Qatar Airways Introduces New Fare Structure For Passengers Buying Tickets In Qatar

Doha, QATAR - Qatar Airways has unveiled a new fare structure giving passengers who buy tickets in Qatar with more choice, greater flexibility and excellent value for money.

Effective November 1 when the new ex-Doha fares go on sale, customers will be able to take advantage of a wider range of easy to understand fares that let the customer choose according to what they value - price, schedules or flexibility.

They are also designed to help customers better plan their travel arrangements and avoid the disappointment of trying to book during busy travel periods.

The three-tier structure is broken down into new Flexi-Value, Standard Value and Super Value fares for passengers travelling on business or leisure.

From Flexi-Value full flexibility fares allowing passengers to change their date of travel or obtain a refund without charge, to Super Value advance purchase fares where tickets are bought well ahead of the travel date, the new structure promises to appeal to a wider customer base.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the revamped fare structure was much-needed to give customers more choice and flexibility, but more importantly, greater value for money.

"In today's highly competitive aviation industry, passengers are more demanding and airlines are becoming more responsive to their needs," he said.

"Apart from product innovation, high service levels and having a modern, reliable fleet of aircraft which are the cornerstone of Qatar Airways' drive forward as one of the best airlines in the skies today, we cannot afford to ignore our fare structure.

"Qatar Airways has developed a new fare structure which we believe offers great value, is easy to understand for the consumer and meets the needs of all our customer segments, whether they travel on business, leisure or in groups."

The new fares will be available through Qatar Airways' ticket offices, travel agents and on our website - www.qatarairways.com - the fastest way to book your flights.

Members of Qatar Airways - award-winning Privilege Club loyalty programme, who book the new fares online at www.qatarairways.com between 1 November 2007 and 31 December 2007, will earn a bonus of 1,000 Qmiles.

Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 58 all-Airbus aircraft to 79 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Far East, Indian subcontinent and North America. The highlight of Qatar Airways' 2007 expansion has been the launch of flights to New York (Newark) and Washington DC - the airline's first move into the North American market.

Emirates Launches Ahmedabad and Toronto services

DUBAI, U.A.E., 29th October 2007 - Emirates Airline today launched two new non-stop services: a six-a-week service to Ahmedabad, India, and a thrice-weekly service to Toronto, Canada – marking a simultaneous expansion of its global route network eastwards and westwards from Dubai.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, travelled on the inaugural flight to Toronto, together with VIP guests HE Sara Hradecky, Canadian Ambassador in the UAE; and HE Hassan Al Suwaidi, UAE Ambassador in Canada.

Sheikh Ahmed also leads a delegation of senior Emirates executives to Toronto, comprising: Ghaith Al Ghaith, Executive Vice President Commercial Operations Worldwide; Ali Mubarak Al Soori, Divisional Senior Vice President Chairman's Office, Facilities, Projects Management and Procurement and Logistics (Non-Airline); Mike Simon, Divisional Senior Vice President Corporate Communications; and Peter Sedgeley, Senior Vice President Cargo Commercial Operations.

Representing Emirates on the airline's first flight to Ahmedabad were: Nabil Sultan, Senior Vice President Commercial Operations - Gulf Middle East and Iran; and Salem Obaidalla Vice President Commercial Operations - West Asia and Indian Ocean.

The Dubai-Toronto service heralds Emirates’ second destination in North America after New York; while the Ahmedabad service represents Emirates’ ninth gateway in India, strengthening the airline’s connections between Dubai and the subcontinent.

Sheikh Ahmed said: “Emirates is delighted to launch the keenly-anticipated flights to Ahmedabad and Toronto today, bringing to fruition many months of work preparing for the start of services to both cities. We are glad to be able to grow our route network, thus expanding the number of travel options available to our customers around the world.

“We are confident that both new Emirates services will be well-received by our customers, and we hope that the two new air connections forged today will be the harbinger of even closer ties for Dubai with Canada and India in the coming years.”

On its Dubai-Toronto route, Emirates will operate its long-haul Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, offering 12 First Class, 42 Business Class and 304 Economy Class seats, with on-demand personal entertainment in all classes.

