Qatar Airways has been awarded the Best Business Class Airline in China at the China Travel & Meeting Industry Awards,which was held in Beijing.The airline's Senior Vice President Commercial Operations East Asia & South West Pacific, Marwan Koleilat received the honor from the Vice President of Ctrip.com, Shaw Ding.

The Travel & Meeting Industry Awards is prepared by Travel Weekly China, a chief trade journal in the Chinese travel industry. The award had its debut in 2002 and since then the awards have received extensive appreciation among industry people. Nearly 30,000 readers and subscribers of Travel Weekly China as well as 32,000 enterprises and travel buyers, who attended July's China Incentive and Business Travel Meeting Exhibition (CIBTM), participated in the survey.The eminent panel of judges included 20 peak industry specialists from every section of the travel as well as tourism industry.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker stated that it is a great privilege to receive this award for the best levels of service and hospitality offered by Qatar Airways. The airline at the moment operates 21 flights a week within 4 cities in China -, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong - its Doha hub.Inspite of class of travel, every traveler can benefit from a completely interactive in-flight entertainment system with a preference of hundreds of audio and video on demand options.

Qatar Airways operates a modern fleet of 69 aircraft to 82 chief business and relaxation destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Far East as well as North America.

Air France-KLM has disclosed it might make the traveler cabins on some of its routes merely single-class and it might do away with various destinations as part of a broad reorganization of its medium-haul network and operations to recover its profitability.

Air France-KLM, similar to other European airlines has been affected drastically by a crash in demand for premium class travel as companies and institutions strip off operating expenses in the hard-hitting economic scenario.A spokesperson for the airline confirmed media reports that eradicating business class seats was one of the options to develop yields on the routes to Europe and North Africa.Lately Air France has eradicated premium class cabins on its short-haul operations within France.

Air France-KLM Chief Executive Pierre Henri Gourgeon while presenting the airline's first-quarter results at the end of July, informed analysts the airline would refurbish its medium-haul operations both, with regard to the network as well as product.The spokesperson , stated planned decisions would be taken before the end of 2009 for execution early next year.

British Airways has embarked the second phase of its Face-to-Face campaign at the National Business Travel Association , California.

The airline will reward 100 small as well as medium-sized companies free business class travel to any place on its network throughout 2010. BA has partnered along with Marriott, Regus Office Services and Canon to proffer successful applicants a complete package of products to support their businesses.Successful applicants will be rewarded with 10 roundtrip transatlantic Club World tickets that can be utilized at any time next year.Meanwhile Marriott will grant each business $1,000 towards accommodation in its Courtyard-branded hotels, while Regus will award five Business world gold cards for entrance to airport lounges globally.

Simon Talling-Smith, BA's executive vice-president for the Americas stated that linking people universally is the number one objective of BA and BA has long known that the key in constructing a successful long-term business partnership is by means of face-to-face meetings.He also mentioned that British Airways hopes that the business opportunity grants will definitely help businesses boost their revenues and reach significant milestones in their expansion plans.

British Airways had succeeded in giving away nearly 1000 seats during the first phase of its campaigns

Lufthansa German Airlines,one of the world's largest airlines has flights operating in 206 destinations in around 78 countries from its hubs in Frankfurt and Germany.This airline combined with its partners ,serves around 900 destinations in 160 countries. Additionally,their status customers have the privilege of accessing around 800+ Lufthansa and Star Alliance Lounges across the globe.

Lufthansa will increase its flights from Bahrain to Frankfurt from 4 weekly flights to a daily service one, commencing September 22nd.With the introduction of this daily service,passengers benefit from great flexibility as well as the feasibility of a daily link with Lufthansa's Frankfurt hub.

Mr. Stefan Loecherbach, director of Lufthansa and subsidiary Swiss International Air Lines, for Saudi Arabia & Bahrain stated that he was extremely pleased to announce the further development of the Lufthansa Service.He also said that business travelers would benefit greatly from this daily service and we are delighted in providing this. Four of the flights offered will be nonstop operations to Frankfurt, whereas the three supplementary services will be operated with a short midway stop in Dammam. Lufthansa customers have the benefit of a late evening departure on all seven days of the week.

