Philippine Airlines and Airbus coordinate fourth humanitarian flight for typhoon Haiyan victims

By BA Staff

One month after Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, struck the Philippines, thousands of people are still left homeless and without food or water.

Since the disaster happened in early November this year, Airbus’ Corporate Foundation has coordinated three relief and goodwill flights, with either Airbus Flight Test aircraft or newly delivered customer aircraft.

This week-end, a fourth flight to the Philippines was coordinated by the Airbus Corporate Foundation and its partners, Philippine Airlines (PAL), Action Contre la Faim, Aviation Sans Frontières and Humedica.

A PAL A330, with four doctors and one nurse on board, loaded with 5.6 tonnes of medical supplies, food and water sanitation equipment, took off on Friday 6th December from Toulouse and landed in Manila, Philippines on Saturday 7th December early morning. This is the third flight using a PAL aircraft since the typhoon struck the country.


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Airbus corporate foundation coordinates relief aid to the Philippines

By BA Staff

An Airbus A340-300 test flight aircraft left Lyon, France at 7:45 Nov. 15, for Cebu, Philippines with 28 logistics and emergency rescue specialists on board plus nearly 30 tonnes of water purification equipment and energy biscuits, destined for the victims of the Haiyan typhoon in the Philippines. This relief mission has been jointly organised with Action Contre la Faim (ACF). The aircraft is scheduled to arrive on Saturday morning at 7 a.m. locally.

In addition a delivery-flight of an all new A321 to Philippine Airlines is being used to send a medical team of 10 doctors and nurses as well as 11 tonnes of medical equipment and food to Tacloban via Manila, Philippines. This help has been facilitated together with the Foundation partners Philippine Airlines, Humedica e.V. and Kühne & Nagel. The flight will leave the Airbus site in Hamburg, Germany, this Friday evening and is expected to arrive at Manila Capital airport on Sunday 8:30 p.m. local time. The medical personnel and goods will then be transported by an onward flight to Tacloban.

Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President and CEO and Chairman of the Airbus Foundation said:

"The Philippines have been struck by a true human disaster and it is natural, that we look at all possibilities about how we can contribute in facilitating relief in this tragic situation quickly and efficiently. It fills me with gratitude and pride to see our teams being engaged so strongly with our Foundation Partners to work towards this common objective, and I wish to thank everybody involved."

Jean-Baptiste Lamarche, Logistics Director ACF, stated:

"This partnership is very valuable to ACF. As one of our privileged logistics partners, Airbus helps us to intervene rapidly and efficiently during emergency situations, like after the natural disasters in Haiti in 2010, and recently in the Philippines. This logistical support allows us fulfill our mission, which consists in saving lives and helping the most vulnerable."                                                                                                                           

Wolfgang Gross, Managing Director of Humedica e.V. said:

"We are very grateful for this opportunity to quickly bring further aid to Tacloban. By now we have twelve medical specialists in Tacloban who are working non-stop and urgently need further support and medical goods.”

The Airbus Corporate Foundation has completed 34 relief or goodwill flights to destinations around the globe to date and has built up a global network of airlines and relief organisations to support international humanitarian causes.

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Qatar Airways launches new route to Philippines

By BA Staff

Qatar Airways has launched daily non-stop daily flights to Clark Manila International Airport in the Philippines.

The Clark airport route is operated with an Airbus A330 in a two-class configuration of up to 248 seats in Economy and up to 36 in Business Class.

Clark International Airport is located about 96km from Manila City Centre and a complimentary bus service will be available to take passengers to and from Trinoma Mall and Resorts World Manila (conveniently located opposite of Manila International Airport (MNL) terminal 3).

As an inaugural offer, Qatar is offering its passengers an exceptional baggage allowance of up to 40 kgs valid for travel until 31 January 2014. Members of Qatar Airways’ frequent flyer programme Privilege Club can earn up to 7,000 bonus Qmiles in Economy Class and 14,000 bonus Qmiles in Business Class for travel on a return trip between 27 October and 31 December 2013.


The destination becomes Qatar Airways’ 12th gateway in Southeast Asia after Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Bali, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Jakarta, Hanoi, Singapore, Manila, Yangon and Phuket, and the carrier’s 133rd destination worldwide.

Images courtesy Qatar Airways

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Cebu Air Pacific grows Visayas hub passengers by up to 33%

By BA Staff

The Philippines’ leading low-cost carrier, Cebu Pacific Air (PSE:CEB) increased operations from its Visayas hubs, in line with its continued push for more tourism and trade in the destinations it flies to. From January to August 2013, the number of passengers through the airline’s Iloilo hub went up by 33%, while guests to and from its Cebu hub increased by 15%. Cebu remains the airline’s second largest hub, with over 2.3 million CEB passengers passing through the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in the first 8 months of the year.

Late last year, CEB doubled the routes it offered to and from the Iloilo International Airport. It provided direct connectivity to Tacloban, Puerto Princesa and General Santos, and pioneered the first international flights out of Iloilo to Hong Kong and Singapore. Previously, CEB only flew from Iloilo to Manila, Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro.

CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution Candice Iyog had this to say about the upgrades:

“We hope that our direct air linkages empower everyone to travel in the fastest way possible, and discover tourism and trade opportunities all over the Philippines. Cebu Pacific will always explore how else it can assist in the country’s tourism agenda, with the delivery of more brand-new aircraft until 2021,”

CEB currently operates more than 2,200 weekly flights to over 90 routes or city pairs. The airline flies to 34 domestic and 22 international destinations. Its newest international routes include Manila-Phuket, launched last August 16, 2013, and Manila-Dubai, to be launched on October 7, 2013.
CEB currently operates 10 Airbus A319, 27 Airbus A320, 2 Airbus A330 and 8 ATR-72 500 aircraft. Its fleet of 47 aircraft is one of the most modern aircraft fleets in the world. Between 2013 and 2021, Cebu Pacific will take delivery of 15 more Airbus A320, 30 Airbus A321neo, and 4 Airbus A330 aircraft.  

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Emirates to launch Taipei flights

by BA Staff

Dubai-based Emirates has will commence a new six times a week to Taipei from its global hub at Dubai.

The airline will use a 354-seat Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a 3-class configuration (8F / 42J / 304Y).

Taipei is the carrier's 16th destination in the Far East.

Barry Brown, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations East.

"Emirates SkyCargo has operated a dedicated freighter service to Taipei since 2003. Given its status as a global trading hub and the demand, it is a natural progression for Emirates to launch passenger services to Taipei,”

The flight schedules though, are a little unusual. The arrivals in to Taipei vary by day of the week, but the return flight is fixed for an early morning arrival in to Dubai, quite obviously to allow passengers connections to other Emirates' destinations and improve access to Taiwan from other parts of the Emirates network, especially Africa.

EK366 DXB 0020 – 1205TPE 77W 6
EK366 DXB 0225 – 1430TPE 77W 3
EK366 DXB 0340 – 1525TPE 77W 7
EK366 DXB 0425 – 1615TPE 77W 124
EK367 TPE  2315 – 0510+1DXB 77W x5

Emirates has previously announced plans to launch services to Stockholm starting 4th September, to Clark International Airport in the Philippines and the transatlantic Milan-New York route on 1st October; Conakry on 27th October, Sialkot, Pakistan on 5th November and Kiev, Ukraine on 16th January 2014.

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Video: Making of Cebu Pacific's first Airbus A320 Sharklet RP-C3272

Philippines, low cost carrier, Cebu Pacific Air took delivery of its first A320 equipped with Sharklets yesterday during a ceremony in Manila. Below is a quick time-lapse video on the making of the aircraft. Hope you enjoy.

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Indian Government expands visa on arrival scheme to 11 countries

The Indian Government is expanding its Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) scheme, first introduced in 2010 to the nationals of 11 countries, Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia. The TVOA facility is only available for arrivals at the four metro airports, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

The government has also expanded the purpose of visit from tourism and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) to include business and medical treatment, where trips are sometimes required at short notice.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, has detailed the guidelines of the TVOA scheme.

Eligibility

• The scheme can be availed by nationals of eleven countries namely Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia.
• The scheme can be availed by foreign nationals visiting India for tourism, medical treatment, casual business or to visit friends/relatives, etc.
• TVOA shall not be granted to foreign nationals who have permanent residence or occupation in India and to holders of Diplomatic/Official passports.
• The foreign nationals must hold a passport with minimum validity of six months and a re-entry permit, if required by the law of his country.
• The foreign national must be a person of assured financial standing.

Validity, extension, and restrictions

• Under the scheme, a foreign national may be granted a single entry visa for maximum period of
• 30 days.
• The TVOA visa cannot be extended or converted in India.
• A visa on arrival can be obtained for a maximum of two visits in a calendar year and there should be a minimum gap of two months between two visits.

Fees

• The visa can be obtained on submission of prescribed application form, one passport size photograph and Indian Rupees equivalent to US Dollars 60.

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Video: Cebu Pacific flight attendants dance to Lady Gaga to demonstrate safety message

After the various humorous methods used by flight attendants of Southwest to drive home their safety message, Philippines based Cebu Pacific, which prides itself as a fun airline, is using music and dance, specifically "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga.

Now if some of the Indian carriers take a cue from this video .......

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