DOHA: Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker met with influential European Parliament members and top decision makers of the European Commission this week in Brussels, Belgium. The aim of the series of meetings and VIP dinner in the heart of Europe was to strengthen the already robust relationships that the airline enjoys with key MEPs and to demonstrate Qatar Airways’ commitment to the European Union, the world’s largest single market area. During the visit, H.E. Akbar Al Baker held successful one-to-one meetings with MEP Mr. Ramon Tremosa; MEP Mr. Jose Ignacio Salafranca and MEP Mr. Ismail…
Author: holidayweekly
RIYADH: Work has started on two modern airport projects at Al Jouf and Al Qurayat regions of Saudi Arabia aimed at accommodating the ever-increasing passenger traffic. This comes in line with its Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation’s (GACA) vision to build modern airports system with advanced services. Once completed, these airports will handle a combined a capacity of 1.5 million passengers per annum. Saudi King Salman laid the foundation stone for the airport projects during his visit to the northern region in the presence of Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has successfully migrated to the next generation Passenger Services System (PSS) that will help the airline upgrade its technology to meet global benchmarks. This was informed by Chief Executive Officer of PIA, Air Marshal Arshad Malik while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation in Islamabad on Friday about the progress report on issues of the airlines. He said the new system will also help the airline to streamline its operations, augment service offerings, reduce costs by half at least and most importantly improve its passenger experience.
Chairman and Chief Executive Boeing, Mr. Dennis Muilenburg has vigorously defended the company saying that the company no way hid a new flight control system called the Manoeuvring Characteristic Augmentation System (MACS) from pilots on its 737 Max airliner. In an internal company message cited by the industry website The Air Current, Mr Muilenburg disputed that Boeing had “intentionally withheld” information from airlines on the stall recovery system which is has come in for scrutiny after the crash of a Lion Air 737 Max 8 on October 29 killing all 189 aboard. “That is simply untrue,” Muilenburg told employees in…
KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has resumed operations on the Muscat route after a gap of over one year, after the airlines expected heavy traffic on the route. The PIA Spokesperson Mashhood Tajwar said on Sunday, 18 November that the decision was taken after anticipating high traffic flow on the route. He said that a PIA flight, PK229, took off from Lahore Airport for Oman on Saturday, 17 November, carrying around 141 passengers. The spokesperson said that the national flag carrier would operate two weekly flights on Saturday and Sunday. With introduction of these flights, PIA would have a total…
SINGAPORE: You wouldn’t think that an airport regularly named as the world’s best would need any extra magic to help attract air passengers, but Singapore Changi is turning to young wizard Harry Potter for help. A Wizarding World Holiday at Changi is the first Harry Potter-themed event held outside the Universal Studios theme parks, as well as the first in an airport. The Southeast Asia hub has installed full-size replicas of locations featured in the Potter books and movies, offering devotees of J.K. Rowling’s creation another reason to fly. Travelers not too overcome by jet lag or Potter fatigue can…
LAHORE: Thousands of Sikh Yatrees have arrived in Pakistan for Baba Guru Nanak’s 549th birth anniversary celebrations, set to commence in Nankana Sahib. This year, Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary coincided with Eid-i-Miladun Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), celebrated throughout the country on Wednesday, 21 november. Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal welcomed the Sikh devotees to Pakistan, noting that the influx includes 3,500 pilgrims from India alone. The FO spokesperson emphasised that Pakistan is a “progressive, moderate Islamic state [where] we proudly follow the Islamic principles, which taught respect for all religions way before the human rights charter…
Sometime in the late 19th century a palm-sized portrait of Charles Dickens was reported unaccounted for by its artist, Margaret Gillies. Attempts to locate the work failed and it was consigned to history. But earlier this year the lost painting, estimated to be worth up to a quarter of a million dollars, was found languishing in a box of bric-a-brac at a house clearance sale in the South African city of Pietermaritzburg. Knowing they had found something special, the buyers sent the piece to London to be authenticated. “It was electrifying when it first came into the gallery, even though…
Cruise ship company MSC Cruises will no longer stop in Amsterdam from next year, due to the new tourist tax of 8 euros per day for passengers for whom the Dutch capital is a stopover. The company does not want to recover these costs from its customers, NH Nieuws reports. The cruise ships will instead stop in other Dutch cities, from where passengers can travel to Amsterdam by bus. Rotterdam is one of these cities, a spokesperson for MSC Cruises said to the broadcaster. This involves a total of seven cruise ships in 2019 and 11 in 2020. Each ship…
BUENOS AIRES: From Buenos Aires to Bariloche, travellers are cashing in on Argentina’s cheap currency as the country grabs headlines as a go-to destination. The peso has tanked nearly 50 per cent against the US dollar this year, the biggest drop in emerging markets. It has also dropped exactly 50 per cent against the Australian dollar. That loss has now become tourists’ gain, turning luxuries such as grass-fed steaks and world-class wine into bargains for globetrotters. While wreaking havoc on ordinary Argentine citizens, the country’s currency crisis helped spur a 12 per cent increase in foreign tourist arrivals in September,…