TTN

In Brief

Share  

flydubai to fly 3m passengers this summer

flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, is preparing for a record-breaking summer in its history, building on the surge in demand for travel and expects up to welcome three million passengers across its network.

An average of 8,500 departures per month are scheduled during the summer across flydubai’s network of 102 destinations, which exceeds pre-pandemic levels.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said: “While the global aviation sector has been slowly recovering from the repercussions of the pandemic, we have seen Dubai steadfast in its approach to enable the return to free flows of trade and tourism. The decisions made early on in the pandemic have enabled us to ramp up our operations to cater to the pent-up demand in record time. This would not have been possible without the hard work of our people, the collaborative approach taken by the key stakeholders in the UAE and the confidence our passengers have in our operations.”

 

Oman Air increases flights to Salalah

Oman Air, the national carrier of Sultanate, has increased weekly flight frequencies on its Muscat-Salalah-Muscat sector to a total of 112 weekly flights, running until September 11, 2022.

The airline offers wide-body service between Muscat and Salalah, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A330 in addition to the Boeing 737, with eight flights per day in each direction, providing flexible travel and connecting flight options.

“Salalah is teeming with tourists from all across the Gulf region at this time of year,” stated Ahmed Ali Al Mahrouqi, Regional Vice President - Oman & GCC. “Verdant mountains, cool drizzle and breathtaking natural settings serve as a magnet to tourists who wish to get away from hotter climes. Year after year, the number of people who are fascinated by the wonderful Khareef phenomenon that surrounds the beautiful city of Salalah grows dramatically.”

 

Beach holidays lead as city tourism lags

A new report, produced for the World Travel Market (WTM) by ForwardKeys, reveals that in the third quarter of the year, July, August and September, global air travel is set to reach 65 per cent of where it was before the pandemic in 2019. However, the revival is patchy, with some parts of the world doing much better than others and some types of travel, particularly beach holidays, being much more popular than urban city visits and sightseeing.

The current preference for beach holidays is well illustrated by a comparison of the top ten beach and urban destinations in Europe, ranked by Q3 flight bookings compared to 2019. All those in the beach list, which is led by Antalya, 81 per cent ahead, Tirana, 36 per cent ahead and Mikonos, 29 per cent ahead, are showing extremely healthy demand, whereas, in the urban list, only Naples is ahead. Furthermore, the four leading urban destinations, Naples, 5 per cent ahead, Istanbul, flat, Athens, 5 per cent behind, and Lisbon, 8 per cent behind, are all also gateways to beach resorts too.

 

Wizz Air launches new routes

Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing airline, is launching new routes from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, to Rome, Vienna, and Abu Dhabi.

The Abu Dhabi route will be operated by Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, Wizz Air’s joint venture airline with ADQ. Launching in September 2022, the new destinations are the first step towards a growing presence in Saudi Arabia which will provide for the first time truly affordable, hassle-free, point-to-point travel for tourists and residents in the Kingdom, Europe, and the UAE, strengthening global connectivity.

The new routes by Wizz Air introduce a new era of travel to the residents of KSA by unlocking affordable travel opportunities and giving them access to Wizz’s incredibly low fares. Tickets for all routes are already on sale on wizzair.com and the airline’s mobile app, with fares starting from €24.99 (Dh 92.40).

Spacer