#WilliamShakespeare; #RomeoAndJuliet; #ValentinesDay; #CasaDiGiulietta

Italy, Jan 21 (Canadian-Media): An announcement was made Tuesday by Airbnb in Italy that it will grant one couple the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on Valentine's Day this year to stay in the Casa di Giulietta, the historic building in the Italian city of Verona, that has become a symbol of the iconic balcony from the play 'Romeo and Juliet', media reports said.

Casa di Giulietta. Image credit: Twitter

​The two guests will be given a tour of Verona and Casa di Giulietta, as well as service from a personal butler and a candlelit dinner. An opportunity would also be provided to them to review real-life letters to the Juliet Club before retreating to the medieval-themed bedroom with a balcony.

Romeo and Juliet, the characters of the play were reported to profess their love for each other at the balcony, although William Shakespeare, the writer of the play Romeo and Juliet did not actually specify the exact location of Juliet's home.

The original bed from the 1960s film adaptation is featured in the room. Image credit: Airbnb

Every year, thousands of letters arrive at Casa di Giulietta, keeping the nonprofit Juliet Club busy writing replies.

Now, Airbnb is offering a modern-day Romeo and Juliet the chance to stay overnight in the historic building, which operates as a museum.

The couple will be the first to stay in Juliet's room since 1930, Airbnb said in a statement and 
added that it had worked with an Italian architect to fix up the famous residence in anticipation of the lucky contest-winners, which closes on Feb 2 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

#Canada, #MiddleEast, #MiddleEastVisit, #CanadatravelstoMiddleEast

Ottawa, Jan 5 (Canadian-Media): A travel advisory was updated by Canada for its citizens travelling to the Middle East on Saturday owing to intensified US-Iran conflicts after Iran's top general was killed by a US airstrike, media reports said.

Due to an extreme risk to personal safety in the Middle East countries, Canadian authorities are asking the people already there should consider leaving.

A US drone attack ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday killing Qassem Soleimani,  commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces caused the escalation of the tensions in the Gulf.

Canada had temporarily suspended a Canada-commanding NATO training mission in Iraq, said Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan early Saturday and added,

"We are taking all necessary precautions for the safety and security of our civilian and military personnel," Sajjan said in a statement.

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Friday said,

"The safety and well-being of Canadians in Iraq and the region, including our troops and diplomats, is our paramount concern. We call on all sides to exercise restraint and pursue de-escalation," Champagne said in a statement on Friday.

#Swoop; #WestJet; Winnipwg, #Manitoba, #WestJet

Winnipeg (Manitoba), Nov 17 (Canadian-Media): 11 direct flights between Winnipeg and Los Cabos, Mexico; Las Vegas, Nev.; Orlando, Fla.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Tampa Bay, Fla. are now being offered by Swoop -- a Canadian ultra low-cost carrier owned by WestJet. ​

Swoop/Twitter

 The first flights to the newly added locations left the city on Friday.

"This weekend marks an exciting milestone for Winnipeg travellers, gaining access to more destinations across North America at an affordable price," said Swoop president Steven Greenway.
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"Swoop's growing network offers more flights to popular destinations at an ultra-low fare for all Canadians to enjoy." 

Swoop makes travel more accessible for Canadians by giving them the power to add only the things they want, the airline said in a news release announcing the new flights.​

​​"Winnipeg Richardson International Airport travellers now have more options to explore North America thanks to Swoop," said Barry Rempel, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Airports Authority.
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"Swoop recognizes the demand in this market for ultra low-cost air travel and [the Winnipeg Airports Authority] is pleased our partnership continues to evolve with the addition of these new routes."

 The new flights will boost tourism in the city, said Economic Development Winnipeg president and CEO Dayna Spiring.

"Increased connectivity has the potential to strengthen our economy and is good for our community...These additional international flights make it easier for visitors to make their way to Winnipeg," said Spiring.

Diana Spiring/Twitter

Flights from Winnipeg to Orlando, Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa Bay are being offered twice weekly, while service from Winnipeg to Los Cabos will be offered once a week until Dec. 18, when it will be changed to twice weekly.
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Flights are now available for booking through to April 2020.

#PurchaseOfSpanishRivalAirEuropa; #TheInternationalAirlinesGroup; #Madrid; #Spain

Madrid (Spain), Nov 4 (Canadian-Media): An agreement has reached between the parent company of British Airways and Iberia to buy Spanish rival Air Europa for 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), media reports said.

Air Europa/ Facebook

The purchase of Air Europa will be completed by the end of 2020, subject to the approval of competition regulators, stated The International Airlines Group (IAG) on Monday. 

It is expected by IAG expects that the purchase of Air Europa would to turn its Madrid base into “a true rival” to Europe’s main air travel hubs in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Paris and to lead flights between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.

As one of the world’s largest airline groups, IAG flies to 268 destinations with 573 airplanes and 66 aircraft to 69 destinations in and outside of Spain are operated by Air Europa 

#BritishColumbia; #SixteenSeaBusSailingsCancelled

British Columbia, Nov 3 (Canadian-Media): Sixteen SeaBus sailings cancelled Sunday because of continued job action, media reports said.

