Qatar Airways, recently named Airline of the Year 2011, and Brazil’s Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, have implemented a new code share agreement to connect travelers from Doha to 46 cities across Brazil through Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport. With this new agreement, Qatar Airways’ customers are able to purchase a single itinerary combining flights on both carriers’ global networks, affording them the ease of one-stop ticketing and through baggage check-in. Qatar Airways operates daily non-stop flights between its Doha hub and Brazil’s largest city of Sao Paulo, using its flagship Boeing 777-200 Long Range aircraft. Gol has the most extensive route network in Brazil than any other airline, with more than 900 daily departures to dozens of key Brazilian cities including Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Curitiba, Foz da Iguaçú, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis and Londrina. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker said: “We are pleased to now be growing our passenger base through this exciting new partnership with Gol Linhas Aereas, which offers a convenient travel experience across Gol’s domestic network in Brazil to the many international destinations we fly to beyond our Doha hub.” Claudia Pagnano, VP for Gol’s marketing and communications, said: “We are honored to partner with Qatar Airways, an airline that, like Gol, is constantly focused on delivering a great experience to all travelers.Commemorating the 100th anniversary of Chevrolet, Universal Motors Agencies Co. (UMA), General Motors’ (GM) dealer in Saudi Arabia, hosted its annual Sahoor for business partners and media at the Park Hyatt Jeddah on Sunday night. The event was presided over by UMA Chairman and CEO Mohammed Abduljawad and Markus Leithe, Chevrolet’s Dubai-based regional director for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen. Abduljawad welcomed the guests and thanked them for gracing the occasion. “We are extremely proud to celebrate the 100 years of Chevrolet. Chevrolet is considered part of the Kingdom’s culture and is a key brand to the success of our business,” said Abduljawad. “We remain committed to working with GM as we keep our eyes firmly fixed on the future to meet our customers’ needs and tastes, and provide them with a world-class shopping, buying and ownership experience,” he added. He honored a number of key customers who participated in celebrating the 100th anniversary of Chevrolet. UMA is the oldest and highly recognized GM dealership in the Middle East. The company is a joint venture between Arabian Motors & Engineering Company (Ameco-Zahid) and General Machinery Agencies (GMA), two of the oldest and most respected GM dealers in Saudi Arabia. Today, UMA employs more than 1,600 staff in 16 branches and 53 lease operations sites spread across the Kingdom.Samsung Electronics, a global market leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced the start of its Ramadan promotion and strategic collaboration with Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) in providing customers with a chance to win a one year subscription to STC’s interactive TV application “Invision” when buying a Smart TV. Samsung’s Smart TV concept is all about allowing the users to do more and keep the experience simple, rich and interactive, and Samsung’s joint promotion with STC’s Invision service will keep that concept alive. The Advanced Interactive Television Service will offer the best TV viewing alongside Samsung’s Smart TV, allowing users to benefit from the array of features provided by both. The promotion offers buyers of a Smart TV a coupon enabling them to have a chance at winning a subscription to STC’s interactive application Invision and a STB receiver for one year, including the special feature of a library of TV shows and programs and the “Stop and Rewind” attribute. “The day and age where the television and viewer can communicate has arrived. Samsung’s Smart TVs provide an unprecedented viewing experience, and today, alongside our strategic partnership with STC, we strive to continue offering our customers only the top-notch experience with the chance to explore STC’s Invision, said Asim Al-Qahtani, audiovisual marketing assistant manager at Samsung Electronics, Saudi Arabia.Residents of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam recently witnessed live demos of Kenwood’s food preparation machines — Kitchen Machine and TriBlade Hand Blender. Lebanese Chef Richard Khoury gave live demos of the machines at major shopping malls, mega stores and hypermarkets across the Kingdom. Ahmed Abdulwahed Co., the sole agent for Kenwood products in the Kingdom, which has been bringing Kenwood’s products to Kingdom’s highly competitive market, said Kenwood’s kitchen appliances were synonymous with quality and reliability. Whatever the need, Kenwood is sure to provide users with the right solutions for their everyday cooking and food preparation, with its range of kitchen machines including food processors, blenders, smoothie makers, ice cream makers, juicers, water filters, bread makers, kettles, coffee machines, toasters, deep fryers, food steamers and kitchen scales. Using Kenwood’s “multi pro excel” and Kitchen Machine, the chef has demonstrated the machine’s functions, power and durability. With more than 20 different and effective attachments, the machine enables users, especially housewives, to cut, knead, grind, press, whip, mince and mix food ingredients, enabling the preparation of dishes a very enjoyable and easy process. The Kenwood TriBlade Hand Blender has distinctive features, such as being the only hand blender with three blades, 700-WATTS power engine to prepare sauces, soups and Ramadan drinks easier, faster and cleaner than any other hand blender.Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) is hosting its inaugural talent convention from Oct. 9-11 at Park Hyatt Hotel, Dubai. This “unique first-of-its-kind” event will give human resource management professionals from major local and regional companies a platform to exhibit their knowledge in the fields of strategic organizational capabilities and development and talent management. Talent, sustainability, agility and peak performance will be high on the agenda, according to the organizers. A pre-convention workshop entitled "Achieving Sustainability through Agile Organizations" will be led and facilitated by Donald Sull, a professor of management practice in strategic and international management and the faculty director of executive education at the London Business School. The Day 1 will include speakers from the Ministry of Labor commenting on what it takes to lead high performing organizations. Human Capital Management will be discussed later that afternoon with delegates being provided with in-depth information on HR as a business partner and value creator, the HO (human versus organization) factor, and talent retention, all pertinent issues across organizations in the region and globally. The second day of the convention will focus on regional and international best practices. “The first GPCA talent convention targets professionals who are eager to learn about successful HR practices,” said GPCA Secretary General Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun.Nasair, Saudi Arabia’s low fare airline, has launched a promotion offering customers airfares at the low price of SR279. The "Smart Airline" is offering 50,000 seats at this incredibly low fare and will be available for purchase until Aug. 20. These fares will be available for travel between Sept. 15 and Oct. 20. Nasair has ensured that the promotional fare can be attained across its various sales channels including retail locations, the telephone contact center, travel agencies and online at flynas.com. Turki Al-Jawini, deputy chief commercial officer of nasair, said: “This promotion is a symbol of the commitment we are making to our customers and to our business. We can only continue to grow at the rate that we have by consistently offering smart, safe services at competitive prices, and SR279 is a hard price to beat. We hope that everyone takes advantage of our promotion and enjoys one of our flights.” Launched in the Kingdom in February 2007, nasair has transported more than 5 million passengers and is a pioneering ‘Smart Airline’ thanks to its four core values - Being on time, competitive fares, young fleet and smart services. Serving passengers with 500 weekly flights, the young fleet consists of 15 aircraft and covers 27 destinations both within and outside Saudi Arabia. The fleet is considered the youngest in the region with Airbus A320s and Embraer E190s flying passengers in complete comfort, made even more accessible by the competitive pricing.Etihad Airways has announced the start of flights to Nairobi, its first destination in East Africa. A daily service from Abu Dhabi to Nairobi will begin on April 1 next year, operated by a two class A320 aircraft with 16 Pearl Business class and 120 Coral Economy seats. Nairobi becomes the 72nd destination in Etihad’s global network and the return flights will create a new link between the two capital cities of Kenya and the UAE. “This new route will allow Etihad to tap into large traffic flows between East Africa, North Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent,” the airline’s CEO James Hogan said. “Our strategy is to target areas of strong growth in emerging economies such as North, East and Central Africa and we have a number of other destinations under active consideration. “Nairobi is an ideal addition to Etihad’s global footprint. There are 38,000 Kenyan nationals residing in the UAE and large and established point-to-point traffic flows between the two countries.” In 2010 more than two million tourists visited Kenya, including some 295,000 from the Middle East. This new route will also service the considerable and growing flow of people and capital between Kenya and North Asia, with major Chinese investment in Africa generating passenger demand in both directions. The Kenya Airports Authority’s MD Stephen Gichuki said: “I would like to congratulate the airline on the positive growth of its operations to Nairobi.