Filed under: air travel, airlines news, cheap flights, flights, main, news, perfect flights, travel | Tags: Breaking News, Business, Sydney, Virgins
The ACT’s tourist industry will expand into new markets with Virgin Blue Airlines launching low-cost direct daily flights today from Canberra to Hobart and Townsville.
Already in an intense battle with Qantas on the lucrative Sydney-Canberra business route, Virgin has introduced sale prices of $89 one way for Canberra-Hobart and $169 one way for Canberra-Townsville.
Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey said the Canberra-Townsville flight would benefit Defence equipment suppliers, contractors and Government personnel because of the access to Australia’s largest army base, Lavarack Barracks, as well as Ross Island Barracks and RAAF base Townsville.
Virgin Blue’s general manager, sales, Mathias Friess said the airline was gaining traction in the hotly contested Canberra-Sydney business route, and two new direct flights showed how serious it was about the national capital.
Heavy discounting would help the Australian Government achieve savings on airline travel among government agencies, without having to cut back on public servants’ flights.
Two years ago Virgin opened a new business lounge at Canberra Airport, introduced Embraer jets and received a boost when the Government increased from 10 per cent to 25 per cent the target for public servants using smaller aircraft instead of Qantas. That target has not yet been reached.
Virgin is calling for a clearer definition of ”best fare of the day”, the criterion for booking official travel.
Qantas has added more flights on the route to offer a more flexible schedule, but Mr Friess said Virgin’s lower price should be a key component of the best fare criteria, even if flights were not as frequent during the day.
Filed under: air travel, airlines news, cheap flights, flights, main, news, perfect flights, travel | Tags: Abu Dhabi, Business, Pakistan
Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has started its flights from Rahim Yar Khan to Abu Dubai.
According to a notification issued here on Sunday, the first airline’s flight PK 295 carrying 88 passengers left Shaikh Zaid International Airport, Rahim Yar Khan last night at 21.15 hours. 
Passengers of the said flight were seen off by Chaudhry Jawed Warriach, Member National Assembly, Deputy General Marketing PIA, Umar Hayat Khan, Naveed Hassan, Regional Manager, PIA, District Sales Manager PIA, Rahim Yar Khan, Shahid Noon, Station Manager PIA and other senior officials of the airline.
PIA is now operating once a week flight for the sector Rahim Yar Khan-Abu Dhabi-Rahim Yar Khan.
The airline’s new flight operation for the said sector has been introduced to provide further convenience to the public of South Punjab.
PIA is operating 14 flights a week from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi. Four flights a week on Lahore-Abu Dhabi sector, Four flights a week on Islamabad-Abu Dhabi, Four flights a week onfrom Peshawar to Abdu Dhabi, a weekly flights on Sialkot-Abu Dhabi sector and once a week flight from Faisalabad to Abu Dhabi.
Filed under: air travel, airlines news, cheap flights, flights, main, news, perfect flights, travel | Tags: Breaking News, Business, canada
In a first for Canadian airlines, Air Canada customers can now start watching movies and enjoy other on-board entertainment from the moment they take their seats on the aircraft up to the time they disembark.
“Now, with the approval of the Canadian government, we can begin safely offering this amenity before and during take-off and while landing so that our customers can enjoy the greatest shows on earth, and not just in the skies,” said Louise McKenven, Senior Director Product Design – Marketing, at Air Canada. “The increased availability of our in-flight entertainment will make flying even more fun and pleasurable for our customers, not least by reducing the likelihood they will be left hanging by having the flight end before their program is over.”
The expanded service takes this month and coincides with a stellar new monthly movie line-up. A parade of Oscar winners will make their in-flight debut aboard Air Canada, including Slumdog Millionaire, named best picture at the 2009 Academy Awards, as well as The Reader, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, and The Class.
Movie buffs who have already seen these films can choose from a wide range of other movies or hundreds of hours of TV programming, including the HBO hits Big Love, Entourage and True Blood. There is also digital audio entertainment offering more than 100 CDs, including Bruce Springsteen’s new album, Working on a Dream.
For passenger safety, some restrictions apply. Customers will be able to use Air Canada’s in-flight entertainment system to watch movies, television shows or listen to music immediately upon boarding. However, under safety protocols approved by Transport Canada, passengers will be required to use only “ear bud” type headsets. As well, in order that programs can be interrupted for safety messages and other information, use of personal entertainment devices, such as ipods, will only be allowed once the aircraft is in-flight and the captain has granted permission.
Air Canada provides all customers with a personal entertainment system at each seat back on board all its aircraft. The digital quality audio and video on-demand system offers a choice of films, TV shows and CDs totalling over 300 hundred hours of entertainment.
Filed under: air travel, airlines news, cheap flights, flights, main, news, travel | Tags: Business, Doha, Houston, Qatar
Qatar Airways landed the first flight on its new route from Doha, Qatar, to Houston this week — an event that was almost two years in the making.
The airline’s CEO, Akbar Al Baker, was on the inaugural 18-hour flight, but instead of sitting back and enjoying his company’s latest achievement, Al Baker told a group of dinner guests later that night that he spent the entire flight pacing up and down the airplane’s aisles making sure everything was in order.
