Middle East & North Africa

Members of the Bahraini parliament will next week be calling for a probe into the affairs of Gulf Air it was reported in the Gulf Daily News.

Low cost carrier Jazeera Airways has announced its newest route, Kuwait City to Syria's Deir Ez Zoor on the Euphrates river.

Iraq is seeking external funding to help fix the country's dilapidated transport infrastructure. According to the new transport minister Amer Abdel-Jabbar Ismail, the system is on the road to recovery after decades of neglect, but funding is inadequate and new investors from abroad are needed desperately.

Kuwait's Royal Aviation Terminal Building is to be renamed Sheikh Saad General Aviation Terminal in commemoration of the Father Emir Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah.

Lebanon's national carrier MEA is pressing ahead with the expansion of its current fleet.

A new Information Technology Management MBA is being offered by the Emirates Aviation College for students in the UAE.

Work on a new flight-training centre near Rafik Hariri International Airport in Lebanon will start in May or June of this year, according to the

Bahrain Air is making preparations to offer direct flights to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.

Gulf Air is set to ground five of its Airbus A340s to contain costs and start fuel-hedging Bloomberg reported.

Kuwait's newest full service luxury carrier Wataniya Airways has signed a multi-year outsourcing contract with Indian-headquartered Kale Consultants.

Abu Dhabi business jet operator Royal Jet, has appointed Ahmed Al Mamari a UAE national, as Vice President Technical with immediate effect.

The Gulf News reported today that Qatar Airways is in talks with Boeing to seek compensation after the 787's latest delay.

Qatar Airways is today rolling out its plans for its first new route of 2009 - Doha to Houston.

Aviation experts in the Middle East believe that the regional airline industry will continue its impressive growth over the next five years, indicating a bullish and confident attitude among the doom and gloom that engulfs the world.

Royal Air Maroc (RAM), generated a turnover of MAD12-billion during the 2007-2008 fiscal year, registering an increase of 6%, reported the Morocco Business News.

Simple business aviation links between Spain and North Africa are to be boosted in the first quarter of 2009 through the launch of Jet Ready.

Airbus has started construction work on the final assembly line for the A350 XWB, the wide-body aircraft scheduled to enter service in 2013 with Qatar Airways among others