BRUSSELS: Europe’s airline and airport associations have written to Prime Ministers, Transport, Health and Home Affairs Ministers across the European Union, Schengen and the UK, setting out deep concerns over their failure to implement coherent and science-based approaches to travel restrictions. The letter, sent jointly from Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe), Airlines for Europe (A4E) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), is highly critical of the introduction of new restrictions relating to selected countries. Many of these restrictions, state the organizations, are inconsistent with the principles laid out by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre…
Author: holidayweekly
HANOI: Low cost carrier Pacific Airlines and Sabre Corporation, the leading software and technology company that powers the global travel industry, today announced a strategic new agreement in a deal which further cements Sabre’s strength in the Vietnamese aviation market as well as its long-standing and valued relationship with Vietnam Airlines Group. Under the new deal, Pacific Airlines will adopt the Sabre Passenger Service System (PSS) as it moves forward with ambitious plans to play a key role, along with national carrier parent company Vietnam Airlines Group, in the recovery and future growth of APAC’s travel and tourism industry post…
HONG KONG: Dream Cruises has celebrated the re-start of its services with a ceremony in Taiwan. The brand will offer new cruises calling into the popular ports and islands of Peng Hu, Matsu Island and Kinmen as well as Hualien, where Taiwanese guests will again be able to enjoy short getaways. “It is a great honour for Genting Cruise Lines to continue its long and fruitful partnership with Taiwan which began over 20 years ago, as we begin on the road to recovery together due to the Covid-19 pandemic and which will bring hope to the global cruise industry as…
FRANCE: Airbus has seen revenue fall to €19 billion in the first half of financial 2020, down from €31 billion during the same period last year. The collapse was driven by the difficult market environment created by the Covid-19 outbreak, with the commercial aircraft unit delivering around 50 per cent fewer planes year-on-year. A total of 196 commercial aircraft were delivered in the last six months, down from 389 in the first half of last year. These comprised 11 A220s, 157 from the A320 family, five A330s and 23 A350s. Airbus’ reported adjusted EBIT of -€1,3 billion, down from a…
KARACHI: Emirates has announced it will resume flights to Nairobi (from 2 August), Baghdad and Basra (from 10 August), expanding its growing network, and offering customers around the world more convenient connections to Dubai, and via Dubai. This will take the airline’s passenger network to 67 destinations in August, including seven points in Africa and five points in the Middle East. Flights between Nairobi and Dubai and Basra and Dubai will operate three times a week while flights between Baghdad and Dubai will operate four times a week. The flights will be operated with the Emirates Boeing 777-300ER and can…
GENEVA: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released an updated global passenger forecast showing that the recovery in traffic has been slower than had been expected. In the base case scenario, the trade body expected global passenger traffic (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) will not return to pre-Covid-19 levels until 2024, a year later than previously projected. The recovery in short-haul travel is still expected to happen faster than for long haul travel. As a result, passenger numbers will recover faster than traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres. Recovery to pre-Covid-19 levels, however, will also slide by a year…
CHICAGO: Boeing has posted a net loss of US$2.4 billion for the second quarter primarily reflecting the impacts of Covid-19 and the 737 MAX grounding. The aviation manufacturer saw second-quarter revenue total US$11.8 billion, down from US$15.7 billion during the same period last year. “We remained focused on the health of our employees and communities while proactively taking action to navigate the unprecedented commercial market impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Boeing chief executive, Dave Calhoun. “We are working closely with our customers, suppliers and global partners to manage the challenges to our industry, bridge to recovery and rebuild to…
MANAMA: Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, announces that it will resume its direct flights to and from Kuwait with scheduled operations starting from 1 August 2020. Gulf Air has been operating direct flights between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Kuwait since 1959 and it has always been a key successful route within the Gulf Air’s network. The airline currently flies to and from London, Paris, Frankfurt, Manila, Athens, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and several destinations in Pakistan. Being one of the few airlines that continued scheduled commercial operations, Gulf Air continuously works…
MADRID: Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who responded angrily to the U.K. ratcheting up its travel ban to Spain to include popular holiday islands, now faces the prospect of losing German tourists in the busiest summer month as well. In an interview with local broadcaster Telecinco, the Spanish leader called the U.K. decision “unbalanced” and said there were more case of the virus in Britain than in the Balearic and Canary Islands. On Tuesday, the U.K. defended its decision not to distinguish between the different regions of Spain. To make matters worse, Germany on Tuesday recommended avoiding non-essential travel to the…
KARACHI: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Air Marshal Arshad Malik, has unveiled a plan to commence flight operations to Turkey in August this year. Arshad Malik sought the assistance of Pakistani Ambassador to Turkey Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi to play his role for the commencement of flight operations of the national carrier. The PIA CEO sent a letter to the ambassador Qazi which stated that the national carrier decided to start operating flights to Turkey from August. The resumption of flight operations needed the approval of Turkish aeronautical authority, whereas, the PIA management also wrote…