BAHRAIN: Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the region’s largest network carrier, has announced the launching of service to Aden, the commercial capital of Yemen. Aden’s senior civil aviation authorities, airport officials and the media received gulf Air Deputy Chief Executive Officer Maher Al Musallam, who traveled on the inaugural flight to Aden. Addressing the gathering on arrival at Aden International Airport, Al Musallam said, “Bahrain’s links with Yemen have been historical as both were prominent seafaring countries for decades. Gulf Air has been linking Yemen for nearly 35 years since we started our services to the capital Sana’a in 1976. This has been further strengthened now as we add Aden to our growing network of destinations.” “By launching our service to Aden we are not only enabling the people and businesses of Aden and Bahrain, but we are also developing a huge business opportunity between these two countries and beyond. We have scheduled the flight timings in such a way that it provides a convenient two-way connectivity to all the major GCC cities in addition to major cities in the Indian sub-continent via Bahrain.”
RIYADH: In commemoration of its third year of service to Egypt, nasair organized a ceremony in Cairo attended by top airline industry figures, travel agencies and dignitary from various sectors in Egypt. nasair’s Chief Commercial Officer Maria Hanne and Sales General Manager Turki Al Jawini, and Gamal Khalel, chairman of world aviation services, nasair’s general sales agent in Egypt, and Vice Chairman Talaat Zekri hosted the ceremony. Maria said nasair, a subsidiary of the Saudi National Air Services based in Riyadh, was serving its customers in Egypt through 31 flights weekly from Alexandria, Assiut and Sharm El Sheikh to Riyadh and Jeddah. She added that nasair, the first low cost carrier to fly in the Kingdom that started its domestic flights on Feb. 25, 2007, began operations from and to Alexandria since 2008 with only seven flights to Riyadh and Jeddah. “We are also proud that nasair has its own plan to carry Haj and Umrah pilgrims from and to Egypt. Also, Cargo services are a new area in which we have all the capability to provide service, together with our partner Leisure Cargo,” she added. nasair has its advanced fleet, which now includes 12 modern aircraft.
JEDDAH: The Deutsche Lufthansa AG has approved the order of 48 new aircraft for the group. Of these, eight Airbus A330-300 equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent700 engines will be deployed on long-haul routes and the remaining 40 aircraft in continental traffic. The planned order includes three Airbus A330-300 and 20 Airbus of the A320-family for Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, as well as eight new Embraer 195 aircraft for Lufthansa Regional. In addition, the order includes five Airbus A330-300, two Airbus A321 and two Airbus A320 for SWISS, as well as eight new Airbus A319 for Germanwings. The new, highly modern and fuel-efficient aircraft will be delivered to the Group successively from 2012. The order has a list value of about 3.5 billion euros. “Investments in new aircraft strengthen the competitiveness of the airlines in the group, and a modern fleet increases fuel efficiency and reduces operating costs, noise pollution and CO2 emissions. It will allow us to preserve the necessary freedoms to always react to fluctuations in demand and changes in the market with the necessary flexibility,” said Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber.
DUBAI: A recent study shows that 48.7 percent of hotel rooms in the regional construction pipeline are in the ‘luxury’ and ‘upper upscale’ sectors. Upper upscale rooms command room rates in the top 15 percent price bracket. The study by STR Global also reports that a total of 940 new hotels will open in the MENA region by the end of 2012, compared to just 678 in Europe. Due to the high percentage of upscale hotel developments in the Middle East construction pipeline, over the last five years, the upcoming Hotel Show in Dubai has witnessed a steady increase in the number of high-end and luxury participants, as their more traditional upscale markets begin to stagnate. “When you consider that the Euro zone including the UK has a population of well over 385 million, the figures for MENA certainly stack up favorably,” says Frederique Maurell, director of The Hotel Show. “While luxury rates have been subject to downward pressure for the last two years or more, it is difficult to justify any significant investment in luxury properties. By contrast the Middle East’s luxury market is clearly thriving, providing potential business for high-end suppliers,” added Maurell.
