Boeing insider's look In a video series that will provide viewers with an insider's look at how inspiration has led to technology breakthroughs in aerospace, Boeing employees will tell their stories of the innovations that are redefining the global aerospace industry. The first three videos were released last week as was a website that provides a timeline of Boeing's ingenuity, going back to its founding in 1916. The videos are also available on the Boeing YouTube channel. "Innovation at its core comes from the people on our team," said John Tracy, Boeing chief technology officer and senior vice president, Engineering, Operations and Technology. "It's all their great ideas, experiences, education, training, and even the places they live, coming together with their desire, enthusiasm and passion for aerospace." The videos released today feature Tracy discussing inspiration and innovation, Tom Cogan, director of Commercial Airplanes product development, discussing the 787 Dreamliner, the world's first all-composite commercial jet, and Bob Liebeck, chief project scientist, on the X-48 Blended Wing Body concept. "Our employees are passionate about how our work makes a real difference for customers and communities around the world," Tracy added. "They also know that innovation is critical to us growing and prospering in the 21st century." Additional videos will be released each month starting in March. The company expects the series to continue through the company's centennial in 2016. Golf champion picks winner Qatar Masters champion Paul Lawrie gave one lucky traveller flying through Doha International Airport a New Years present after picking him as the winner of a luxury car in Qatar Duty Free's popular raffle draw. The draw took place at Qatar Airways' exclusive Premium Terminal at Doha International Airport. American national Jose Sureda emerged as the lucky prize winner of a brand new Lotus Evora after his name was drawn first. Sureda bought the winning ticket during his transit at Doha International Airport en route to Madrid with Qatar Airways. Award-winning Qatar Duty Free, a subsidiary of national airline Qatar Airways, was the Official Retail Partner of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters 2012. During the four-day tournament, the retailer staged an exclusive exhibition booth within the popular public village offering visitors exciting promotions, competitions and prizes. "As a fitting finale of being the Preferred Retail Partner of this year's tournament, we had the champion Paul Lawrie lend his winning hand to pick the latest and 99th winner of our luxury car draw," he added. The 100th luxury car on offer at Qatar Duty Free is a brand new Bentley. Raffle tickets can be purchased by departing and transiting passengers at Doha International Airport and can also be bought online at Qatar Duty Free's website. Politics plays for business Aviation Minister Hussein Massoud held a series of meetings with officials from international bodies to bring about a boost to the Egyptian aviation sector. Early this week, Massoud met with the British ambassador to Cairo, where they discussed joint cooperation and exchanging air transport services. On Sunday, the minister held a meeting with a delegation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development officials who were on a visit to Cairo. Head of the delegation Tomas Mayer, infrastructure manger, discussed with Massoud financing visibility studies of many projects ready for implementation in civil aviation. "This covers projects to serve the national carrier and Egyptian airports," Massoud commented. The European bank is owned by 65 countries and governmental bodies, with Egypt holding a membership. Dubai Airports reviews safety challenges Senior officials of GCC airports have reviewed the challenges of safety on the airfields and the adoption of newer technologies. As the region increasingly becomes the gateway between the East and West, the flight growth at the airports and introduction of new types of aircrafts in the region is posing big challenges for the decision-makers. Recently, a MALMS User Group meeting was held in Dubai, the first ever MALMS User Group workshop in the region. The aim was to enable the user community to learn how Dubai Airports operates and maintains their Airfield Ground Lighting (AGL). Mr. Saud Al-Humoudi, head of Airfield Infrastructure at Dubai Airports, highlighted the importance of adopting the latest technology by Dubai Airports in view of increasing air traffic movements and passengers and freight. The workshop brought together approximately 40 participants consisting of MALMS user community members, AGL manufacturers, airports and regulators from the Gulf region as well as neighbouring regions with representatives from Delhi Airport, India. From the regulatory side participants from GCAA attended the workshop and Paula Laws, senior aerodrome inspector at GCAA presented their views on AGL maintenance. The workshop provided the opportunity to share developments in mobile photometric units with industry and aerodrome operators. It also gave specialists the opportunity to discuss regulations, maintenance systems and the chance to observe demonstrations hosted by Dubai Airports. As co-host, Dubai Airports gave the participants a rare chance to see a demonstration of how they operate within the Airside domain of the airport. