Onboard premium class magazine Qatar Airways has introduced a new all-premium onboard magazine exclusively for its First and Business Class passengers. The new monthly publication, Oryx Premium, complements the existing series of Oryx magazines and entertainment guides onboard the Five-Star carrier. Oryx Premium's introduction is part of the airline's enhancement to its in-flight programme implemented from the beginning of 2012 that also includes a complete redesign of the carrier's in-flight entertainment guides and the introduction of several additional languages to the airline's movie selection. In addition, Qatar Airways has secured exclusive rights, being the first airline to feature Oscar-nominated Warhorse onboard from next month �ê" a full month before any other carrier. The film, from award-winning Hollywood director Steven Spielberg is up for a number of awards at this weekend's Oscars in Los Angeles. "Oryx Premium is a bespoke publication, specially created by Qatar Airways and reflects the highest levels of service dedication in providing passengers with the latest in-flight service products in line with business travel trend," stated Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al-Baker. Editorial features included in Oryx Premium focus on business people and entrepreneurs at the top of their industries, as well as business and investment highlights including a special Qatar focussed section. The magazine also has extensive leisure-oriented coverage that embraces everything from motoring and real estate to fashion and gastronomy. Oryx Premium magazine is available onboard Qatar Airways in its First and Business Class cabins, the Premium Terminal at Doha International Airport, Premium Sales offices in Doha and the airline's new Premium Lounge at Heathrow Airport, which opened last month. The carrier will launch flights to a further seven destinations this year. Another Record Month for Dubai International Dubai International began 2012 on a strong note with record monthly passenger traffic of over 4.85 million in January, according to the latest traffic report issued by Dubai Airports. Passenger traffic in January reached 4,852,139 passengers, surpassing the previous record of 4,724,109 of July 2011, and a 14 per cent increase compared to 4,254,735 recorded in January 2011. The 14 per cent upsurge is the largest month-on-month increase in 14 months. This performance brings Dubai International's rolling 12-month passenger numbers to 51.57 million and builds on the historic 50.98 million passengers recorded in 2011. The AGCC continued to top the list of regions with the largest increase in total passenger numbers in January (+203,219 passengers), followed by Western Europe (+100,902), the Indian subcontinent (+92,855 passengers), and Russia and the CIS (+77,454 passengers). Middle Eastern routes continued the downward trend in the New Year (-4,747 passengers) owing to on-going unrest in the region, while traffic on African routes surged after months of weak performance (+34,909 passengers). Spurred by the launch of Emirates Airline's new routes to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, South America was the strongest market in terms of percentage passenger growth in January (+71.4 per cent), followed by Russia and CIS (+57.3 per cent) driven by the expansion of Dubai's low cost carrier flydubai in the region, and the AGCC (+36.9 per cent) as a result of growth in Saudi Arabian traffic. Eastern Europe (20.6 per cent) and Australasia (16.7) also achieved high growth rates. Total aircraft movements for Dubai International rose 8.4 per cent to 29,680 compared to 27,385 last January. Cargo volumes contracted 2.6 per cent to 173,531 tons compared to 178,199 tons in January last year reflecting on-going weaker global airfreight demand and fragile consumer confidence. "It is fitting that we started a record-breaking year with record monthly passenger numbers. Our projections indicate 2012 traffic totals will reach 56.5 million, obliterating last year's record of 51 million," said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. Emirates expand frequencies Emirates Middle East operations will receive a boost this August as the airline increases its daily capacity to both Kuwait and Doha, adding a total capacity increase of almost 29 per cent across the two routes. In line with Emirates' rapid global expansion Qatar and Kuwait will each benefit from an additional daily frequency, bringing operations to Doha to six services per day and Kuwait up to five flights per day. With six flights per day, Doha has the highest daily frequencies in the Middle East region, followed by Kuwait. With a total of 46,430 seats available for inbound and outbound booking each week, across the two markets, these additional daily flights are well timed to support the countries accelerated trade and tourism growth. "These additional frequencies have been added to accommodate increasing demand from our customers. Both Doha and Kuwait are extremely viable markets for Emirates and there is a clear indication that they will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years," said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates senior vice president Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran." The additional daily frequencies to Doha and Kuwait will be operated in a three class configuration. Emirates has operated flights to Doha since 1994, the most recent increase in frequencies was in December 2009 when services went from four flights a day to five. Kuwait has been part of the Emirates network since 1989 and last received an increase in flights in July 2009.
