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Emirates takes home 2013 ‘World’s Best Airline’ Award
Paris: Emirates Airlines was awarded the highly coveted ‘World’s Best Airline’ award, presented by Skytrax at the 2013 World Airline Awards yesterday. In addition to winning ‘World’s Best Airline’ Emirates scooped up a further two awards including; ‘Best Middle East Airline’ and for a record ninth year in a row, ‘World’s Best Inflight Entertainment’. The awards were collected on Tuesday by Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline at the Paris Airshow. The Skytrax World Airline Awards polled over 18 million business and leisure air travellers from more than 160 countries “Being honoured with these awards is testament to our unrelenting effort to be the world’s best airline,” said Clark. “We are constantly striving to offer our customers consistent, world-class service that extends from the moment they make their booking to the moment they arrive home at the end of their journey.” These awards are widely regarded as the industry’s benchmark for excellence. For us, the awards clearly reflect a vote of confidence from global travellers, who acknowledge and appreciate our continuous drive to deliver high-quality service. To be voted ‘World’s Best Airline’ by millions of discerning travellers really is something for our 60,000 strong workforce to be proud of,” added Clark. Since launching in 1985, Emirates has grown into one of the largest and most dynamic airlines in the world and has transformed Dubai into a major connecting hub for global air travel. Last year over 39 million customers flew with Emirates, connecting across the airline’s global network and enjoying the airline’s extensive onboard innovations, including the industry leading inflight entertainment system ice, offering over 1,400 channels of entertainment. Emirates has been, and continues to be, a leader in revolutionising air travel, working closely with manufacturers and suppliers to ensure all aspects of the customer experience are second to none. It is the many advances by Emirates in the area of aviation that have resulted in the airline winning more than 500 international awards. Etihad top in First Class category Etihad Airways took home the coveted title of Best First Class for the fourth consecutive year, as well as taking home top honours for Best First Class Seats and Best First Class Catering. Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “It is a huge accomplishment to take home the top honours in every First Class category again, underlining our leading premium product proposition. “Etihad Airways has, in just 10 years of operation, risen rapidly in the Skytrax rankings because we are continually investing in innovative new product and service concepts. We believe that world-class hospitality should not be limited to hotels and restaurants, so we are elevating the travel experience by bringing the best of hospitality to every touch point in the journey.” Continue reading
Dubai to stage F1 test events?
The state-of-the-art Dubai Autodrome could be set to host Formula 1 (F1) test races, it has been suggested.A meeting took place in Montreal earlier this month, where teams agreed to extend the in-season testing process.Although there has been no decision as to which venues will stage these trial races, there is a distinct possibility that Dubai will be a popular choice among F1 bosses.The Autodrome certainly ticks all the boxes, as a number of current drivers are familiar with the track.Indeed, Romain Grosjean, Jean Eric Vergne, Pastor Maldonado, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg have all taken a car around the course in the past, while Kamui Kobayashi holds the track's lap time record.The Japanese driver set the fastest time ever seen at the track – one minute and 41 seconds – during the GP2 Asia race in 2008.FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) F1 race director Charlie Whiting visited the site earlier this year and confirmed it was still worthy of its FIA Grade 1 Circuit License – allowing it to hold fully-fledged F1 testing events.General manager at Dubai Autodrome Richard Birch told the facility's Track Talk news website: “Of course we would welcome the opportunity to host F1 testing at our venue. We have the facilities and Dubai has all the infrastructure required for a week of testing.”At this stage it is merely talk and speculation as the final decision is not in our hands or even been made as far as we know.”Dubai is steadily building itself a strong reputation for hosting major sporting events and securing the rights to stage F1 testing would be a big coup.The emirate is renowned for being a glamorous playground for the rich and famous, which makes it a perfect destination for the extremely lucrative motor racing industry.Neighbouring city Abu Dhabi is set to host an F1 grand prix at its impressive Yas Marina track in November 2013. Continue reading
RTA could bring Dubai Metro expansion forward
Leaders at Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) have confirmed that plans to expand the city's Metro network could be brought forward if the emirate's bid for the World Expo in 2020 is successful.The organisation is hoping to complete an AED 5 billion (£866 million) upgrade of the Red Line, but the project could be fast-tracked if the high-profile international event is staged in Dubai.Organisers of the city's bid have outlined potential sites to host the conference and it is likely to end up next to Dubai World Central Airport. If the showpiece is awarded to the sheikhdom, the RTA will be under pressure to provide Metro links between the airport and the rest of the region.Mattar Mohammad Al Tayer, chairman of the board and executive director of the RTA, said plans to expand the Red Line out towards the airport have been in place for some time, Gulf News reports.”As soon as the bid results are out and if we win – which we will Inshallah (God willing), we start the planning and development of the project,” he was quoted as saying.Dubai World Central has only been used to transport cargo to date, but the aviation facility is scheduled to launch passenger flights in October 2013.Conveniently, organisers of the World Expo 2020 are expected to announce the host city just one month later.Mr Al Tayer said the new-look Metro servive will also cover Jebel Ali, which is close to the Expo site, thus enabling even more people to travel to the venue.”We have already floated the tenders for the next stage of Etihad Rail's development. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2017, and that will bring additional traffic to the area,” he added.Earlier this week, the Bureau International des Expositions scrutinised each Expo 2020 bidder and confirmed that Dubai has moved on to the next stage of the process. Thailand's Ayutthaya has withdrawn from the competition, leaving just four contenders, including Izmir in Turkey, Sao Paulo in Brazil, Yekaterinburg in Russia and Dubai. Continue reading
