A Focus on Travel - MSC NewsWire

Airbus A350-1000 makes maiden flight

The Airbus A350-1000 is scheduled to go into operation during the second half of next year made it's maiden flight yesterday. The A350-1000, the longest and largest of the three A350 XWB base models, took off from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, France, and flew for four-hours and 18-minutes, above southwestern France before touching back down at 3:00 pm. A crew of six explored the aircraft's handling and its flight envelope, the ways in which it can combine capabilities like speed, altitude and angle-of-attack while remaining safe. It was accompanied by a chase plane from which the testing was observed and filmed and…

Fiji Airways orders five Boeing 737 MAX 8s

Boeing has secured a third 737 MAX customer in Oceania with Fiji Airways ordering five 737 MAX 8s for first delivery in 2018. The Fijian flag carrier said in a statement on Wednesday the 737 MAX 8 would “replace its existing narrow-body fleet”. Currently, Fiji Airways has five 737s in its fleet, comprising one 737-700 and four 737-800s, that are used on short- and medium-haul routes to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. Fiji Airways chief executive Andre Viljoen said the selection of the new generation Boeing narrowbodies came after an “extremely exhaustive procurement and…

United Airlines announces new low-budget, no-frills fare

From 2017, United Airlines will offer its new Basic Economy ticket for travelers happy to fly with only a personal, under seat item and no carry-on.With a few additional restrictions, United Airlines’ Basic Economy fare offers customers the lowest possible price. Available from January 2017 on selected routes in the United States, the fare provides the same in-flight hospitality options as other economy fares. The biggest differences with a Basic Economy ticket are that seats are assigned at check-in, with no options for an upgrade, and travelers are not allowed to bring a carry-on bag. A personal item that can…

Emirates to offer first A380 Christchurch services

Emirates A380s will fly between New Zealand and Dubai five times daily from 30 October with the introduction of the airline’s double-decker flagship aircraft on Christchurch services. Emirates will be the first airline to offer regular scheduled A380 services to and from Christchurch with the upgrade of the current daily Christchurch service from Boeing 777-300ERs, along with the removal of the en-route stop in Bangkok which will enable passengers to travel all the way between Christchurch and Dubai, with just one stop in Sydney. The launch of the Christchurch A380 flights will coincide with the introduction of the A380 on…

Sustainable travel platform is reinventing tourism

Kind Traveler is a new site that lets travelers donate to charity and receive exclusive discounts to luxury hotels. Way back in 2011, we covered a platform that organizes trekking tours in Southeast Asia, donating a percentage of their revenue to support female entrepreneurs. Now, sustainable travel is available to the less adventurous: Kind Traveler enables luxury holidaymakers to donate money to charity in exchange for exclusive deals with sustainable hotels.kind-traveler-sustainability The enterprise works in partnership with a number of ‘Kind Hotels’, whose sustainability initiatives are displayed on the Kind Traveler site. Customers select a destination and choose from the…

In-flight chatter in China set to become very loud

About 104 million Chinese took to the skies on domestic, regional and international flights last year and within six months they, and others like them, may be chatting on mobile phones during their flights writes peter Needham for eGlobal. Authorities in China are considering lifting restrictions on the use of mobile phones while airborne. The changes are likely to take force later this year or early next. Bloomberg news service has quoted Zhu Tao, director of the air transportation division at the Civil Aviation http://www.itehcmc.com/Administration of China, confirming that changes are pending to rules that currently limit the use of…

Scoot gets you to the Greek with Athens fares from $369

Low Cost Airline Scoot announces Athens, Greece as its first European destination with flights Scheduled to commence on 20 June 2017 from the Gold Coast. Travel Weekly reported at the start of the month that Scoot was eyeing Europe, taking travellers on a one-stop hop from the Gold Coast to Europe return. Scoot’s 787 Dreamliner will operate the new service between Singapore and Athens, the airline’s first long-haul flight between Asia Pacific and Europe, as well as the longest flight operated by a low-cost carrier (LCC) with flight distance exceeding 10,000km. The commencement of Scoot’s services to Europe is part…

New travel platform aims to link agents with clients

A new Sydney-based travel platform that aims to connect travellers with “been-there” travel agents has been set up by “a long term marketer and entrepreneur with successes in various industries over his time including bicycle manufacturing and wholesaling”, according to company publicity. The new platform, called Going.Expert, is currently inviting travel agents to register so they can be matched with clients wanting to travel. Company publicity disseminated yesterday through AAP Medianet described Going.Expert as “Sydney based with global reach”. “Going.Expert is initially being launched to the Australian traveller to find Australian travel agents who have ‘been-there’. The database has also…

KLM World Business Class cabin coming to A330 fleet

KLM has announced that it will modernise the World Business Class cabin interiors on all of its Airbus A330s. Passengers will be able to experience the new-look cabin on A330-operated services from early 2018. The World Business Class cabin can already be found on KLM’s Boeing 787s, as well as retrofitted Boeing 777-200 and 747-400 aircraft. All of the carrier’s Boeing 777-300s will also have the new premium cabin by June 2017. Among the highlights are fully flat seats, 16-inch in-flight entertainment (IFE) monitors with content in 12 languages, and ample storage space for personal items. The addition of the…

Nelson Airport announces $32m redevelopment

Nelson Airport has released its plans for a $32m terminal redevelopment, which will begin later this year. The project will take approximately 24 months to complete in a staged programme with over half of the new build able to occur on a green field site. The new terminal will cater for growth projections out to 2035, when 1.4m passengers a year are forecast to pass through the facility. Nelson Airport Chief Executive Rob Evans says the project will greatly enhance the customer experience with more space for seating, airline lounges, toilets, new retail spaces and increased car parking. Airlines have…

Emirates aircraft cover 432 million kilometres across the globe in six months

Thursday, July 28, 2016 — DUBAI, U.A.E., 28 July, 2016: Emirates aircraft have travelled over 432 million kilometres since January 2016, the equivalent of traversing the globe more than 10,700 times. Click here to watch a time-lapse video capturing Emirates arrivals and departures at its hub in Dubai. A typical week sees the airline operating more than 3,600 flights, with over 96,000 flights operated in the first half of 2016. Emirates is the world’s largest international airline currently serving 154 destinations across 81 countries on six continents operating 252 aircraft. The airline is also the largest operator of the Airbus…

Draft Beer at 36,000 Feet

Instead of the canned beer typically available on airplanes, passengers of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines may soon be able to enjoy draft beer at high altitudes thanks to the company's partnership with Heinkein and a specialized keg design.Heineken’s product designer, Edwin Griffioen, had to come up with a keg design capable of fitting in the small space of an airline aisle without using the carbon dioxide cartridges often found home tap installations since they are prohibited on airplanes. The design also had to take into account the difference in pressure at high altitude, with lower air pressure on the airplane…