Station Manager Lorraine Sellwood with the crew of A340-300 'Mangareva' on arrival at Auckland (L-R) Captain Lionel Carriere, Captain Vetea Danford and First Officer Michel Ange Riu	The new business class seats

Air Tahiti Nui’s revamped two-class A340-300 aircraft landed in Auckland for the first time yesterday, as the airline continues to roll out its reconfigured fleet with an enhanced inflight entertainment system and a fresh cabin redesign.

The fleet has been upgraded to a two-class model with an enhanced business class increasing from 24 to 32 seats with a new angled lie-flat design. The new economy class features comfort-focused lightweight seats that are a spacious 18 inches wide and have an average 32-inch pitch.

The new inflight entertainment system offers on-demand access to a wide range of movies and television programs as well as magazines, games, music and special kids channels, plus a destination focused channel about Tahiti and her islands.

As the international airline of Tahiti, the interior design continues to reflect the beauty and charm of French Polynesia.

The newly configured planes are being gradually phased in across the network and will service some Auckland to Papeete services.

Auckland Airport is set to become the first airport outside Emirates’ Dubai to host three Airbus A380 aircraft at one time.

Emirates will introduce the third double-decker aircraft from October 2 on its daily Auckland-Brisbane-Dubai route. The addition of the new Airbus A380 will see an extra 135 return seats each day on the Auckland-Brisbane-Dubai route.

Adrian Littlewood, Auckland Airport’s Chief Executive, says the new A380 service to Brisbane, alongside the existing A380 services, increases seat capacity and will help stimulate demand and fuel growth for New Zealand tourism industry.

'For Auckland to be the first airport outside of Dubai to accommodate three A380s on the ground at one time is fantastic and highlights Emirates’ dedication to New Zealand and its commitment to growing passenger demand by adding more capacity.'

The Emirates A380s can carry 489 passengers and were first introduced on the Emirates Auckland-Sydney-Dubai route in 2009.  Emirates introduced an Airbus A380 on the Auckland-Melbourne-Dubai route last October.

Qantas and Emirates have received approval from the New Zealand Minister for Transport for their partnership for five years.
The partnership will provide New Zealand customers with stronger links to Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the UK, as well as frequent flyer benefits and world-class travel experiences.

Qantas and Emirates applied for authorisation of the partnership under the Civil Aviation Act.
'This decision means that New Zealand consumers can tap into the lounges, frequent flyer benefits and destinations available under the joint Qantas and Emirates network,' says Alan Joyce, Qantas Group CEO.

President of Emirates Tim Clark  says 'Dubai is a leading global hub and through it, the two airlines will connect New Zealand to Europe, the UK and Northern Africa more smoothly than ever before.

From Dubai, passengers can connect to 65 destinations in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Almost all of these connections to Europe and most to North Africa are available within 4 hours of landing in Dubai.

Qantas and Emirates operate a total of 129 flights per week between Australia and New Zealand on a mix of B737, A380 and B777 aircraft.

For the fifth year in a row Auckland Airport has been awarded the title of best airport in the Australia-Pacific region at the annual SKYTRAX World Airport Awards.

It was just one of several successes for Auckland Airport at the awards, including taking out the award for best staff service in the Australia-Pacific region, being rated second globally in the best airports with 10 to 20 million passengers a year and 12th best airport in the world.

Chief executive Adrian Littlewood says the airport is incredibly proud to be recognised on the global stage, pointing out that being named the region's best airport reflects the company's commitment to listening to, understanding and meeting customer needs.

The SKYTRAX World Airport Awards are the industry’s most extensive and credible air traveller-based awards, involving a survey of 12.1 million airport customers from over 108 different nationalities.

Malaysia Airlines has commenced operation of a Airbus A380 service from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong, replacing one of the current B737-800 double daily services on this route.

Hong Kong will be the carrier's third A380 destination after London and Paris. Speaking at the send-off event, Malaysia Airlines' Group CEO, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya says the decision to fly the A380 to Hong Kong is to showcase the newest premium offering in products and services.

The 494-seater super jumbo features 420 seats in economy, 350 located on the main deck and 70 on the upper deck. The forward recline seats are equipped with individual PED power supply, USB port and 10.6 inches in- flight entertainment touch screen.
The A380 accommodates 66 Business Class seats on the upper deck and each equipped with individual 17 inches in-flight entertainment screen, the largest amongst Malaysia Airlines’ Business Class. Personal items stowage is available on each seat along with 115VAC PED power supply and USB port.

South African Airways (SAA) and Etihad Airways have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) allowing the two airlines to introduce a comprehensive range of codeshare and interline air services and explore efficiency opportunities.

Initially South African Airways will place its ‘SA’ code on 12 Etihad Airways destinations flying from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier’s Abu Dhabi home-base. Additional cities in the Middle East, Asia and India will be added as the necessary approvals are secured.

In return Etihad Airways will place its ‘EY’ code on flights from Johannesburg to 10 SAA destinations across South Africa, Africa and South America. The agreement also provides for passengers to earn and redeem miles through the two airlines’ frequent flyer programmes.

Delegates at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) yesterday were given an indication that New Zealand’s regulatory authorities may join their Australian counterparts in approving the Qantas – Emirates tie up sooner rather than later.
Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, told a seminar audience during ATM that New Zealand had been ‘a little bit slow’ in approving the arrangement. ‘They’re taking a bit more time. We respect them for that and hopefully it will come through in the next week or two.’

Clark and Qantas Airways chief executive officer Alan Joyce spoke for over 90 minutes about their ‘deep cooperation’, with the discussion spanning benefits to the consumer, the attributes of the A380, the future of international alliances and much more.

After the interview, Qantas Airways executive manager for international sales, Stephen Thompson told TRAVELinc that any time frame was far from certain. ‘I wouldn’t speculate on the time frame. We do know what has been approved in terms of the Air New Zealand – Virgin relationship and we think that we (QF and EK) have a compelling case. But both teams are working through this and we are respecting the due process.’

South African Airways (SAA) has deals for passengers wanting to fly business class between Sydney and Johannesburg.

According to Tim Clyde-Smith, SAA’s country manager for Australasia, the new 'upgrade' fare will enable passengers holding an economy class ticket to upgrade for NZ$2,680 one way and $4,650 return.

'The upgrade fare is available to passengers holding tickets for outbound travel on SA7701 Sydney to Johannesburg and/or SA7700 from Johannesburg to Sydney between now and July 31, 2013. The fares are available for sale until June 30, 2013,' he says.

'Passengers can request the upgrade fare through their travel agents prior to commencement of travel. They are subject to availability and apply only to travel between Sydney and Johannesburg. Passengers will also attract frequent flyer points at the higher business class rate, even more of an incentive to fly in business.' Clyde-Smith says.