AVIATION

SriLankan Airlines’ special fares to T20 World Cup

Cricket enthusiasts are being offered a special fare by SriLankan Airlines to travel to London for the T20 Cricket World Cup. This offer of a return air ticket is available at all SriLankan Airlines ticket offices in Colombo’s World Trade Centre, Kandy and Galle.

SriLankan’s Manager Sri Lanka, Dammika Kulatunge, said, “Cricket is almost a religion for many Sri Lankans, and twenty20 cricket has revolutionized the level of excitement of the game.

With Sri Lanka favoured to win the title, many of our team’s fans are taking the opportunity to visit the UK and SriLankan Airlines is pleased to offer this special promotional fare.” The fare is valid for travel up to June 19, with the return to be on or before June 30.

“Summer is also the best time to travel around the UK and see the famous sites and many Sri Lankans have friends and family they’d love to visit there,” Kulatunge said. SriLankan flies to London Heathrow 10 times a week.

Along the way, travellers can experience the excellent levels of service that have gained SriLankan a global reputation for caring, warmth and friendliness over the years.

Qatar Airways implements codeshare agreement with US Airways

Qatar Airways has implemented a codeshare agreement with the American carrier US Airways offering passengers even greater access to the US market via Europe.

Following approval from the US Department of Transportation, both carriers can place their respective flight codes on selected services.

Under the agreement, Qatar Airways’ QR flight code is placed on selected European flights operated by US Airways to its American hubs of Charlotte and Philadelphia.

As part of the agreement, Qatar Airways applies its QR flight code for the first phase of the codeshare on flights operated by US Airways between London Gatwick, Manchester, Milan, Madrid, Athens, Stockholm and both Philadelphia and Charlotte. In addition, for the first phase of the codeshare, US Airways’ US flight code is applied on services operated by Qatar Airways from London Gatwick, Manchester, Milan, Madrid, Stockholm and Athens to Doha.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the agreement with US Airways demonstrated the airline’s commitment to the US market, which it entered in 2007. “Two years ago, Qatar Airways embarked on an historic journey to North America with our first flights to the United States,” Al Baker said.

“We have gradually increased capacity to the US market, operating daily to three gateway cities of New York, Washington and, recently, new daily flights to Houston.

This agreement with US Airways gives Qatar Airways’ passengers flying on our services to the key European gateway cities of London Gatwick, Manchester, Milan, Madrid, Athens and Stockholm with convenient onward connections on US Airways to Philadelphia and Charlotte with our flight code,” Baker said. Similarly, US Airways’ passengers can fly between the US and the six European cities with onward connections flying Qatar Airways to Doha with the US flight code.

“For passengers it means seamless transfers between flights, baggage checked-through to their final destination and a host of other benefits,” Al Baker said.

Qatar Airways already serves a number of US domestic cities through existing codeshare arrangements offering passengers from across its network in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia with greater choice.

Paris Air Show opens under a cloud

THE biennial Paris Air Show opens today at a tense time for global aviation, with airlines staring at dwindling passenger numbers and huge financial losses in the sombre aftermath of the unexplained crash of an Air France Airbus jet.

By all accounts the 100th anniversary of the air show, to run for a week at Le Bourget near Paris, will be a subdued affair compared with the 2007 exposition.

Two years ago manufacturers Airbus and US rival Boeing - well before the world fell into recession - won 800 orders worth more than $122 billion (71 billion euros).

“I don’t expect any major announcements next week in terms of sales,” said IHS Jane’s aviation analyst Chris Yates, who described the state of the industry as “precarious”.

“And that’s going to be the case until we come out of this recession.”

Organizers are nonetheless predicting the presence of 2,000 exhibitors, a record, and around 300,000 visitors, roughly the same as in 2007.

But dampening the atmosphere is the June 1 loss of an Air France Airbus A330 that went down over the Atlantic on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 people aboard.

With the odds against discovery of the “black box” flight data recorders, which could shed light on the catastrophe, investigators at this point can only speculate on what caused an aircraft delivered just four years ago and operated by a major world carrier to fall out of the sky and plunge into the ocean.

Airbus, already bedeviled by production and delivery delays afflicting two of its planes, had little to say about the crash until Friday.

Airbus head Thomas Enders in an interview appearing in the German daily Bild Zeitung defended the A330, calling it “one of the best and safest planes ever built’’ and urging “patience’’ during the investigation.

Even before the accident, there was gloom and doom aplenty in the airline sector, with Boeing and Airbus foreseeing a 60 percent decline in demand for aircraft this year in the face of a global economic slide and tighter credit.

Airbus has said that from January 1 to May 31 it had received just 11 orders, along with 21 cancellations.

Boeing from January 1 to June 2 recorded 65 orders and 65 cancellations.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has meanwhile predicted an 8.0 percent decline in passenger numbers this year to 2.06 billion compared with 2008 and a 17 percent fall in goods transported by air to 33.3 million tonnes.

IATA director Giovanni Bisignani told delegates to the association’s annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur last week that the airline industry could lose 9.0 billion dollars this year, almost double the estimate three months ago, making the crisis worse than the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Combined with a revised estimate of losses in 2008 of 10.4 billion dollars, the sector now looks set to lose nearly 20 billion dollars over two years.

Airline executives see chances of a turnaround in late 2010 as the world economy slowly emerges from recession.

But Bisignani warned that rising oil prices in a recovering global economy could put an aviation industry rebound at risk.

IATA has said the industry’s fuel bill is likely to fall by 59 billion dollars to 106 billion this year based on an average of 56 dollars per barrel of North Sea crude. North Sea crude on Friday was trading above 70 dollars in London.

The International Energy Agency this week forecast a slight rise in its estimate of oil demand this year, a signal that the pace of the recession could be easing.

The signal is good and bad news for the airline industry. While healthier economic momentum should boost passenger travel it could also mean higher oil prices and heavier fuel bills.

Yates said the stronger trend on the oil market would likely lead to the scrapping of “marginally viable routes”, such as some of those between Britain and the United States for example.

The head of German flag carrier Lufthansa this week took aim at financial market speculators he blamed for helping to drive up the price of crude. “Financial speculators now have an enormous influence on our business,” Wolfgang Mayrhuber told the Financial Times Deutschland.

“The old rule whereby supply and demand dictated the price of a certain raw material no longer applies,” he said. In addition to commercial deals won or lost, the Paris Air Show will feature flying displays, although two of what would have been the biggest attractions.

Cathay offers free stopover in Bangkok

Cathay Pacific presents an offer to passengers who fly to Singapore this month. It’s a double destination special offer that allows you to stopover in Bangkok free, during your trip to Singapore plus enjoy lots of value additions when one arrives in Singapore.

The offer is for two passengers travelling together or multiples of two and ideal for several couples to join in the fun.

The free stopover in Bangkok includes hotel accommodation with breakfast for two nights, return airport transfers, city and temple tour, Siam Park ticket and a discount voucher at the King Power Duty Free Shop.

Cathay’s unique route also offers you the opportunity to decide whether you need to take the stopover in Bangkok on your way to or from Singapore.

A host of delights that await in Singapore are city and cultural tour in an open top bus, 50 percent off on the Flyer Tickets when purchased with Dukw Tour, transfer from city hotels to Singapore Flyer, access to the Singapore Flyer Transit Lounge, free internet access at the Flyer Transit Lounge, drink at Hard Rock Cafe with discount coupons on F&B and merchandise and drink at Manchester United Cafe Bar.

This offer also allows one to earn Asia Miles on the entire route, another big plus for Cathay’s frequent flyers. Tickets should be booked before June 30.

Cathay flies thrice a week to Bangkok and four times a week to Singapore.