Business Aviation

SriLankan pilots to fly more

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

SriLankan airlines are to consider offering an incentive to pilots who fly extra hours.

According to an official of the airline currently SriLankan airline pilots fly only 900 hours per year. The Director General of Civil Aviation has recently granted permission to allow pilots to fly extra 100 hours.

The airline is also to consider making a compensation to the pilots who wish to make available this offer. The Pilots Union is also to meet to discuss this option.

Due to rapid expansion of the aviation industry in the region and specially in India SriLankan pilots were offered lucrative contracts overseas. The SriLankan airline staff held a simple ceremony to mark the smooth transfer of the management from Emirates to the Sri Lankan government.

Minister of Ports and Aviation, Chamal Rajapaksa attended this simple ceremony heralding a new era for the national carrier SriLankan Airlines at the World Trade Centre.

The Minister addressed the airline’s Colombo-based employees and expressed his confidence in the successful operations of the airline in the future to achieve national goals and commercial objectives.

The Minister assured the support and guidance of the government and expressed hope that the staff would use the experience gained in the past and steer the national carrier to greater heights.

Amadeus creates new Leisure Technology Business Unit

Amadeus has created a new unit to provide tools for international leisure distribution. The unit, called TravelTainment - The Amadeus Leisure Group, brings together three Amadeus leisure technology businesses: TravelTainment, Amadeus Tours, and the product management and development for TOMA, a tour package distribution solution.

TravelTainment - The Amadeus Leisure Group will initially focus on Amadeus’ existing market portfolios in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Holland, Belgium, Poland and the UK and other markets beyond Europe such as North America and Canada.

“We have brought together our technology and international leisure expertise into one organisation and are now in a unique position to meet our customers needs.

We can help them as they face the emerging challenges of selling complex leisure products in the travel agency front office and over the internet,” said Ian Wheeler, VP, Marketing, Amadeus, “The unique technology and data developed and aggregated by TravelTainment - The Amadeus Leisure Group, is the logical organisational base for this new approach to the market.”

The combined leisure offering of TravelTainment - The Amadeus Leisure Group, is one of the only multi-market, multi-channel, community distribution systems for selling leisure content of all types, including alternative packages, hotels, charters, low cost options and cruises. Leisure customers have access to a unique database of 470 destinations covering over 80% of the world’s leisure destinations.

“This is very exciting for the evolution of Amadeus’ leisure strategy,” added Ralf Usbeck who continues as CEO, TravelTainment - The Amadeus Leisure Group, and takes on new responsibilities for Amadeus’ global leisure strategy, “With this reorganisation we can focus the energy and technical expertise of Amadeus and TravelTainment on the huge opportunity represented by the complex leisure travel market.”

San Francisco marks second Westcoast gateway for Emirates

Following news of only four weeks ago that it would start services to Los Angeles, Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing, international airlines announced plans to launch an additional service to the U.S. West Coast.

The award-winning airline will fly non-stop from Dubai to San Francisco starting 26th October 2008, taking its total number of U.S. destinations to four.

In pioneering spirit, Emirates will be the first to connect the two cities using its newest, technologically advanced Boeing 777-200LR on the route.

The aircraft offers 266 seats in a three class configuration. The service will additionally offer 10 tonnes of cargo capacity in both directions.

Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said: “Providing fast, comfortable service to both U.S. coasts and points in between has been an important goal for us.

There is a strong demand for connections between the San Francisco Bay Area and both Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. We see San Francisco as an integral part of our network development. The new service will additionally offer Americans better access to Dubai, the leading tourism centre of the Middle East.”

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom expressed his enthusiasm for the announcement: “It’s my pleasure to welcome Emirates to San Francisco.”

Latin American safety to improve

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called for the Latin American aviation industry to redouble its efforts to drive down the accident rate in the region and better coordinate safety regulations in a keynote address delivered by IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani at the Wings of Change conference.

The accident rate in Latin America fell from one accident for every 400,000 flights in 2005 to one accident for every 600,000 flights in 2007 but it still remains double the global average.

Two Latin American governments - Brazil and Panama - took a significant step to improve safety today by committing to incorporate the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) into their respective national safety oversight programmes. IOSA is the global standard for aviation safety management. It is a membership requirement for IATA members but is available to all airlines.