Cathay Pacific has special fares on sale until 19 September including return Premium Economy class to London from $4,429.Business class fares are available from $6,689 for a return trip to Zurich and return business class fares to Rome are available from $6,649.These fares are available for departure from now until 30 November 2016 and 15 January to 31 March 2017.Cathay Pacific also has a last minute one way deal to Frankfurt from $999 economy class for departures between now and 15 November 2016, on sale until 31 August. All fares include taxes and fly via Hong Kong.
TravelInc
Monday, August 8, 2016 — DUBAI, U.A.E., 8th August 2016: Emirates announced today an 11% capacity increase to Manchester with the deployment of a third daily A380 on the route. As of 1st January 2017, the replacement of the Boeing 777-300ER will mean that all Emirates flights to Manchester will be operated by the iconic double decker aircraft. The airline also unveiled plans to swap its current A380 service at Birmingham from the morning to the afternoon departure slot, in order to offer customers even more connections beyond Dubai to other Emirates A380 destinations – ensuring a seamless “A380 to A380” experience.
Thanks to the new aircraft deployment, Emirates will offer 2,198 additional weekly seats on the route, enabling further business and leisure travel between Dubai and Manchester. The airline also expects to break the symbolic mark of one million passengers carried on the route for this financial year, attesting to the growing demand in the market. With a total of 517 seats in a three-class cabin configuration, the aircraft features 14 private suites in First Class, 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 427 spacious seats in Economy Class.
First and Business Class passengers on the Emirates A380 can spend time during their flight relaxing or networking in the renowned Onboard Lounge on the upper deck of the aircraft. Those in First Class can enjoy the exclusive use of the on-board shower spas to refresh during flights. Premium customers are offered complimentary chauffeur drive to and from Manchester Airport, lounge access and priority check-in. Passengers in all classes will enjoy access to free Wi-Fi and over 2,500 channels of films, TV shows, music and games, through Emirates’ ice Digital Widescreen, which was recently named the World’s Best Inflight Entertainment at the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards.
Manchester has been an important destination for Emirates over the last 25 years and the second route launched into the UK after London Gatwick. With 21 weekly flights, Emirates enables convenient and seamless connections to popular destinations such as Bangkok, Perth, Singapore, Mumbai and across Emirates’ global network of over 150 destinations. Flight EK21 will depart from Dubai at 0300hrs and arrive in Manchester at 0700hrs. The return flight EK22 will depart from Manchester at 0845, with a 1945hrs arrival time in Dubai.
Emirates is also adjusting its A380 schedule to Birmingham in order to enable even more convenient A380 to A380 connections via its hub in Dubai. As of 1st January 2017, the A380 will operate flights EK37/38 instead of flights EK39/40 as it currently does. Leaving Birmingham at 2045hrs, EK38 arrives in Dubai at 0740hrs; while EK37 departs from Dubai at 1450hrs to arrive in Birmingham at 1845hrs. The A380 service to Birmingham will continue to operate with a two-class configuration aircraft, offering 615 seats in total. Passengers travelling to other destinations across the UK can also take advantage of Emirates’ codeshare agreement with FlyBe.
Emirates is the world’s largest operator of A380s with 81 currently in its fleet and a further 61 on order. To book your seat on the award-winning Emirates A380, visit www.emirates.com.
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 new World Business Class cabin to the A330 fleet is part of KLM’s ongoing investment in enhancing passenger comfort, which has also seen the introduction of a new economy class product, investment in in-flight connectivity, and upgrades to the IFE system. - August 5, 2016
Dusseldorf has become the third German city in Singapore Airlines’ route network, with the arrival of flight SQ338 from Singapore this morning.
The new route is being served with the latest-generation aircraft to join the Singapore Airlines fleet, the Airbus A350-900. The first service departed Singapore Changi Airport at around 2340hrs local time last night and arrived at Dusseldorf Airport at around 0620hrs local time this morning, after a flight of nearly 13 hours.
Dusseldorf will initially be served three times per week. Singapore Airlines also serves the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich.
Customers departing from Singapore were treated to an assortment of food and beverages including champagne at a special boarding gate event held to commemorate the inaugural flight. They also received an exclusive goodie bag containing a commemorative certificate, a batik luggage belt with weighing scale and a wooden miniature silhouette of the Dusseldorf skyline.
Upon arrival at Dusseldorf Airport, the aircraft received a water canon salute.
With advanced technology and superior operating efficiency, the A350-900 offers customers an improved travelling experience with features such as higher ceilings, larger windows, an extra wide body and lighting designed to reduce jetlag.
Singapore Airlines took delivery of its first A350-900 in March and now has four of the aircraft type in its fleet, with another 63 on firm order. The initial batch of A350s is being fitted with 253 seats in three classes, seating 42 customers in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy Class and 187 in Economy Class.
The A350 will form a key part of the Airline’s fleet in the years ahead, allowing for the introduction of new services such as non-stop flights between Singapore and San Francisco from October, helping to boost connectivity to and through the Singapore hub.
