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    Emirates Flight Catering Completes Acquisition of Bustanica, World’s Largest Indoor Vertical Farm

    Emirates Flight Catering, one of the world’s largest catering operations, has fully acquired Emirates Bustanica, formerly called Emirates Crop One, and its consumer brand Bustanica, the world’s largest indoor vertical farm.
    This strategic move establishes Emirates Bustanica as a fully UAE-owned company, helping sustain the country’s vision of enhancing food and water security and its agricultural capabilities. The acquisition empowers Emirates Bustanica to leverage its local expertise and the latest tech know-how to meet the growing demands of the market.
    Located near Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, Bustanica’s 330,000sqft facility has the capacity to grow more than 1 million kilograms of exceptional quality leafy greens a year, equivalent to 3 tonnes daily, while using 95% less water than conventional agriculture.
    Operating under the brand name Bustanica, the produce is available across all major retailers in the UAE such as Spinney’s, Waitrose, Carrefour, and Choithrams. Customers on Emirates and other airlines enjoy this farm-fresh produce in their salads and meals.
    Since its launch in July 2022, Bustanica has become a part of UAE’s dinner table conversations, thanks to its growing range of leafy greens, herbs and microgreens that can and should be eaten straight out of the box – even tap water can contaminate the produce. Bustanica’s produce is grown without pesticides or herbicides, and is 100% clean, fresh, and nutrient-rich. Bustanica produces a variety of lettuce, spinach, parsley, and kale.ADVERTISEMENTBustanica is driven by powerful technology – machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other patented technologies – and a highly specialised in-house team that includes agronomy experts, engineers, horticulturists, and plant scientists.
    More recently, Emirates Bustanica was a preferred produce supplier for COP28, a recognition of its commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.

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    Japan Airlines Joins Global Sustainable Tourism Council Spearheading Eco-Friendly Travel Initiatives

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    Japan Airlines Joins Global Sustainable Tourism Council Spearheading Eco-Friendly Travel Initiatives

    On September 1, 2023, Japan Airlines (JAL) became the world’s first airline group to join The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), an organization that establishes and manages global standards for sustainable tourism (*1). This membership allows JAL to utilize GSTC’s specialized knowledge on SDGs quality in tourism and its global network.
    To contribute to the realization of sustainable tourism incorporating GSTC’s philosophy, JAL has partnered with Sakura Quality Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Sakura Company”), the only organization based in Japan to have received recognition of its unique evaluation standards by GSTC. Through this partnership, JAL aims to promote and expand sustainable tourism.
    (*1) Press release dated October 6, 2023, “JAL becomes World’s First Airline Group to Join the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)” https://press.jal.co.jp/en/release/202310/007665.html
    Sustainable tourism is positioned as a key initiative in the government’s “The New Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Plan” inbound recovery strategy. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) defines it as “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.” To evaluate tourism activities, objective indicators such as GSTC Criteria are in demand for its assessment.
    Through this partnership, JAL and Sakura Company will offer tourists the option of sustainable tourism recognized by global standards, creating new connections and relationships through travel, and contributing to the resolution of social issues such as overtourism, environmental destruction, and the loss of local culture and traditions.ADVERTISEMENTJAL will continue to contribute to the promotion and expansion of responsible tourism, region revitalization, economic development, and the increase of related populations.
    Future initiatives (Examples):
    ● To contribute to the promotion of certification for domestic accommodation facilities, JAL is dedicated to fostering auditors internally. Independent qualified auditors (*2) will conduct certification audits to ensure their credibility.
    (*2) Qualified Auditor: Qualified individuals who have completed the GSTC Auditor Training and passed both written and practical exams. Other requirements to become qualified auditors shall be reviewed and confirmed by the GSTC-Accredited Certification Body.
    ● JAL will organize seminars, education, and consulting services, and set up a system to receive inquiries from Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) and others, working in cooperation with related local government agencies and local communities to contribute to regional revitalization and the creation of human flow.For inquiries regarding certification audits for accommodation facilities, education, and consulting, please contact: [email protected]

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    Qatar Airways Unveils Fan Packages for FIA Formula One World Championship™ 2024

    Qatar Airways, the Global Partner and Official Airline of F1®, in partnership with Qatar Airways Holidays, announced the launch of its fan packages for the upcoming FIA Formula One World Championship™. The packages allow fans travelling from more than 40 countries to be up-close to high-octane action and enjoy unique experiences.
    From the beginning to end of their journey, the packages are designed for fans to enjoy a seamless motorsport extravaganza, with the inclusion of return flights, hotel accommodation, F1® Paddock Club or Grandstand race tickets, and return airport transfers for all global races (excluding Qatar). Packages are available for purchase at: qatarairways.com/f1.
    Qatar Airways Holidays Senior Vice President, Steven Reynolds said: “We are thrilled to once again provide our F1 Fan Packages to motorsport enthusiasts around the world, offering our passengers an unparalleled experience to witness the adrenaline-fuelled excitement of F1. We have worked hard to create these affordable packages that offer unbeatable value and look forward to helping fans travel to races globally, for what promises to be yet another blockbuster F1 calendar.”
    Similar to the inaugural packages, this year’s fan packages include an array of flexible and competitively priced options for select F1® 2024 race destinations.
    This year, fans are also encouraged to experience guided track tours, pit lane walks and more with the F1® Paddock Club™ packages, featuring savings of up to 20 per cent on global race packages. One of the best spots to watch the action, offering world-class cuisine and free-flowing beverages, the Paddock Club™ is the pinnacle of F1® hospitality. In addition, Qatar Airways Privilege Club members can collect Avios and Qpoints on all fan packages, accumulating rewards to use towards future travel and experiences while helping them retain and quickly reach their next tier. Members can also purchase their package using Cash + Avios.ADVERTISEMENTAs the racing season nears its end, the FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS QATAR GRAND PRIX 2024 will take place in Doha from 29 November to 1 December 2024. Packages can be booked at: qatarairways.com/f1.
    To highlight its commitment to growing motorsport globally and particularly in Qatar, the airline will be the Title Partner of four races this year including the FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX 2024, FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS BRITISH GRAND PRIX 2024, FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2024, and the FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS QATAR GRAND PRIX 2024.

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    Travelzoo Launches the Ultimate Guide to Cruising

    Travelzoo®, the club for travel enthusiasts has launched the brand-new ‘Cruise Hub’ – a guide to cruising from some of the most influential voices in the industry.Created for Travelzoo’s audience of cruise lovers, 84% of whom are open to going on a cruise, the platform is set to help travellers with fresh inspiration when it comes to cruising.
    From no-fly cruises that offer hassle-free exploration to once in lifetime expeditions that are off the beaten path, Travelzoo’s new cruise hub covers no-fly, gourmet, river, expedition and luxury. Experts from Hays Travel, Oceana Cruises, SAGA, Seabourn and Imagine Cruising have joined forces to share their cruising knowledge, and ensure existing cruise goers and those new to cruise have everything they need to know before taking to the seas.
    Check out the cruise hub here and keep an eye on Travelzoo’s social pages to catch their new ‘Sunday Sailings’ specials, all around the topic of cruising.https://www.travelzoo.com/uk/custom/travelzoo-guide-to-cruising/

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    Yas Marina hosts “Movies at The Marina” under the stars

    Lights, camera, action! Get ready for Movies at the Marina, an unforgettable cinematic experience at Yas Marina, where movie lovers can immerse themselves in a world of entertainment under the night sky in this vibrant waterfront destinationTaking advantage of the sublime temperatures, the excitement kicks off on Friday 23rd February at 7:30pm and continues every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until Sunday 17th March. Guests can relax in comfort on deckchairs and beanbags while indulging in a selection of blockbuster films, including favourites like “10 things I hate about you”, “Moana”, “Mamma Mia”, “Spiderman” and many more.
    To complement the movie magic, an array of food options will be available for purchase including soft drinks, popcorn, burgers, ice-cream and more enhancing the viewing experience. What’s more? Guests can enjoy thrilling activities such as foosball and air hockey before and after each screening, making Movies at the Marina the most exciting weekend activity.Movies at the Marina is a free-to-attend event guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser; so arrive early to secure front-row seats and be part of the action.For more information please visit: www.yasmarina.ae