To Ahmedabad, Emirates will operate a three-class configured Airbus A330-200 offering 12 First, 42 Business and 183 Economy Class seats, and its Boeing 777-200 in a two-class configuration, offering 42 Business and 304 Economy Class seats. Both offer industry-leading comforts including ergonomically designed seats, and personal entertainment systems in all classes.

With the launch of flights to Ahmedabad and Toronto, Emirates Airline now serves 87 passenger destinations across six continents. Its global route network currently spans 97 cities in 61 countries including cargo-only destinations. This year, Emirates has introduced passenger services to Venice, Newcastle and Sao Paulo, and it will soon start services to Houston in December.

DUBAI, U.A.E., 28th October 2007 – Starting today, Emirates, one of the fastest-growing international carriers will introduce an additional daily flight to Mumbai, offering passengers a second morning departure to India’s commercial hub and boosting the weekly service to 28 flights per week.

The Dubai-based airline has been steadily building up its presence in India owing to escalating demand for air travel triggered by the country’s burgeoning economy. Earlier this year, Emirates enhanced its existing 19-flights-per-week Mumbai service with the launch of two additional frequencies, taking the weekly total to 21 flights.

The airline also commenced a double-daily service to Chennai, and added three additional flights each to Cochin and Hyderabad.

Emirates flight EK 506, an Airbus A330 aircraft offering 12 First, 42 Business and 183 Economy class seats, and 17 tonnes of cargo capacity per week per direction, will depart Dubai at 09:30 hours every day of the week, touching down at Mumbai at 13:45 hours.

Return flight EK 507 will take off from Mumbai at 15:15 hours and arrive in Dubai at 17:00 hours.

The fourth daily service expands the current morning, afternoon and late night departures from Dubai to Mumbai.

Salem Obaidalla, Emirates Vice President, Commercial Operations West Asia & Indian Ocean said: “The growth of Emirates services to and from Mumbai has been market-driven. At every stage the increases we have introduced have been matched by higher and higher passenger levels and we are delighted to now offer our customers the convenience of this additional frequency.”

“The fourth daily flight will improve connectivity between the two commerce and trade hubs, and provide travellers with more flexible options. I am confident the new service will receive a rousing welcome from our passengers and travel trade partners.”

Emirates currently operates 92 flights per week to eight Indian gateways – Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata and Bangalore. The airline will strengthen its Indian footprint with the launch of six flights per week to Ahmedabad, effective 29th October.

Air France Strike Continues After Weekend Of Chaos

Cabin crew members at Air France said they would continue with a strike that brought misery to thousands of travelers at Paris airports over the weekend.

The company said it expected "major costs" as a result of the dispute.

"The cost is very important," Air France Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told French TV station LCI. He added there were no precise estimates at the moment for what the financial cost might be.

A joint statement by various trade unions representing more than 60 percent of Air France flight attendants said the strike would go on until midnight, local time, on October 29.

The strike began on October 25. The dispute centers on renegotiating a framework agreement on salaries and working conditions that is due to expire at the end of 2007.

The situation became serious enough for the French government to intervene over the weekend.

Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau issued a statement demanding a speedy resolution to the affair and Bussereau himself went to Paris Orly Airport on Sunday to assess the situation.

"I have come to see how the passengers are getting on," he told TV reporters at the airport.

The strike has affected between 30 and 40 percent of flights, causing major disruption at airports with many French families due to leave for school half-term holidays.

Talks between management and trade union members broke down over the weekend. Air France reiterated it was open to further negotiations and the airline has warned that the strike could have an adverse financial impact on the company.

Air France said it operated around 65 percent of flights on Saturday. It expected to operate more than 60 percent of flights on Sunday and at least 70 percent of flights on Monday.

It said it had run 71 percent of flights on Sunday morning.

Air France is part of the Air France KLM group, the world's largest airline by revenue. The French state holds around 18 percent of the Air France KLM share capital.

SAS Counts Cost Of Dash 8 Cancellations

Scandinavian airline SAS said on Monday a decision to stop operating its Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop planes would cost it SEK300 million to SEK400 million Swedish kronor (USD$47 million to USD$62 million) over the remainder of the year.

SAS cancelled more than 60 flights on Monday after a third plane from its fleet of Dash 8 Q400s crash-landed over the weekend following two similar incidents in September.