To hear him talk about the issues on his plate, it’s no surprise that Al Baker would rather tend to business than get some shut-eye.
Al Baker became Qatar Airways’ CEO in 1997, about three years after the airline first received the highest five-star ranking from SkyTrax, an independent airline industry audit. Qatar Airways has since grown from a four-aircraft regional airline to operating a fleet of 68 aircraft that flies to more than 80 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, the Far East and North America.
Al Baker is also leading development of the multibillion-dollar Doha International Airport, scheduled to open in 2012.
When he isn’t running Qatar Airways, he enjoys speed-flying Seneca airplanes and driving his Ferrari 430.
Al Baker spoke with the Houston Business Journal about the next steps for his airline, and where he believes the industry is headed.
HBJ: You already fly to more than six major areas. When looking at some of the underserved areas, where do you see potential?
AL BAKER: We see a strong underserved market in Africa. The problem there is security and infrastructure. If those two things could be overcome, there would be a lot of potential. There is a small group of very rich people and a small group of middle class that have no access to places like Europe. Flights on British Airways, Virgin, Air France and KLM are all full. And, the highest revenue source from excess baggage is from Africa. Sometimes that can be three or four times the value of the ticket. There is a lot of opportunity in Europe as well, because access from our region is still a problem. For example, we are the only carrier from the Middle East flying into Sweden. There is also a potential market in Australia. I’ve wanted (Qatar Airways) to go to Australia for four years now, but have had to wait for the right types of aircraft to be available. We plan to operate flights to both Sydney and Melbourne. There is a lot of demand for Australia, but it is from backpackers from France and the United Kingdom. We don’t want that type of business. We are going to go to Australia on 777-200s with only 258 seats. We will also be able to connect to other flights in that region.
HBJ: With many countries battling a recession, are you concerned about the decline in travel?
AL BAKER: No, because already our Houston flight’s forward bookings are good. We have several companies there interested in flying with us. Our model is to get into new destinations not served by other airlines, so we see opportunity. But, before, people were planning flights ahead of time, and now are waiting until the last minute to see if they can get a bargain. We are very careful about how we are doing it. We are still growing, though, We won’t see 35 percent, but we might see 20 percent or 22 percent this year. 2009 is going to be a difficult year for the travel industry. There will be some casualties — I see already three airlines that won’t make it. But that is good for me because it will reduce capacity. There’s a joke that says if you want to make a billionaire a millionaire, own an airline. It’s a very expensive business. Fortunately his highness (Qatar Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, who is also chairman of Qatar Airways) has a strong vision about this, and that is why he took over the airline.
HBJ: Do you consider other airlines to be your competition?
AL BAKER: I don’t believe in being someone’s competition because if we can both benefit, then it is not competition. We are rather partners in competition. We partner with Emirates. We code share with airlines like Lufthansa and United Airlines. In terms of market share, others are stealing it from us. We haven’t stolen from anyone when there are so many places such as Eastern Europe that are untapped from our region. The problem is that most flights have to stop in places like Paris, Munich, Germany or London. The more places you have to stop, the less people want to take the flight.
HBJ: What’s next for Qatar Airways?
AL BAKER: We plan to expand to the West Coast of America. We have already started looking at Los Angeles. We are also going to take out the lounges in our planes and put something else there that we have in mind. We’re working on gas-to-liquids. We are doing research with Shell, Rolls-Royce and Airbus on using gas-to-liquids on flights. Rolls-Royce is advancing in the technology. We plan to use a mix of kerosene and gas. It will have less emissions, and with the same volume, the plane will be able to go farther. Once we get the technology done, Qatar will be the largest producer of gas-to-liquids. For Shell, this is the largest foreign investment. Qatargas is also building a production facility.
Filed under: air travel, airlines news, cheap flights, flights, main, news, perfect flights, travel | Tags: Business, Technology
It’s difficult avoiding the thought of the term “slippery slope” when pondering a recent decision by American Airlines.
The air carrier, subsidiary American Eagle serves Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport with eight flights daily, is going to expand its on-board Internet access to passengers.
AMR, the carrier’s parent company, will install Wi Fi “hot spots” on 300 planes serving the contintental United States. It plans to charge $12.95 to browse the Web. The idea is to generate revenue for the carrier that, along with many other airline companies, has been struggling in this down economy.
AMR isn’t alone in this effort. Delta, which used to serve AMA, is heading down this path as well.
Why is this cause for any potential concern?
No one in the airline business is saying it too loudly, but the airlines have been whispering about the possibility of allowing passengers to talk on their cell phones while they are in flight.
So far, American says it won’t allow what’s called “voice-over Internet phone service.”
That would keep in-flight chatter to a minimum.
The flying public probably can live with that restriction.
The word from many observers, though, is that the airlines need to proceed very carefully if they intend to expand this Internet service even further, loosening the restrictions that currently prohibit cell phone use while planeloads of passengers are penned in at 35,000 feet above the ground.
