UNITED KINGDOM: Lulu Group Acquires Waldorf Astoria – The Caledonian For $120m

Twenty14 Holdings, the hospitality investment arm of Lulu Group, said on Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of a Waldorf Astoria property in Edinburgh for $120 million.

The Caledonian now joins a portfolio of $650 million worth of luxury property across the UK, the Middle East, and India owned by Twenty14. In a statement, the company said it plans to invest another $28 million to enhance the building on Edinburgh’s Princes Street.

The acquisition of the Waldorf Astoria – The Caledonian follows another key takeover by Twenty14 of Great Scotland Yard, home of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, in 2015 for £110 million.

The company is turning the London property to a five-star hotel.

Adeeb Ahamed, managing director of Twenty14 Holdings, said the company is currently actively pursuing other investment opportunities in Europe, the Middle East, and India.

Our vision is to create a billion-dollar investment company. There is a tremendous opportunity to extend our portfolio of luxury hotels, in view of the current market scenario.

We have a few projects in the pipeline at various stages of planning and development, and we aim to add a few more properties to our portfolio in the next few years, he said.

Twenty14 said it has been looking at iconic locations around the world to add to its portfolio, and The Caledonian was a good fit.

Asked about the concerns regarding Brexit on Scotland’s economy, Ahamed said, We are yet to see a clear path for Brexit, although related developments have picked up since the decision was made.

When Brexit does happen, there will be fund movement, which would naturally bring certain financial constraints.

However, unless a proper solution or decision is taken, it is too early to opine or reach a conclusion on the matter, he said.

A Twenty14 spokesperson said the UK is a strong market, and that some projects are now up for sale as a result of Brexit.

The spokesperson confirmed the company plans to keep the management of the hotel unchanged with the Waldorf Astoria, a brand operating under Hilton, and that it plans to preserve the heritage of the 241-room property.



Tourism Observer

USA: United Airlines Introduces Washington D.C To Edinburgh

United launched a new seasonal direct service between Edinburgh and Washington D.C.

This is the first time a direct flight has ever connected the capitals of Scotland and the USA.

The service will be operated on a daily basis throughout the summer, until October 4, 2018.

The outbound leg will operate under flight number UA146, leaving Washington D.C at 10:10 pm, and landing in Edinburgh at 10:25 am the following morning.

UA147, the return leg, will depart Edinburgh at 12:30 pm, arriving in Washington D.C. at 3:30 pm.

This seasonal route will be used to allow further connection flights across the US building on 20 years of services to Scotland.

United also runs a nonstop year round service from Newark to Edinburgh.

We are excited to inaugurate our nonstop seasonal service between Edinburgh and our Washington, D.C. hub, connecting the two capital cities for the very first time, Bob Schumacher, United Managing Director Sales United Kingdom, and Ireland said.

Our new flight strengthens our international route network and provides our customers from Scotland with greater travel choice, with almost 70 nonstop connections from Washington, D.C. to other destinations across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

The flight will be operated with one of United’s Boeing 757-200 aircraft, which offers a total of 169 seats with 16 flat-bed seats in the United Polaris Business Class and 153 in Economy.

Each plane also offers 45 Economy plus seats which offer additional legroom and increased personal space.

We know that Edinburgh and Scotland are a huge draw for inbound tourists and we look forward to welcoming and showing them the fantastic sights and history that we have, said Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport.

Business on both sides of the Atlantic will also benefit from increased access, he said.

This is yet another route launch success for United as they continue to expand their dominance across the Scottish market.

With further connectivity between Scotland and the US, travelers will not have to either connect in Manchester or any of the London Airports to fly onwards to the US, they can continue to use Scotland as their gateway to tourism.


Tourism Observer

QATAR: Qatar Airways To Commence Doha To Cardiff Flights

Qatar Airways has announced that it is to launch Doha-Cardiff route on May 1st.

This is the first time that Qatar will be directly linked to Wales, and more importantly, the Welsh capital, offering passenger and cargo opportunities for those in the catchment area.

After the inaugural flight, the route will then be operated by the 787 Dreamliner that the carrier has in their fleet.

The launch of the new service to Cardiff will be a major milestone for Qatar Airways.

It makes sense that the inaugural flight that welcomes Qatar Airways to Wales is on the A350-900, as the wings of this very plane are built at the Airbus plant in Broughton, North Wales.

The new service will connect the Welsh people with more destinations globally and provide them with the opportunity to experience our unparalleled five-star service.

Qatar Airways forward to flying its new passengers on board and to connect them to Doha and points beyond.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner that will operate on this route will have 22 seats in Business Class, offering a 1-2-1 configuration followed by 232 seats in Economy which will run under a 3-3-3 configuration.

The flight schedule is as follows:

- Doha (DOH) to Cardiff (CWL) QR 321 departs 07:25 arrives 12:50 (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat)

- Cardiff (CWL) to Doha (DOH) QR 322 departs 15:55 arrives 00:45 (+1) (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat)

- Doha (DOH) to Cardiff (CWL) QR 323 departs 01:15 arrives 06:40 (Tue, Thu, Sun)

- Cardiff (CWL) to Doha (DOH) QR 324 departs 08:10 arrives 17:00 (Tue, Thu, Sun)

On top of this new route addition in May, the airline will also be operating services to London Gatwick on May 22nd.

This means that by the end of May, Qatar Airways’ UK portfolio will consist of destinations being Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Gatwick, offering an even spread across the UK to connect passengers to the State of Qatar as well as beyond.


