volume 48-2020

MANAMA: Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, has ceremonially signed five agreements with a number of companies during an official delegation’s visit from Bahrain to Israel.

Captain Waleed A Hameed AlAlawi, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Air, said: “We take great pride in being part of the official delegation from the Kingdom of Bahrain and hope this is merely the beginning of developing further aviation opportunities. During our visit, we have signed a number of great agreements that will solidify the confidence in aviation between the two countries.”

Gulf Air and EL AL Airlines signed a comprehensive MoU which sets the foundation to discuss potential joint codeshare operations between Manama and Tel Aviv, as well as on the global flight networks beyond the two carriers’ hubs and contains plans for greater commercial cooperation in the fields of loyalty, cargo, engineering, travel technology and any area that can benefit both airlines and their customers.

Gulf Air has reached an accord with TAL Aviation Group to represent Gulf Air in Israel. TAL Aviation is a Global airline, travel & tourism representation organisation with more than 35 offices covering over 50 countries throughout Europe, Asia, the Pacific and the Americas. 

 Moreover, Gulf Air entered a line maintenance agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Aviation Group. Under the contract, the Aviation Group will provide a comprehensive technical response to all of Gulf Air’s airplanes expected to land at the Ben Gurion International Airport, including post- and pre-flight services and support for any technical issues. IAI’s Aviation Group provides Line Maintenance services to some 75% of the airlines that arrive at the Ben Gurion Airport.

 The airline also signed an agreement with QAS Israel Ltd for ground handling, cargo, common use terminal equipment (CUTE) and lounges.

 Lastly, Gulf Air and Newrest Israel signed an agreement for on-board catering. Newrest is a specialist in out-of-home food service and a global leader in multi-sector catering

LONDON: This month, just four weeks shy of the final Brexit, the UK and the U.S. signed a new bilateral open skies agreement to ensure flights between the two countries would continue as of January 1, 2021, without “interruption due to regulatory uncertainty” when European Union laws stop applying to the UK.

But uncertainty is exactly what European destinations are dealing with in the absence of clear guidance on how tourism will operate seamlessly between the UK and the EU starting in the new year.

“The lack of information we have so far is agonizing,” Luís Araújo, president of Visit Portugal and new president of the European Travel Commission, said at a recent webinar hosted by the European Tourism Association, discussing the impact of Brexit on travel between the UK and the EU. “The issues related with visas, the health system, insurances, traveling with pets, working permits, driving licenses, taxes all these issues have to be very clearly set up until the first of January.”

From this discussion among the UK’s major tourism markets, including Ireland, Germany, Spain, France, and Portugal, on the consequences of post-transition Brexit, the main takeaway is this: the lack of clarity on issues related to travel and tourism between the UK and the EU.  So close to 2021 and on top of Covid restriction, that lack of clarity is likely to cause consumer and trade insecurity at the start of the year if travelers and travel companies have no idea what they need to do to be in compliance.

The final Brexit will particularly affect UK-based tour operators that sell the EU and send travelers to EU member states. “The only alteration will be that those companies based in the UK that sell Europe to people resident in the UK: they will no longer have to account for value-added tax (VAT) through the Tour Operators Margin Scheme,” Tom Jenkins, CEO of the European Tourism Association, told.

Despite the remaining uncertainty around UK-EU tourism, Brexit hasn’t dampened sales of leisure travel thus far; destinations such as Germany, Spain and France shared that they expect continued consumer travel demand between the UK and EU primary tourism markets. How much consumer confidence will be impacted by January 1 as a result of Brexit uncertainty, however, remains to be seen.

What’s really proving to be “a long slog” as the European Tourism Association Director of Policy Tim Fairhurst told, is “building consensus on comparable safe-to-travel protocols” and related technology such as testing and health passports.

“By far, the biggest obstacle to seamless travel is the management of public health precautions,” Fairhust said.

