Southern Sun Elangeni's Lingela Restaurant received the highest accolade from the Chaine de Rotisseurs Committee this week – it’s sought-after Blazon for 2010. This prestigious award, which was flown in specially from France for the occasion, was made to the Hotel by Philip Mostert, the Chaine Vice - Chancelier. This is proudly displayed at the entrance to the restaurant.
Since it is offered only to the finest restaurateurs and hoteliers, the Blazon proclaims excellence in food and service. However, the plaque remains the exclusive property of Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, and the privilege of using it is limited to those who continue membership and their high standards, and can be displayed only as long as the member remains in good standing.
This Blazon was presented by the Chaine KZN Chapter to Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel General Manager Mike Jackson and Executive Chef Shaun Munro.
To celebrate Bafana Bafana’s upcoming June clash with Egypt’s seven times Africa football champions, The Pharaohs, Egyptair will fly direct from Johannesburg to Cairo with their high-tech Airbus 330-200.
This aircraft has the newest cabin including fully flat seats in business class, as well as an in-seat massage. All passengers will benefit from in-flight mobile phone services and Wi-Fi internet access as they fly over some African countries.
For bookings and further information, please visit www.egyptair.com, join Egyptair’s Twitter and Facebook pages for more exciting offers
Singapore Airlines has today announced its intention to establish a new nofrills,
low-fare airline operating widebody aircraft on medium and long-haul
routes.
The new airline is being established following extensive review and
analysis. It will enable the SIA Group to serve a largely untapped new
market and cater to the growing demand among consumers for low-fare
travel.
Operations are expected to begin within one year. The airline will be wholly
owned by Singapore Airlines, but will be operated independently and
managed separately from SIA.
“We are very excited about what our new low-fare subsidiary will offer to
consumers. We are seeing a new market segment being created and this
will provide another growth opportunity for the SIA Group,” said SIA CEO Mr
Goh Choon Phong.
“As we have observed on short-haul routes within Asia, low-fare airlines
help stimulate demand for travel, and we expect this will also prove true for
longer flights.”
Mr Goh added: “At the same time we remain fully committed to the further
growth of SIA, which will continue to offer the highest-quality products and
services to our customers.”
More details will be announced by the new airline’s management team in
due course, including its branding, products and services, and route
network.
Comair Limited, operator of British Airways in South Africa and kulula.com, confirmed that the imminent commencement of its flights from Lanseria to Maputo in Mozambique and to Gaborone in Botswana on 30 May 2011 has been postponed, pending the finalisation of commercial terms with Lanseria International Airport, and a commitment from Lanseria to commence the building of a new runway and upgrade of the airport infrastructure.
Comair, in partnership with Solenta Aviation recently introduced the first of three ATR turboprop aircraft earmarked for local and regional network growth into its growing fleet. The aircraft originally planned for the regional flights is currently deployed on the Johannesburg-Nelspruit route and performing well, providing the backdrop for Comair to assess the possible increase in capacity into Nelspruit as well as growing their domestic footprint to include other smaller domestic destinations.
Stuart Cochrane, Executive Manager for Network Development and Alliances at Comair says “We regret the decision to suspend the launch of our Gaborone and Maputo flights as our team has worked tirelessly to ensure that the new routes reach operational readiness in time, however we are extremely pleased with the current performance of the ATR aircraft and look forward to introducing additional routes utilising this equipment.”
Comair is now set to commence operations on the Maputo and Gaborone routes from 01 September 2011, and bookings for these new destinations are currently open for sale via ba.com, the British Airways Call Centre on 0860 I FLY BA (0860 4 359 22) or through travel agents.
Customers that have already booked and paid for their flights on these routes are being contacted and have been provided with the option for a full refund, or to change their flights to a date on or after 01 September 2011.
The Sheraton Pretoria hotel has once again been nominated by the World Travel Awards as Leading Business Hotel in South Africa after being unveiled as the winners for the same category in 2010
In 2010, the 5-star Sheraton Pretoria Hotel was presented with the “Oscars” of the travel and tourism industry excelling as the winner of the World Travel Awards for the category of “Leading Business Hotel in South Africa” at the Africa & Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony that took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. This year the Sheraton Pretoria Hotel is once again in the run for this prestigious award after World Travel Awards revealed the nominees on the 23rd of March 2011.
