Aviation

Maldives wins achievement award from Emirates

The passenger sales operations of Emirates in the Maldives have been recognised for outstanding performance in 2008-09 with an Outstanding Achievements Award, presented at a recent regional conference of the award-winning Dubai-based airline.

Richard Vaughan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations Worldwide, Chandana de Silva, Emirates Area Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives, Darrell Soertsz, Emirates’ District Manager Maldives and Majid Al Mualla, Emirates Vice President Commercial Operations - West Asia and Indian Ocean at the presentation of the award.

Emirates’ District Manager Maldives Darrell Soertsz accepted the award from Richard Vaughan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations Worldwide, accompanied by Chandana de Silva, Emirates Area Manager for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Majid Al Mualla, Emirates Vice President Commercial Operations - West Asia and Indian Ocean was also present.

This award is particularly noteworthy because it recognises performance during a universally challenging period for the air travel industry. The Indian Subcontinent region is very competitive, and exceeding targets is no ordinary feat. I congratulate our team in Male for an inspiring performance,” de Silva said.

Revenue from passenger sales out of Male exceeded the station’s targets by nearly a third in 2008-09, in striking contrast to a general softening of demand for international travel during the year. “The Maldives remains a relatively buoyant market, and the station’s performance illustrates the potential of the destination,” said Soertsz.

The winner of over 400 major international awards Emirates operates 14 services a week from Male to Dubai and three services a week from Male to Colombo offering convenient connections to 99 destinations on six continents.

Cathay Pacific offers new menus

Cathay Pacific Airways launched new menus for First and Business Class passengers featuring a range of dishes specially created by the Hong Kong Chefs’ Association (HKCA) National Culinary Team.

The Hong Kong Chefs’ Association team, Cathay Pacific Catering Planning and Design team, and chefs from Cathay Pacific Catering Services worked together to create the special dishes in the sky.

The airline sponsored the air tickets that enabled the team to take part in the 22nd IKA International Culinary Olympics in Germany last October. The HKCA team brought home four medals from the event and as a token of their appreciation, the chefs got together to create a special menu for the benefit of Cathay Pacific passengers.

The chefs created around 100 dishes including Western appetisers, entrees and desserts. Some of these were featured on flights from May to July and a new selection of dishes is now being served on the majority of Cathay Pacific flights from Hong Kong in First and Business Class.

The dishes featured in the promotion were specially designed by the HKCA in collaboration with the team at Cathay Pacific Catering Services (CPCS) which produces meals for all Cathay Pacific flights out of Hong Kong. The dishes were created with in accordance with the preferred tastes of the airline’s premium travellers and also took into account CPCS’s ability to reproduce the dishes at high volume on a daily basis.

Among the appetisers featured in the promotion are glazed tiger prawn with sesame, papaya and cucumber julienne, and smoked peppered tuna Nicoise salad with tonnato dressing.

Entrees include braised lamb shank with grilled lamb chop, couscous, asparagus and marinated mixed peppers, and duck confit with dark cherry brandy sauce, sauteed potatoes, braised red cabbage and roasted vegetables. Special desserts for premium travellers include American cheesecake with blueberry and cranberry sauce, and peanut butter cake with mixed berry compote.