AVIATION

Indigenous people on-board SriLankan Air Taxi

SriLankan Air Taxi operated a unique flight recently by taking indigenous people on-board, offering them a first-hand experience of viewing the land from the sky between two cities of Kandy and Mahiyanganaya. The Veddha Chief Uruwarige Wannila Aththo together with four others belonging to his community joined in the flight.

The entire journey of the indigenous people was documented by a film crew on-board for a video documentary produced to mark the celebration of the hundred years of the country's civil aviation. The flight was operated on a request made by the Department of Civil Aviation.

Currently SriLankan Air Taxi has become very popular among foreigners and locals to view the country from air. In order to facilitate the demand, the airline is offering scheduled flights to selected cities such as Nuwara Eilya and a special flight from Bentota to Kandy twice a week during this upcoming holiday season staring from the month of November. SriLankan Air Taxi currently operates to 15 domestic destinations in the country.

The Air Taxi service is operated with one Twin Otter floatplane with a capacity of up to 17 seats. Flying at an altitude of 2,500, 10,000 feet above the ground, the SriLankan Air Taxi gives a bird's eye view of the island's many attractions.

It reduces travel time tremendously, providing easy access to all its destinations, spread across the island.

Africa's first budget airline Fastjet takes to skies

The world's first pan-African low-cost carrier Fastjet enjoyed keen demand on its first day of commercial operations, it said in a statement. "Fastjet... commenced commercial flight operations yesterday, with its first aircraft flying passengers from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza, and Dar es Salaam to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania," the carrier said.

The group flew eight services on Thursday from Tanzania and carried more than 900 passengers.

The so-called passenger load factor, which measures the number of seats filled on flights, stood at an avereage of 78 percent, while three of the services had a load factor of 90 percent.

"Future demand for seats on these two initial routes is currently far outstripping supply," Fastjet added.

"Additional flights to these destinations are already being considered, and the company also intends to expand its route network regionally over the coming weeks as the fleet grows to three Airbus A319s."

AFP

Emirates SkyCargo named Air Cargo Carrier for sixth time

Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, has been named Air Cargo Carrier of the Year, at the 2012 Global Freight Awards held in London.

The awards, formerly known as the IFW (International Freighting Weekly) Awards, recognize excellence in the freight and logistics industry.

This is the sixth time that Emirates SkyCargo has won the award, having previously received the honour in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010. Emirates SkyCargo beat off competition from five other carriers, namely British Airways World Cargo, Cargolux, Lufthansa Cargo, Air France/KLM Cargo and Virgin Atlantic Cargo.

The "Air Cargo Carrier of the Year" is a reader voted category award, in which Lloyds Loading List.com invites shippers and freight forwarders from around the globe to cast their vote and select those carriers and operators which, over the past year, in their opinion had provided the best quality service.

"To win this prestigious award for a sixth time, and to be recognized directly by our customers in this way, is a great honour and a powerful endorsement of our focus and dedication to providing the highest levels of service," said Ram Menen, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice President Cargo.

Ethiad Airways President named CAPA Aviation Executive 2012

Etihad Airways President and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, was named CAPA Aviation Executive of the Year 2012 at the Centre for Aviation's global awards for excellence and leadership, presented in Hong Kong last night. The CAPA Aviation Executive of the Year is awarded to the executive who has had the greatest individual influence on the aviation industry, demonstrating outstanding strategic thinking and innovative direction for the growth of the business and the industry.

CAPA Executive Chairman, Peter Harbison, who presented James Hogan with the award, said: "The Gulf carriers have progressively disturbed the global airline equilibrium over recent years, and 2012 has seen a rapid escalation of this process. None has been more distinctive and mould-changing than Etihad Airways, under the leadership of James Hogan.

"The strategy James has adopted of penetrating each of the key regions with targeted partnerships and equity investments has set a new, and irreversible, direction for the global airline industry." James Hogan said he was deeply honoured to receive the award, particularly at this point in the airline's brief nine-year history. "This award is a powerful endorsement of the airline's 'game-changing' strategy of building strong bilateral partnerships with airlines the world over. "Partnerships and equity investments have been, and continue to be, key to achieving scale and strengthening our competitive position. "Our codeshares, for example, with 41 partner airlines expand our network of destinations to 327 major cities - more than any other Middle Eastern carrier.

"The result is a winning customer proposition, a constant and growing revenue stream, and continuing progress toward our goal of sustainable profitability." James Hogan acknowledged the support of the airline's shareholder and board of directors.

"Etihad Airways would not have achieved its commercial success or best-in-class ranking without the vision and leadership of this important group of stakeholders. James Hogan also paid tribute to the hard work and dedication of the airline's 10,000 staff worldwide. "This award would not have been possible without their commitment and determination to be the world's best. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them and I accept the award on their behalf."

Tourism Australia backs chief in Qantas row

Australia's official tourism agency threw its full support behind its boss Geoff Dixon despite claims bynational carrier Qantas that he is trying to unseat the airline's management.

Dixon ran Qantas from 2001 until 2008 when current chief Alan Joyce took over, and their relationship has descended into a bitter feud over the direction the airline is taking.

On Wednesday Qantas severed its 40-year relationship with Tourism Australia, cancelling a Aus$50 million (US$52 million) deal, "due to a potential conflict of interest of the agency's chairman".

It claimed Dixon was a member of a syndicate "committed to unravelling Qantas' structure and direction".

But Tourism Australia said Dixon had previously declared his interest in Qantas, in line with governance requirements and, as far as it was concerned there was no "unmanageable conflict of interest".

"As per regular Board protocols, having declared the interest, chairman Geoff Dixon will continue to absent himself from all matters relating to the Qantas Group," Tourism Australia deputy chair Kate Lamont said following a board meeting on the issue.

Tourism Australia stressed that, "while important", its partnership with Qantas represented about six percent of its total marketing spending and "we are confident that our future spend won't be compromised in any way".

Tourism Australia "will continue to aggressively market Australia to overseas consumers", said managing director Andrew McEvoy.

"Tourism Australia works with many commercial partners including 20 international airlines as well as the States and Territories, Australian industry and international travel distributors." Media reports said Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson had also backed Dixon, a long-time friend, satisfying himself there was no breach of governance rules.

Dixon's consortium is said to include retail entrepreneur Gerry Harvey, advertising guru John Singleton and another former Qantas executive Peter Gregg.

AFP