The Sheraton Pretoria Hotel is not only internationally known for its prime location, situated in the capital city of South Africa opposite the magnificent Union Buildings, but also for its service excellence and state-of-the-art facilities highlighting luxury and sophistication while bringing people together and connecting with our guests. This flagship hotel’s associates know what it takes to form emotional connections and create distinctly Sheraton experiences, helping guests make the most of their travel
sheraton.com/pretoria
King Shaka International Airport will have a direct flight to London’s Gatwick Airport.
DURBAN — King Shaka International Airport is to have a direct flight to London’s Gatwick Airport in terms of an agreement reached last night between Comair and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government’s key economic development project, the Dube Trade Port.
Comair, which has 23 daily flights into the new King Shaka airport north of Durban, is the biggest user of the airport and the largest local airline not owned by the government.
The KwaZulu-Natal government has been working hard to increase the number of flights from King Shaka in an effort to boost tourism and economic activity. At present, the only international airline using the airport is Emirates Airline.
KwaZulu-Natal economic development and tourism MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu said they hoped to be able to announce the first flight in 12 months. They also plan to develop new regional flights from Durban to Southern African Development Community countries.
Comair CEO Gidon Novick said it had not been decided which of the group’s two airline brands would be used for the London route. There was "still a huge amount of work we need to do", he said.
Spain Transport Secretary Isaías Táboas, Iberia's chairman Antonio Vázquez, AENA chief Juan Ignacio Lema, and AlgaEnergy company president Augusto Rodríguez-Villa, today unveiled a microalgae-based biofuel production project that will be set up Madrid-Barajas airport. The presentation was made at the Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis Institute in Seville.
The research platform, with an initial budget of more than 600,000 euros, will be installed near Terminal 4 of the Madrid-Barajas Airport and will become operational in June.
The platform will be devoted to research, experimentation, and improving technologies for sequestering carbon dioxide and for the cultivation of microalgae. The purpose is to reduce the production costs of biomass and to achieve profitable biofuel production.
Spain's airport and air traffic control agency Aena granted the site for the platform which will be managed by AlgaEnergy. Helping to design the platform were scientists from the Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis Institute and from the universities of Seville and Almeria.
The technological platform will be supplied with distilled water from the Iberia purification plant in its industrial site in the airport complex, and with CO2 from Aena and recovered at Iberia's aircraft engine bench test facility in its Madrid-Barajas maintenance hangars, where it is currently emitted into the atmosphere. Both Aena and Iberia will analyse the use of the biofuel obtained to power airport ground vehicles and aircraft.
Also taking part in the project is the oil company Repsol, a shareholder and technological partner of AlgaEnergy, which will convert the biomass oils obtained into biofuel.
The project situates Aena and Iberia at the vanguard of research into the biological sequestering of CO2 and into ecological biofuels, whereby they contribute to sustainable development and environmental protection.
Substantial Improvements
Through photosynthesis the microalgae transforms the CO2 its captures as a nutrient for its own subsistence into an energy source. In addition, some of the 40,000 estimated to exist on earth contain fatty acids that can be converted into biofuel.
Research into the cultivation and production of microalgae biomass at the facility, which needs no soil nor large amounts of water (recovered waste water can be used) will be aimed at improving essential aspects of algae-base biofuel that is rich in fats, from which second-generation biofuel can be made.
The new research facility will also supply biomass to partners in the CENIT-VIDA programme (Comprehensive Evaluation of Microalgae) headed by the utility company Iberdrola, also a shareholder in AlgaEnergy).
The facility will also be used to develop the patents of the biological processes AlgaEnergy has acquired from Spain's CSIC national scientific research institute. The universities of Seville and Almeria, world pioneers in this field, will contribute to the achievement of the project's aims via the knowledge acquired in decades of research into microalgae.
