A Future with Fly Dubai

Image Courtesy of FlyDubai

Since taking its initial delivery of first Boeing 737-800 on May 18, 2009 Dubai first low cost carrier Fly Dubai has experienced a smooth entry into the low cost travel market. Operating out of the state of the art Terminal 2 at Dubai’s International Airport and flying to destinations within four and a half hours from Dubai the carrier is looking to capitalize on an underserved market by low cost airlines and the huge growth potential of the Middle East, especially Dubai as a Mecca for visitors to the Arabian Oasis.

8 months since its first delivery Fly Dubai has added 12 destinations to its portfolio flying 6 state of the art Boeing 737-800 series aircraft in 189 seat all economy configuration. With Fly Dubai looking to emulate the success of Southwest Airlines in the United States, it has sure positioned itself in the right place to build on an underserved low cost travel market. With the Middle East rising in prominence, people choosing to travel more, visa restriction slowly being lifted and open skies agreements created it future of the Middle Eastern market will add another dimension to its landscape with Fly Dubai right in the thick of things.

The question may loom as to how will other legacy carriers react to Fly Dubai, will neighboring Qatar airways create a low cost spin off which they have hinted at the possibility?, what about Etihad Airways the new Abu Dhabi carrier? And what impact will Air Arabia in neighboring Sharjah cause an impact on the rise of Fly Dubai? Questions to be answered and time to deliver the verdicts, but for now Fly Dubai looks to write a new chapter in low cost flying in the Middle East.

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Tiger Airways calls Adelaide home

Image Courtesy of Andrea Silvia

Tiger Airways launches its second Australian base in Adelaide to further its expansion in Australia. Opening the new Tiger Airways second hub at Adelaide International Airport offers the state of South Australia an increase in visitors to the state as well as the creation of new jobs. Tiger Airways considered a secondary hub after it achieved a 91% load factor in its primary hub at Melbourne International Airport. The airline has based two Airbus A320 aircraft in Adelaide as well as 60 South Australian based pilots and crew to help with the rapid start to new operations. Tiger Airways has plans to add new low cost services to Perth, Hobart, the Gold Coast, Alice Springs and Canberra as well as increasing the number of flights between Victoria and South Australia.

The South Australian Tourism Minister commented that the additional flights would bring about 10 million more visitors over the next eight years to South Australia as well as create new jobs and support the local economy. It all bodes well for the future of Adelaide and the state of South Australia with this new Tiger Airways expansion into its new Adelaide hub.

Passengers will now be able to enjoy greater connectivity and more options to all of their favorite Australian cities. Welcome Tiger Airways to the city of churches.

Enjoy some of the best deals to all Tiger Airways destinations by consulting the Tiger Airways website.

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Fly Dubai welcomes its first Aircraft to its new home

Image Courtesy of Hannes Meyer

Fly Dubai unveiled its first Boeing 737-800 on May 18, 2009 to a group of selected guests including industry experts, staff and media. With June 1 fast approaching when Fly Dubai will operate its inaugural service to Beirut the arrival of its first Boeing 737-800 next generation aircraft is a major step for Dubai’s very own low cost airline.

The selected group of guests got a first glimpse of the carrier’s vibrant and refreshing livery. His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, Chairman of Fly Dubai and vice president of the United Arab Emirates personally selected the livery to capture the essence of Dubai with the bright colors of blue and orange. These vibrant colors were selected to show the colors of Dubai’s coastline where the orange reflects the sun, sand and warmth of the people while the blue epitomizes the endless blue skies and the majestic blue seas that Dubai is known for all over the world.

This 737 next generation aircraft is the first of 50 to be delivered to Fly Dubai by 2016. The airline placed an historic order at the Farnborough Air Show last year worth about $3.74 billion dollars at the current list prices making Fly Dubai operators of one of the youngest and most efficient aircraft fleets in the world ultimately giving its passengers more options at the lowest prices flying to destinations in high demand across the gulf region and surrounding countries while bringing unrivaled connectivity to all parts of the world from its Dubai base.

Fly Dubai has already announced it will fly to four destinations of Beirut, Amman, Alexandria and Damascus. With more routes to be announced in the near future Fly Dubai is bringing passengers a new way to fly at the lowest prices.

Welcome Fly Dubai

Talking Point:

With its highly anticipated entry to the market will Fly Dubai gain a large portion of market share from the word go? Will their popularity translate into profits from the onset?

How will this impact the highly successful Air Arabia and the likes of Jazeera Airways, Wataniya Airways, Air India Express and other low cost carriers flying the Arabian Skies?

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Abu Dhabi here we come!

