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Yasas Sri-Chandana, chief financial officer of Comair Limited and representative on Airlines Association of South Africa, says that the current financial crisis that ACSA finds itself in, and the resultant request for a 133 percent increase in airport charges, threatens the growth of air travel in South Africa.

“Like Eskom, ACSA is calling on users of its airports to fund its financial shortfall,” says Chandana. “In the past few years ACSA has made profit margins of over 24% and has paid billions of rands worth of dividends to its shareholders – which include government, the PIC and ACSA management.  ACSA fees that impact on air ticket prices include the passenger charge, landing fees and rentals, cumulatively amounting to R81 per passenger per single trip.  The proposed increases would take these charges up to over R185 per passenger (see table below).  When you consider that a low cost flight between Johannesburg and Durban costs on average only R300, ACSA charges will make up more than half the cost of a ticket.

“As airlines, we support the upgrading of terminals at OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airports which have been long overdue. We too feel proud of the modern airport facilities when we arrive back into South Africa after a trip overseas. However the level of spend on ACSA’s projects has been excessive, not only from a planning stage but also in terms of overspending relative to plan.

“The clearest example is the new La Mercy Airport in Durban which, when completed, will have cost over R7-billion (the original proposal was R3-billion).  The current Durban Airport (DIA) is perfectly functional and has significant growth capacity.  New ‘low cost’ terminals overseas, like the one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are being constructed at a fraction of the cost of ACSA airports.  These airports have limited retail offerings and focus on self service check kiosks rather than large banks of expensive check-in counters. Ryanair, one of the most successful airlines in the world, carries almost 50 million passengers a year around Europe, mostly to low cost, affordable airports.

“Ultimately, only free competition will determine whether ACSA’s rates are fair or not. Lanseria Airport offers Johannesburg and Pretoria-based travellers rates that are significantly lower than OR Tambo Airport. kulula currently operates more than half of its flights from the privately owned airport located to the north-west of Johannesburg. Comair recently put in a proposal to ACSA to purchase Durban Airport so that residents of Kwazulu Natal could enjoy a choice between two airports.  The response so far from ACSA is that competition will not be allowed.  In a freely competitive environment it is unlikely that airports would be able to contemplate the proposed 133% tariff increase in an industry where margins are consistently under pressure, especially in the current economic environment. In Europe, Zurich Airport is planning free off-peak landing and parking fees to help retain its competitive position.

Currently only ten percent of South Africans get to travel by air each year.  Only with affordable air ticket prices and airport charges will more South Africans have the opportunity to travel by air.  Our tourism industry, which according to SA Tourism, contributes eight percent to our GDP, also depends on the affordability of air travel into and around our country. ACSA’s financial shortfall should be funded by its shareholders, not air travellers. The Airlines Association will continue to work very closely with the regulator to promote a healthy industry and protect the interests of air travellers in South Africa,” he concluded.

Emirates moved to further cushion passengers from travel weariness yesterday by officially opening a brand new luxury lounge in Johannesburg.

Leather armchairs, complimentary gourmet chef prepared food, refreshing drinks, reading material and shower facilities now await premium passengers at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport, courtesy of the award winning airline.

This is Emirates’ first exclusive lounge in Africa and the sixth to be opened this year on its ever broadening route network. Throughout 2009, lounges have opened in Hamburg, Manchester, Dusseldorf, Mumbai, Beijing, and in the months ahead Birmingham will come on stream, representing investment of more than Dhs 266 million (US$ 72 million).

Emirates' Lounge at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport, which was officially opened yesterday.

Luxury in the air and on the ground - The First Class Private Suite available on Emirates' flights between Dubai and Johannesburg, where the airline yesterday officially opened its first lounge in Africa.

Mohammed Mattar, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Airport Services, who was in Johannesburg for the opening, said: “At Emirates, we are constantly investing in the comfort of our passengers and rewarding loyalty by providing high quality service offerings. This lounge is another example of our dedication to offering the very best to our customers.”

The lounge, with seating for 135 guests, contains flat screen televisions for the latest TV news, an extensive collection of international and local newspapers, magazines and a state-of-the-art business centre with free internet access.

Dedicated lounge staff are on hand at the facility, located on the Mezzanine level of the airport’s Duty Free Mall, between boarding gates A4 and A7. It is open to Emirates’ First and Business Class passengers, along with Gold Skywards members.

Johannesburg becomes the 26th lounge on the Emirates’ route network. Dedicated lounges can also be enjoyed in Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Brisbane, Dubai (3), Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Manchester, Melbourne, Mumbai, Munich, New York – JFK, Paris – Charles de Gaulle, Perth, Singapore, Sydney and Zurich.

The seamless premium service in the air and on the ground includes Emirates chauffeur-drive service, dedicated check in counters and priority baggage handling.

