Aviation

‘Christmas on Wings’ from SriLankan

SriLankan Airlines “Christmas on wings” was held recently with the participation of the airline’s choir at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour. The annual event was held for the 28th consecutive year in the presence of large audience. Some of the highlights of the event.

Emirates says “Hello 2013” offering low fares

Emirates, one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines, is welcoming 2013 aboard by offering very attractive fares for quick-acting customers. Whether their New Year’s resolution is to spend more time with family and friends or visit a dream destination, Emirates’ Economy Class deals, currently available for early bookers, offer something for everyone.

The special fares apply to more than 120 destinations across the Emirates’ network when booked between till January, 2013 for travel from 18 to June 10, 2013.

“With our excellent on board product and a long list of exciting destinations from Buenos Aires and San Francisco in the west to Tokyo and Auckland in the east, there are already many reasons to experience Emirates,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ Executive Vice President, Passenger Sales Worldwide.

“Now, we are injecting even more value into Economy Class fares, while giving a warm welcome to 2013. We urge customers to move quickly to secure seats at the best price,” added Antinori.

Emirates’ world has grown rapidly in 2012, with the launch of 15 new destinations, bringing new countries, cultures and experiences for customers to explore.

The list of new points began with Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires on January, 3 2012 and includes Dublin, Dallas Fort Worth, Seattle, Lusaka, Harare, Ho Chi Minh City, Barcelona, Lisbon, Erbil, Washington DC and Adelaide. Services to Lyon and Phuket started earlier this month.

Emirates, now flying under the banner of “Hello Tomorrow,” operates an impressive, fuel-efficient fleet of 194 aircraft, including the world’s largest fleet of double-decker A380s.

Customers taking advantage of the special 2013 fares now have even more chance of flying on the airline’s flagship A380 with the introduction of a double daily A380 service to New York effectiveJanuary 1, 2013.

This follows on from an all-A380 service to London Heathrow and the launch of the A380 to Singapore and Moscow and A380 flights to Melbourne. In all, Emirates’ 30-strong A380 fleet reaches 21 destinations.

With more than 130 nationalities of highly-trained cabin crew, Emirates on board service is known the world over. Customers can relish the superb gourmet chef-prepared on board cuisine and lose themselves in the enthralling in-flight entertainment, offering up to 1,400 channels of movies, television programmes, music and games.

Emirates also take the worry out of doing a little shopping by offering Economy Class passengers a generous luggage allowance of 30kg.

In 2013, Emirates’ ambitious expansion plans will be supported by the opening of the world’s first purpose-built A380 concourse in Dubai.

For more information on Emirates, including how to book and a complete list of terms and conditions could be seen at www.emirates.com

DXB’s passenger traffic to surpass 2012 target

Passenger traffic at Dubai International is all set to surpass the projected target of 56.5 million for the year, as the worlds fourth busiest hub for international passengers racked up another month of double digit growth this November, according to the monthly traffic report issued by Dubai Airports.

The airport operator also revealed that traffic is forecast to reach 66 million in 2013. With monthly traffic in November reaching 4,875,003, up 10 per cent over 4,431,673 in the corresponding month in 2011, the airport continued to enjoy double-digit growth in passenger numbers in all but two months of the year so far.

The year to date traffic (November) totalled 52,363,589 compared with 46,287,234 during the same period last year, an increase of 13.1 per cent.

Western Europe recorded the largest increase in total passenger numbers in November (+153,089 passengers), followed by the Indian subcontinent (+94,876), Asia (+48,237), and Africa (+42,683). Contraction in traffic on Middle Eastern routes continued (-53,444) owing to the impact of the ongoing situation in certain parts of the region.

The strongest markets in terms of percentage passenger growth were South America (+98.9 per cent) driven by new Emirates airline’s operations to destinations there, followed by Russia and CIS (+22.6 per cent), Australasia (21 per cent ) and North America (+20 per cent) as a result of increase in demand on US routes launched during the year.