TMCnet News
AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, aviation briefsNov 14, 2012 (AME Info - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- PIA TO OPERATE TWO WEEKLY SERVICES TO MADINAH FROM LAHORE, PESHAWAR: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced it plans to operate a direct weekly flight from Madinah, Saudi Arabia, to Lahore from the next Umrah season, The News has reported. A direct flight from Madinah to Peshawar is also planned subject to availability of an aircraft, he said. Currently, PIA is operating three flights a week from Madinah to Karachi, Madinah-Karachi-Multan and Madinah-Islamabad. EU CARBON TAX ON AIR TRAVEL SUSPENDED: The European Union (EU) has offered to "stop the clock" and suspend for a year its contested carbon tax on air travel on flights to and from non-European nations, AFP has reported. The EU's climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said she had just recommended in a phone conversation with the 27 EU nations that the tax be suspended in the interests of negotiating a global CO2 deal. "Finally we have a chance to get an international regulation on emissions from aviation," Hedegaard said, referring to progress on the matter at a Friday meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal. "But let me be very clear: if this exercise does not deliver, and I hope it does, then needless to say we are back to where we are today with the Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Automatically," she said. RAK AIRWAYS INCREASES FREQUENCIES FROM DECEMBER 5: RAK Airway is set to increase services on a number of routes from its main Ras Al Khaimah hub to destinations including Abu Dhabi, Calicut, Chittagong and Jeddah, Routes Online has reported. Starting from December 5, 2012, the airline will raise the number of flights to Abu Dhabi from four weekly to daily, and on December 7, it will begin twice-a-week service to Chittagong. RAK Airways will also increase the number of flights to Jeddah from December 12, from four to five weekly, to be stepped up to a daily service from January 14, 2013. The carrier will also increase frequencies to Calicut, India, from four weekly to daily starting from December 14. However, flights to Dhaka, Bangladesh, will be reduced from two weekly flights to one from December 4. ___ (c)2012 AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) Visit AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) at www.ameinfo.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |