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Emirates A380 to return to London in July

Emirates will begin operations onboard its A380 aircraft on July 15th.

The carrier will initially serve travellers on flights to London Heathrow and Paris.

This marks the return of Emirates’ flagship aircraft on scheduled services since the pandemic forced the temporary grounding of the airline’s passenger fleet in March.

Adel Al Redha, Emirates chief operating officer, said: “The A380 remains a popular aircraft amongst our customers and it offers many unique on-board features.

“We are delighted to bring it back into the skies to serve our customers on flights to London and Paris from July 15th, and we are looking forward to gradually introduce our A380 into more destinations according to the travel demand on specific destinations.”

The return of the A380 follows the resumption of Emirates’ B777 300ER flights to and from Manchester and London Heathrow, and the announcement that Dubai will re-open to business and leisure visitors from July 7th.

The reopening of Dubai will see new air travel protocols that facilitate travel for UAE citizens, residents and tourists while safeguarding the health and safety of travellers and communities.

In addition, Emirates has announced that it will commence flights for travellers to Dhaka (from June 24th), and Munich (from July 15th), adding to its growing network.

Emirates currently offers flights to over 40 cities, with safe and convenient connections to, from, and through its Dubai hub for customers travelling between the Asia Pacific, the Gulf, Europe and the Americas.

World's oldest DC-9-10 to end revenue service this month

The world's oldest remaining DC-9-10 still in commercial service is set to be retired at the end of this month. Currently in service with Kenya's Fly SAX (B5, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta), 5Y-XXA (msn 45725) will undertake its last commercial service on November 28 when it is ferried from Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta to the Finnish Aviation Museum near Helsinki Vantaa where it will become an exhibit.

The flight, routed via Aswan and Venice Marco Polo, is operated in conjunction with a spotters outfit, Classic Jet Tours.

Built in January 1966, the near 50 year-old twinjet has seen service with Air Canada, Trans Texas Airways, Texas International, Southern Airways, Finnair, British Midland Airways, All Star Airlines, Midwest Airlines, and finally East African/Fly540.

Emirates Jeddah Service Adjustment from mid-Dec 2015

Emirates starting 14DEC15 is adjusting operational aircraft on Dubai – Jeddah route, as the carrier’s 3 daily flights will be exclusively operated by Airbus A380, except selected dates in January 2016.

Currently this flight is operated by A380 twice a day, Boeing 777-300ER 5 times a week. Upon planned permanent aircraft change, overall frequency will increase from 19 to 21 weekly.

United Airlines rolls out enhanced club lounges

United Airlines will unveil new United Club lounges in both Atlanta and San Francisco, offering customers modern designs with stunning panoramic views of the airfields.

Also on offer is comfortable seating to work or relax, fresh and healthy food choices, complimentary beverages and plentiful power outlets throughout.

“Our customers deserve the very best travel experience, and our new clubs are not only beautiful spaces, they are also very functional and will provide the perfect settings for customers to relax, refresh and recharge before their flights,” said Jimmy Samartzis, United vice president of food services and United Clubs.

South African Airways further strengthens its West African network, introduces Abuja

Second entry point in Nigeria offers business travellers more options

South African Airways (SAA), the leading carrier in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, has introduced a second entry point to Nigeria in its quest to enable trade and unlock mobility, which will considerably add to business travel options in the West African region.

Adding a second gateway in Nigeria to SAA’s existing daily service to Lagos materially strengthens SAA’s position in West Africa where it plays a significant role in enabling the movement of goods and people between Southern Africa and West Africa thereby enhancing the growing trade and cultural exchanges between these two regions.

British Airways launches new routes to Greece

Greece is the word for British Airways this week as the airline has added two new destinations to its 2016 summer schedule: Chania and Kalamata.

Both sunshine routes will be available to book from today, and the first flights will take to the skies from April 30th, 2016.

Neil Cottrell, British Airways’ head of network planning, said: “We’re delighted to be offering our customers more choices to popular holiday hot-spots.

“With so many new routes from London, our customers will have greater choice with even more value-for-money holidays to choose from, whether it’s a family break or a short weekend trip away.

“We know these new holiday routes are going to prove incredibly popular after increasing our number of flights to Santorini earlier this year and we are pleased we can give our customers an even greater choice of places to get away from it all.”

The flights to both destinations will be served by a mixture of A319 and A320 aircraft from Heathrow.

British Airways will be increasing its frequency to Corfu for the summer 2016 season, bringing the total number of flights to the island to six per week.

Flights to Santorini will also increase from three to four flights per week.