ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines would reduce 50% staff by offering them golden handshake, its CEO Arshad Malik told the Supreme Court Tuesday. Malik said so during the hearing of a case relating to fake licenses of Pakistani pilots in the apex court. The court expressed its displeasure over no action against Civil Aviation Authority officials involved in issuing fake licenses to pilots. It told the CAA director general that he didn’t do anything other than writing letters. The court ordered registration of criminal cases against CAA officials involved in issuing fake licenses to pilots. It barred the PIA from…
Author: holidayweekly
LONDON: UK firm Cruise & Maritime Voyages has shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. CMV announced in June that it was looking for additional finance and it was hoped that last minute discussions with investor VGO Capital Management would save the firm. But that wasn’t to be the case and this evening administrators Duff & Phelps announced Essex-based cruise line CMV had “ceased trading with immediate effect”. Its international sales offices in Australia, France, the United States and TransOcean Tours in Germany have also been closed. The company’s website this evening listed information for customers who had booked cruise…
CAIRO: Egypt reopened 31 more hotels for tourists last week amid anti-COVID-19 measures, raising the number of hotels reopened nationwide to 572, an Egyptian tourism ministry official said in a statement on Saturday. The hotels have been reopened with a limited capacity after receiving an official hygiene safety certificate issued by a joint inspection commission from the ministries of tourism and health, said Abdel-Fattah al-Aasy, assistant minister of tourism and antiquities for monitoring hotel facilities. Egypt started reopening hotels in mid-May, but they were limited to local tourism initially due to the international flight suspension. The North African country started…
CANBERRA: Australians are unlikely to be able to visit popular destinations like the US and UK until next year, according to experts, as the federal government faces challenges in reopening borders. Major obstacles exist in opening up destinations other than New Zealand, which are considered to have poorly or inadequately managed the spread of the coronavirus, according to leading travel health experts. New Zealand, which has enjoyed similar success to Australia in containing the spread of COVID-19, was identified this week by Prime Minister Scott Morrison as the likely first overseas border to be reopened to Australian holidaymakers. Even though…
ISTANBUL: Turkish Airlines (THY) ranked second among air carriers in Europe with 568 out of a total of 14,170 flights on July 15, according to Pan-European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol. Irish budget airline Rynair took the lead with 866 flights on the same day, while Hungary’s Wizz Air ranked third with 499 flights. Air France, which ran 443 flights, and Germany’s Lufthansa, operating 403 flights, followed them. The number of flights across Europe was nearly down 60 percent compared to the same day in 2019 due to the travel restrictions imposed after the spread of the coronavirus outbreak around…
LONDON: Prince Harry has said he wants to learn from travel firms ‘keeping sustainability at the heart’ to help rebuild a ‘better’ industry as he announced a virtual summit hosted by his eco-tourism scheme. Travalyst, which was launched by The Duke of Sussex, earlier this year, brought together some of the biggest operators in the travel industry including Visa, Booking.com and Skyscanner to help travellers pick low carbon options more easily and chose destinations that will have more benefit to local communities. According to it’s website, the scheme is set to host a global summit on Thursday 30 July which…
WASHINGTON: The government of India has agreed to allow U.S. air carriers to resume passenger services in the U.S.-India market starting July 23, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Friday, July 17. The Indian government, citing the coronavirus, had banned all scheduled services, prompting the U.S. Transportation Department in June to accuse India of engaging in “unfair and discriminatory practices” on charter air carriers serving India. The Transportation Department said it was withdrawing an order it had issued requiring Indian air carriers to apply for authorization prior to conducting charter flights, and said it had approved an Air India application…
SYDNEY: Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways expects a first-half net loss of $1.3 billion, including impairment charges on 16 planes, the airline said on Friday, July 17, as the coronavirus pandemic crushed travel demand. Earlier, the airline had flagged a “substantial” first-half loss and that it had burned through cash of $322 million to $386 million each month since February. The first-half loss estimate compares to a profit of $173 billion profit in the first half of 2019, before widespread anti-government protests and the virus withered demand.
LONDON: British Airways will retire its entire fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. As the flag-carrier seeks to shrink in size to meet falling demand for travel, all 31 planes are expected to leave the fleet in the coming months. BA is currently the largest operator of the aircraft type in the world. The airline had planned to retire the 747 by 2024, but the process has been accelerated. Alex Cruz, British Airways Chief Executive, said: “This is not how we wanted or expected to have to say goodbye to our incredible fleet of…
BRUSSELS: The European Commission has approved a bailout package of €3.4 billion ($3.84 billion) to Dutch airline KLM to provide urgent liquidity to the company in the context of the coronavirus outbreak. The measures were approved under the State aid Temporary Framework adopted by the Commission on March 19, 2020. The aid measure will take the form of a State guarantee on loans provided by a consortium of banks and a subordinated loan to the company by the Dutch State. Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “KLM plays a key role for the Dutch economy in…