The Dubai-based carrier has launched two new routes in 2009, Durban and Luanda, and has so far promised two more for 2010, declaring Toyko for 28th March and Amsterdam from 1st May. More new destinations are in the pipeline.

This month, the airline is expecting delivery of two further A380s, deploying them to Seoul on 14th December and Paris two weeks later. The number of super-jumbos in the fleet will then rise to seven.

The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide, announces two new Park Inn hotels: The Park Inn Luxembourg City featuring 99 rooms is scheduled to open in Q4 2010, and the Park Inn Abeokuta in Nigeria with 173 rooms will welcome the first guests in Q4 2010.

“These signings further underline and strengthen the ambitious growth of our dynamic mid market brand Park Inn”, comments Kurt Ritter, President & CEO of Rezidor. “Launched in early 2003 only Park Inn today comprises more than 130 hotels with more than 24,500 rooms in operation and under development across Europe, Middle East and Africa”, continues Ritter. Luxembourg also marks a new milestone for Rezidor – being the 60th country where the company is present.

The Park Inn Luxembourg City enjoys a prime location in the city centre of Luxembourg (which is linked to 30 cities via high speed train and is the gateway for the majority of visitors to Luxembourg). Located in one of the city’s most important retail streets, the hotel will have great visibility and easy access to the centre. Besides 99 colorful guest rooms, the new build property will offer a restaurant and bar, a meeting room, a fitness room and a parking. The hotel is part of a mixed-use building including retail units on the ground floor.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is located in the heart of Europe. Its importance as a centre for banking and commerce compensates for its small size. In addition, Luxembourg successfully attracts internet companies, including the global headquarters of Skype and the regional headquarters of Ebay. Its population is amongst the wealthiest in the world and, thanks to sustained economic growth, has seen a rise in highly-skilled expatriate workers. Luxembourg also is a seat of several institutions of the European Union, including the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors, and the European Investment Bank.

The Park Inn Abeokuta follows recent signings Rezidor has made in the emerging market of Nigeria – the group already develops hotels in the capital city Abuja and in Lagos. Abeokuta (meaning “under the rocks”) is a major commercial centre in Ogun State 75 kilometres north of Lagos. Thanks to some of the most fertile farmland in West Africa, the city has historically been a major agricultural producer, and has subsequently embraced tourism and commercial development. The city’s existing “Gateway Hotel” will be completely renovated into a modern Park Inn property with 173 guest rooms, a signature RBG Bar & Grill, meeting space including a ballroom and auditorium, a swimming pool, a gym and retail shops.

In terms of population, Nigeria is the largest country in Africa. Thanks to its massive oil reserves, it is also among the wealthiest and most economically important countries on the continent. With an ambitious reform agenda and strong macroeconomic policies, the oil wealth is being better utilised to promote the growth of the country and diversify the economy. This continued development has resulted in a surge in demand from international business travellers and Nigeria’s emerging middle class.

Singita Sasakwa, the flagship lodge of Singita Grumeti Reserves in Tanzania, has been singled out by leading French luxury travel magazine Hôtel&Lodge, among the three Best Lodges in the world for 2009.

This important milestone follows shortly after Condé Nast Traveler ranked Singita Grumeti Reserves among the Top 10 Hotels in Africa, the Middle East & the Indian Ocean Islands, in the 2009 Readers’ Travel Awards. Singita Grumeti Reserves was also listed as one of Top 20 Hotels in the World, and the Top 20 Lodges in Africa & the Middle East, in this year’s Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards (2009).

James Haigh, East Africa Sales & Marketing Manager for Singita Grumeti Reserves says: ‘It is a singular honour for Singita Grumeti Reserves to be the first Tanzanian property to be awarded a major international accolade of this stature.’

Singita Grumeti Reserves is situated in North-Western Tanzania, along the world-famous wildebeest migratory route. It comprises three distinct, luxurious lodges: Singita Sabora Tented Camp, Singita Faru Faru Lodge and flagship Singita Sasakwa Lodge.

Boasting panoramic views, Singita Sasakwa is the only member of Relais and Chateaux in East Africa. The stately lodge is built in the style of a turn-of-the-century, East African Ranch House, boasting ten spacious suites, styled in plush opulence.  In contrast to the untouched wilderness surrounding the lodge, all mod-cons are provided, from private lounges with fireplaces, to spacious bathrooms and cool verandas with cliff-side, private infinity pools. Singita Sasakwa also houses a state-of-the-art Equestrian Centre, which stables 18 horses, offering guests an unmatched riding experience within the 350 000 acre (140 000 hectare) private concession.

