DC Aviation Al-Futtaim adds Global 7500 to managed fleet

LONDON-BASED HOSPITALITY brand Yotel has signed its first hotel deal in Saudi Arabia.

Scheduled to open in 2025, the yet-unnamed Yotel property will also be the first hotel to open in Oxagon, a carbon emissions-free industrial city “floating” on the Red Sea as part of the Neom giga project in the kingdom.

The hotel will be located within Oxagon’s Research and Innovation district, and as such will focus heavily on technology. The 300key hotel will showcase Yotel’s signature robotic concierges, motorised SmartBeds, and other fully integrated technologies. Yotel said that it plans to grow both its management and franchised projects in the Middle East to reach 50 hotels by 2025.

UAE-BASED DC AVIATION AL-FUTTAIM (DCAF) has added a Bombardier Global 7500 aircra to its managed eet. e new aircra will be based at DCAF’s home base at Al Maktoum International airport in Dubai. It takes the total number of aircra under its management to nine.

e Global 7500 has a range of 7,700 nautical miles, which means it can travel from New York to Hong Kong or Singapore to San Francisco without having to stop to refuel. It can carry 19 people and has a top speed of 0.925 Mach. It also has a master suite with a full-size bed, a kitchen as well as a dedicated crew suite.

1 United opens new Club lounge at Chicago O’Hare

United Airlines has opened a new 1,600 sqm Club lounge at Chicago O’Hare’s Terminal 1. Located close to gate C10, it is double the size of the lounge it replaces, with seating for over 400 guests. It features handcrafted artwork from local artists, including a mural by Kate Lewis.

2 Delta to restart twice-daily ights to Cuba

Delta will resume services to Cuba this year, following a three-year hiatus as a result of the pandemic. It will now o er twice-daily services between Miami and Havana from April 10, 2023. It had previously restarted flights to Cuba in 2016 after a gap of 55 years.

3 Envi Lodges announces ecotourism project in Costa Rica

GCC-based Envi Lodges will make its international debut in Costa Rica. It has partnered with The Islita Developments to operate ENVI The Islita in Punta Islita. It will comprise of 31 units made from canvas and wood, as well as 26 low-impact villas.

4 Heathrow welcomed 61.6 million passengers in 2022 Heathrow’s 2022 tra ic ended at 76.6 per cent of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, with a total of 61.6 million passengers. More than 5.9 million travellers passed through the airport in December – an increase of over 90 per cent year-on-year – with New York JFK being the busiest route.

5 JW Marriott opens second German property

Marriott has added the second hotel under its JW brand in Germany. It has reflagged the former Hotel Berlin Central District on Stau enbergstrasse. All 505 guest rooms of the hotel will be renovated between now and 2025. Marriott’s first JW German property is located in Frankfurt.

6 Kenya Airways debuts nonstop service from Mombasa to Dubai

Kenya Airways has launched a nonstop service, four times a week, from Mombasa to Dubai. This is in addition to its 10 weekly flights between Nairobi and Dubai. Its total frequency of services to DXB has increased to 14 weekly round trips.

7 IHG rolls out Voco brand in India

IHG will convert Corbet Aamond Spa and Resort into India’s first Voco hotel. The new Voco Jim Corbett will be rebranded by July 2024, adding 100 rooms to IHG’s premium portfolio in India. Voco is IHG’s seventh brand introduced in the country. The Voco brand launched globally in 2018.

8 China now no longer requires incoming travellers to quarantine

China has removed mandatory quarantine measures for travellers arriving from overseas. However, visitors will still have to furnish a pre-flight negative PCR test. These tests must be taken a maximum of 48 hours before their departure to China.

9 Emirates to return to Tokyo-Haneda

Emirates will restart flights to Tokyo-Haneda from April 2, 2023. This route will be in addition to its daily A380 service to TokyoNarita and daily Boeing 777 flight to Osaka. As part of its codeshare with Japan Airlines, Emirates also o ers passengers access to 26 additional Japanese cities.

10 Accor unveils refreshed M Gallery hotel in Sydney

Accor has recently unveiled the $30 million refurbishment of its 213-key beachfront Manly Pacific Sydney M Gallery hotel. Originally opened in the early 1900s as Hotel Pacific, it previously traded under Accor’s Novotel brand, but has now joined the group’s boutique M Gallery o ering.

Emirates completes ground testing of engine using 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel

Emirates has undertaken the ground testing of one of its GE90 engines on its Boeing 777-300ER using 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The objective was to demonstrate the capability of the GE90 engine to run on the specially blended SAF without affecting its performance, while requiring no modifications to the aircraft systems, or special maintenance procedures either on the jet or the engine.

The testing activities involved running one engine on 100 per cent SAF and the other on conventional jet fuel to analyse the fuel system’s behaviour and performance under each fuel type, and compare specific outputs of each engine. The latest tests follow an MoU signed between Emirates, GE Aerospace and Boeing at the Dubai Airshow 2021 to develop a programme to conduct a test flight using 100 per cent SAF. SAF is reported to reduce carbon emissions over the fuel’s life cycle by up to 80 per cent.

Japan Airlines Signs Saf Procurement Mou With Raven And Itochu

JAL GROUP has signed an MoU for the procurement of sustainable aviation fuel with Wyomingheadquartered Raven which produces renewable fuel from waste, and Tokyo-based Itochu which is an investor in Raven. The SAF is planned to be supplied in California starting in 2025. The agreement with Raven and Itochu will help JAL to replace 1 per cent of its overall fuel with SAF by 2025, and further increase that proportion to 10 per cent by 2030. Additionally, JAL has struck agreements with Aemetis to have SAF made from tallow supplied in the US West Coast by 2024, and to acquire SAF made from inedible corn by 2026 from another company called Gevo, aiding JAL towards realising its goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

THE H DUBAI’S NEW BIODIGESTER MACHINE CUTS CARBON EMISSIONS EQUIVALENT TO 3.9 TONNES

THE H DUBAI HOTEL recently installed the Power Knot LFC-100 Biodigester machine that can be used by kitchens to reduce and manage food waste in-house. It decomposes food waste including fruits, vegetables, seafood, rice, cheese, and bread, among other items within 24 hours. The machine can decompose waste weighing anywhere between 35-300kg, and the decomposed food is released in the form of wastewater. Also, the device is connected to the cloud and the data generated enables users to identify areas where they can reduce wastage. At the H Dubai, the machine was installed on November 27, and as of Jan 18, it had already ingested and decomposed 1,830kg of food waste, thereby resulting in a 3.9-tonne reduction in carbon emissions. The hotel was recently awarded the Green Key Certification by the Emirates Green Building Council.

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Wizz Air Opens Sustainability Livery Design Competition

WIZZ AIR HAS LAUNCHED its design competition to encourage talents from around the world to create the sustainability livery for one of its Airbus A321neo aircra . e winner will receive €2,000 in Wizz vouchers value. e competition opened on January 20, and will remain open until February 12.

It comes as the airline has already committed to reducing its CO2 emissions intensity by 25 per cent by 2030. As part of its sustainability e orts, it has previously signed an MoU with Airbus to explore the potential for hydrogen-powered aircra , as well as with OMV to supply sustainable aviation fuel between 2023 and 2030. Furthermore, it has been replacing the older aircra in its eet with the new Airbus A321neo. e A321neo reportedly has a nearly 50 per cent reduction in noise, a 20 per cent decrease in fuel consumption and a 50 per cent reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions compared to the previous model.