A Singapore Airlines press release July 22, 2016
Emirates today unveiled plans to increase capacity on the Dubai-Milan route with the deployment of a second daily A380. The migration from a Boeing 777-300ER to the iconic double decker represents a capacity increase of 1,834 seats per week between the two cities; enabling more A380 to A380 connections to and from key destinations in Australia, China, South Korea and South East Asia with just one stop in Dubai.
Commencing 1st October 2016, Emirates flights EK91/92 will be operated by an Airbus A380 aircraft in a 3-class configuration with 14 Private Suites in First Class, 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 401 comfortable seats in Economy Class. Passengers in all classes will enjoy access to free Wi-Fi and over 2500 channels of films, TV shows, music and games, with an impressive selection in Italian, through ice Digital Widescreen, Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment system. They will also experience the famed hospitality of the airline’s multi-cultural cabin crew, with Italian speakers on all flights to and from Italy, as well as fine Italian wines and regionally inspired cuisine prepared using the finest ingredients.
What’s more, First and Business Class passengers can travel to and from the airport in style with Emirates complimentary Chauffeur-drive service as well as enjoy Emirates exclusive lounges. Once onboard, passengers in premium class seating receive a luxurious amenity kit featuring Italian-made Bvlgari products and can enjoy the Emirates Onboard Lounge; First Class passengers can also take advantage of the Emirates Shower Spa to prepare for their arrival. At Milan Malpensa, Emirates offers an arrivals lounge where premium passengers can freshen up before being driven to their final destination.
Emirates’ flight EK91 departs from Dubai International Airport at 15:45hrs and arrives in Milan at 20:30hrs. The outbound flight EK92 departs from Milan at 22:20hrs and arrives in Dubai at 0625hrs the following day. The airline currently operates three daily services between Dubai and Milan, as well as a daily flight from Milan to New York JFK. From the airport, Emirates also enables seamless rail connections to over 700 train stations across Italy through its partnership with Trenitalia.
The links between Milan and Emirates extend far beyond the airline’s triple daily service. Emirates has been a proud sponsor of AC Milan since 2010, with the current shirt sponsorship contract in place until the end of the 2019/20 season.
Through its SkyCargo division, Emirates also facilitates the import and export of key products, connecting Italian companies to the world. In 2015, Emirates transported 22,000 tonnes of cargo from Milan including cars, marble, food products like cheese and olive oil, pharmaceuticals, clothing and shoes bound for the UAE, India, Hong Kong, USA, Australia and Mexico.
An emirates press release Wednesday 20 July 2016
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* A grande dame of the Pacific gets a facelift.
Robot bag drop being trialled at Geneva Airport’s Terminal 1
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July 13, 2016 - Air New Zealand has taken out World’s Best Premium Economy Class and World’s Best Premium Economy Class Airline Seat at the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards held at the Farnborough Air Show overnight.
July 13, 2016 - Air New Zealand has taken out World’s Best Premium Economy Class and World’s Best Premium Economy Class Airline Seat at the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards held at the Farnborough Air Show overnight.
July 6, 2016 - Singapore Airlines is letting economy class passengers bid to be upgraded to premium economy, using a new system called mySQupgrade – which works a bit like the bidding process on eBay.
mySQupgrade is not as simple as it sounds. For a start, not anyone can bid. Invitations “are made at Singapore Airlines’ sole discretion based on certain criteria and combination of factors, which are dynamic”, the airline says. That means, in essence, that you don’t know what the factors are and they are not going to tell you.
“To stand a chance of being invited, please ensure that your email address is correctly indicated when making a booking, so that we are able to contact you if you are deemed eligible,” SIA advises.
The airline stipulates a minimum and maximum for bids and passengers can pitch their bid anywhere between. For successful bidders, the bid is charged to the credit card they nominate.
A “strength meter” indicates the strength of the bid – just like some sites measure the strength of a password – but it does not mean the bid will necessarily be successful.
Flyers can’t bid for just any flight, either. “Not all flights in your booking are necessarily eligible for bidding. The eligible flights are decided at Singapore Airlines’ sole discretion, and will be listed in the email you have received. For example, if a flight is not operated by Singapore Airlines, or you do not have a confirmed reservation for the flight, those flights will not be eligible for bidding.”
The emails go out about a week before departure and bids must be received 50 hours before take-off. Passengers can make, change or cancel their bids anytime before that.
Australian Business Traveller says the airline has assured loyal KrisFlyer members that any points-based upgrade requests will receive priority over cash-based bids received via mySQupgrade.
mySQupgrade is confined to premium economy so far, but Singapore Airlines has hinted that the scheme may spread. Who knows, the airline may one day extend it to business class, first class and even the ultimate, suites class.
Singapore Airlines website has details of mySQupgrade.
Written by Peter Needham on eGlobal travel Media
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242