Schaher Murad, Regional Manager for Bahrain and the eastern province of Saudi Arabia,informed that the 737-800 Intercontinental that would be operated on Bahrain-Frankfurt route is of the highest degree of development with regard to its technology,in-flight entertainment as well as comfort in the cabins.

The most beneficial factor above all is the Lufthansa's exclusive Welcome Lounge offered for business class travelers as well as status passengers.The Lounge which was opened in January this year ,caters to the requirements of travelers arriving after a long haul flight journey.It is provided with all the facilities travelers look for to freshen up after a tiresome intercontinental flight journey.

Simon Talling-Smith said that it will take British Airways longer than 5 years before the complete value of the business market returns.Presently businesses are accommodating more people into economy class. He also added that the business and first class business volumes have dropped by around 15 per cent, but economy volumes have sinked by around 1 per cent for the 6 months till June 2009. He concluded that it was clearly visible that a definite number of people who travelled in business classes are shifting to economy classes.

Since January 1, 2009, Air China offers a new year's gift to all Forbidden Pavilion First Class and Capital Pavilion Business Class passengers. At Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport, all passengers of Air China's Forbidden Pavilion First Class and Capital Pavilion Business Class traveling from Beijing to Europe or the US can enjoy a free Electronic Cart transportation service to their boarding gate. Currently, passengers of Air China's Forbidden Pavilion First Class and Capital Pavilion Business Class benefit from five airport and in-flight services.

Since 2005, Air China has invested RMB 688 million in transforming 15 long-range wide-body aircrafts. This has created cabin facilities that meet world-class standards. In addition, passenger services have been carefully designed, incorporating the essence of the ancient Chinese palace cultures in the creation of the new Forbidden Pavilion First Class and Capital Pavilion Business Class. Currently, Air China has introduced exclusive services for Forbidden Pavilion First Class and Capital Pavilion Business Class on 13 routes which include Beijing - New York (CA981/2), Beijing - Los Angeles (CA983/4), Beijing - Frankfurt (CA931/2, CA965/6) and Shanghai - Frankfurt (CA935/6). With the new Air China services, passengers traveling between China, Europe and the United States will experience superior comfort and pleasure at an altitude of 10,000 meters, allowing them to arrive rejuvenated at their destinations despite their long-distance travel.

The services includes
Free Limousine Ground Transportation Service
Free Accommodation at Luxury Hotel
Airport Assistance Service
Electric Bicycle Transportation Service
Exquisite In-flight Cuisine and Meal Service

(Air China News)

Aeroflot starts flying to Vladivostok on new comfortable A330 aircrafts by Airbus, with 34 business class and 207 economy seats. The business class compartment uses folding "cocoon" armchairs, providing advanced comfort in a long-haul flight. The economy compartment has a larger inter-row pitch compared to other models, which creates more space to accommodate passengers.

The aircrafts are equipped with the cutting-edge multimedia Panasonic eX2 IFE system with inbuilt widescreen monitors of 9 to 16 in., which allows using multi-channel video and audio programs.

Aeroflot's A330s have Rolls-Royce Trent 772 engines and can accommodate 241 passengers; their flying range is up to 12,500 km. The aircraft type is now extensively used by world's leading carriers in the long-distance segment.

Flight SU719/720 on A330's will operate five times a week: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from Moscow; Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Vladivostok. Mondays and Sundays, flight SU719 from Moscow will be performed by a B767, as earlier.

Flight SU719 departs from Moscow at 20:15 and arrives in Vladivostok at 11:45 local time.
Flight SU720 departs from Vladivostok at 14:15 and arrives in Moscow at 16:10 local time.

Aeroflot currently operates two A330 aircrafts. By April 2010 the company awaits eight more of this type aircrafts, including three A330-200s and five A330-300s.

Aeroflot begins flying the new A330 to Vladivostok at the same time as it launches reduced tariffs within the government program for residents of the Far East of Russia. Over 9,000 people from the Far East have already bought 50%-discount tickets for Aeroflot's regular flights, including almost 2,000 of people living in Vladivostok.

(Aeroflot)