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia

Image Courtesy of Wilstop

JAT Airways re-established its connection on the Belgrade-Abu Dhabi route as the Boeing 737 of Serbia’s national flag carrier touched down on May 6, 2009 at 6:55am local time greeted by water cannons upon its touch down. This is the first direct air link from JAT Airways between Belgrade and Abu Dhabi since 1998.

JAT Airways will operate in and out of Abu Dhabi’s terminal 1 on its Wednesday, Friday twice weekly service with Flights touching down in Abu Dhabi at 6:55am and departing back for Belgrade at 7:45 am on the same day with a turnaround time of 50 minutes.

JAT Airways becomes the 44th airline to begin operations at the fast growing Abu Dhabi International Airport. Its convenient early morning departures will offer its passengers wonderful connection options to Paris, Milan and the remainder of the JAT Airways network through its Serbian hub and gateway city, Belgrade.

ADAC (Abu Dhabi Airports Company) has expressed its joy in welcoming JAT Airways to Abu Dhabi broadening the destinations served from Abu Dhabi International Airport and bringing closer the dream ADAC has of bringing passengers together from the east and west at Abu Dhabi, a new up and coming super hub.

Talking Point:

Will the Belgrade-Abu Dhabi route yield profitability, viability, success and a high passenger load factor that JAT Airways is looking for?

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Wreckage of Air France missing jet confirmed

The wreckage of Air France flight 447 has been confirmed scattered across the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles beyond the Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. A salvage effort may take weeks but it will be a team effort from a multiple of countries spearheaded by the French and Brazilians to recover the remains to piece together the clues of what happened to Air France flight 447 high above the Atlantic that fateful night.

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Debris of Air France flight 447 found

The Brazilian Air Force has confirmed that they have come across what may be the debris of Air France flight 447 Airbus A 330 aircraft scattered across the Atlantic Ocean about 410 miles beyond Fernando de Noronha, the Brazilian archipelago near the flight path that Air France 447 was flying from Rio de Jeneiro to Paris. Floating debris and signs of fuel were spotted but indication of any sign of life was non existent.

Currently there are three commercial ships in the area joining in the search attempt and France has committed a ship for deep water exploration and can deploy an unmanned submarine capable of potentially retrieving the vital black box recorder that is believed to be sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean where depths can reach up to 20,000 feet.

The search goes on and gathers pace in the attempt to piece together the missing clues as to what brought down Air France flight 447 in the earliest hours of Monday morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those still missing.

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Air France Airbus A330 Jet Missing

Air France Airbus A 330. The aircraft type

that went missing over the Atlantic

Image Courtesy of Flickr

An Air France Airbus jet is feared lost carrying 228 people on board after it vanished over the Atlantic.

It is believed that the Airbus A 330 aircraft encountered a thunderous zone with strong turbulence at 2:00am local time just off Brazil’s northern coast with Air France receiving an automated message from flight 447 about 14 minutes later signaling an electrical failure.

Although experts have ruled out that the plane could have been hit by a lightening strike, It is likely that the plane entered a zone with heavy turbulence and thunderstorms rising up to 50,000 feet, a phenomenon common to this part of the world at this time of year. These violent storms can produce heavy turbulence pounding an aircraft with extremely high winds and hail. Structural damage can result out of these storms causing pilots serious problems if they cannot maneuver around them.

It is without doubt that the plane is no longer flying in the sky considering the amount of fuel it carried on board and the amount of time that has elapsed since it has been deemed missing. At this time, it can be provisionally concluded that something catastrophic happened aboard AF 447 that caused this aircraft to fall from the sky. With no mayday call or distress signal from the flight deck it points in the direction that the pilot didn’t have enough time due to the plane descending at an alarmingly rapid rate.

Air France fears the worst and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the chances of finding survivors are “little”. Search and rescue attempts are underway however searching in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago is considered very difficult due to the vast size of the area where the plane could have possibly went down after it left Brazilian radar. Brazilian Air Force planes are trying to trace the same route that was taken by the missing Air France jet however as of yet no results have come to fruition.

A member of Brazil’s non-reigning royal family, Prince Pedro Luis De Orleans e Braganca was on board Air France Flight 447 travelling from Rio de Jeneiro to Paris. The prince is confirmed missing as announced by the Orleans e Braganca family in an official statement.

If all were killed it would be the deadliest airline disaster since November 12, 2001 where 265 people perished when an American Airlines Flight 587 utilizing Airbus A300 aircraft crashed into Queens, NY after take off from JFK Airport nearby.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families, relatives and friends who had loved ones aboard Air France flight 447.

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