Carry On: News for business travellers - hotel reopens in Cathedral Square

Hotel reopens in Cathedral Square
Novotel Christchurch Cathedral Square will reopen its doors on Monday August 19. It joins Accor’s other central city hotel, Ibis Christchurch, in adding new accommodation, dining and conference facilities, while offering some of the best views over the city and the Cathedral ruins.

General manager Carl Braddock says the re-opening marks another significant step in the recovery of the city’s tourism industry.

“When we open the Novotel it will be instrumental in easing the critical shortage of central city accommodation and provide much-needed employment for local residents,” he says. “Since the Ibis hotel opened one year ago, we’ve seen tremendous changes taking place in the CBD so we’re really excited to see the heart of Christchurch beating again.
 
Emirates doubles up to Amsterdam
Emirates will launch a second daily non-stop flight between Dubai and Amsterdam from December 4. A Boeing 777-200LR will add capacity of more than 3700 seats a week in both directions and provide Auckland and Christchurch travellers on Emirates with direct connections both ways at Dubai. Amsterdam is one of several European cities to which Emirates offers A380 service all the way from Auckland. The current daily flight has been operated by an Airbus A380 since last August. The second service will feature 266 seats in a three-class configuration - eight seats in first, 42 in business and 216 in economy.

Etihad buys into Serbian airline
Etihad Airways has unveiled plans to acquire 49% of Jat Airways and rename it as Air Serbia. Under a five-year management contract, Etihad Airways will convert $US40 million loan facility into equity on January 1, 2014, subject to regulatory approval. This will be matched by an equal funding injection by the government of Serbia.

The rebranding and renaming to Air Serbia is a significant moment in the history of the Serbian carrier, which is more than 80 years old. Tail fins on Air Serbia aircraft will feature the Serbian coat of arms and the country's state colours on both sides.

Other planned developments include an enhanced flight network, codesharing with Etihad Airways and airberlin, and adding another 12 destinations in Africa, Europe and the Middle East to Air Serbia’s current network of 33 cities. The  new destinations are Abu Dhabi (complementing Etihad Airways’ daily service), as well as Banja Luka, Beirut, Bucharest, Budapest, Cairo, Kiev, Ljubljana, Prague, Sofia, Varna, and Warsaw.

In a separate deal, Etihad's deal to buy a 24% stake in Jet Airways of India has been formally approved by India's foreign investment regulator. The conclusion of the £248 million deal comes 10 months after the Indian government relaxed restrictions on foreign investment in its airlines.

Meanwhile, Etihad from is temporary increasing Abu Dhabi-Sydney service, from 11 to 14 weekly, as Virgin Australia temporary suspends its own 3 weekly flights. From November 1-20, Etihad will operate two-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft for the additional flights.

Fuel surcharges make a comeback
Qantas Airways is increasing fuel surcharges on its international routes and raising domestic airfare prices. The changes will come in on or after the August 14. Customers travelling in economy will see an average increase of $A20 each way, with travellers to the US facing a $A25 increase in the base fare one way. Business class travellers to South America will be slugged an additional $A75, taking the fuel surcharge on those tickets to $335.
“While we use a range of tools to mitigate the impact of fuel costs – including fuel surcharges, price increases and hedging – the Qantas Group is still under-recovering the cost of past fuel price increases,” it says.

Qantas says that this is the first time since April 2012 that it has increased its fuel surcharges across its international network. The company reports that since that time the cost of Singapore jet fuel has increased significantly in Australian dollars, which have. Fallen against the US dollar.
Most airlines now add on a fuel surcharge fee to the base ticket price, including Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand as a means of recovering their high fuel costs.

Koreans take stake in Czech airline
Czech Airlines (ČSA) has confirmed a tie-up with Korean Air, which will purchase a 44% share, for which it paid €2.64 million, valuing the airline at just €6 million. ČSA has struggled to turn a profit and has scaled back its operations. The code-sharing agreement with Korean Air, which went into operation before the purchase, should increase ČSA's load factor or the percentage of seats sold.

Heathrow upgrades to track passengers
Heathrow Airport has implemented a new technology across its terminals that enables airlines to effectively track passengers throughout the departure stages. The computer software known as Positive Boarding will reduce airlines’ last-minute searches for passengers or their bags, as well as give travellers more accurate information to help them through their journey.

Travellers can now present the barcode on their ticket at an automatic gate which, if verified, opens to allow them through to security. Previously an airport security officer would check a passenger’s ticket details. When scanned, details from the barcode are compared against flight information and tailored information for the individual flashes up on screen, for example if a passenger is in the wrong terminal the message will tell them where to go.

The technology will also help airlines keep to their departure schedule as they have ‘real time’ information of where passengers are in their departing journey. After trials at the airport, the tracking system is now live in Terminals 1 and 3.