Air China Offers Tourists Exclusive Lhasa-Kathmandu Route

September 25th, 2009 TOKYO - Star Alliance members Air China and ANA will commence a code-sharing agreement on flights operated by both airlines between Beijing Capital International Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport from October 25 this year. (Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080625/CNW017LOGO ) Beijing is the fourth city to be included in the international destination line-up from the normally domestic-only Haneda Airport, joining Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

September 13th, 2009 LONDON - South African Airways (SAA) is anticipating an increase in customer satisfaction with its web site, www.flysaa.com, when it launches its interactive timetable and route-mapping tool developed by OAG, the world's leading aviation data business. SAA is the first airline to sign up for OAG Route Mapper, a new online mapping application for marketing an airline's routes and services.

August 30th, 2009 HANNOVER, Germany - - Deutsche Messe and Hannover Marketing und Tourismus GmbH Join Forces to Offer an Accommodation Booking Service From now on it will be even faster and easier for exhibition visitors and tourists to book a hotel in the Hannover region. From October 1, some 140 hotels in the region will be marketed via a single source.

August 12th, 2009 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - - Weekly flights will provide air cargo options from the Middle East to Europe and U.S. National Air Cargo today announced that it will extend its weekly DC 8 cargo aircraft from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), to Hahn, Germany before returning back to the United States.

August 6th, 2009 BEIJING - - Travel card offers business travelers exclusive services and promotions Air China has launched the 'Air China Business Travel Card', becoming the first airline in China's civil aviation industry to introduce such a service. (Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080625/CNW017LOGO ) In order to meet business passengers' needs, Air China has integrated the services offered through e-commerce and frequent flyer programs to launch the 'Air China Business Travel Card'.

June 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Flights to Australia are at an all-time low, according to travel firm DialAFlight. The price of a flight to Perth has fallen from around GBP810 to as little as GBP399 in just six months.

May 31st, 2009 BEIJING - From June 1 to July 31, 2009, you will earn 30% extra bonus mileage on all Asiana scheduled flights between China and Korea. Just simply register, purchase and complete a qualifying flight.

April 27th, 2009 MUMBAI, India - UBM India and the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) announces the most eagerly awaited event for the Indian travel trade industry, India Travel Trade Expo, which will be held from 18th to 20th February 2010 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai. According to the latest Tourism Satellite Accounting (TSA) research released by the World Travel and Tourism Council, India's travel and tourism industry was estimated to have generated approximately US $100 billion in 2008.

April 19th, 2009 LONDON - There will be alterations to services over the May Day bank holiday weekend because of route improvement work. At various times though the weekend work will be taking place between Milton Keynes and Rugby, Preston and Lancaster, Carlisle and Glasgow/Edinburgh and in the Stafford area, The work between Milton Keynes and Rugby will be completed at 12:00 on Bank Holiday Monday allowing West Midlands, Preston and Manchester services to resume running to and from London Euston.

April 16th, 2009 LONDON - There is an ongoing ban on direct flights between UK airports and Northern Cyprus. The ban, which has lasted 35 years, has caused considerable inconvenience to those travelling between the two countries on family, business, or holiday visits.

September 21st, 2009 LHASA - An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale jolted Bhutan Monday afternoon and the tremors were felt in Lhasa, authorities said. The tremors struck at 4:53 p.m.

February 10th, 2009 LHASA - Courts have handed out sentences to 76 people involved in last year's riots in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, an official said. Nyima Cering of the regional People's Congress said Tuesday night that the riots seriously affected China's sovereignty.

August 23rd, 2009 LHASA - Nearly 18 months after the eruption of protests led by Tibetan monks in Lhasa that turned into widespread riots, China this month tightened its grip on the former Buddhist kingdom's grandest religious festival to show who's in control. With the week-long Buddhist festival, the Shoton festival, kicking off Friday, Beijing is using the period of feasting combined with spectacular open-air operas and horse and yak racing - to demonstrate to the outside world that peace has returned Lhasa that had been out of bounds last year after at least 18 people died during protests, an official figure that is rejected by rights organisations.

October 1st, 2009 KATHMANDU - Under pressure from Beijing to prevent protests by Tibetan refugees on China's 60th anniversary celebrations, Nepal Thursday began rounding up Tibetans here and sending them to detention centres. As the crackdown started on refugee leaders suspected of leading anti-China protests in the past, police arrested 45 Tibetans from different parts of the capital.

April 21st, 2009 KATHMANDU - First, there was a steady stream of visits to Kathmandu by Mumbai's glitterati, including Shabana Azmi, Govinda, Sukhwinder Singh and Daler Mehndi. Now Nepal's tourism ministry has decided to cash in on the interest shown in Nepal by Mumbai-ites by announcing direct Kathmandu-Mumbai flights from May 1.

July 24th, 2009 LHASA - The Tibetan Autonomous Region in southwest China Friday saw a record high temperature of 30.4 degrees Celsius since the meteorological department began recording data in 1951, officials said. Lhasa, the main city of the region, with an altitude of 3,650 meters above the sea level, recorded a temperature of 29.9 degrees Celsius Thursday, reaching the previous record set on June 15, 1998, the Tibet Meteorological Station said.

April 28th, 2009 HONG KONG - It was when a policeman took them aside on the steps of the 7th century Jokhang temple in Lhasa that the Taylor family realised the extent of the sensitivity of being among the first tourists allowed back into Tibet. 'We'd been on the roof of the Jokhang where you get the panoramic view of the Potala Palace and Barkhor Square and where every tourist takes a bunch of pictures,' said Chris Taylor, an expatriate history teacher in Hong Kong.

April 8th, 2009 LHASA - A Chinese court sentenced two people to death after finding them guilty of starting fires during riots in Lhasa in March 2008, a court spokesman said Wednesday. Two other people were given death sentences with a two-year reprieve, and one person was handed life imprisonment, the spokesman of the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People's Court said.

April 10th, 2009 BEIJING - When two Tibetans were sentenced to death on Wednesday for setting fire to shops during last year's protest riots in Lhasa, the Chinese authorities chose to tell the rest of the world before they told their own citizens. The episode illustrates the peculiar way in which news travels in China, where the government controls the traditional media, but the Internet offers an alternative, reports the Christian Science Monitor (CSM).

September 21st, 2009 China bans foreign tourists from TibetBEIJING — China has banned foreign tourists from traveling to Tibet ahead of a parade in the capital to mark 60 years of Communist rule, an official said Tuesday, amid stepped-up security across the country to ensure nothing mars the celebrations. Tan Lin, an official with the business administration office at the Tourism Bureau of Tibet, said foreign tourists would be banned from Tuesday onwards, but those who have already arrived would be allowed to stay.