audio programmes via their personal seatback screen. The content is updated regularly, with categories often added for major holidays or key calendar events. These changes to British Airways’ in-flight entertainment system are just one of a number of ways that the airline is improving experiences for its long-haul customers. 

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Perth first Australian city to be served by Singapore Airlines’ new 787-10s

PERTH will become the first Australian destination to be served by Singapore Airlines’ new Boeing 787-10 fleet , with flights expected to commence in May 2018, subject to regulatory approvals. 

Singapore Airlines currently operates four daily flights to Perth from their Singapore hub with a mix of Boeing 777-200 and Airbus A330 aircraft, with the 787-10 to replace one of these services. The 787-10s will feature Singapore Airlines’ new regional cabin products and will seat 337 customers in two classes, with 36 Business Class and 301 Economy Class seats.

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Designed by pilots for use by passengers

AN Australian-based company, today announced the launch of their new in-flight entertainment and flight-tracking app, Inflighto, in the Apple App Storeand the Google Play store. The Inflighto app is the first in-flight entertainment app designed by pilots for use by airline passengers while in-flight. 

It combines highly-accurate ADSB flight-tracking technology and premium content to give passengers an elevated perspective of the world from the air. The Inflighto app supersedes the traditional ‘moving-maps’ currently used by airlines. Inflighto Pty Ltd is an Australian-based technology company formed in 2017 by two Australian pilots, John Hopkins and Christopher Smyth.

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Up in the air . . .

#EDINBURGH Airport has experienced its busiest month on record and the busiest ever month at a Scottish airport.

A total of 1,413,272 passengers passed through the terminal in July 2017 – up 6.1% on the 1,332,282 passengers who travelled through the terminal in July 2016, the previous record month.

International passengers continued their upward trend while there was also an increase in domestic passengers.

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Etihad Guest Loyalty Programme Reaches 5 Million Milestone

ETIHAD Guest, the loyalty programme of Etihad Airways, has celebrated reaching five million members by gifting 500,000 Miles and an upgrade to Gold status to the milestone member, Rashid Al Shehhi.

Mr Al Shehhi joined Etihad Guest while applying for an ADIB credit card. Guests can earn miles on everyday spending through their ADIB Etihad Guest cards and use their points to purchase flights, upgrades and multiple items from the online Reward Shop.

“I am really looking forward to spending the miles on flights and upgrades, and seeing where I can travel to over the next few months,” he said. “It was a great surprise to be told that I’d been picked out as the five millionth member because I fly with the airline all the time so to be rewarded in this way will help me continue my travels around the world.”

Mr Al Shehhi added that he would also donate some Etihad Guest Miles to relief efforts in Somalia, in line with the spirit of the Holy month of Ramadan and in support of the UAE’s Year of Giving initiative.

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Firsts with British Airways

BRITISH Airways is transforming its customers' airport experience by becoming the first UK airline to introduce automated biometric technology throughout the airport – with the launch of self-service boarding gates. Following a successful trial last June, the first three boarding gates for UK domestic flights departing from Heathrow Terminal 5 are now open, and more than 4,000 customers have already benefited from the new technology. 

The gates create a smoother journey for customers as they travel through the airport, with travellers scanning their own boarding pass when they arrive at the gate and then simply walking through to the aircraft. A digital facial scan of the customer is recorded when they travel through security, and when they arrive at the gate, their face is matched with this representation when they present their boarding pass – allowing them to board the aircraft. Safety and security is at the core of the biometric facial recognition technology, and British Airways' equipment is more advanced than alternative systems currently used by other airlines and airports. 

Three more British Airways self-boarding gates will open at each domestic departure stand each week until mid-June, with a view to roll-out the scheme on international flights in the future. The introduction of the new gates is part of wider investment into new technology that will enhance the experience British Airways customers have during their time at the airport. 

British Airways has also opened self-service bag drop points at Gatwick and Heathrow, and later this year will introduce an improved, more streamlined connections area at T5. This week, The First Wing opened at T5 - an exclusive redesigned check-in area for premium customers, including a dedicated private security channel with direct lounge access for the first time.

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Real time tracking for Malaysia Airlines

MALAYSIA Airlines will be the first SITAONAIR airline customer to benefit from a revolutionary flight tracking partnership. Under the agreement, all Malaysia Airlines aircraft will have access to minute-by-minute, 100% global, flight tracking data.

Malaysia Airlines’ aircraft operations center will receive real-time position updates of its airborne fleet globally. Aireon’s space-based ADS-B data will also resolve any existing data feed coverage gaps that remain, particularly over oceanic and remote airspace, where there is currently no surveillance.

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On the runway . . .

THE airlines of the Lufthansa Group transported some 9.6 million passengers in March, 14% more than the same period last year, although the popular Easter travel time started at the beginning of April. In the first quarter, 25.2 million passengers, , travelled with the Lufthansa Group, amounting to 13% more than the previous year.

COBALT is the new national airline of Cyprus and is establishing a route structure across the UK, Ireland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain, Israel and Greece. With a network of flying rights within all of the EU and additionally with special rights to the East and South of Europe and it will also use Cyprus as hub to connect Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

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Gatwick to Oakland, San Francisco Bay with British Airways

MADE in Chelsea star Stephanie Pratt brings a Californian glow to Gatwick to celebrate British Airways’ new route to Oakland, San Francisco Bay. Stephanie, who went to college in San Francisco, stuns in a photoshoot to mark the airline's first route from Gatwick to California, and its fifth service from London to the 'golden state'. 

The route takes off from March 28 with flights launching from £210 each way based on a return fare.

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Etihad Airways to launch A380 flights to Paris

ETIHAD Airways is introducing its award-winning A380 on the #AbuDhabi – #Paris route this summer as part of seasonal adjustments to the airline’s fleet deployment plan. 

Featuring the carrier’s revolutionary The Residence – the world’s first three-room suite on a commercial airliner – the aircraft will operate on one of its twice-daily services to the French capital between July 1 and October 28.

Paris becomes the airline’s latest A380 long haul destination following London, Sydney, New York and Melbourne. With the aircraft upgrade from a 328-seat Boeing 777, Etihad Airways is able to offer an all-A380 daily service from Paris to both Melbourne and Sydney via the airline’s Abu Dhabi hub.

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Qatar Air unveils double-bed seats in business class

THE airline’s new and unique seat design, patented by Qatar Airways, is set to revolutionise the Business Class experience for business and leisure travellers alike. 

Supported by a host of other innovations across touchpoints – including dining, amenities, entertainment and service – the airline’s already award-winning Business Class cabin is set to challenge industry norms and expectations.

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Picture Credit: QATAR Air