Located in one of the most pristine wilderness locations on the Western corridor of the Serengeti, Singita Grumeti embodies the Singita signature which combines unsurpassed luxury and exceptional hospitality on prime Big Five game viewing land, underscored by a philosophy of always ‘touching the earth lightly’

GoTravel24.com has cemented its position as the top site in the South African online travel advertising category. According to the latest NielsenOnline Market Intelligence (MI) stats for the month of November 2009, the sites monthly readership has broken through the 100 000 unique user mark.

With a total of 103 136 local readers for the month of November (as measured by NielsenOnline Market Intelligence), they’re also the first SA travel website to break through the 100 000 local unique users mark – reaching 47% of the online travel category. The total number of unique users, including international visitors, stands at 129 452, generating a whopping 466 301 page impressions.

Bryan Porter, commercial manager at GoTravel24.com, says, “In the UK, online advertising has surpassed television as the dominant advertising category, and travel is by far the biggest e-commerce generator. South Africans are increasingly turning to the internet for travel information and product.” “GoTravel24 provides a distribution and advertising platform for the domestic travel sector to reach this audience.”

So what exactly makes Gotravel24.com so popular with its online audience?

Even with the recession reportedly on the retreat, South African holidaymakers are looking a lot closer to home. GoTravel24.com provides affordable holiday packages, a thriving user community with relatable holiday reviews and a variety of articles focused on local and regional travel.

In the last few days, I’ve been attempting to change my email distribution service provider from www.feedburner.com to www.aweber.com. This is because of the multiple benefits that Aweber provides with an auto-responder facility that I had hoped to utilize.

Before I could start using www.aweber.com, I first had to import the existing mailing list from www.feedburner.com. After importing the mailing list, you were then sent an email with a link to confirm subscription on Aweber.

Not all subscribers confirmed this new subscription, however those subscribers that had confirmed subscription on Aweber received 13 email updates on Thursday 03 December. Instead of the normal one email with a list of new blog posts published.

This should have never happened, as it clearly does not make any sense to bombard my subscribers with endless emails per day. I’ve since discontinued with my intended move and profusely apologize for the multitude of emails received from myself. I’m not a spammer and do not intend to be one in future.

This was an automated process (known as blog broadcast using rss feeds to email) and I did not purposely send through all these emails.

I’ll continue using Feedburner as normal, where you receive one email each day with a list of all newly published blog posts.

The summer season in Plettenberg Bay and environs is officially on the way and Bitou Municipality and its tourism department are gearing up to welcome thousands of visitors to this coastal holiday haven.  Bitou Tourism has once again implemented a spectacular summer campaign under the Love Summer, Love Plett umbrella, which promises to appeal to young and old.

According to Bitou Tourism CEO Dianna Martin, they are once again looking forward to welcome national and international guests to Plettenberg Bay and surrounds.  “The tourism department and other tourism stakeholders have collaborated to offer our visitors an unforgettable summer experience and amazing vacation memories.   Our Spectacular Summer campaign runs from 16 December to 4 January 2010 and features a spectacular line-up ranging from beach activities to street parties, late-night shopping, the kids-specific Spectacular Kidz programme and a fabulous fitness programme,” mentions Martin.

Due to the continuing drought in the Eden District Municipality, Bitou has taken precautionary measures to protect their crucial water resources by embarking on an intensive public awareness campaign to urge residents and visitors to embrace a perception of water-consciousness in a concerted effort to save water.  According to Bitou Tourism’s Dianna Martin, residents and visitors should not be unduly alarmed as the municipality has taken a very pro-active approach to address the issue. “December is traditionally peak holiday season in Plett and surrounds and while we extend the warmest welcome to all our visitors, we would like also like to encourage all water consumers to make a concerted effort to save water during this season in an effort to protect this rare natural resource as much as possible,” mentions Martin.

In an effort to decrease the demand on the water supply, the municipality has decided to implement certain precautionary measures to reduce the pressure on its water supply.  The municipality has announced further water restrictions, which prohibits the watering of gardens with municipal water and is currently implementing various water saving measures, which includes the reparation of leaking pipes and the replacement of leaking water meters.  The municipality has also launched an intensive public awareness campaign to alert all water consumers in Plettenberg Bay and surrounds, especially holiday makers renting homes in the area during the summer season, of the need to save water.

After the declaration of Eden as a disaster area earlier in November, the Bitou Municipal Council has decided to follow the norm and applied to have the Bitou municipal area proclaimed as a local disaster area.  The Eden district has recorded the lowest rainfall during the core raining season of January to March 2009 since 1933 and Bitou Municipality is acting pro-actively to ensure continued water supply to all its residents and visitors.  Due to the continuing decrease of water levels of the Keurbooms river, the town’s main water source, the municipality has reported current levels to the Department of Water Affairs and submitted a request to continue water extraction from the Keurbooms River.

