The National Commercial Bank (NCB) recently opened a computer lab at the Taif University as part of its AlAhli for Education program, one of the AlAhli social service programs. Dr. Abdulilah Banaja, president of the university said the bank’s support to the education sector was laudable. Mahmoud Al-Turkistani, NCB’s head of community service unit, said that the AlAhli program aimed to spread culture and computer use among individuals through its education program. He added that the bank aimed to enable university students to use computers during their studies in different fields and at various levels. Last year, the bank established three new labs and renovated three old labs at several universities in various regions of the Kingdom. Taif University Vice dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Fareed Filimban hoped that the student community would benefit from this laboratory twenty four hours a day.
U21GLOBAL/MASTERCARD
MasterCard Worldwide and U21Global on Tuesday announced the second year of the MasterCard-U21Global scholarship program for women in travel and tourism. With the success enjoyed by the program last year, it has now been extended to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and South Africa. The program comprises 20 scholarships for the U21Global Executive Diploma of Business Administration and is intended for graduates who want to develop skills in the management and marketing of tourism and travel. The course can articulate into the University of Nottingham’s masters program in tourism and travel management, which has been developed by Christel DeHaan of the Tourism and Travel Research Institute, part of Nottingham University Business School and U21Global. “This will allow more women in travel and tourism to benefit from our curriculum in business,” said Dr. Helen Lange, dean, business management programs, U21Global.
KAM AIR
Kam Air, Afghanistan’s second official carrier, opened its office at Khayyat Commercial Center on Madinah Road, Jeddah, recently. The office was opened by Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif Governor Atta Noor at a ceremony attended by Adham Al-Amoudi, general manager of Al-Rawia International Aviation Support Services Company — which is the general sales agent of the airline, the governor’s accompanying delegation and Al-Rawia staff. Kam Air, the first private airline of Afghanistan founded by Afghan businessman Zimaray Kamgar, started its operations on Aug. 31, 2003, aimed at offering safe air transport for all its passengers and cargo customers. It started the regular flights on April 1 between Kabul and Jeddah, operating twice a week with Boeing 737-800 series. In fact, the airline operated flights during the last Haj, transporting 11,200 pilgrims from Kabul. Al-Rawia is also the GSA for three other private carriers —two Libyan and a Nigerian.
SNAS/DHL
SNAS/DHL, a major express and logistics provider, recently completed construction of a 4,200 cubic meter express and logistics facility in Jubail. The facility, SNAS/DHL’s largest provincial service center in the Kingdom to date, has three functions including a warehouse dedicated to courier services, a warehouse designed for logistics services and an administration and front office area for walk-in customers. “We are looking closely at our clients’ businesses every day to see how we can help make their lives easier. We are consistently investing in our people as well as new facilities and technologies to improve our offerings,” SNAS/DHL Country Manager David Wilson said. The new service center has provided SNAS/DHL with the capacity to immediately add a new courier route in the area, and an additional new route with a vehicle dedicated to heavy weight shipments.
IHG
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), a global hotel company, has announced an aggressive regional development plan that will see almost 7,000 rooms added to the group’s Middle East and Africa portfolio over the next three years. The dramatic increase in capacity will come from the expected opening of at least 30 properties across five of the group’s hotel brands located in 11 countries throughout the region. The multi-brand expansion will make a significant contribution to the group’s global objective to achieve net organic growth of 50,000 to 60,000 hotel rooms by 2008. The regional plan represents not only rapid growth of the hospitality industry across key destinations in the Middle East and Africa, but also significant diversification of travel trends as more established markets mature and confidence grows in emerging tourist destinations and business hubs, said Tom Rowntree, vice president, sales and marketing, MEA.
