Aviation

Emirates' Airbus A380 to KL

Emirates, one of the world's fastest-growing international airlines, celebrated the New Year in a 'big' way by becoming the first airline to operate a scheduled Airbus A380 service to Malaysia.

The A 380 aircraft in Kuala Lumpur

The airline's flagship, operating as EK346, piloted by a Malaysian national Captain Kwong Yung Ling arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Sunday afternoon to a traditional welcome of a water canon salute. Joining Captain Kwong on the flight deck for the first flight was First Officer Abdulaziz Alusaimi from the United Arab Emirates.

"We have been eagerly awaiting the start of our Airbus A380 service to Malaysia, a country that we have been operating flights to since 1996. I am sure this historic milestone in both Malaysian aviation history and in the Emirates story will further strengthen ties between Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to promoting trade and tourism opportunities between the two nations," said Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Far East & Australasia Richard Jewsbury.

"The year 2012 will be a busy time for Emirates, in addition to launching our A380 aircraft on one of our three daily non-stop flights between Dubai and Kuala Lumpur, we hope expanding our network to Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro in South America from 3rd January and Dublin in Ireland from 9th January, opening up more opportunities for Malaysian travellers and businesses," added Jewsbury.

Emirates' A380 service arrives in Dubai at a convenient time giving passengers the options of onward connections to any of Emirates' expanding over 116 European, Middle Eastern, African and American destinations.

SilkAir increasing frequency for northern summer 2012 schedule

New services to Darwin and Wuhan to be launched:

SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, will increase services across parts of its route network during the Northern Summer 2012 period as part of its expansion plans.

SilkAir will launch two new services during this period - to Darwin, Australia, as announced, and Wuhan, China, subject to regulatory approvals.

The four-times-weekly service to Darwin will be the first destination for SilkAir. Meanwhile, Wuhan, which will be operate thrice weekly, will be SilkAir's seventh destination in China. Frequency will also be increased on selected services between Singapore and points in China, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Services between Singapore and Changsha will increase to four-times-weekly from the current thrice weekly. Two weekly flights will be added to the Singapore-Chongqing route, making it a daily service.

In India, Bangalore services will be increased to six times weekly, from the current five. Services between Singapore and Hyderabad will also be increased to eight times weekly, from the current seven. In Indonesia, flights between Singapore and Lombok, as well as those between Singapore and Pekanbaru will operate five times a week, up from the current three.

Services to Koh Samui in Thailand will be increased to daily, up from the current five-times-weekly flights.

'SriLankan Cares' for differently abled

Love, hope and giving are emotions that are rekindled during the time of the year and the dawn of a new year.

SriLankan Airlines has placed its trust on the theology of love, hope and charity to create a greeting card which is a fund raising project for the airline's charitable arm Sri Lankan Cares.

The project is to support the construction of the Children's psychiatric ward at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Colombo.

The community development arm of SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Cares has been actively participating in fund raising campaigns and charity activities with its main focus being the empowerment of children.

'SriLankan Cares' has now focussed in funding and uplifting lives of differently abled children, in addition to supporting education. This greeting card is a call to everyone to re-look at the visually impaired, hearing impaired, and mentally impaired children as human beings with similar hopes, and interests and consider them as equal to any human being in society.

'SriLankan Cares' will dedicate itself to raise funds with a target of Rs. 8 million to renovate and develop Ward 5 of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, which is the only hospital ward in the country

to treat children with mental health disorders.

It has been reported that many children in the country has mental health problems that interfere with their normal development and daily life and that they are not given adequate attention and proper treatment.

It is important to note that they can return to their normal daily lives, if they receive appropriate treatment.

SriLankan Airline's CEO Kapila Chandrasena said,

"A culture of giving is one of the defining features of a successful society and this continuous tradition of empowerment of children with education and good health by the National Carrier will improve the quality of life of the children in this country."

SriLankan Airlines will make this project a success, whilst opening a whole world of hope for those innocent children who has been less cared for.

SriLankan Cares has carried out major development projects in three rural schools in different parts of the country providing buildings and infrastructure such as classrooms, libraries, and computer labs.

The first was the expansion of Meepagama Jayanthi Maha Vidyalaya at Kalawana in the Ratnapura district in 2003, where the school with a capacity for 400 students found itself educating a 1,000 following a flood which destroyed several other schools in the area.

The second was Al Bahriyah Maha Vidyalaya at Kalmunai in the Batticaloa District, a school with 1,500 children which was rebuilt following the Tsunami of 2004.

The third major school project was the uplifting of Debarawewa school.

Oman Air introduces Rolls-Royce engines

Oman Air has ordered Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines to power the six Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Abdulaziz Alraisi, Oman Air’s Chief Officer Management Affairs in front of Trent 1000

The airline is the first in the Middle East to select the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine, which powered the first 787 Dreamliner into service.

Oman Air Chief Executive Officer Peter Hill, said: "We look forward to further strengthening our relationship with Rolls-Royce through the selection of Trent technology, for the next generation aircraft, that offers both efficiency and environmental advantages.

In line with our expansion plan, which saw us receiving the first two Embraer E175 aircraft this year, we have now confirmed our order for the next phase of our fleet strategy."

The 787 Dreamliner achieves new levels of fuel efficiency, a significant portion of that improvement provided by engine technology which also reduces emissions and noise.

Oman Air currently operates seven Trent 700-powered Airbus A330 aircraft supported by a TotalCare long term service agreement.

Its Boeing 787 Dreamliners are scheduled to go into service in 2015.

Oman Air is the flagship carrier of the Sultanate of Oman and an Official 4 Star Airline.

Founded in 1993, the airline has since witnessed massive growth and has played a major role in making Muscat an important traffic hub in the Middle East, supporting the commercial, industrial and tourism sectors.

Dubai Airport launches myDXB

Dubai Airports launches myDXB app for Apple and Android devices Mobile application will enhance customer experience at the airport.

Navigating one of the world's busiest and largest airports got easier with Dubai Airport unveiling a mobile application for Apple and Android devices.

Called myDXB, the application provides information on flights and gate numbers as well as way-finding to locate customer-facing services across the three terminals of Dubai International.

The idea behind creating myDXB was to simply communicate the availability and location of commercial services to millions of passengers that pass through our terminals each month. The application is also a great way to plan ahead, enabling passengers to maximise their time with us, and direct them towards services from currency exchange to their favourite retail or food brands, said Commercial Unit at Dubai Airports Senior Vice President Eugene Barry.

He added that Dubai Airport was constantly looking at ways to make the passenger journey more convenient, and innovative technologies are a natural choice for achieving that objective. "We understand the connection between way-finding and customer experience, and this application is the first step in offering our customers tools to plan their time at Dubai International, and to ultimately influence behaviour and spend," Barry said.

Built with a simple interface, myDXB can be downloaded on iPhones and iPads as well as on the wide range of Android phones and tablets in seconds. While Dubai International offers free Wi-Fi Internet connectivity throughout the airport, the directory element of the application has been designed to operate offline so that more customers can access and benefit from it.