Turkish Airlines Now Offers Daily Non-stop Flights between Los Angeles and Istanbul

Turkish Airlines General Manager Western USA, Fatma Yuceler, Los Angeles World Airports executives, and Turkish Consul General Aydın Topcu along with VIP guests, members of the media and departing passengers gathered at Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Wednesday to celebrate the launch of Turkish Airlines' daily flights between Los Angeles and Istanbul. The celebration also marked the one year anniversary of the airlines' service launch to LAX and its continued global expansion.

"I am very proud that Turkish Airlines chose LAX as its U.S. West Coast gateway last year and now is expanding to daily service," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa. "The non-stop route between LAX and Istanbul has strengthened business, tourism and cultural ties with one of the most desirable cities in Eurasia, while contributing substantially to the economy of Southern California."

LAX attracts and supports economic activity throughout Southern California. An estimated 158,000 jobs in the city of Los Angeles can be directly attributed to LAX and one in 20 jobs in Southern California is created as a result of LAX operations. To contribute to this economic impact throughout the region, Turkish Airlines inaugurated service from Los Angeles last year with nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Istanbul four times per week. On March 26, 2012, Turkish Airlines began offering daily flights between Los Angeles and Istanbul, providing convenient flights to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

"We congratulate Turkish Airlines on its one-year anniversary at LAX. The airlines' transoceanic non-stop service is a prime example of the type of quality air service we want to attract to LAX as we continue our $4.1-billion LAneXt™ modernization program," said Stephen Martin, LAWA chief operating officer. "We appreciate the airline's confidence in us as we undertake construction of the New Tom Bradley International Terminal that will add 1.2 million square feet of space -- more than doubling the current size of this terminal. We are scheduled to open several of the 18 new gates and 150,000 square feet of premium retail, dining and other passenger amenities for travelers Spring 2013."

In addition to Los Angeles, Turkish Airlines increased non-stop Trans-Atlantic flights to Istanbul from New York and Washington, DC - offering more frequent and convenient departures for business and leisure travelers.

"Offering daily flights will give more options for passengers to Turkey and beyond with our wide range of global destinations," said Turkish Airlines General Manager Western USA Fatma Yuceler. "Our goal is to quickly address the growing demand for more flights, and at the same time, continue to provide the high level of service and comfort that our passengers have come to expect from us, with traditional Turkish hospitality."

"It is wonderful to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Turkish Airlines flying from Los Angeles to Istanbul and the launch of daily non-stop flights," said Global Brand Ambassador Kobe Bryant. "Turkey is such an exotic destination with rich culture and breathtaking scenery and I am thrilled that it will now be more accessible from Los Angeles."

Emirates Airline will Launch inflights Graphical User Interface

In line with its ongoing inflight product improvements, Emirates airline announces the launch of a new, enhanced, Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed by Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic). This new GUI will make accessing Emirates' award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice Digital Widescreen, simpler to use – information, communication and entertainment – all at the passenger's fingertips.

The new interface will be introduced within two weeks across Emirates' A380 fleet and subsequently over the next year across the majority of Emirates' Boeing 777 aircraft. It will be available in all classes of service, an Emirates standard. As the world's largest operator of the A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft, Emirates will upgrade all aircraft equipped with the Panasonic eX2 platform; designed and produced with (Panasonic), the world leader in state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment and communication (IFEC) systems.

"Emirates has been tracking the commercial progress of GUIs, where an ever-expanding array of choices are available to consumers, and we wanted to bring the same experience, look, and feel available on smart phones and tablets to our loyal customers in an aircraft environment," said Tim Clark, President Emirates airline.

Always at the forefront of inflight innovation, Emirates will roll-out a number of additional inflight product enhancements across the next few months as part of a multi-million dollar investment in on board technology. Larger video screens, in all classes, will come into operation from May on new Boeing 777 aircraft, in addition to future Airbus A380 deliveries. An enhanced in-seat telephone handset and new Mode Controller in First Class and Business Class will also be introduced, ensuring a more seamless customer experience.

