The ceremony was attended by more than 50 local dignitaries, VIPs and media, including Qatar’s Ambassador to Romania His Excellency Saad Mohamed Al-Kobaisi; Serbian State Secretary for Tourism, Mr. Goran Petković; and Chief Executive Officer of Airport Nikola Tesla Mr. Velimir Radosavljević.Al Baker said that the latest route marked yet another significant milestone for the award-winning airline that has now spread its international wings to 31 gateways across Europe and 11 new destinations so far this year.Serbia’s capital Belgrade is renowned across Europe for its buzzing nightlife and unique cultural attractions. With world-class entertainment and hospitality on offer, we are very proud to provide both our business and leisure travellers worldwide with new seamless connections to one of Europe’s most exciting and vibrant cities,” said Al Baker. “As a modern, democratic European country, and well on the path to membership of the European Union, visitors can enjoy numerous cultural, entertainment, traditional and sporting events held in Serbia all year round, demonstrating the creative power and spiritual vitality of this country. Similarly, with our new service, we also offer business and leisure travellers from Belgrade with greater connections via our Doha hub to diverse cities such as Johannesburg, Maputo, Kilimanjaro, Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Melbourne, Perth and Dubai.”

“2012 has been a very exciting year for Qatar Airways and our ongoing commitment to serving Eastern Europe will be further strengthened when we launch new flights to the Polish capital Warsaw on December 5. Our presence in Europe was especially strengthened last year when we launched a record seven destinations to the continent alone, including Bucharest, Budapest, Brussels, Stuttgart, Venice, Sofia and Oslo. I sincerely thank the Serbian Government and the local airport authorities for warmly welcoming Qatar Airways to Serbia and we look forward to welcoming all of our new passengers from Belgrade onboard to experience our world renowned 5-star service,” added Al Baker.Qatar Airways is flying its Airbus A320 on the Belgrade route, featuring 144 seats in a two-class configuration of 12 Business Class seats and 132 in Economy. The aircraft offers seatback TV screens providing passengers with the next generation interactive onboard entertainment system with a choice of more than 800 audio and video on demand options, together with an SMS text messaging service from each seat.One of the world’s fastest growing airlines, Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 15 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 112 aircraft to 121 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.

Since the beginning of 2012, Qatar Airways has launched flights to 11 new destinations – Baku (Azerbaijan); Tbilisi (Georgia); Kigali (Rwanda); Zagreb (Croatia), Erbil (Iraq), Baghdad (Iraq), Perth (Australia), Kilimanjaro (Tanzania); Yangon (Myanmar), Maputo (Mozambique) and now Belgrade (Serbia).Over the next few weeks, Qatar Airways will launch services to a diverse portfolio of new routes, including Warsaw, Poland (December 5), Gassim, Saudi Arabia (7 January 2013); Najaf, Iraq (January 23); Phnom Penh, Cambodia (February 20); Chicago, USA (April 10); and Salalah, Oman (May 22).

Cathay Pacific flight CX904, which was scheduled to depart at 6:20 a.m., was cancelled and as a result, all the affected passengers were checked in at a nearby hotel while awaiting for the weather in Hong Kong to improve and the flight to resume.At the same time, Cebu Pacific also cancelled its early morning flight to Hong Kong. CEB flight 5J108, which was set to depart at 5:40 a.m., was cancelled at the last minute as weather and traffic conditions at the Hong Kong airport became worse.CEB said all affected passengers will be accommodated in the next available flights.
Meanwhile, two HK-bound flights from Canada and Amsterdam had to be diverted to Manila early yesterday morning also due to the bad weather.

When the flying kangaroo was first painted on Qantas planes in 1947, more than half of Australians were born in the U.K. Today, only a quarter are of English descent. But the failure to adapt to that change and rising long-haul competition from Middle Eastern carriers has seen Qantas’s share of Australian arrivals slump to less than 20 percent from more than 35 percent a decade ago. The number of passengers flying to London was little changed over the past decade, while those headed for Beijing or Shanghai almost tripled.

Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce is intent on remaking his high-cost carrier, which has a 65 percent domestic market share in Australia, into one that can better compete on faster-growing routes to Beijing and Shanghai. So Qantas is reducing unprofitable flights to Europe, shifting maintenance to cheaper facilities in Southeast Asia, and trying to start an airline based in Malaysia or Singapore that could handle intra-Asia traffic.Asia will continue to play a larger part in the global economy,Joyce says.There is nowhere like it. It has massive untapped potential.Investors aren’t certain he’ll succeed. Qantas shares plunged 36 percent in the past 12 months amid worries about Chinese rivals, a loss of business to lower-cost Middle East airlines such as Emirates, and Qantas’s more than A$600 million ($641 million) rise in fuel costs last year.

Moody’s Investors Service (MCO) downgraded the airline to its lowest investment grade on Jan. 31, citing competition and fuel prices’ drag on earnings. “They either have to come up with a business plan with costs close to their competitors’ or they just slowly contract, says Andrew Sisson, managing director of Franklin Resources’ Balanced Equity Management, Qantas’s biggest shareholder, with an 11 percent stake.If you can fly people to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, you’ve at least got a natural market to draw on, but they won’t fly on you if you’re not price-competitive.

