P&EArchive.August06

Ramla Bay, 31/08/06 - Tomorrow sees the start of the three day Ramla Bay Regatta, sponsored by the four star Ramla Bay Resort. Between 15 and 20 or "perhaps even 25" keel boats are expected to take part, says Royal Malta Yacht Club commodore Georges Bonello du Puis - who also owns a travel agency.

The regatta begins tomorrow with a race from Marsamxett Harbour, home of the yacht club, to Ramla Bay. On Saturday a race to Filfla and back is scheduled, whilst on Sunday a race around Comino is planned.

Also slated are events aimed at owners of small sailing dinghies. The yacht club expects about 40 entrants for the Laser and Optimist class events; these will be held in the bay opposite the hotel.

The Ramla Bay Resort, renovated and refurbished last year at a cost of Lm2.5 million, has sponsored the regatta for years. Explained general manager Taziana Grech: "When the hotel was bought from the previous owner, 11 years ago, we decided to continue sponsoring the regatta...A fact that we have never regretted".

Grech went on to say that following the renovation of the resort, planned now is the further upgrading of the timeshare units.

Luqa, 23/08/06 - Carmen Pace has been named Air Malta's manager Austria, the first woman to be appointed an outstation manager by the flag carrier.

Along with her promotion, the airline has also appointed six people as outstation managers.

Alex Savona has taken over the Paris office and has been appointed country manager France. Edwin Caruana will be heading Air Malta's Rome office and has been appointed country manager Italy. Ronald Cassar Giacomotto will be posted to Catania as outstation manger Catania while Ray Borg is heading the airline's London office after being appointed country manager UK and Ireland.

Angelo Sciberras will assume the responsibility of Belgium and Holland and has been appointed area manger Belgium and Holland. Anthony Dalli has been confirmed as country manager Libya for another year.

Commenting on these appointments, Air Malta's chief executive, Joe Cappello said: "The reorganisation of our stations is an integral part of the business reengineering exercise. Foreign markets are continuously changing and we must change in line with market demands.

"The restructuring of our offices is expected to yield a total of Lm800,000 in direct cost savings, Lm500,000 of which were yielded last year as a result of the first phase of the restructuring process.

"Apart for the benefits of cost reductions I am confident that with our new set up in these stations Air Malta will be in a better position to concentrate more on the two other important priorities we have set for the airline; revenue generation and becoming more customer centric in all the decisions we take."

Luqa, 19/08/06 - Air Malta has sold another BAe Avroliner RJ85, bringing up to three the number of RJs sold since the aircraft were returned from service with the failed Azzurra Air. The aircraft was sold to Amiri Flight, an Abu Dhabi company, who had already bought one RJ70 from Air Malta a year ago.

The agreement for the sale of the RJ85 was concluded last May, however the aircraft was delivered to the new owner on 2 August, after undergoing maintenance and modifications. Club Air of Italy previously operated the aircraft.

It is understood that the aircraft will join the fleet of Abu Dhabi-based Royal Jet, to whom it has been leased by Amiri, for use on commercial flights. The first RJ purchased by Amiri is currently being converted into a luxurious VIP configuration.

Joe Cappello, Air Malta's chief executive officer, described the sale as another success in Air Malta's efforts to dispose of the RJ fleet. He added, "this is good news for us as the airline's remarketing efforts for the RJ fleet are slowly paying off. Though Air Malta still has four other RJs (three RJ70s and one RJ85), all of them are on lease to three different European operators."

Air Malta currently has two aircraft leased to Club Air of Verona, who specialise in flights to eastern Europe, one leased is to Euromanx Airways, and one is leased to Transwede Airways, which is operated on SAS flights between Stockholm and London City.

Valletta, 11/08/06 - Malta and Austria signed an agreement through which transit and short stay visas for Malta, from countries where the latter does not have an embassy or a consular office, would be handled by the Austrian consular office in that country.

The countries or cities where Austrian consulates offer this service are Albania (Tirana), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo), Brazil (Brasilia), Bulgaria (Sofia), Canada (Ottawa), Chile (Santiago), China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), Colombia (Bogotá), Ethiopia (Addis Ababa), Guatemala (Guatemala City), Indonesia (Jakarta), Iran (Tehran), Japan (Tokyo), Kenya (Nairobi), Kuwait (Kuwait City), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Mexico (Mexico City), Nigeria (Abuja), Oman (Muscat), Peru (Lima), Romania (Bucharest), Senegal (Dakar), South Korea (Seoul), Thailand (Bangkok), Venezuela (Caracas), Switzerland (Berne) and Zimbabwe (Harare).

Mosta, 04/08/06 - The United Federation of Travel Agents Associations (UFTAA) together with the International Forum for Travel and Tourism Advocates (IFTTA) is organising a seminar session on e-commerce and travel trade in co-operation with the UNWTO and the Legal Framework for the Information Society (LEFIS).

Speakers are Manuel Masseno from Portugal; Phil Cameron from the US; Ronald Schmid and Daniela Schulz from Germany followed by a panel discussion. The seminar takes place in Malta during the IFTTA 18th conference on 7 September.

The seminar on e-commerce will be followed by sessions on 8 and 9 September on legal aspects of hospitality law - liabilities and case studies, EU legislation - implications of EU directives, Global trends in tourism legislations and air law -denied boarding, cancellations and over bookings.

Luqa, 04/08/06 - Air Malta has contracted Blue Media Marketing to provide it with an in-flight magazine, in-flight entertainment (IFE) and sell advertising space aboard its aircraft.

The flag carrier expects to earn some Lm220,000 a year from this deal, of which Blue Media Marketing - a joint venture between local advertising agencies Associated News and MPS - will pay Lm75,000.

Since 1 August the airline has been screening feature films, light entertainment shows and documentaries on its Airbus fleet and is providing a new in-flight magazine called Skylife "in a bid to provide the best service on the Malta route".