Middle East

By Poppy Marello
Start-up Air Arabia Jordan has announced the launch of flights to Medina in Saudi Arabia from Amman from June 10, 2015.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Under the agreement, Etihad and Tourism Malaysia will put into effect a range of joint marketing activities targeting Malaysia’s leading inbound visitor markets – the UK, US, Europe (Germany, France and Italy), and the Middle East region (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait).
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Canadian manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace handed over a CSeries to North African carrier Nile Air during this week’s Routes Middle East & Africa forum in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain. The CS100 model was presented to Mohamed El Sheriff, revenue and planning manager at the Egyptian carrier on the final morning of the event following its traditional event business card draw on the manufacturer’s stand.
Airports & Networks

By Catherine Makrandreou
The annual Routes Marketing Awards are highly regarded as the most prestigious awards in the industry as they are voted for and judged by the airline network planning community. They provide the airline community with the chance to have their say, regarding the airport or tourism authority they think has provided the best overall services to them relating to route development and marketing over the past year, to establish new or maintain and develop existing routes.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
As has become the tradition at our events, the manufacturer has a number of aircraft models to present to event delegates on the final morning of the event. Make sure you visit the Bombardier Aerospace stand and place your business card into the bowl to be in with a chance of winning a CS100, CRJ1000NextGen or Dash 8-Q400NextGen model.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Not happy with just a new third daily rotation by Emirates Airline to Dubai, the air service development team at Birmingham Airport are attending the inaugural Routes Middle East & Africa forum in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain to secure additional connectivity into the regions.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Faisalabad is a city of more than two million people located in the province of Punjab. A major centre of industry and manufacturing, the city is estimated to contribute approximately one fifth of Pakistan’s total GDP.
Airports & Networks

By Routes News
Airport International Group’s CEO, Kjeld Binger, talks to Joe Bates about the ongoing transformation of Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
This year’s inaugural Routes Middle East & Africa brought together two regions of the world that are at very different stages of their evolution and the event’s
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Updated schedules for the remainder of the year show the Gulf carrier will switch the aircraft type deployed on the routes to Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport and Warsaw’s Chopin Airport from its smallest aircraft, the Airbus A330-200, to a larger Boeing 777-300ER. The change will take effect from December 1, 2015.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
In an official welcome address to delegates at the Routes Middle East & Africa Strategy Summit and the Gulf Conference Centre in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah, chief executive officer, Bahrain Airport Company, the host of this year’s inaugural forum, highlighted how the airport intends to continue its growth to support an increase in visitor arrivals into the Kingdom.
Airports & Networks

By Routes News
Airspace in the Middle East must have the flexibility to deal with the region’s rapid aviation growth, a subject that was highlighted in the Strategy Summit on the opening day of the inaugural Routes Middle East & Africa forum in Bahrain.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Bahrain International Airport, host of this year's inaugural Routes Middle East and Africa, is growing to cater to anticipated demand and allowed delegates to see first-hand how it intends to modernise the facility to support growth in arrivals to the Kingdom.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
While the first chartered flight may have landed in Bahrain in 1927, the first scheduled commercial flight only arrived in the Kingdom in 1932, en-route from London to Delhi, carrying 24 passengers and establishing Bahrain as the Gulf’s first international airport.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
In a major expansion of its network Nile Air is adding three new routes during the first week of June, including a new country market, neighbouring Sudan. The new link between Cairo and Port Sudan will launch on June 6, 2015 and will be operated on a twice weekly basis, Nile Air’s first international service in Africa. It will bring competition and enhanced connectivity to a route currently served on a weekly basis by Sudan Airways.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
The study, commissioned by the Gulf hub carrier, projects that by 2020 the airline’s operating expenditure and capital investments will almost double to support 46,200 American jobs and deliver US$6.2 billion a year. These are among the key conclusions of the Oxford Economics Report to quantify the economic contribution which the airline makes to the US.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Al Qahtani Group (linked to Gulf Air) and Qatar Airways were both selected in late 2012 to bring new competition into the Saudi Arabian domestic market as part of a series of reforms. Both have been working with the local regulator to establish their respective businesses, Saudi Gulf Airlines and Al Maha Airways, but despite an initial suggestion these carriers would take-off by the end of 2013, we are still awaiting their arrival into the local skies.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
The carrier was officially founded on May 31, 1945 and launched its first services from Beirut to the neighbouring cities of Syria, Cyprus, Egypt then Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other destinations in the Gulf from January 1, 1946.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
The new flight, operated by a three-class Boeing 777-300ER, will add 5,040 international seats per week to and from the city, enabling customers in Bologna and the surrounding region to conveniently access key Emirates destinations in the Far East, Middle East, Africa and West Asia.
Airports & Networks

By Routes News
Bahrain International Airport’s new state-of-the-art terminal is set to make a big impression on passengers and significantly enhance airline operations, writes Joe Bates for our sister magazine, Routes News.
Airports & Networks

By Routes News
Graham Newton talks to Oman Air’s CEO, Paul Gregorowitsch, about the airline’s strategy and its role in the wider economy for our siter magazine, Routes News.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Now, Kamaruddin Meranun, group chief executive officer of AirAsia X, Indonesia AirAsia X has confirmed that following the success of its initial two routes plans are under discussion to add links between Denpasar and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Sydney, Australia, although no launch dates or schedules have yet been confirmed.
Airports & Networks

By Poppy Marello
Qatar Airways’ CEO, Akbar Al Baker said that the airline would like to operate up to two passenger flights daily if there were no bilateral constraints, but the airline is thwarted by the Dutch government which refuses to give extra landing rights to the three major Gulf carriers.
Airports & Networks

By Poppy Marello
The Doha-based airline will be launching the extra widebody aircraft on the route from October 1, 2015, alongside its existing Boeing 787 Dreamliner service on one of the two double-daily flights to Munich. From November 1, 2015, the second daily flight will also be operated by the A350.
Airports & Networks

By Poppy Marello
Etihad Airways has issued a report claiming that the three largest US airlines have received over $70 billion in government and court-sanctioned benefits.
Airports & Networks