The new GUI is unique to Emirates airline and includes a wide range of advanced capabilities that enhances the distinctiveness and elegance of Emirates' inflight system, ice Digital Widescreen. The new ice experience includes the capability for passengers to discover the full entertainment system by "swiping" or "scrolling" through the vast library of media and entertainment that is available on Emirates, send SMS and email messages, explore the moving map system, Airshow, watch the in-flight landscape cameras, and access live text news from the BBC.

Since Emirates first introduced individual seatback video screens in 1992, it has invested millions of dollars in further on board product enhancements, from the latest IFE technology, to an ever increasing choice of entertainment content from around the world.

Emirates is also committed to keeping its passengers the most connected in the sky. Every seat on all Emirates aircraft is already equipped with a seat back telephone and sms/email service and 90 aircraft feature the Aero Mobile system, allowing passengers to use their own mobile phones inflight.

In another investment in the Emirates experience, Wi-Fi connectivity for passengers was introduced to the A380 fleet in December 2011 and is now available on 18 aircraft. All remaining Emirates A380s are due to have Wi-Fi installed this year and from July of 2012 all new A380s will be delivered to Emirates with full Wi-Fi, mobile phone and data services available, allowing the Emirates passenger to be in touch like never before.

Emirates proposes more Heathrow flights

Emirates bosses are hopeful that a radical plan involving steep landing descents will allow the airline to operate more flights in and out of London's Heathrow airport, reports the Financial Times.

The Gulf carrier says it can cut noise levels on its A380 fleet by flying the big airliners into Heathrow on steeper descents and landing them part way down the tarmac to reduce the volume for nearby homes.

Aircraft are currently banned from take-off and landing at Heathrow between midnight and 6am, but Emirates hope to reduce the curfew to between 1am and 4am.

"If you can demonstrate the noise profile is much quieter, why not look at that as a means of growing capacity," Emirates president Tim Clark told the Financial Times.

He insists the plan - which would allow the jumbos to land 1km along the 4km runway - is safe, although admits it needs further development.

The British government has committed to maintaining the Heathrow curfew until 2014 while the Transport Department will later this year start to consider future operating hours.

Air France-KLM March Traffic, Capacity Rise - Update

Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM reported Tuesday increases in passenger traffic, capacity and load factor for the month of March and its first quarter. The company saw favorable comparisons in March, absent events such as the Japanese tsunami and the political crisis in Ivory Coast that hit last year's traffic.

Passenger traffic for the month grew 6.8 percent 18.34 billion revenue pax-kilometers or RPKs from 17.17 billion RPKs in the previous year. The company said it has restated passenger data to include the passenger business of Martinair.

Capacity, measured in available seat-kilometers or ASKs, improved 1.8 percent to 22.22 billion ASKs. Unit revenue per available seat kilometer ex-currency improved in a context of a sharp rise in the fuel price, the company stated.

Load factor for the month increased 3.8 points to 82.5 percent from 78.7 percent a year ago. The number of passengers carried stood at 6.37 million, up 6.3 percent from last year.

The European network traffic, including France, improved 7.2 percent and capacity was up 2.7 percent. Load factor increased 3 points and stood at 71.9 percent.

On the Americas network, capacity increased 2.5 percent and traffic rose 9.7 percent. Load factor increased 5.8 points to 88.2 percent.

Meanwhile, cargo traffic for the month declined 3.4 percent to 995 revenue tonne-km and load factor dropped 2 points to 69.2 percent. Capacity edged down 0.6 percent to 1,438 available tonne-km.

For the first quarter, passenger traffic grew 5.5 percent to 51.73 billion RPKs and capacity increased 1.6 percent to 63.39 billion ASKs. The number of passengers grew 5.6 percent to 17.46 million and load factor improved 3.1 points to 81.6 percent.

In Paris, Air France-KLM shares are currently trading at 3.92 euros, down 0.08 percent.

Kenya Airways to start direct flights to New Delhi

Kenya Airways has announced its commencement of flights to New Delhi the Indian Capital city, starting May 15, 2012. The much anticipated service marks Kenya Airways' 57th global destination and second in India. The launch of this new route highlights KQ's efforts to provide seamless travel and accessibility to travellers from Africa to Indian subcontinent and vice versa.