Tourism Observer

UNITED KINGDOM: Flybe Competes With EasyJet Between Liverpool And Amsterdam

Mark Povall, Air Service Development Director Liverpool Airport presents Lotte Harbers, Aviation Marketing Director Amsterdam Airport Schiphol with a Superlambanana (a bright yellow sculpture located in Liverpool – weighing almost eight tonnes and standing over five metres tall, it is intended to be a cross between a banana and a lamb) as a gift from Liverpool. Andrea Hayes, Flybe UK GM (North and ROI) poses with airport CEO Andrew Cornish and a fine route launch cake.

Flybe has commenced its new Q400-operated service to Amsterdam (AMS) from Liverpool (LPL) on 7 September. The airline now operates up to three flights per day on the city pair, with a total of 19 weekly rotations. It recently committed to further expansion from Liverpool by announcing a new daily service to Edinburgh which starts at the end of October.

It will also be increasing capacity on its existing Isle of Man and Belfast City services with an additional daily departure to both destinations, taking the total number of flights to and from Liverpool by Flybe to approximately 150 per week. Andrew Cornish, CEO Liverpool Airport commented: “In the past, re-establishing a ‘hub link’ from Liverpool has been the most requested service by stakeholders and passengers across the Liverpool City Region.

Both business and leisure passengers are now able to take advantage of the convenience of being able to start their long haul journeys from their home airport, as well as bringing a further boost for the region’s tourism offer and inward investment opportunities.” Flybe’s CCO, Paul Simmons, said: “Flybe is delighted to play a part in making it possible for Liverpool customers to access the world through Amsterdam and, just as importantly, make it easier for the rest of the world to come to Liverpool.

We already have a number of codeshare and interline arrangements with long-haul carriers that, in the future, have the potential to benefit passengers even further.” easyJet offers the same routing 13 times weekly between the two cities.

FINLAND: Finnair To Fly To Four New European Destinations In 2016

The airline Finnair will launch next year four new routes from Helsinki to northern Europe or East And it will convert into eight routes previously operated scheduled flights only charter flights.

As of April 4, 2016, the national carrier of Finland will offer a daily flight between the airport of Helsinki-Vantaa and Billund, operated by Embraer 170 seats 76 by ​​its subsidiary Nordic Regional Airlines (eg Flybe Nordic). Departures are scheduled at 8:05 (8:55 arrival) or 4:10 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (arrival 17:00) are return flights leaving Denmark respectively at 12:10 (2:55 p.m. arrival) and at 20:10 (10:55 p.m. arrival). No competition on this route for Finnair, already poses five times a day in Copenhagen.

As of April 18 and throughout the summer season, the airline alliance will offer three and four weekly rotations between its capital and Edinburgh, operated by Airbus A319 of 138 seats again without competition. Departures Monday and Thursday are scheduled at 8:30 am (arrival 9:10), the one on Wednesday at 17:20 (arrival 18.00) and the Sunday at 16:30 (arrival 5:10 p.m.) Return flights will leave Scotland Monday and Thursday at 9:50 am (14:40 arrival), Wednesday at 18:40 (arriving 23:30) and Sundays at 18:15 (23:05 arrival). This road will allow "our Asian customers excellent opportunities to travel to Scotland on their travels in the UK, Scotland and connect the broad Asian network of Finnair, which has 13 airports."

From June 1 to August 27, Finnair will offer three flights a week between Helsinki and Svalbard, Longyearbyen airport accepting regular flights over the north of the planet. The E190 100 seats of its subsidiary will take off on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday 23:45 (arrival the next day at 1:55), and will leave the Norwegian archipelago Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 2:45 (6:45 arrival). Only SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian offer low cost scheduled flights to Svalbard.

Finally significantly further south, Finnair will offer from June 20 to August 12 two flights a week between Helsinki and Pula starts Monday at 7:45 (9:40 arrival) and Friday at 5:35 p.m. (arrival 7:30 p.m.) and return of Croatia respectively at 10:30 am (2:25 p.m. arrival ) and 8:25 p.m. (0:20 arrival). No competition there either for the company that already serves Dubrovnik and Split.

Finnair will convert to the other regular flights from the month of May 2016 eight routes to Greece, Italy and Bulgaria previously offered only as charter flights in almost every case with one flight per week in A319, A320 or A321: these flies to Preveza (two flights a week), Rimini, Mytilini, Santorini, Skiathos, Varna, Verona and Zakynthos.

FINLAND: Finnair To Launch New Edinburgh-Helsinki Route In 2016

Finnair is set to launch a seasonal service from Edinburgh to Helsinki in 2016, offering travellers faster connections to Finnair’s network of Asian destinations.

The service begins on April 18th 2016 and will operate to October 27th 2016.

Edinburgh will be served by three flights a week operated by a Finnair Airbus A319.

“The new Edinburgh route will open up travel to Finnair’s extensive Asian network for Scottish passengers with short connections at Helsinki Airport.

“Edinburgh Airport is seeing a continuous growth in demand for international flights, recently announcing a 10.2 per cent growth year-on-year to July 2015 and we look forward to welcoming these passengers on board Finnair,” said Petri Vuori, Finnair’s vice president of global sales.

Finnair is the European launch customer for the next-generation Airbus A350 XWB aircraft.

The completely new aircraft type substantially raises the bar for passenger comfort, environmental performance and operational efficiency.

Finnair is also the first airline in the world to operate the A350 on scheduled services to China, where Shanghai will be served with a daily A350 service from October 25th 2015, followed by Bangkok and Beijing, with Hong Kong and Singapore A350 services to be added in 2016.

The Edinburgh service is one of four new routes launching in summer 2016, with the launch of services from Helsinki to Billund, Denmark; Pula, Croatia; and also the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean.