Air France to Abu Dhabi

Starting on 3 May 2010, Air France will begin operating a new service between Paris and Abu Dhabi. Flights will be operated by an A330 seating 219, with 40 seats in Business and 179 in Voyageur (Economy). According to an Air France press release today, Air France will also eventually introduce the new Premium Voyageur cabin on flights to this destination.

Flight times are particularly well adapted to ensure fast connections out of Paris-Charles de Gaulle from and to other cities worldwide:

• Flight AF 3848:
  Departing from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, terminal 2E at 13:45 ;
  Arriving at Abu Dhabi at 22:25, local time.
• Flight AF 3849 :
  Departing from Abu Dhabi at 00:30 ;
  Arriving at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, terminal 2E at 05:45, local time.

As from 3 May 2010, Air France will thus be serving seven destinations in the Middle Eas:t Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Dubai, Jeddah and Riyadh.

By summer 2010, Air France and KLM will be operating close to 230 weekly flights to 13 destinations. Their networks are complimentary, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi jointly served by both airlines.

Thanks to combinable fares, customers can travel with either airline between the Middle East and the rest of the world, via the Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol hubs.

Merry Christmas!

The last six months have been buzzing with activity over at the HSMAI European division’s HQ and, consequently, in the hsmai.eu editorial staff, acting as same for hsmai.no, where activities have been plentiful. As we speak, we’re in the middle of preparing the perhaps most important event in the Norwegian hospitality industry; the Meeting Exhange (pages in Norwegian), which, for the newsdesk means editing and designing the tabloid-sized Meeting Exchange newspaper.

2010 on the other hand, will focus on the European dimension, with HSMAI Europe’s president and CEO Ingunn Hofseth transferring to London, for easier access to different parts of Europe, not to mention the eventual chartering of a UK chapter, among others. All of which necessitates an intensified focus on the European perspective, which will become evident on the hsmai.eu website, as well as in selected social media, in the year to come.

The editorial staff will however need to concentrate on the Meeting Exchange newspaper for a couple of weeks, which luckily corresponds very well with the festive season anyway. We would, therefore, like to take the opportunity thank members, readers and partners so much for a most interesting year, which goes to companies providing useful press releases, too. Please don’t stop.

We would like to extend our sincerest wishes for a joyous and tranquil season. To one and all, in the hopes that we’ll met again next year – in the sign of Europe.

BA strike avoided

“We are delighted for our customers that the threat of a Christmas strike has been lifted by the court,” British Airways officials say in a Thursday afternoon press release, continuing:

“It is a decision that will be welcomed by hundreds of thousands of families in the UK and around the world”.

According to the airline, there was never any need for a strike, which is why they hope that Unite will take this opportunity to reflect before deciding its next steps.

“We believe the public would want that too,” says BA in its statement, and “In recent days, we believe Unite has formed a better understanding of our position and of the ways in which we could move forward”.

“It has also become very clear that our customers do not believe that old-style trade union militancy is relevant to our efforts to move British Airways back toward profitability. Financial success is essential to build the kind of business our customers want and provide long-term opportunities for our staff”.

KLM Economy Comfort Zone

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines festively launched its new Economy Comfort zone this week, with a spectacular “gliding act” performed by the magician Ramana at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Ramana’s act ties in with KLM’s new advertising campaign “Choose Your Personal Kind of Comfort”, which features passengers sitting on invisible seats, seemingly floating on air. The new Economy Comfort zone offers passengers a greater range of seating comfort in Economy Class, according to a press release issued by the airline.

A seat in the new Economy Comfort zone offers passengers up to 10 cm more legroom and allows them to recline twice as far as a standard seat. Economy Comfort passengers will also be able to disembark first, because the zone is in the front section of the Economy Class cabin. The service and meals in Economy Comfort are the same as those in Economy Class. Every day, KLM will have more than 1,500 Economy Comfort seats available.

With Economy Comfort, KLM extends its range of seating comfort options for passengers travelling Economy Class. Passengers could already opt for seats with extra legroom and for a seat in a row of two. This new alternative reflects KLM’s pledge to fulfil the changing needs of its customers, one of which was the call for more comfort options in Economy Class.

The nominal fee for an Economy Comfort seat will range from EUR 80 to EUR 150 for a one-way trip, depending on the distance covered. Flying Blue Platinum members and passengers flying on a fully flexible Economy Class ticket can reserve Economy Comfort seats free of charge. Flying Blue Gold members will get a 50 percent discount and Flying Blue Silver members will get a 25 percent discount.

Once passengers have booked a ticket, they can reserve an Economy Comfort seat via the “Manage My Booking” tab on the KLM website from 90 days before departure. Bookings can also be made via telephone reservation or at the ticket offices (except Amsterdam Airport Schiphol) or when passengers check-in on the KLM website. Economy Comfort seats can also be booked at the airport, via the self-service kiosks or at local customer service desks (that too except Amsterdam Airport Schiphol).

Photo: KLM Economy Comfort Zone in a Boeing 777.