Kenya Airways flights to New Delhi will be four times a week on a Boeing 767-300. The new route highlights Kenya Airways ambitious growth plans to expand its network as part of its 10-year growth strategy. "New Delhi is the second city after Mumbai that we will be flying to India, we intend to open four more destinations in the subcontinent as part of our 10-year expansion strategy," said Dr Titus Naikuni, Kenya Airways Group Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer.

Kenya Airways remains the fastest growing airline in the continent and is pursuing a network expansion strategy that targets to link all African countries with the world, making it the airline of choice for travellers in the continent. India has been aggressively promoting trade with Africa as it seeks to gain access to the continent's emerging markets.

The new route to Delhi seeks to expand and promote the bilateral and commercial relations between India and the African region. Kenya Airways, a Sky Team Member, operates 3 flights a week from Muscat to Nairobi and offers excellent Holiday Safari packages to Kenya.

Ethiopian Airlines announces flights to Seychelles

Addis Ababa: Ethiopian Airlines announced the launch of nonstop flights to Seychelles from Addis Ababa beginning 01 April 2012.

The Airlines is pleased to begin services to Seychelles, which is famous for its beauty and the home of two UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites, according to Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian.

The CEO underscored that the Airlines is among the leading transporters and has fulfilled the necessary safety requirements.

Ethiopian Airlines used to fly to the Seychelles 32 years ago, which was disrupted due to capacity and other reasons.
In a harsh time where many airlines companies are closing due to the rising fuel cost, Ethiopian Airlines has managed to fly to more destinations with its established cost effective system to fulfil its aim of becoming a globally leading one by 2025.

Culture and Tourism Minister of the Seychelles, Alain St. Ange for his part said Ethiopian Airlines flight to his country will ensure mutual benefits.

According to ERTA, Ethiopian Airlines has introduced complete travel packages to the Seychelles, which include airfare, multiple-night stays at a variety of properties and unforgettable activity offerings.

Seychelles would be the 41st African destination and the 66th globally for Ethiopian Airlines.

Zimbabwe Urged to Maintain Peace for Tourism

Zimbabwe must strive to maintain peace and security to enable its tourism sector to thrive, Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi said on Wednesday.

He said tourism, the fastest growing sector in the economy, could only thrive in a peaceful and stable environment.

"We are all aware of what happens when a tourism destination is plagued with violence and insecurity," he said while addressing a press conference.

He noted that attractive destinations in turmoil-hit North Africa were losing tourists to Southern Africa which he said was rapidly becoming a haven of peace.

"So we need to keep Zimbabwe and the region peaceful and secure, " he said while also stressing the importance of peaceful elections envisaged soon.

Zimbabwe's tourism sector has registered phenomenal growth in recent years and has overtaken agriculture to become the second largest contributor to Gross Domestic Product after mining.

Mzembi said they expected tourism contribution to GDP to rise from 9 percent last year to 15 percent and to double tourist arrivals to 5 million by 2015.

However, the minister expressed concern that the country's traditional source markets in Europe had introduced measures that will discourage their nationals from travelling to Africa and other developing countries.

Following the economic meltdown, the European Union has urged member countries to introduce various airport departure taxes which make it more attractive for Europeans to visit within their own countries and the EU rather than venture far out, he said.

In this regard, Mzembi said it was important for Zimbabwe and the Southern African region to develop strategies that will ensure the survival and growth of their tourism sectors.

He said integration of the region into a single tourism destination was one such strategy, underpinned by the region's transfrontier conservation areas such as the Kavango-Zambezi and the Great Limpopo.

Kavango-Zambezi is potentially the world's largest conservation area, spanning five southern African countries: Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and is centered around the Caprivi- Chobe-Victoria Falls area. The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area comprises three game parks from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Mzembi said the 2013 United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly to be co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia will be positioned as a regional if not continental event which will put African tourism on the world map.

Meanwhile, UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai is expected in Zambia and Zimbabwe next month for the signing of a tripartite agreement on the border between the two countries for the hosting of the UNWTO General Assembly. Rifai will jointly sign the agreement with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Michael Sata of Zambia.