Laid off for implicating Emirates Airlines

Dubai Media Observer links to a Reporters Without Borders article titled "Laid off for implicating Emirates Airlines"

"The exclusive account of Courtney C. Radsch, a US journalist who recently lost her job at the Al Arabiya news website (www.alarabiya.net) in the United Arab Emirates for posting information about safety violations by the national air carrier, Emirates Airlines.

“ On Sunday Oct. 4 one of my reporters asked me if we could write about a report on safety concerns at Emirates Airlines following a report about pilot fatigue. Since the report was from a respected Australian paper based on a Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) for a report from the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) and I assessed that the story was newsworthy and in the public interest. We sought and received a response from the airline which we featured in the lede and devoted an entire section of the story to. The story was on the site for about 4 hours before I received a call from Dawood al-Shirian, the manager of AlArabiya.net, telling me to remove the story from the site."

Read the DMO post: Nose-dive/Crash landing/[insert aviation disaster pun here] for more.

Birdcage goes Bollywood

Spring Carnival week in Melbourne, Australia is one of the biggest events on the world's horse-racing calendar.

As one of the major sponsors, Emirates Airlines goes all out with their VIP tent.

This year, the theme is Bollywood. Just for Paraglider who reads blogs at work, I've disabled the video's autostart, so click the Play arrow at the bottom left to view the video!






While the whole concept is exciting and colourful, and not to take anything away from the Indian nation, wouldn't this have been a perfect opportunity to promote the U.A.E. and Arab culture?

Where in the world is Mummy?

Emirates Airline refuses to allow a passenger to carry onboard his dead mother's ashes for a NZ-UAE-UK flight, and then loses them by way of the Seychelles.

I guess that the pax didn't want to pay full fare for his mum too - or did the ashes pose a threat to aircraft security?

Read full story here.

Liquids To Be Restricted On Board

Passengers may have to give up liquids, pastes and gels under the government’s new safety rules covering hand luggage, Emirates airline conveyed yesterday.

Any drink, pastes, gels and lotions in containers larger than 100ml will have to be handed over before boarding. This restriction will apply to all fluids as well as aerosol sprays and creams.

The regulations, which are in line with the recommendations from the International Civil Aviation Organisation, are being introduced.

The new hand baggage restrictions apply to passengers boarding in Australia, China, the EU, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Japan, the Maldives, Mauritius, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States.

[Read more at Emirates Today]

Emirates Airlines To Launch Dubai-Houston Direct Flights

Emirates Airlines is set to launch services to Houston, Texas - its second destination in the United States starting 3rd December 2007.

The non-stop service between Dubai and Houston will initially operate three times a week, increasing to a daily service from 1st February 2008. Emirates will fly its new Boeing 777-200LR on the route, offering 266 seats in a three-class configuration and up to 18 tonnes of cargo capacity.

Read More ...