"An early estimate of the negative impact on the SAS Group's result is 300-400 million kronor for the remaining part of the year," the airline said in a statement.

The airline said it would permanently stop using its fleet of 27 Dash 8 Q400s after Saturday's crash-landing in Copenhagen.

No one was seriously injured in any of the three incidents, which all involved problems with landing gear.

The airline has already said it would seek compensation totaling about SEK500 million kronor (USD$78 million) from Bombardier relating to cancellations after the first two Dash 8 incidents, one in Denmark and one in Lithuania, which led to hundreds of flights being cancelled.

A spokesman for the airline, half of which is owned by Sweden, Norway and Denmark, said a total number of flights "in the 50s" from Denmark had been cancelled on Monday, plus nine from Norway.

An SAS statement said eight flights from Sweden had been cancelled.

AIRPORT NEWS

Taiwanese ‘air city’

An ambitious project to upgrade Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport into an ‘air city’ will make Taiwan a more competitive and attractive transport hub and business destination, supporters of the proposal said yesterday.
Speaking at a news conference in the Legislative Yuan, Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun Chu said that the 30-year-old airport – formerly known as the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport – needs to sharpen its competitiveness as its ranking has dropped to 85th place among the world’s airports.
The airport must be made into a legally and professionally incorporated compound comprising a multinational business operations hub, free-trade zone, warehousing and distribution facilities, exhibition centres, tourism hotels, shopping malls and high-tech science park. The development will help stop the airport being shunted aside and again become globally competitive, Chu said.
Chu said he has crafted a program to create a ‘Taoyuan Aviation Park’, to be located in a 6,150-hectare plot of land adjacent to the airport that could house eight different areas and estimated that the Taoyuan Air City project would attract US$37 billion in investment, create 80,000 jobs and eventually pull in revenues of US$ 20 billion a year.
To date, 113 legislators, half of the total number of lawmakers, have endorsed the bill, which was referred to the Legislative Yuan on Friday afternoon for screening.

First flight for Tibet airport

The first civilian flight by an Air China’s Airbus A319 to Kangding Airport in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Sichuan province, on Sunday ends the lack of civilian flights in Ganzi.
With an altitude of 4,290m, this Kangding Airport is the second highest airport in the world – the highest is Qamdo Bangda Airport, 4,300m above sea level. Due to its rough terrain and high altitudes, the western region of Sichuan was notorious for being difficult to access in ancient times. Li Bai, a famed poet from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), wrote that travelling in Shu State (present day Sichuan) was more difficult than going to heaven.
The construction of Kangding airport started in September 2006 with a total investment of US$133 million. The runway will be 4,000m long and able to land Boeing 737 and Airbus A319 series aircraft. The airport is designed to handle 330,000 passengers and 1,980 tonnes of cargo annually.
The airport is 38km from the Kangding city, which is seven hours’ drive from Chengdu city. After completion in May 2008, the travel time from Kangding to Chengdu will be cut to one hour. It will surely boom the tourist industry in the Ganzi area, which is famous for its wonderful natural scenery and attract more tourists from south-east Asia, Europe and the USA.

Tourism award for Belfast International

Belfast International Airport has been honoured with a top tourism award. The airport won the Special Achievement Award at the 2007 Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards due in part to its rapid growth.
More than 40 direct flights now go from the airport to both North America and Europe, and Aer Lingus recently announced that it would develop a base at the airport, introducing a further nine routes.
John Doran, who is the managing director at Belfast International, said of the award: “Belfast International Airport provides passengers with the destinations they want to go to, when they want to go, all directly from their local airport.”

Gulf Air gets new Boeing 737-800

Gulf Air’s flight operations have received a further boost with the introduction of a new narrow-body aircraft to the airline’s fleet. “The Boeing 737-800, which joined the airline’s fleet, will enhance our capacity to meet our winter needs,” says Gulf Air Board Chairman Mahmood Al Kooheji.

“We want Gulf Air to be the airline of choice and this addition will further boost the operational efficiency of Bahrain’s flag carrier,” says Mr. Al Kooheji, adding that another Boeing 737-800 will join the fleet next month.

“As expected, our newly revamped network is already reaping its benefits and these new aircraft will further complement Gulf Air’s hub and spoke operations from Bahrain.”