The union, representing 5,000 bus drivers voted 99 per cent in favour of job action and served strike notice this week.

Contract talks broke down around noon Thursday and set the stage for the first phase of job action. Key issues in the ongoing contract dispute were wages, benefits, and working conditions.
 
As part of job action by transit operators across Metro Vancouver, sailings were first cancelled Friday afternoon as maintenance staff refused to work overtime.

On Friday, transit operators, like bus drivers, also refused to wear their Coast Mountain Bus Company  uniforms in order to draw attention to their cause.

Passengers can look forward to more newly released movies, more sports coverage, more complete boxsets and more Asian content than ever before.

In particular, newly available live coverage of the latest sports events will ensure passengers never miss any of the breathtaking moments from their favourite games when they fly with us, the airline said.
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With all this new video content, customers could fly non-stop around the world 45 times.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Customer Experience and Design Vivian Lo said, "Our passengers are always telling us how much they enjoy having high-quality entertainment when they travel, so we’re delighted to be giving them so much more new, exciting content to explore.
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Whether it’s laughter, tears, thrills or chills, we want our passengers to experience and feel more from the entertainment they have at their fingertips whenever they fly with us.”

Fares starting from Rs 1,292 domestic sectors and Rs 4,499 for international sectors, all inclusive, and are available across the GoAir network.

The Diwali Day flash sale is meant for travel on Sunday, Oct 27 and customers can book the tickets starting on Friday, Oct 25 till 27th of the month.

The flash sale covers a host of routes on GoAir’s network at an attractive price, such as Patna-Kolkata, Delhi-Nagpur, Hyderabad-Chennai, Kannur-Mumbai, Delhi-Mumbai, Goa-Mumbai, Lucknow-Delhi, Kolkata-Aizawl, Kannur-Hyderabad, Delhi-Jammu, Hyderabad-Ahmedabad, Jaipur-Hyderabad, Bengaluru-Patna, Nagpur-Pune, amongst others.
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On the international network, one can book tickets for Abu Dhabi-Kannur, Abu Dhabi-Mumbai, Bangkok-Mumbai, Bangkok-Delhi, Kuwait-Kannur, Kannur-Dubai, Singapore-Kolkata, Bengaluru-Singapore and many more routes at discounted festive prices.

#GoAir, #Skål

Kolkata, Oct 23 (Canadian-Media): Indian airline GoAir on the occasion of its inaugural Kolkata-Singapore flight, has partnered with Skål, a professional organisation of tourism leaders around the world, promoting global tourism.

The partnership was announced at an event organised by Skål, in Kolkata. GoAir worked with Skål to extend its reach in the travel and tourism world for the domestic and international markets.

The event was attended by leading hoteliers, tour operators and other tourism industry personnel.

GoAir exhibited its flight offerings from Kolkata and other cities in eastern India to the present guests and reiterated GoAir’s commitment to develop a strong network in eastern India.

GoAir operates flights to all metro cities from Kolkata and besides that, it also operates daily flights to other eastern Indian cities like Bagdogra, Aizawl, Bubhaneshwar and Guwahati.

With the help of this partnership, GoAir will engage with tour operators from the region and will look at roping in agents to make GoAir’s network accessible to more and more travel and tourism enthusiasts.

#EtihadAirways, #ManchesterCityFCLivery, #NewDreamliner

Abu Dhabi, Oct 23 (Canadian-Media): Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, on Tuesday welcomed the arrival of its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, unveiling a special livery design honouring its prestigious partnership with Manchester City Football Club.

​The aircraft was delivered to Etihad in Abu Dhabi on Oct 18, 2019, ahead of its inaugural flight to Manchester Airport on Tuesday. On arrival, the flight and its passengers were met by Omar Berrada, Chief Operating Officer for Manchester City, City legend Joleon Lescott, Karen Bardsley and mascots for a welcome ceremony to mark the historic occasion. Guests travelling on the inaugural flight were given City branded merchandise on arrival.

Robin Kamark, Chief Commercial Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “As we celebrate a decade of this successful partnership, we are proud to see the Manchester City colours grace our runways and skies, as the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner takes flight. This livery pays tribute to the Club’s incredible accomplishments on and off the pitch.

Manchester is a very important destination in the Etihad network serving both business and leisure travellers. We are proud to showcase the city, and our partnership with the club through this uniquely branded aircraft. It is only fitting that its first commercial flight is to Manchester.”

Omar Berrada, Chief Operating Officer at Manchester City, said, “Manchester City’s partnership with Etihad Airways continues to go from strength to strength and this new livery is yet another example of how Etihad are celebrating the achievements of the Club with fans around the world. This is an exciting milestone in our partnership, and we can’t wait to see the City crest and colours take to the skies!”

In the coming months, the specially painted City Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will also be scheduled to fly in and out of destinations including Manchester, Jordan, Spain, Indonesia and China.

Etihad Airways flies to Manchester Airport 14 times a week, providing guests with direct access to the UK’s cultural hotspot. In addition to flights to and from London Heathrow, the airline connects the UK to Abu Dhabi and international destinations throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.
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The new Manchester City-themed livery is the first since 2011, when Etihad Airways unveiled the “Blue Moon Rising” A330-200 in celebration of its second daily service to Manchester.