MASCOW: World Travel Awards, the international initiative to recognise and reward excellence in travel and tourism has unveiled the 2020 winners of its global titles. Winners include Maldives, which cemented its reputation as the definitive secluded sanctuary to win ‘World’s Leading Destination’ for the first time. Aeroflot – Russian Airlines was voted ‘World’s Leading Airline, Business Class’, Emirates as ‘World’s Leading Airline – Economy Class’, with ‘World’s Leading Airline – First Class’ scooped by Oman Air. Portugal also performed strongly, with Madeira voted ‘World’s Leading Island Destination’, Lisbon named ‘World’s Leading City Break Destination’ and the Algarve picking up ‘World’s…
Author: holidayweekly
ISLAMABAD: Retired Flight Lieutenant Khaqan Murtaza has been appointed the permanent Director-General of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA), a notification from the Establishment Division issued on Friday, November 27. The notification of the Establishment reads as : “The federal government has appointed Flt Lt (Retd) Khaqan Murtaza, a BS-21 officer of Pakistan Administrative Service, presently posted under government of Sindh, as Director General (of) Civil Aviation Authority, under section 10 of the Civil Servant Act, 1973 with immediate effect and until further orders.” Before this notification Murtaza was working as principal secretary to the Sindh governor. He was also…
KARACHI: AirSial Limited has proudly entered into the commercial aviation of Pakistan by receiving its First Airbus A320 on Sunday, November 29. AirSial is inducting 3 Airbus A320 aircrafts out of which the remaining 2 would be arriving in the coming few days. All 3 aircrafts are leased from AerCap, the biggest aircraft leasing company in the world. AirSial plans to commence its operations from Mid-December 2020 across 5 cities of Pakistan Karachi, Sialkot, Islamabad, Lahore & Peshawar. 3 daily flights from Karachi to Lahore & Islamabad along with 3 weekly flights to Sialkot and 4 weekly flights to Peshawar…
MUZZAFARGRAH: The mega tourism event, the 5th Thal Desert Jeep Rally 2020 organized by Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab(TDCP) concluded successfully. Veteran off-road racer Sahibzada Sultan emerged victorious in the 5th Thal Desert Jeep Rally on Sunday, November 22. He won the Category A race after completing the 105-kilometre distance in an hour, six minutes and 14 seconds. This time, Mir Nadir Magsi and Roni Patel were not participating in the race due to coronavirus. Asif Fazal Chaudhary and Faisal Khan Shadikhel finished at second and third positions respectively with their respective times of 1:07:06 and 1:07:56. In B category,…
KARACHI The Bank of Punjab (BOP) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) signed a landmark MOU, on 20th Nov. 2020, for promotion of BOP products and services at PIA infrastructure. As per agreement, PIA will be making available collaterals such as boarding cards as well as space in PIA Offices to BOP for advertising its products and services. Speaking at the ceremony, Group Chief, Corporate & Investment Banking BOP, Mr. Farid Ahmed Khan said, “We are very excited today that a landmark MOU has been inked between BOP & PIA. This mutual agreement will provide us with the opportunity to reach…
LONDON: About 1.7 million passengers arrived in the UK by air in October, 82% lower than the 9.8 million arrivals compare to the same month of 2019. Visits to Britain plummeted as coronavirus gripped the economy and international travel ground to halt, figures confirmed on Thursday. Home Office statistics show an estimated 67.2 million passengers arrived in the UK in the year to September 2020, including overseas tourists and returning UK nationals, a 78.8 million fall, or 54%, compared with the previous year. The dramatic drop was fuelled by “significantly fewer passenger journeys” between April and October, when there was…
MONTREAL: Airlines need up to another $80 billion to survive, the head of the industry’s trade association told a French daily on Friday, as many countries tighten restrictions to confront another wave of coronavirus infection. “For the coming months the industry is estimated to need $70-$80 billion (59 to 67 billion euros) in additional aid,” the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Alexandre de Juniac told La Tribune. “Otherwise they won’t survive.” Airlines are one of the sectors worst hit by measures adopted by governments to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but they have also received an…
ISLAMABAD: The NUST Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS) organized a webinar on “Pakistan’s Tourism Potential,” at Islamabad campus on November 24,2020. The event brought to the fore the crucial propellers of strength and harmony in the tourism sector of Pakistan. A distinctive factor was the pursuit of discovering connections of our local approaches and experiences with the world-class Turkish ideals of tourism advancement. The keynote addresses were delivered by two eminent personalities – Mr Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis, Human Resource Development, and Chairman National Tourism Coordination Board; and His Excellency İhsan Mustafa…
ABU DHABI: Etihad Airways has partnered with information technology company SITA to trial the use of facial biometrics in order to check in cabin crew at the airline’s crew briefing centre at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The trial will use facial recognition technology to identify and authenticate crew members, allowing them to complete check-in procedures and mandatory pre-flight safety and security questions digitally via their own mobile devices. The new initiative will replace the current kiosk-based check-in process which requires crew to use their staff identity cards as a form of authentication. Sulaiman Yaqoobi, Vice President flight operations, Etihad Aviation…
VENICE: Venice is postponing its tourism tax until 2022 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the numbers of visitors heading to the iconic city. The city will now be introducing a tourism tax from the 1st January 2022. It was originally due to launch in 2019 but has been delayed twice already, once due to the logistics of implementing a tax, and again earlier this year when the pandemic first broke. The new tourism tax would see tourists charged up to €10 for visiting the city, particularly those visiting on a cruise holiday or just for a…