The municipality is currently in the process of constructing the first 300meter section of the new rising main to obtain an interim higher abstraction rate through abstraction rate through parallel operation of two existing pump sets.  In addition, the municipality will also refurbish the currently redundant farm pump station to source addition water as well as refurbishing the existing five boreholes with larger pumps to increase groundwater abstraction during the next couple of months. Investigations are also underway to establish seawater desalination plants at two prospective sites and to explore further boreholes.

In keeping with the climate of change, the recently renamed Radisson Blu Hotel in Cape Town has refurbished eleven sea-facing suites as well as all fifty-seven Business Class rooms.

Not only are they exceptionally contemporary and stylish, but each luxurious suite has been geared towards minimizing wastage by way of design. In order to be economical and environmentally friendly, each suite has been fitted with water efficient baths and shower heads, keeping water usage to a minimum without taking from the experience. Fitted energy saving low-watt light bulbs, paired with power-cutting access key cards enable electricity usage to be kept to an absolute minimum. Apart from that, the balcony door sensors ensure that the air conditioning unit is deactivated when they are opened.

Christopher Pike, General Manager: Radisson Blu Cape Town adds, “The Rezidor Hotel Group is committed to good environmental practices and continues to incorporate this wherever possible. Here at the Cape Town Hotel, these luxury suites and rooms are the ultimate get-away, boasting unparalleled views of the breathtaking Atlantic seaboard and Robben Island.

Other amenities include movies on demand, which can be viewed on the brand new 42” LCD screens fitted in each lounge area, as well as the smaller 32” LCD screens in each bedroom.

Commenting on the idea behind the look and feel, Paul Luck from Arkiteckto Lightspace said, “Our challenge was to create a hotel experience which matched the uniqueness of the location.  Fresh colours, quality materials and an exciting blend of modern and classic design elements have been combined to give the guest the ultimate experience of luxury.”

Qatar Airways, the only Middle Eastern five star carrier, knows how frantic the festive season can be, especially when it comes to travelling; which is why they would like to remind the South African travelling public about their online check-in service.

Passengers flying from South Africa to one of the 84 key business and leisure destinations around the world that Qatar Airways flies to, can now check-in from 36 hours before their flight and then simply collect their boarding pass at the ‘fast bag drop’ counter. In many of the cities that Qatar Airways flies from, passengers can print their own boarding passes at home or have them downloaded to their cellular phones; a service  the carrier looks forward to being available in South Africa in 2010, making the travelling process even easier.

Not only will this service save time at the airport but passengers can access their booking from the comfort of their home or office making the process even simpler.

Booking in online is a simple three-step process:
1.    Head to www.qatarairways.com/za and click on the Check-in tab. Select your departure airport and the form of identification.
2.    Confirm where you would like to sit.
3.    Collect your boarding pass at the ‘fast bag drop’ counter.

The airline flies from Johannesburg to Doha daily and from Cape Town four times a week before connecting onwards to 84 destinations in Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Far East and even North America. Beginning 6 December, Qatar Airways will launch flights to Australia with non-stop direct services to Melbourne. Direct non-stop services to Sydney are schedule to begin operating in early 2010. By improving flight frequencies, South African passengers are offered greater choice when planning their holiday and business travel.

The airline was recently voted Airline Of The Year 2009 at the annual Travel Trade Gazette (TTG) Awards in London and also won Best Middle Eastern Airline at the Asia Pacific TTG Awards, an honour that the Doha-based carrier has held now for four consecutive years. With these and many other awards in the trophy cabinet, there is little doubt that Qatar Airways provides passengers with the highest quality service in the air and on the ground.  On board, the airline offers an array of gourmet menu options, over 700 entertainment choices including top quality movies and audio selections, games and radio stations as well as four live news channels.  Travellers are hosted by a multi-award winning crew.

With such fantastic service on offer as well as easy online access to booking in, it’s no wonder that more people are choosing to fly Qatar Airways.

To book your flight or to find out more about the amazing specials on offer from Qatar Airways, visit their website www.qatarairways.com/za.

Adene Pringle has been appointed as the new general manager of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI).

SAACI National Chairperson Nina Freysen-Pretorius has welcomed Pringle to SAACI, saying the association looks forward to working with her and reaping the benefits of her expertise.

“Adene is a conference industry stalwart and we are confident that her experience and skills will help SAACI reach the goals it set at the recent lekgotla of the national board.  We welcome her to the SAACI family and trust she will find the environment stimulating and rewarding.”

Pringle has been in the conference and exhibition industry for the past 22 years.  She started her career at the Institute of People Management and was responsible for organising the annual conference and exhibition.

She went on to start her own professional conference organising company before joining the Sandton Convention Centre, first as sales manager for exhibitions and in the past two years as sales manager for associations.  She is a qualified school teacher.

Pringle will take up her position on 4 January 2010.