Setting up an airline in an Asian hub would let Joyce hire pilots and crew locally at a lower cost and offer a greater choice of connecting flights to compete with Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways. Personnel expenses eat up 27 percent of sales at Qantas, as opposed to about 15 percent at Singapore Air and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific. Qantas’s international routes log about $200 million in losses annually. “He has to get it right,” says Neil Hansford, chairman of Sydney-based Strategic Aviation Solutions, which advises airlines across the Asia-Pacific region. “The Asian carriers aren’t going to sit still. They will fight for every passenger Joyce tries to get.

Australian lawmakers and unions consider the possible launching of an offshore carrier a ploy to shift jobs abroad and subvert the 20-year-old legislation that privatized the airline. Legislators have proposed revisions to the law that would compel Qantas and its Jetstar budget unit to do most of their maintenance work in Australia and to cap the growth of Asian affiliates. Those proposals “would strangle our capacity to run our business,Joyce told an Australian Senate panel on Feb. 6.A wave of strikes last year led Joyce to ground the Qantas fleet in October for about two days, forcing the country’s labor regulator to intervene. Two of three unions are now in binding arbitration that will prevent them from striking and taking other labor actions for the lifetime of new contracts. Qantas engineers signed a deal in December allowing new jets to be maintained in Asia.

According to filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday, PAL said it posted $33.5 million losses for October to December 2011, a period when the carrier cut down on flights as it transitioned from laying off some 3,000 grand crew to using outsourced services instead.This is a reversal from $15.1 million profits recorded in the same period the year previous.The flag carrier said total revenues dropped by 3.8% to $386 million for the third quarter of 2011.

PAL experienced weak passenger demand as well as declining cargo markets as the world economy struggled to recover, it said.Total operating expenses went up by 9% to $419.5 million, according to PAL.As the airline goes through its last quarter of fiscal year 2011-2012, it continues to seek ways of enhancing revenues and lowering costs, PAL said.In a related development, PAL’s affiliate Air Philippines Corp., the operator of budget carrier Airphil Express, said is plans to launch flights to Malaysia and Vietnam in the second quarter and also start operating international flights out of Clark, Pampanga.
We are working on Vietnam and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is out of Manila,Alfredo A. Herrera, Airphil Express’ senior vice-president for sales and marketing said in a telephone interview late last week.The carrier, he added, will be launching its first flight to Cebu out of Clark on March 29.From there, although it is not yet final, we will launch international flights like Hong Kong and Singapore out of Clark,” Mr. Herrera said. “It will probably be in April or May.”

The carrier’s fourth-quarter loss widened to 133 million kroner from 23.6 million kroner a year earlier, it said today, worse than the 91 million kroner deficit expected by analysts. The stock fell as much as 9 percent, the most since Oct. 4, and was down 4.7 percent at 76.5 kroner as of 11:29 a.m. in Oslo.Fuel expenses jumped 56 percent to 793 million kroner in the quarter, in part because Norwegian offered more flights. Revenue advanced 18 percent to 2.54 billion kroner.

In a message to staff, chief executive Rob Fyfe says it’s no secret the airline is struggling to make long-haul London routes profitable.But Mr Fyfe said Air NZ it has no intention of pulling out of London, nor any other market it services.He said the airline will need to change its flight schedule to reflect weaker passenger demand, and this week, it cut its London to Hong Kong route from seven to five days a week.Last year Qantas reduced capacity to Europe. Budget airline Air Asia X also recently said it’s withdrawing flights to Europe and India because of high fuel prices and weak demand.

The airline will also launch additional flights to Taipei, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta.By year end, Jetstar will have 17 A320s and four A330s based at SIN, which represents almost 200% growth at the airport since 2009. At year end, Jetstar’s network including Australia will feature more than 3,000 flights per week to more than 60 destinations across 17 countries. Its fleet will number 86 aircraft.

SEAIR flies to the said destinations from its hub in Clark, Pampanga. The tickets are good for travel until March 31, 2012.Macau, located on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, is one of the 2 special administrative regions in China. The other one is Hong Kong.Previously a Portuguese colony, Macau offers travelers a mix of eastern and western cultures through its Chinese temples. Among its popular tourist attractions are the Senado Square, A-Ma Temple, Dom Pedro V Theater, Casa Garden and the Ruins of St. Paul’s Church.

Macau also has a number of big name casinos such as the Venetian and MGM Grand from the United States, making itself known as the Las Vegas of the East.Hong Kong, on the other hand, is considered a shopping mecca in Asia, with its malls, boutiques and street markets. Top hunting grounds in the city include Tsim Sha Tsui, Harbour City on Canton Road, and the Temple Street Night Market.The former British colony also has well-known tourist destinations such as Victoria Peak, Hong Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Wong Tai Sin Temple and Man Mo Temple.

Singapore, meanwhile, is the fourth leading financial center and one of the 5 busiest ports in the world. Among its tourist attractions are the Singapore Zoo, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Chinatown Heritage Center, CHIJMES, and Universal Studios at the Resorts World Sentosa.The city-state also boasts of several shopping destinations such as Orchard Road and Bugis Junction.

With the flights’ expansion of express service, which allows shipments from Hong Kong to 39 cities in 18 European countries in one day, the company becomes the leading provider of one-day shipping service on that corridor, according to a news release.The new direct flights will significantly reduce the transit time between Hong Kong and Europe, providing our customers a fast and efficient option when doing business with their European trading partners, said Derek Woodward, president of UPS Asia Pacific, in the release.UPS has a major air hub in Cologne. The Atlanta-based logistics and package-delivery company operates 156 flights within Europe every day and has 460 air and ground facilities on the continent.