Gulf companies

Emirates is fine-tuning its "contactless" passenger experience with the introduction of contactless check-in kiosks. A total of 16 kiosks are now available at the Dubai hub, more specifically in the economy class check-in area of terminal 3. The First and Business Class check-in areas will be...

The IATA Travel Pass allows Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways passengers to create a "digital passport". This will make it possible to check whether pre-departure tests or vaccinations meet the requirements imposed at the destination. Passengers will also be able to share test and vaccination certificates...

For more than a year and a half, Kuwait had been leading negotiations between Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the one hand, and Qatar on the other. The aim was to re-establish diplomatic relations between all the parties. Relations with Qatar were severed abruptly. The country was...

"The Safe Travel Barometer recently published the results of its latest survey of the health protocols of over 230 airlines worldwide. The "Safe Travel Score" index is an industry first. It was created during the summer, with the reopening of borders following the first wave of covid....

The shower on board the Airbus A380 in First Class is probably Emirates' most emblematic service feature. Both the shower and the in-flight lounge are returning to the A380 and B777 aircraft in a redesigned in-flight experience that incorporates reinforced hygiene instructions. While taking a...

At the end of last week, Emirates confirmed its return to the French regions for its winter timetable, which begins on 25 October. From December 2, it will be offering four weekly frequencies by Boeing 777-300ER to Lyon instead of the daily flight it operated last year. To Nice, Emirates will be relaunching its...

More than 90 destinations. This is what Qatar Airways will be offering between now and 15 October. This triples the number of cities served compared with April, at the height of the pandemic. The destinations returning to the Qatar Airways network are Amman, Entebbe, Yerevan, Hanoi, the Seychelles and Windhoek. The carrier...

Etihad Airways is hoping to stimulate demand by promising comprehensive wellness insurance cover against the coronavirus. This facility is being offered as part of Etihad Wellness, the airline's new health and hygiene programme. The carrier has teamed up with insurer AXA to develop this product. The Etihad Wellness programme automatically covers all passengers...

How do you feel about the A380 landing again in Paris? Cédric Renard - It's a very strong feeling, with genuine emotion running across the faces of all the aviation enthusiasts. We wanted to mark this special event, because it represents a strong commitment on the part of Emirates to...

It was 2017, and the crisis in the Gulf pitting Qatar against Saudi Arabia and its allies had taken a dramatic turn for regional air transport. Overnight, Qatar and its national carrier Qatar Airways found themselves isolated by air, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain...

From July 7, business travellers will once again be able to visit Dubai, provided they meet certain eligibility criteria and have taken out an appropriate international insurance policy covering Covid-19-related risks for the duration of their stay. They must also be able to present a recent certificate of negative testing, or...

Gulf airlines have been brooding over the health crisis, with global air traffic at a virtual standstill for the past three months. The region has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, with traffic essentially based on transfer passengers. In Dubai, the world's leading airport in terms of traffic...

Emirates is to resume service to Paris. From 22 May, the airline will resume operations between Paris CDG and Dubai. Three flights a week are planned for this resumption phase. Announcing the resumption of operations on Wednesday, the airline's management said: "Passengers will not be affected by the...

Ten minutes: that's how long the blood test adopted by Emirates at Dubai airport takes to ensure that no departing passenger has been contaminated. The experiment was carried out on 15 March in terminal 3 of the Dubai hub, in the group check-in area, on travellers boarding for Tunisia. However, the...

From the end of April, Etihad will be embarking on an unprecedented experiment in air transport health monitoring. Abu Dhabi airport, the airline's hub, will be equipped with self-service kiosks on which passengers' temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate will be measured....

Since the beginning of March, fears of the spread of the coronavirus had led to the suspension of all flights by Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways and Saudia, with the latter only suspending operations until the end of March - for the time being. Emirates' decision to suspend more than 80% of...

On 2 July, Gulf Air's Airbus A321neo will take to the tarmac at Nice airport for the first time. The 166-seater aircraft, including 16 seats in Business Class, will connect the Côte d'Azur airport with Bahrain every Thursday and Sunday. The route will nevertheless be limited to the summer period,...

Emirates already had a monopoly on routes between Lyon and the Gulf States since the end of 2012. Now it's Qatar Airways. At the Kuwait Air Show, the airline's flamboyant CEO, Akhbar Al Baker, announced the launch of eight new routes. The honour...

In the end, it took Qatar two years to fully absorb the shock of the blockade launched in June 2017 by its neighbours - essentially Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. This measure resulted in a total ban on Qatar-registered airlines - essentially Qatar Airways...

What is the deployment schedule for the new economy class unveiled by Qatar Airways in Paris? Frédéric Gossot - This new economy class will first be installed on the A321neo, scheduled for delivery in 2020. 50 aircraft are on order, ten of them in the long-range version. The...