Middle East & North Africa

Glenbeigh Records Management (GRM) officially opened its facility at Dubai World Central (DWC) yesterday in the presence of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Aviation City Corporation and the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who is visiting the UAE as part of a trade mission to the Middle East.
Airports & Networks

Etihad Airways has appointed Amina Taher, a UAE national with more than 10 years' experience in the field of marketing and communications, as its new head of media relations.
Maintenance & Training

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu paid a visit to the Roketsan manufacturing facilities in Ankara yesterday.
Defense

By Richard Maslen
The carrier’s entry into Tanzania is no real surprise as the country is a regional hub for tourism in East Africa and in 2013 the country welcomed over one million tourists. According to the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB), this figure looks set with to double with two million tourists forecast by 2017.
Airports & Networks

San Marino has ratified the Cape Town Convention which will give banks and financial institutions greater confidence in financing aircraft under the Registry
Business Aviation

The first A320neo to fly has lifted off at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport France at 12 noon local time today.
Air Transport

Etihad Airways will expand its African route network with the launch of a daily service to Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Etihad Airways treated delegates to an engaging presentation at the 20th World Route Development Forum Strategy Summit, outlining the carrier’s expanded network by the end of 2015, writes Jonny Williamson for The HUB.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
A World Routes media briefing confirmed recent reports that Cebu Pacific Air will be inaugurating a three times weekly link between Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam from October 5, 2014. This will be just days after the carrier makes its debut in the country with flights to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh commencing on October 1, 2014.
Airports & Networks

Only two months after launching its operations to Abuja, Emirates has announced it will upgrade the route's operating aircraft to a Boeing 777-200ER, starting from 1st October 2014.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
There are not many countries in the world where six new runways will be constructed and four brand new regional airports opened for traffic in a decade. But, that is exactly what is underway in the Sultanate of Oman over the past few years as the country seeks to diversify its economy away from relying on its oil and gas resources and to focus more on other sectors such as tourism and other areas of business.
Airports & Networks

By Richard Maslen
Lufthansa is likely to receive the green light from Indian authorities to fly the A380 into Mumbai, but without the strong transfer traffic its current operating slot affords, it is unlikely to want to move the service to accommodate the utilisation of the larger aircraft and may have to wait up to 15 months until the airport completes work to support simultaneous A380 operations.
Airports & Networks

Emirates will be able to connect even more people and cargo with Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, with the start of a second service to the east African coastal city from 26th October.
Airports & Networks

Airbus Defence and Space, has signed as the leader of the industrial team - including Thales Alenia Space as co-prime contractor - a contract with the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates (UAEAF) for the development, manufacture and launch of Falcon Eye, a high-performance optical Earth-observation satellite system.
Space

Bombardier Business Aircraft has announced the recent addition of Arabasco as an Authorized Service Facility (ASF) for Challenger 605 aircraft customers based in or flying to Saudi Arabia.
MRO

Jeppesen, has signed a multi-year service contract with Saudi Arabian private jet operator NasJet to provide international trip planning services that will increase flight department operational efficiency.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

Swiss operator Comlux which has a base in Bahrain announced at MEBA that it had ordered two BBJ MAX 8s. The first BBJs to be selected by the VIP charter operation for its fleet.
Business Aviation

The Middle East's first VIP completion centre hit a major milestone yesterday with a ground-breaking ceremony at the Dubai World Central site.
Interiors & Connectivity

Alpha Star Aviation Services has signed an amendment to its component support contract with AFI KLM E&M to cover the Saudi VIP operator's Airbus fleet.
MRO

Two leading British business aviation companies with interests in the Middle East and Africa, Hangar 8 and Gama Aviation, are to merge. The new company, to be called Gama Aviation plc, will have a market capitalisation of £120 million (about $188 million) and make it one of the five leading operators in business aviation worldwide.
Business Aviation

The flagship Gulfstream G650ER has been certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which clears the way for deliveries to begin.
Business Aviation

The Middle East is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasting an annual growth rate of 6.3 per cent for the region.
Air Transport

Dubai Air Navigation Services (DANS) has celebrated the graduation of its first batch of employees in a comprehensive one- year career development programme.
Maintenance & Training

flydubai has announced that it will begin flights to Bratislava in Slovakia, Prague in the Czech Republic and Sofia in Bulgaria. With flights due to commence in December, the airline is continuing its expansion into Central and Eastern Europe following the announcement of flights to Sarajevo and Zagreb earlier this year.
Airports & Networks

Jeppesen and Honeywell Aerospace have introduced the Integrated Navigation Data Service (INDS) Data Manager for Windows, a new cloud-based database update delivery service.
Emerging Technologies