MUSCAT: Oman budget carrier SalamAir has launched non-stop flights from Muscat to Alexandria, Egypt. SalamAir OV527, operated by an Airbus A320neo, departed Muscat International Airport following a special celebration ceremony commemorating the debut of this route. The ceremony was attended by Mohammed Ahmed Fahmi Ghoneim, ambassador of Egypt to Oman, alongside Captain Mohamed Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of SalamAir, and other dignitaries. The inaugural flight was also welcomed in Alexandria by Egyptian officials and dignitaries. Celebrating the first direct flight between both cities, SalamAir also held a special event in Alexandria with the participation of tourism and travel partners, as…
Author: holidayweekly
LONDON: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) announced that the 44th President of the United States, President Barack Obama, will be a guest of honor and keynote speaker at its Global Summit in Seville, Spain, to be held between 2-4 April 2019. President Obama served as President from 2009 to 2017. Today, his presidency is defined by the astute leadership he showed amid global economic uncertainty, heightened security concerns and immense environmental risk. His legacy includes making unprecedented strides towards the adoption of clean energy and overseeing the longest stretch of job creation in American history. President Obama is…
COLOMBO: SriLankan Engineering, the aircraft maintenance-repair-overhaul (MRO) arm of Sri Lanka’s national carrier, achieved another milestone when it successfully carried out its first C-check on an Airbus A320neo aircraft of the SriLankan Airlines fleet at its main hub at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport. Vipula Gunatilleka, Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines, said: “The highly dedicated and talented engineering team worked tirelessly to achieve this milestone and once again has strengthened our position as an MRO in the South Asian region. We look forward to providing MRO and engineering services to our customer airlines as well in the near future.” D.A.G.…
PUTRAJAYA: The tourism sector contributed US$20.7 billion to Malaysia’s economy last year, up by 2.4 per cent compared to the previous year, said Malaysia’s Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Mohamaddin Ketapi on Wednesday, Feb 27. The top 10 sources of tourism to the country last year were Singapore,10.6 million visitors, Indonesia 3.28 million, China 2.9 million, Thailand 1.9 million, Brunei 1.38 million, South Korea 616,783, India 600,311, the Philippines 396,062, Japan 394,540 and Taiwan 383,922. Although international tourist arrivals fell slightly from 25.9 million in 2017 to 25.8 million in 2018, the per capita expenditure of tourists rose 2.9 per…
MOSCOW: Russia’s State Duma (Parliament) introduced a bill that would allow foreigners to stay for two weeks in Russia without an entry visa. The authors of the bill believe that the initiative will allow foreign guests to get acquainted with Russia in more detail. They said that this measure is vital for Russia against the backdrop of its ‘oppression with anti-Russian sanctions’. In a rather bizarre twist, the authors of the bill want to allow only foreigners from “friendly states” to remain in Russia visa-free for two weeks. Which countries will be regarded as “friendly” will be decided by the…
LONDON: The global tourism sector grew at 3.9 per cent last year, to contribute a record $8.8 trillion and 319 million jobs to the world economy, according to figures from the World Travel & Tourism Organisation. For the eighth consecutive year, this was above the growth rate of world GDP. The research conducted over the last 25 years by WTTC, which represents the global private sector of tourism, shows that tourism generated 10.4 per cent of all global economic activity last year. At the same time, the sector is responsible for one in five of all new jobs created in…
DOHA: Qatar Airways has announced it will be increasing the number of weekly flights on its popular routes to South Africa from July. Weekly flight frequencies to Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest metropolis, will increase from 14 to 18 from July, rising to 19 in August. A further two flights will be added to the airline’s winter schedule, taking the total number of weekly frequencies to 21 by the end of October. In addition, passengers hoping to soak up some sun on some of South Africa’s most beautiful scenic beaches will be able to take advantage of the addition of three…
Amadeus maintained solid financial growth in 2018, reporting a 6.6 per cent increase in revenue to €4,944 million for the year. The figure was supported by the operating performance of both its distribution and IT solutions businesses, as well as the acquisition and consolidation of the TravelClick business from October. EBITDA at the tech giant grew 9.7 per cent to €2,041 million in the year to December 31st. Mr.Luis Maroto, President and Chief Executive of Amadeus, commented: “Amadeus maintained its long track record of revenue and profitability growth in 2018. “Our diversification efforts, including the broadening of our hospitality offering…
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to renovate Roosevelt Hotel (New York) owned by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The government plans to spend US$27 million to convert it into a ‘mixed-use’ building believing that this change will make it more profitable. PIA is asked to carry out a feasibility study on the mixed-use building of Roosevelt Hotel by June 30, 2019 and submit a report to the cabinet body on privatisation. Completed in 1924, the hotel was named in honour of former US president Theodore Roosevelt, who had previously been the governor of New York State. It has 1,015 rooms, including…
KARACHI: Last week Air Wings Travel organized an impressive event to launch its GSA wwb-online.com a leading portal for the tour operators, travel agents and Hajj Umrah operators of Pakistan. Hosted by the CEO Dar Al-Eiman, Mr. Aminullah, the event was very well attended by Travel agents and Hajj Umrah operators of the city. Air Wings travel is a GSA-Pakistan for wwb-online.com , a leading portal for hotel bookings, flight booking, holiday packages, sightseeing and transfers. They have worldwide booking online with best rates guaranteed. The portal is XML supported, has white labeling solutions, flight booking, dedicated account managers, customized…