Emirates Airline passengers can now pack more baggage and incur no extra charges.
All passengers travelling after May 4 2009 can now travel with an extra 10 kg of luggage.
The move means that the free baggage allowances are now:
• Economy Class – 30 kg
• Business Class – 40 kg
• First Class – 50 kg
Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President Revenue Optimisation, said ‘Emirates has moved to these new free baggage levels to further demonstrate our commitment to putting the passenger first. By offering travellers the flexibility to carry significantly more baggage we will be allowing them to take more gifts for family and friends or take advantage of the outstanding shopping in Dubai and across the extensive network of Emirates destinations.’
The JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai will be housed with the Park Towers, a twin-tower development currently being built by Emirates.
The hotel will offer a total of 1,614 rooms, divided equally between the two towers. The first tower is expected to open in 2011, and the second in 2013.
The United Arab Emirates will begin shortly begin issuing multiple-entry visas to foreign property owners.
From June 1 2009 an expatriate owning a property in the UAE will be able to obtain a multiple-entry visa that will be valid for six months.
A visa will cost AED 2000 and can be renewed provided the property owner leaves the UAE for at least one month.
Conditions include:
• The property must be worth at least AED 1 million
• The owner must have a monthly income of at least AED 10,000
• The owner must obtain the title of the property from the registration authority in the relevant emirate.
The visa does not give the holder the right to work.
Pullman is Accor’s upscale business hotel brand. The first Pullman hotel opened in 2007. By 2015 Accor predict there will be around 300 Pullman properties.
In 2011, the Novotel Deira City Centre will be re-branded as a Pullman hotel following an extensive refurbishment project.
Property prices in Dubai plummeted in the first quarter of 2009 according to a leading real estate advisor.
According to the Dubai House Price Index Q1 2009, published this week by Colliers International, property prices declined 41 percent between Q4 2008 and Q1 2009.
Prices have now dropped to the level experienced in the second quarter of 2007.
Results of government school inspections have been published for the first time.
The Dubai School Inspection Bureau (DSIB) carried out inspections of 69 public and private schools and published the results on the Knowledge and Human Development Authority’s website yesterday.
In summary:
• All of the public schools inspected were rated good or acceptable.
• Of the private schools inspected, 4 were rated outstanding and 6 unacceptable. Standards at other private schools were either good or acceptable.
The 4 private schools named as outstanding were the Jumeirah College, JESS (Jumeirah), JESS (Arabian Ranches), and Kings Dubai.
The monorail on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah will now open ‘later this year’.
The Middle East’s first monorail system was originally scheduled to open in December 2008 but was later delayed to April 2009.
The monorail is 5.4 km long and runs from the trunk of the Palm Jumeirah (Gateway Station) to the crescent (Atlantis Station). When operating at full capacity it will be capable of transporting 6,000 people per hour.
Testing has already been completed. Here’s a short video:
The Oasis Centre in Al Quoz has reopened, more than 3 years after being destroyed by fire.
With more than 1 million sq ft of retail space, the new shopping mall is four times larger than its predecessor. It features more than 70 shops spread over 4 floors.
The Oasis Centre is owned and operated by the Landmark Group, a large retail conglomerate.
