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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’s GDP grew by 4.4% in 2012, new figures show
Dubai's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 4.4 per cent in 2012, new figures have confirmed.According to the Dubai Statistics Centre, the emirate's economy expanded at its fastest rate since 2007 over the course of the year.The city fell on hard times during the global financial crisis – with GDP contracting by 2.7 per cent in 2009 – but this latest report highlights just how strongly it has recovered. GDP rose by 3.5 per cent in 2010 and then increased by 3.6 per cent in 2011.This shows the sheikhdom has been heading in the right direction for a few years now and experts think this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.Bloomberg reports the cost of servicing its debt declined rapidly in the past 12 months, which is another indication that the government has brought things under control. Borrowing costs also plummeted in 2012, the news provider revealed.Unsurprisingly, it was the hospitality and tourism sectors that contributed the most towards Dubai's improved performance last year, with restaurants and hotels having a particularly successful 12 months.More resorts reported increased occupancy levels and this has prompted developers to start erecting new hotels in the most popular parts of the city.This means the construction industry – which had been badly affected by the global economic collapse – has found its feet again and anybody who has visited Dubai recently will have seen the cranes moving once more.Businesses throughout the emirate are certainly confident that things are looking up and a study conducted by the Department of Economic Development last month showed that firms are expecting to boost their profits in the second quarter of 2013.Indeed, as many as 91 per cent of the companies that took part in the survey are predicting bumper revenues during the three-month period.On hearing the results, director of the department His Excellency Sami Al Qamzi said Dubai's construction, aviation, logistics and property sectors are all flourishing. Continue reading
The Apprentice hopefuls head to Dubai
Fans of the popular BBC One reality TV show The Apprentice will be able to see the UAE in all its glory on tonight's (May 28th) episode.The 12 remaining candidates travelled to Dubai to take part in a special task that required them to purchase eight items for a new hotel that is currently being built in the Middle Eastern country.They had to buy the goods – which included a UAE flag in a specific size and a sago palm tree – for as little money as possible.Lord Alan Sugar wanted to see if the contestants had what it takes to conduct business in a different part of the world, but unfortunately some of the entrepreneurs came unstuck when they got their dimensions all wrong when buying the flag.Nick Hewer – Lord Sugar's right-hand man who oversees the candidates as they set about each task – explained what had happened.”Here in the land of the sand dune, the camel, and the Burj Al Arab, size really matters,” he remarked.”They came to buy a flag of a certain size, they got the size wrong, they got one the size of a napkin. Why? Because they weren't paying attention.”The overall winner of the show will have a unique opportunity to go into business with Lord Sugar himself and they must continue to prove themselves over the coming weeks.Producers of the programme said the two teams adopted different tactics, with one opting to scour Dubai's famous traditional souks while the other attempted to sniff out bargains at one of the city's mega malls.If nothing else, the show highlights the fact that Dubai is not only a global shopping hotspot, but a thriving business hub too.The episode is also likely to give viewers an insight into the emirate's stunning multi-million dollar hotels. More and more luxurious resorts are springing up across the city all the time and investors from all over the world are increasingly keen to pump money into Dubai's lucrative hospitality sector. Continue reading
