AVIATION

SriLankan supports tourism drive in China

SriLankan Airlines is supporting the Government’s drive to promote Sri Lanka as a destination of choice in China, which is viewed as one of the fastest growing global tourism markets.

The National Carrier actively participated in several travel fairs in China this year, including the Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE), the International Travel Expo MICE in Hong Kong, and the Guangzhou International Travel Fair (GITF). SriLankan also co-organised a workshop for travel agents in the Chinese capital.

Tourist arrivals from China to Sri Lankan grew by 7.3 per cent in the first half of 2008, a trend that is expected to grow due to the combined efforts of the Government, the National Carrier, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB), and the country’s hoteliers and tour operators.

SriLankan is also actively working with SLTPB and the Embassy to increase awareness of Sri Lanka by sponsoring a number of media tours from China. SriLankan serves China with thrice-weekly flights to Beijing, and another three to Hong Kong. The Sri Lanka booth received a special award as the “Most Outstanding Booth” from the 81 countries at BITE.

The colourful stand drew much interest, especially with a Dance Troupe providing dazzling performances of Sri Lankan dances in front of it.

BITE 2008 in June was a major international event that coincided with the upcoming Beijing Olympics. It attracted 700 domestic and foreign exhibitors and 300 trade buyers from 81 countries, with more 10,000 trade visitors attending the event.

Emirates wins Skytrax award

Emirates has again received plaudits for its innovative inflight technology after scooping the much-coveted Skytrax 2008 Best Airline Inflight Entertainment Award for the fourth consecutive year.

The airline's ICE (information, communication and entertainment) and ICE Digital Widescreen systems received top honours based on a passenger survey carried out by Skytrax. From August 2007 to June 2008, more than 15 million travellers of 93 nationalities took part in Skytrax's World Airline Survey, which covered several areas of the airline industry.

The criteria for the award included the quality of inflight entertainment, best movie selection, TV and documentary programmes and best audio choICEs. Quality of headsets and sound, audio programming, games selection and screen size were also considered.

Vice President Passenger Communications and Visual Services, Patrick Brannelly, said: "To win this award for the fourth consecutive year is a fantastic achievement, proving yet again that Emirates' significant investment in the inflight entertainment product is appreciated by our customers.

We also make significant investments in the latest technology to ensure our passengers enjoy not only the widest range of entertainment, but also the capacity to communicate with family and friends on the ground.

"Launching ICE Digital Widescreen last year is an example of how Emirates continually enhances its inflight technology and product offering."

Emirates has invested huge sums to provide passengers the very best inflight entertainment since 1992, when it became the first airline in the world to offer personal TV screens in all classes on its entire fleet.

More than 60 per cent of Emirates' fleet carry the ICE or ICE Digital Widescreen systems, both of which offer travellers significantly more inflight entertainment choice than any other airline.

Chennai airport upgrade

The Rs 1,808-crore modernisation and expansion plan for Chennai airport, which was recently cleared by the Public Investment Board (PIB) and expected to begin this September, may not be sufficient to cope with projected growth in passenger traffic.

Annual domestic and international capacity at the modernised airport, which will be done by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), is being raised from the current 9 million to 23 million by November 2010. But it is estimated that domestic capacity would be saturated in two years - that is, by 2012.

The modernisation plan includes constructing an additional domestic terminal, which will increase annual capacity from 6 million currently to 16 million, an addition of 10 million. But this capacity will be enough to handle the growth in passenger traffic till 2012, when it will hit around 16 million. The international terminal will also increase annual handling capacity from 3 million currently to 7 million.

A proposal for a new airport in Sriperumbudur is also unlikely to ease matters. For one, if the approvals come through next year at the earliest, the airport will only be ready by 2014. Business Standard. India

UP proposes airport on Buddhist circuit

To boost tourism and regional development in Uttar Pradesh, the state government has floated the idea of an international airport at Kushinagar and improving infrastructure on the Buddhist circuit.

Although the circuit covering Sarnath, Kushinagar, Sankisa, Kaushambi, Shravasti and Kapilvastu attracts pilgrims and backpackers from all over the world, especially Japan and South East Asian countries, the immense potential of the circuit is still to be unlocked due to government apathy and lack of infrastructure facilities.

The state government has invited bids from reputed consultancy firms for preparing a comprehensive project report, bid documents and a concession agreement for the development of an international airport at Kushinagar and integrated development of the Buddhist circuit in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) basis.

The last date for sending the bids is August 22, and the qualified consultancy will also subsequently officiate as project management consultant. The Centre is yet to clear the proposal of the UP government to set up an aviation hub at Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Business Standard