Gulf Air, the national Carrier of Bahrain, Oman and Abu Dhabi passed the 6 million passenger barrier for the year 2003, making it the highest ever number of passengers carried in the 53 year history of the airline. The airline is the official carrier and sponsor of the first ever Formula One grand prix to be held in Bahrain in April 2004. The world’s first sky nanny who will take care of any kids onboard and the innovative idea of the “the sky chef” - who will unfold his culinary skills in the sky to the taste of the discerning customer - have recently been introduced by the airline on some routes. In Saudi Arabia the airline has shown steady growth in all three territories of Saudi Arabia; Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam. Hamza Mohammed Al-Sharif has been appointed general manager for Saudi Arabia by the airline. Hamza also holds the vice-chairman office of the airline’s board of representatives and the Yield Improvement Committee for Saudi Arabia. Hamza, who has been with Gulf Air for the past 29 years, is being posted in Saudi Arabia for the fourth time. His first appointment was in 1974 at Dhahran Airport. He initiated the opening of the Jeddah station in 1977. Hamza’s leadership has earned him the best station award in Kuwait, Pakistan, Dhahran and Abu Dhabi. He attributes his success to his team, which includes K. Prasad in Dammam, Nasir Khan in Riyadh, and S. Shihabuddin and T.P. Ahmed in Jeddah, among others. The airline is planning to reorganize its setup in the Kingdom to include administration, marketing and finance managers for Saudi Arabia, all based in Jeddah.
Medical Solutions
Medical Solutions, a division of Siemens Ltd., has won a major contract to install the state-of-the-art oncology center for Saad Specialist Hospital in the Eastern province. The award agreement was recently signed here by Sheikh Maan Al-Sanea, Saad Hospital chairman, and Erich Kaeser, CEO Siemens Ltd. in Saudi Arabia, in the presence of the German Ambassador, Dr. Gerhard Enver-Schroembgens. Under the agreement, Medical Solutions will construct the oncology center for Saad Hospital, which will become a major reference center for oncology treatment in the Middle East. Siemens in Saudi Arabia is a joint venture between E.A Juffali & Brothers and Siemens AG. “Balancing the required improvements in patient care and necessary limits on healthcare costs is becoming more difficult for our customers. Our comprehensive solutions increase efficiency in patient care, hospital management, and medical resources. We are the only complete provider of clinical equipment, IT and work process optimization in healthcare - and that brings our customers unique advantages.” said Erich Kaeser.
Philips
Philips announced that is has recorded double- and triple-digit sales growth across its consumer electronics product lines in the United Arab Emirates. The highest growth in sales between 2002 and 2003 was recorded in Plasma televisions, which registered a whopping 260 percent increase. Home theater-in-a-box sales grew by 185 percent year on year, while projection TV sales were up 76 percent. DVD sales grew by nearly as much, recording a 71 percent jump in sales from the previous year, and DVD recorder sales climbed 38 percent. The 29- and 34-inch up-market TVs grew by a full 26 percent. “These are very strong sales figures that are the result of excellent efforts by our UAE sales team which endeavored to help make things better for our customers by offering them the full range of Philips consumer electronics products, representing the latest in entertainment technology,” said Khalid Tuer, regional general manager, Philips Consumer Electronics MEA. “We celebrated this success with a quad-biking excursion to Hatta Dunes for the sales team. We are excited about what we achieved last year and look forward to another successful year in 2004. The exciting offers now available for the Dubai Shopping Festival are sure to give us a great start to the year,” he added.
‘cashU’ Cards
Gaining new ground in e-commerce transactions in the Arab world, cashU Cards, the region’s leading and most trusted online payment service, has announced that its family of e-commerce users had expanded to more than 200 merchants and 10,000 users, generating transaction volumes of over $1 million in the first year of operation. Already some of the biggest and emerging online destinations in the Arab Internet world and beyond, representing a diverse range of interests, are using cashU Cards as their preferred mode of online payment, highlighting the region’s increasing prominence in this focused Internet segment, a top cashU Card official pointed out. “With a membership base growing by an encouraging 1000 subscribers and 40 merchants per month, we can confidently say that cashU Card has reinvented online transactions in this region where traditional transactions could only target a limited market,” explained Rami Araj, distribution manager for cashU Card.com.
Danya
Danya, a leading Saudi dairy and beverage company, has just formally announced the winners of its Power Cow National School Environmental Art Competition. Aimed at increasing environmental awareness and involvement amongst today’s Saudi youth, this is a joint initiative that has been supported by various local and international organizations including Tetra Pak Saudi Arabia, KAKO - the official canteen contractors to schools - and RAED (Arab Network for Environment & Development). Distributed by KAKO through its school canteen network throughout the Kingdom, the key elements of the program included a series of posters, leaflets and stickers that invited young boys and girls of various ages to prepare their own creative impressions on the various environmental issues facing the people and country of Saudi Arabia. “The response was very impressive - as was the high level of originality and understanding that has been put forward by the children,” confirmed Torben Nielsen, business unit manager at Danya.