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    Bartlett Renews Call for Special Tip to Finance Global Tourism Resilience Fund

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    Bartlett Renews Call for Special Tip to Finance Global Tourism Resilience Fund

    Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett gesticulates as he renews his call for a special tip to fund tourism resilience initiatives, as he addressed the 2nd Global Tourism Resilience Day Conference, which was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre from February 16-17, 2024.
    Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett has renewed his call for visitors across the world to be asked to support the financing of tourism resilience initiatives via a special tip. While urging the international community to urgently unite to establish a Global Tourism Resilience Fund, Minister Bartlett outlined that “the money collected in each destination from this tip would contribute to the fund and aid in boosting tourism resilience.”Funding tourism resilience was one of the pressing issues explored at the just concluded 2nd Global Tourism Resilience Day Conference, which was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre from February 16-17. With an international panel of experts, the discussion focused on how international organizations create and execute tourism resilience financing strategies.
    Leading off the deliberations, Minister Bartlett said tourism offered investment opportunities for all interest groups “but the more important point that we want to focus on is investment in resilience; how do you present to a destination the resources necessary to enable them to be able to forecast and track disruptions, how to mitigate against it, how to manage, recover and recover quickly and how to thrive.”
    “Investment in these areas is not necessarily sexy,” Minister Bartlett added as their return on investment was not easily measured. However, he said: “We are going to build capacity in this area; we’re going to be training people, educating, building structures to enable the education of people to do these things and the building of tools to be able to manage and overcome these pressures.”
    Having closely examined the question of where the funding is to come from, Minister Bartlett pointed to the fact that some 1.5 billion visitors traversed the world in 2019 and “it is expected that in the next 25 years from now, 1.5 billion more people will traverse the world.”
    Faced with the questions of where those 3 billion people will be coming from and where they will be going, he said this raised the issue of personal responsibility on the part of visitors for resilience building. Stressing that tourism is arguably the most consumer-driven activity on Earth, Minister Bartlett said: “If we were to say to each visitor who travels, leave a resilience tip behind at every point of consumption, consider what 1.5 billion visitors leaving a tip at every point of consumption, with their propensity to consume, could do to individual destinations.”ADVERTISEMENTHe explained that the money left in each destination from this tip would be unfettered by the bureaucracy that often comes with multi-national engagements and the difficulty of navigating those processes as well as challenges faced in defining which countries or entities would be able to access these funds.
    “It’s an opportunity for us to think through, and perhaps something that the UN Tourism Secretary-General might want to look at” Minister Bartlett noted. “One hundred and fifty countries are involved here and so we can broaden the scope of available resources for resilience funding and sustainability by making a personal commitment for each tourist travelling across the world, in terms of the consumption pattern and carbon footprint that flows from those consumption patterns and to create a fund that may very well be the answer for building capacity for mitigation, adaptation and the building of human capacity,” said Minister Bartlett.

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    Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund in Talks for Heathrow Airport Stake Alongside Saudi and Qatar

