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  • News: Korean Air takes minority stake in Czech Airlines

    Korean Air and Czech Airlines have formalised Korean Air’s acquisition of 44 per cent of the Czech airline at a signing ceremony in Prague. 

    By acquiring the stake, Korean Air becomes the airline’s second largest shareholder.

    Korean Air chairman Yang Ho Cho expressed his support of the transaction by saying “We have known Czech Airlines for a lot of years, by which we’ve got both been component of the SkyTeam alliance.

    “Our successful codeshare collaboration only confirms that our decision to become a strategic partner of the Czech national carrier, culminating in our signing of the contract, is the suitable decision.”

    Founded in 1923, Czech Airlines operates 24 aircraft to 44 cities in 24 countries and is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, of which Korean Air is a founding member.

    The acquisition of Czech Airline’s stake is an historic moment for the Korean aviation industry because it is the primary time that a Korean airline has taken a stake in a foreign airline. 

    The overseas expansion in electronics and automobiles have been prominent, but this marks the primary within the Korean aviation industry.

    Korean Air passengers would be in a position to enjoy a greater diversity of European routes due to this acquisition.

    Passengers flying to European cities reminiscent of Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Milan, Brussels, Budapest and Warsaw can easily transfer through Prague’s airport.

    With its perfect location, Prague offers connections to those cities in lower than two hours.

    Korean Air plans to expand its network through Prague airport by increasing its code share flights and improving its connection schedules with Czech Airlines. 

    Also, to assist Czech Airlines operate direct flights between Prague and Incheon, Korean Air will lease the Czech carrier considered one of its A330-300s.

    Czech Airlines plans to function direct flights between Prague and Incheon twice per week – providing their customers a much broader number of schedule.

  • Tuscany Now launches interactive map of Tuscany

    Villas in Tuscany specialists Tuscany Now has today announced the launch of its interactive map of Tuscany, a brand new online resource that aims to unearth the invention of the hidden gems of 1 of Italy’s preferable regions.  Tuscany Now have been offering handpicked luxury villa rentals to its clients for over two decades and created the map to share both their expertise and their customers’ detailed knowledge of Tuscany.

    The map allows users to look for a specific location and discover each of the best activities in that area. Suggestions are grouped into food and drinks, arts and culture, day trips, historic, shopping and sports and active. There also are tags available to expose recommendations which are particularly family friendly, accessible or romantic. Tuscany Now has also mapped out the locations and details of the entire villas it offers in its portfolio. This permits users to handpick the villa most suitable to their interests and create their very own personal itinerary of the proper things to determine and do.

    Simon Ball, Managing Director at Tuscany Now commented:
    “Tuscany is an unlimited region with loads to explore; if you’re visiting for the primary time or are a standard visitor then we are hoping that our map will make clear a few of Tuscany’s greatest delights. Probably the most important elements is that users be able to add ‘hidden gems.’ We all know the Duomo in Florence and the Leaning Tower of Pisa but we wish to learn about that fantastic local restaurant you went to, the historical ruins that weren’t within the guidebook or the foremost romantic view from a hilltop. The map is designed to be as intuitive and useful as possible for anyone travelling to Tuscany and the good thing is that it’s going to keep growing in authority as increasingly people add their suggestions.”

  • Alta Vista Suites, a new hotel on Santorini

    Alta Vista suites (altavistasuites.com), the beautiful new addition to Santorini’s hotel scene, opens its doors on 1st May.

    The exclusive three suite property is the most recent within the Aqua Vista portfolio (www.aquavistahotels.com), a set of outstanding accommodations in great locations across Santorini and Crete.

    Perched high at the cliffs of Imerovigli, 3km from the island’s capital Fira, the hotel has glorious views of the Aegean and the volcano and belongs to Greek pop star and one time Eurovision song contest entrant Michalis Hatzigiannis.

    The styling and layout are strongly focused towards romance and Alta Vista is predicted to prove very talked-about with honeymooners. The 3 suites, Passion, Senses and Love, each sit all alone level, giving guests complete privacy and seclusion. They’re individually designed and furnished in an effortless, elegant, Cycladic style and decorated with contemporary artefacts by prominent designers consisting of Jaime Hayon and Patricia Urquiola. All have expansive outdoor space with views out over the Caldera and there’s also a stunning pool and cave style eating area.

    Continuing the romance theme, Alta Vista’s 200sq metre patio is an excellent spot for a marriage ceremony and reception, allowing couples to tie the knot in spectacular style. It might host as much as 50 guests and is a really rare space inside the often cramped and impossibly steep caldera cliff edge.

    Alta Vista’s location at one end of Imerovigli means at night there’s also a lovely illuminated view of the village along the cliff edge.

    Room rates start at 180 euros per night including champagne breakfast.

    Recommended

  • News: Abu Dhabi plans major tourism push in Saudi Arabia

    Abu Dhabi’s tourism industry is planning every week-long promotion of the destination and its expanding offering in Saudi Arabia later this month with a high profile participation at Riyadh Travel Fair to be followed by a 3-city road show.

    The promotion, organised by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, is being supported by a number of industry stakeholders including hotels and resorts, Etihad Airways, headline attractions and a novel integrated wellness facility on Saadiyat Island.

    The destination sales blitz begins at Riyadh Travel Fair – the Kingdom’s leading tourism trade event, which runs on the Four Seasons Hotel – Kingdom Tower inside the Saudi capital from April 23rd-26th.

    The Abu Dhabi delegation will then move directly to road show presentations to the Saudi travel trade in Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah.

    “We have superb airlift from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi with three providers – Etihad Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines and NASAIR – now servicing a combined total of 68 scheduled non-stop flights per week from the dominion,” said Mubarak Al Nuami, director promotions & overseas offices, TCA Abu Dhabi.

    “This give us huge potential to draw Saudi visitors to our emirate where we believe our product mix will meet their specific needs – certainly one of our main focuses now could be to make this target market fully conscious about the truth that there’s now much more to work out and do in Abu Dhabi and to cajole them to stick with us longer than they currently do on average.”

    Saudi Arabia is currently Abu Dhabi’s sixth largest overseas source marketplace for hotel guests.

    In the primary two months of this year some 12,322 Saudis stayed within the emirate’s 141 hotels and hotel apartments and delivered 27,256 guest nights. They stayed, on average, 2.25 nights.

  • News: Norwegian launches Fort Lauderdale flights out of Oslo

    Norwegian has launched Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a brand new destination from Oslo. 

    This is the airline’s third long-haul destination from Oslo Gardermoen (OSL), making Norwegian the most important operator of direct long-haul routes from Norway’s main airport.

    “Long-haul flying has too long been characterized by high fares and restricted flexibility.

    “The great reception Norwegian has received after launching low-fare tickets to Manhattan and Bangkok shows that there’s a need for competitive fares from Scandinavia to the u. s. and Asia,” said chief executive Bjørn Kjos.

    “We’re planning several new direct long-haul routes, enabling not just Scandinavians to experience all of the world, but in addition giving foreign visitors easy and affordable access to the Nordic region,” Kjos said.

    Norwegian launched Bangkok and Manhattan in November 2012; moreover the corporate flies to Dubai in the course of the winter season. 

    Norwegian will operate two weekly flights between Oslo Gardermoen (OSL) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL) – on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Departure from OSL is at 15:10, arriving FLL at 19:30 local time.

    Departure from FLL is on Mondays and Fridays at 21:30, arriving at OSL at 12:35 tomorrow.

    The inaugural flight is on November 30th.

    In addition to the direct routes from OSL to Fort Lauderdale, Bangkok and The big apple, Norwegian operates direct routes to Fort Lauderdale from Stockholm and Copenhagen and to Big apple and Bangkok from Stockholm.

    The company has a complete of six weekly flights from Scandinavia to Ny, Bangkok and Fort Lauderdale.