With the final Brexit stage less than a month away, it’s likely travelers and EU-UK tourism providers will face an initial period of uncertainty and inefficiency going into 2021, as the UK and the EU will be pushed to make rapid cross-border adjustments for the safe and smooth movement and flow of people and services.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Oriental Sky Aviation Limited on Wednesday, December 2 signed a landmark cargo charter agreement, paving way for direct and daily dedicated cargo flights between Pakistan and China.

The instrument of agreement was signed between the PIA General Manager (charters) and Oriental Sky Aviation MD Rush Wang at the PIA office. PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik and Chief Commercial Officer Ali Tahir Qasim were also present on the occasion.

As per the agreement, PIA will operate seven weekly flights to Urumqi (China), with four flights a week from Islamabad and three flights from Lahore. It will be a one-of-its-kind operation as PIA has never operated daily cargo flights on this sector. PIA will be using its Airbus A320s for the said operations.

At the occasion of agreement signing, PIA Spokesperson Abdullah Khan said that during Covid-19, airlines across the globe have seen unprecedented surge in demand for air cargo with many converting their passenger planes to cargo freighters to take advantage of this situation.

“PIA is also aggressively pursuing this path and we are evaluating and looking out for opportunities to operate dedicated cargo flights to a number of sectors, specifically on China and Central Asian routes. PIA is already operating passenger and cargo charters to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan and Xi’an in China.”

Speaking on the small and modest ceremony, PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik appreciated his commercial team for taking initiatives to augment the existing revenue sources and thanked the Oriental Sky Aviation MD for his patronage of PIA.

He said that with a daily connection, trade and commerce between the two countries in the post-Covid scenario will be greatly facilitated and will help in normalcy after perhaps the most devastating year for commercial aviation worldwide.

PIA signs cargo charter with Oriental Sky Aviation Ltd

PAKISTAN

By Ali Kamran On Dec 2, 2020  64 0

Islamabad (Dec 02, 2020): Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Oriental Sky Aviation Ltd signed a landmark cargo charter agreement here on Wednesday paving the way for direct and daily dedicated cargo flights between Pakistan and China.

The instrument of agreement was signed between PIA’s General Manager Charters and Managing Director (MD) Oriental Sky Aviation Mr. Rush Wang at Pakistan International Airlines offices. Chief executive officer (CEO) PIA Air Marshal Arshad Malik and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) PIA Mr. Ali Tahir Qasim were also present at the signing.

As per the agreement, the national carrier will operate 7 weekly flights to Urumqi (China), with four flights a week originating from Islamabad and three flights from Lahore. It will be one of its kind operations as PIA has never operated daily cargo flights on this sector.

Read also: PIA invites bids for 8 narrowbody aircraft

PIA will be using its Airbus A320s for the said operations.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is looking to acquire eight narrow body aircraft on dry lease by December next year.

The dry lease refers to a long-term procedure in which an aircraft is delivered to an airline on a monthly or annual basis without staffing, maintenance or insurance.

According to details, the national airline has issued a tender notice in this regard which states that the airline intends to lease eight aircraft up to ‘2012-vintage, for a period of six years, or up to the aircraft’s first 12-year check’.

PIA has set the delivery schedule to run from January to December next year.

Among the other requirements, the aircraft should have at least 170 seats or more in an all-economy layout, in addition to a soft divider after the first two rows.

The national carrier currently has a fleet of 11 Airbus A320ceo aircraft that are all leased and between 10 and 16 years of age of which nine are currently in service. As per the tender notice, the last date of submission of Bidding Documents is January 11, 2021.

Aircraft should have more than 170 economy seats with a short distance after 2 rows.

ISLAMABAD: On the eve of winter holidays and school vacations, Pakistan international Airlines (PIA) has announced special discounted fares on domestic flights for their valued passengers.

According to a PIA spokesperson, the national flag carrier has announced a special discount of up to 30 percent on domestic flights operating between Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Peshawar. One-way fares on domestic flights have been reduced from 12,275 to 8,500 PKR.

A spokesperson stated that the domestic fare of PIA has been reduced from Rs 24,600 to Rs 17,000. Discounted fares will be effective from December 3.