    Reports suggest that the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund is considering an investment in London’s Heathrow Airport, potentially joining forces with Saudi and Qatari investors.The potential deal, as reported by Bloomberg, could see the UAE’s Mubadala Investment Company partnering with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Qatar’s Investment Authority to acquire stakes in the West London Hub.
    According to Bloomberg’s sources, Mubadala has been approached by Ardian, a France-based firm, to explore investment opportunities in Heathrow Airport. Talks are said to be ongoing, with no final decision reached by Mubadala regarding its participation in the deal.
    Last year, Spanish firm Ferrovial SE sold its 25% stake in Heathrow to PIF and Ardian for nearly £2.4 billion. However, other shareholders holding more than a third of the airport are reportedly part of a “tag-along” agreement, which necessitates their participation for the deal’s completion.
    If successful, this investment would mark the third Middle Eastern investor in Heathrow Airport, raising concerns about Gulf influence over critical UK infrastructure. While discussions continue, the outcome of these talks could significantly impact the ownership structure of one of the world’s busiest airports.
    As stakeholders navigate negotiations and potential partnerships, the evolving landscape of Heathrow’s ownership underscores the importance of balancing foreign investment interests with national security and strategic concerns. Further developments in these talks are awaited as stakeholders assess the potential implications of this proposed investment arrangement.Source: https://bmmagazine.co.uk/ADVERTISEMENT

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    Swissport Expands Network in Saudi Arabia, Adds Al-Ula Airport

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    Swissport Expands Network in Saudi Arabia, Adds Al-Ula Airport

    Swissport International AG has added Al-Ula to its growing network of airports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, underlining the company’s ambitious and successful growth strategy in the Kingdom. Al-Ula, a rising international tourism hotspot, is already the sixth airport at which Swissport operates in Saudi Arabia.
    Swissport has added Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdulaziz International Airport at Al-Ula (ULH) to its growing network in Saudi Arabia. The first flight serviced by Swissport was a Royal Jordanian flight arriving from Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan. Swissport, the global leader in airport ground services and air cargo handling, will provide Royal Jordanian with passenger services and ramp handling at Al-Ula. Initially, Swissport will handle two weekly flights to and from Amman. The company expects flight volumes in Saudi Arabia to grow significantly as more airlines add destinations or increase frequencies in the thriving Kingdom.
    “We are delighted to be able to offer our high-quality aviation services at Al-Ula and are honored by the trust our launching customer Royal Jordanian places in us,” says Chris Browne, CEO of Swissport Saudi Arabia.
    Al-Ula is Swissport’s sixth airport in Saudi Arabia and further strengthens its position as the go-to service provider for airlines seeking a reliable long-term partner across the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. The start of operations at Al-Ula underlines Swissport’s strategic commitment to Saudi Arabia.
    “Jointly with ASYAD Holding, our Saudi joint-venture partner, we have ambitious plans and are committed to contributing towards the Saudi Vision 2030, which will place the Kingdom’s aviation sector in the ivy-league of global aviation,“ says Dirk Goovaerts, Swissport’s CEO for Continental Europe, Middle East, and Africa.ADVERTISEMENTAl-Ula is an ancient Arabian oasis and market town on the historic Incense Route that connected India and the Persian Gulf with the Levant and Europe. Today, it is one of the growing tourism destinations in Saudi Arabia, known for its landscape of cliffs, gorges and wadis and the contrast between this arid environment and the palm-covered oases. In 2023, Al-Ula airport welcomed more than two million passengers.
    STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH ASYAD HOLDING
    Swissport has been present in Saudi Arabia since 2016 when it started its operations in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. The company has since continuously expanded its business and turned its presence from a greenfield start-up into an established business with a broad customer base of regional and international carriers.
    Swissport and ASYAD Holding, a diversified, family-owned Saudi holding group with significant business activities in and outside Saudi Arabia across multiple sectors including aviation and infrastructure, recently joined forces to unlock the full growth potential in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The new strategic partnership underlines Swissport’s commitment to Saudi Arabia and is aimed at further accelerating the company’s growth in the largest economy in the Middle East. Swissport plans to further expand its Saudi presence in air cargo handling, airport ground services and in the lounge hospitality business, in particular also with Saudi carriers.
    In 2023, Swissport in Saudi Arabia served 7.7m passengers (+49 per cent vs. 2022) and handled some 28,000 flights (+39 per cent vs. 2022). Currently, Swissport provides passenger services and ramp handling at six airports in Saudi Arabia: King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh (RUH), King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah (JED), King Fahd International Airport in Dammam (DMM), Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Medina (MED), Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Al-Qassim (ELQ), and Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Al-Ula (ULH).

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