Passengers flying United Arab Emirates’ Etihad Airways can now choose between European and Arabian cuisines.

Part of its “inspired service,” these gourmet meals are served a-la-carte or through fixed menu and kitchen menus anytime.

Etihad Airways is a five-year-old airline based in Abu Dhabi. It has a recorded six million passengers in 2008. It claims to be the first carrier in the Philippines to offer fully flat beds for passengers.

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By Jerome Quinto, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

I’VE always thought that a trip to Australia is as easy as climbing down a flight of staircases. Well, if a million steps down a thousand-storey building is for you a snap, the former rings true — for you.

For a Filipino (with the Pinoy passport, of course), going to Australia, or any developed country for that matter, starts with getting a visa. Well this wasn’t a problem for me, though preparing the papers needed to get the visa is a hassle. Not to mention the agony of the waiting period where I’m caught between being prepared for the trip and likewise uncertain for I don’t know whether I’m getting a visa or not. Good thing the dilemma wasn’t that long. Just about three weeks (compared to a month or more for most).

I don’t intend to plot in detail the pre-departure process. Suffice it to say that IT IS NOT EASY and one should consider so many factors before one’s flight. So how did I get “Down Under”?

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By Estanislao Caldez
Northern Luzon Bureau

TUGUEGARAO CITY–An Asian Spirit Boeing plane carrying 18 casino players from Macau landed at the Tuguegarao airport last Thursday to start its flight from that Chinese gambling center.

The Macau visitors were invited by officials of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport in Sta. Ana town.

Cagayan officials led by Gov. Alvaro Antonio led the group that welcomed the visitors, who were entertained with songs and dances at the airport.

“The historic flight opens the development and progress of Cagayan,” Antonio told the visitors.

With the flight from Macau to Tuguegarao, Asian Spirit plans to have other flights from 14 cities in Asia and the Pacific to ferry tourists and investors to Cagayan, he said.

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

BANGALORE, India–It rained hard.

Just a few hours before my scheduled flight to Singapore, on our way to Bangalore, a freaky rain shower kept planes scheduled to land in Ninoy Aquino International Airport hovering over Manila. Our plane got delayed by almost two hours. By the time we took off, I was tense. I was constantly looking at my watch to find out if we still had time to catch our connecting flight to Bangalore, India’s version of Silicon Valley.

But just a quick rewind. It was unusual for Singapore Airlines to be late. But our plane was just that — very, very late. Some passengers started crowding the table near our gate, asking if they could still make it on time for their connecting flights. The airline announced the flight had been redirected to Clark airport (huh?) so it was expected to arrive an hour late. I made a quick calculation. Since we had a three-hour window to catch our connecting flight, I didn’t panic.

I was wrong.

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