Our favourite thing about Tuesdays is this airline wrap. Oh, and the fact that it’s no longer Monday. Basically, we’re counting down to the weekend from now.

Emirates named Best International Airline at International Traveller Reader’s Choice Awards

Emirates has beennamedBestInternational Airlineat theInternational Traveller 2018 Readers Choice Awards, held in June.

Tim Harrowell, Emirates Regional Manager NSW & ACT, accepted the award on behalf of Emirates at the exclusive industry lunch and thanked his team, customers, and travel industry peers for their continuous support.

Australian travellers can enjoy seamless connectivity across Emirates’ network, with the 91 flights per week from Australia to Dubai and onwards connections to 41 European destinations including newly launched destinations Edinburgh and London Stansted.

Passengers onboard Emirates can enjoy its award-winning in-flight entertainment system ice, with up to 3,500 channels on demand across movies, TV shows, music, audiobooks and games. Emirates also offers generous baggage allowance and gourmet dining across all classes.

Vietnam Airlines upgrades to new Airbus A350 on Melbourne routes

Vietnam Airlines has today announced an aircraft upgrade to their daily Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City flight. From 29 July to the end of October 2018 all Boeing 787 aircraft travelling on the route in and outbound to Melbourne will be replaced by the new Airbus A350. This is the first time the new aircraft will be available to Australian passengers travelling with Vietnam Airlines.

The new aircraft implementation comes as the increase in demand for flights on the Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City route has spiked in recent months. The Airbus A350 allows an extra 10 per cent customer capacity than the long-standing Boeing 787.

Similarities are seen between the aircraft, both being long range, wide-bodied and featuring a twin-engine, with the largest change between the planes being the increase in passenger accommodation, with the Airbus A350 allowing for an additional 29 passengers each way. The Airbus A350 boasts a 212 ft five inch (64.75m) wingspan, which is 15 ft (4.75m) wider than the Boeing 787.

The new aircraft also offer more legroom and increased passenger mobility, with Premium Economy on the Airbus featuring near-flat reclining seats, a bountiful 38 in (96.5cm) pitch and recline up to 20cm. Passengers will be able to enjoy the latest in entertainment on 10.6 in (27cm) private screens.

Emirates launches second daily flight on Dubai-Prague route

Emirates has launched a second daily flight between Dubai and Prague, to meet the increasing demand for travel on the route. Emirates has been serving the Czech market since 2010 and during this time has carried some 1.7 million passengers on the route. To meet the rising demand for both inbound and outbound travel, the airline has added this new daily flight operated by a Boeing 777-300ER with a capacity of 360 seats, boosting tourism into the Czech Republic by 262,800 seats a year.

The new flight will accommodate three classes on board, with eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class and 310 spacious seats in Economy.
Flight EK137 leaves Dubai at 15:30 and arrives in Prague at 19:55. The return flight EK138 leaves Prague at 21:35 and arrives in Dubai at 05:30 the following day, giving travellers the full day in Dubai to kick-start their holiday, short break, or business trip, and take advantage of the wealth of activity and dining options the cosmopolitan city has to offer.

The service also provides seamless connectivity to Prague from several popular destinations in Emirates’ and flydubai’s combined route network, including Bali, Bangkok, Colombo, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Maldives, Mauritius and Singapore, with a convenient afternoon departure time from Dubai.

Vietnam is a top destination for travellers from the Czech market, with Emirates serving both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. With this new service, customers travelling from Prague to Ho Chi Minh City will be able to take advantage of enhanced connection times in Dubai.

Royal Jordanian enhances Crown Class meals

Royal Jordanian upgraded its meals featured in the Crown Class service on board, starting with July 1, 2018. The upgrades, which are carried out in coordination with dnata Jordan, RJ’s catering provider, are the result of RJ’s continuous efforts to further enrich its guests’ experience onboard its Crown Class.

The newly introduced appetizer and dessert plates were carefully selected to pair well with the choices of hot meals RJ serves onboard and to suit different tastes.

The superior appetizers on Crown Class offer two choices: Arabic mezze and Western hors-d’oeuvres. They consist of a variety of meat and seafood choices, including smoked salmon, shrimps, calamari and roast beef, or stuffed vine leaves, Tabbouleh, Shankleesh and Mutabbal. These choices will be changed every two weeks, during different cycles; at the same time, the choices offered to passengers flying onboard RJ from Amman will be different from the choices offered out of Amman.

Emirates partners with Dubai Parks and Resorts for an exclusive pass

Emirates has partnered with Dubai Parks and Resorts to offer its customers special privileges to Dubai’s exciting theme parks.

Emirates customers can enjoy a special bundle offer with added value at Dubai Parks and Resorts, the largest integrated theme park destination in the region, when they purchase a two-day entry pass which gives them access to all four parks including MOTIONGATE™ Dubai, BOLLYWOOD PARKS™ Dubai, LEGOLAND® Dubai and LEGOLAND® Water Park. Customers with an existing Emirates booking can simply go the ‘Manage your booking’ tab on emirates.com/auto book the two-day entry to Dubai Parks and Resorts.

Customers can choose to visit any of the four parks over two days for AED495 for adults and AED 435 for children. The destination offers over 100 rides and attractions, as well as retail, dining and entertainment options.

The exclusive pass from Emirates and Dubai Parks and Resorts comes with a special RFID (Radio-frequency identification) wristband giving customers extra privileges.

Etihad Airways launched dedicated in-flight guest medical services

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has launched two specialised services for air travellers with pre-existing medical conditions, ensuring continuity of care and in-flight safety.

The one-stop-shop services – the first in the region to be offered by an airline – will be carried out by members of the Etihad medical team, all of whom are qualified in aviation and transport medicine.

The first service allows guests, who require medical clearance prior to travel, the opportunity to request an Etihad aviation doctor to visit them and conduct an evaluation in consultation with their attending physician.

All medical forms and assessments will be completed by the Etihad doctor on-site, leading to a recommendation about their “fit to fly” status within one day.

Emirates Engineering reconfigures second Boeing 777-200LR aircraft

Emirates Engineering has successfully completed the reconfiguration of the second Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in its fleet. The conversion of the aircraft from three to two cabin classes was executed fully in-house at the Emirates Engineering hangars in Dubai. The reconfigured aircraft also features new, wider Business class seats in a 2-2-2 format, a new social area in business class, as well as a fully refreshed Economy class providing customers a superior in-flight experience.

The first reconfigured Emirates Boeing 777-200LR aircraft took to the skies in early March 2018. The eight remaining Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in Emirates’ fleet will be progressively reconfigured by mid-2019 and deployed to a number of other cities on the airline’s global network including Santiago, Chile- Emirates’ latest destination in South America. Emirates has invested over US$150 million to reconfigure the Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in its fleet.

Working with internal stakeholders as well as external suppliers, it only took Emirates Engineering 22 months from the time the decision was made to reconfigure the airline’s Boeing 777-200LR fleet to the first reconfigured aircraft rolling out of the hangars ready for its first commercial flight.