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) reported the Middle East region saw the biggest rise in international passenger growth in 2011 recording 11.9 per cent year-on-year rise. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projections rated the UAE as the seventh of the top 10 markets in 2014 for international passengers, with 82.3 million passengers projected to use the airports in the second biggest Arab economy. The Middle East is expected to have the fastest growth rate at 9.4 per cent until the year 2014. The UAE, Kuwait and Jordan will be among the top 10 fastest growing countries, with the UAE projected to rank 7th for handling over 82.3 million international passenger within the next two year. The Middle East region is all set to see billions of dollars in investments in airports expansion by 2020. The capacity of the UAE airports will be increased to handle 250 million passengers by 2020. Doha boosts tourism to Georgia Qatar Airways has been in talks with the government of Georgia on ways to help boost tourism to the southeast European country. The airline Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al-Baker met with Georgian Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri while in Tbilisi last week for the launch of the airline's scheduled flights to the city. Al-Baker said the government of Georgia's emerging tourism industry, along with infrastructure developments and high-potential business opportunities were key factors leading the airline's decision to begin flying there. "Georgia is an underserved market and we are very proud to be the first Five-Star airline to begin operations to Tbilisi. The business ties between our two countries, as well our close proximity makes us an ideal partner to promote all that Georgia has to offer." As part of its 2012 expansion programme, Qatar Airways launched flights to Tbilisi (Georgia) via Baku (Azerbaijan) on 1 February. The carrier will launch flights to a further seven destinations this year �ê" Kigali (Rwanda) from 21 March; Zagreb (Croatia) from 9 May; Perth (Australia) from 3 July; with dates yet to be announced for other new routes �ê" Mombasa (Kenya), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Helsinki (Finland), and Gassim (Saudi Arabia). Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 104 aircraft to 112 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America. Last year was a landmark 12 months for Qatar Airways, which inducted 15 new destinations to its network, and won the coveted Skytrax Airline of the Year Award. flydubai upgrades in-flight entertainment flydubai, has launched its enhanced in-flight entertainment (IFE) system, offering more movies, TV programmes and audio than any other carrier in its class. Since its launch in November 2010, the Fiber-To-The-Screen system from Lumexis has broken new ground in IFE thanks to the fibre-optic technology enabling movies to be shown in high definition in the air for the first time. Now, flydubai is leading the way again with an unprecedented increase in movies, TV shows and music. There is also a new payment model offering TV and movie packages from AED10 rather than the former pay-per-show format, making the system even better value for money for passengers. Passengers will be able to choose from 149 Hollywood, Bollywood and Arabic films �ê" an 830 per cent increase from the 16 movies offered when the IFE was first installed. Included in this are brand new releases, including "The Descendants" and "Real Steel", plus the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time. Elsewhere, there will be 154 TV shows �ê" up from 32 in 2010 plus 250 music albums, providing more than 500 hours of non-stop entertainment. Ghaith Al-Ghaith, CEO of flydubai, said: "We are always looking for ways to enhance the flight experience and offer our passengers more choice of optional extras. We also want to pioneer new standards in aviation, and we have done it again as these developments put our IFE ahead of all other low cost carriers around the world. The increased content also means that even our frequent flyers will be able to watch something new every time they travel." Meanwhile, the revised payment model now includes a Basic package for AED10, which offers customers access to all TV programmes, audio and games. Alternatively, they can choose the Premium package for AED30, which includes everything in the Basic package plus movies. Daily newspapers, flydubai news, the route map and information, however, will continue to be free of charge on all flights. "No matter which package passengers choose, I am sure they will be as impressed as we are with the choice on offer. We now have more than two thirds of the fleet fitted with this system and with more aircraft on order, more passengers will be able to take advantage of this unique product throughout 2012 and beyond," added Al-Ghaith.
