A round-up of oday's other stories in brief
Malaysia joins Oneworld
Malaysia Airlines joined the Oneworld airline alliance last week and immediately expands the alliance network into the fastest-growing markets of South East Asia.
Malaysia Airlines serves 60 destinations across almost 30 countries. Members of Malaysia’s Enrich frequent flyer programme will receive double award miles for flights booked before February 15th and flown by April 15th.
International air travel and load factors on the up
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released the 2012 air passenger numbers, showing a 5.3 per cent year-on-year increase in demand. Load factors were near record levels at 79.1 per cent.
International traffic increased faster than domestic markets with emerging markets in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa the main drivers of growth. The US market delivered the lowest growth in 2012 at 1.3 per cent but the highest load factor at 82 per cent.
New routes through Turkey
Turkish Airlines is increasing its Dublin to Istanbul schedule from daily to 10 flights a week from March 31st. Return flights are currently on offer for €179.
This year Turkish will open 22 new international routes on its network using mainly the Boeing 777. Routings via Istanbul will open up 30 destinations in Africa.
People's Republic for Chinese
The River Lee Hotel in Cork is encouraging visitors from the People’s Republic of China to visit the People’s Republic of Cork with a Chinese version of its website. The website will include information on the hotel, location, restaurant, meetings and events.
The River Lee Hotel also has a Chinese-speaking member of staff in Tom Wong, above with Paula Cogan, sales and marketing manager, from Dalian. It will also accept payment using the China UnionPay (Cup) card.
Stars in their eyes in Dublin 4
The Marker Hotel in Dublin’s docklands, which is due to open in April, is going to add some chic to the city’s skyline with its rooftop terrace.
The outdoor cafe and lounge bar will take inspiration from the Burren and will give great views across the city and towards the mountains. Expect the Marker Rooftop Terrace to feature on the list of unusual venues for corporate events shortly.