Aviation

Continental Airlines recently organized a familiarization trip to New York for 12 representatives of Greek travel agencies. The aim of the trip was the complete familiarization of the agents of all the stages of the airline’s services to passengers, which, according to airline representatives, have increased since the direct flight Athens-New York was launched earlier this year.

Star Alliance recently took an initiative to plant some 3,000 Greek olive trees in the prefecture of Ancient Olympia. Representatives of nine of the 17 members of the Star Alliance network – Austrian Airlines, Air New Zealand, ANA-All Nippon Airways, bmi (British Midland International,) Lufthansa, SAS-Scandinavian Airlines System, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Airlines and Thai Airways International – that are represented in Greece, met with Kyriakos Reres, president of the archeological receipts fund of the Ministry of Culture, and agreed to plant the olive trees in areas designated by the governing authorities.

Olympic Airways marked its 50-year anniversary with the publication of a special edition photographic album entitled “50 Years Olympic Airways-The Aircraft we Flew.”

Qatar Airways recently received the first Boeing 777-Extended Range, which arrived direct from Seattle and carried executive members of the airline, Boeing executives, and members of the American press. The new aircraft was received with the traditional water arch and the arrival was followed by a press conference where managing director of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, and vice president of sales for Boeing in the Middle East, Lee Monson, were present.

Thai Airways recently announced its new direct flight from Athens to Bangkok as of last month.

One of the world’s leading airport companies, BAA, that is involved in almost every aspect of the day-to-day running of seven UK airports, and British Airways, is in the last phase of preparation for the launch of Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 due to be launched on March 27, 2008.

The Official Airline Guide (OAG) recently announced the route Barcelona-Madrid to be the most frequent route with 971 flights weekly. The route Sao Paolo Congonhas-Rio de Janeiro with 894 weekly flights came runner up, and then Jeju-Seoul Gimpo with 858 flights and Melbourne-Sydney a close contender with 851 weekly flights closely follows this.

Aegean Airlines recently announced its contribution to the victims of the recent fires through a donation of one million euros. This amount goes towards the funding of projects aimed at the regeneration of the areas affected by the tragedy. The amount has been deposited into a special account for immediate aid.

Boeing recently announced the first test flight of the new Dreamliner 787 would take place between November and December, although initially it had been planned for September. According to Scott Carson, executive vice president of the Boeing Company and president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the reason for the delay is twofold.

British Airways recently invited twelve young travelers from all over the world to its London headquarters in Waterside, in order to participate in a kid’s council that would inquire into the needs of this age group.