Travel

Team spirit helps SriLankan Catering win medals

SriLankan Catering (Pvt) Ltd demonstrated that it is preparing truly award-winning cuisine for passengers of airlines flying in to Colombo when it won 24 medals at Culinary Art 2010, the largest food industry competition in Sri Lanka.

SriLankan Catering's CEO Sarath Fernando said: "Producing cuisine of the highest standard is simply a routine matter for the talented team at SriLankan Catering, since we produce meals for the discerning passengers on First Class and Business Class of the finest airlines in the world today."

SriLankan Catering, the fully owned subsidiary of SriLankan Airlines, recently signed agreements to supply meals to three more major international carriers that fly into Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport, in addition to SriLankan Airlines and several other airlines that it already serves.

"We are having discussions with several other airlines, and are confident that we will shortly add several more to our list of customers," said Fernando.

SriLankan Catering, the fully-owned subsidiary of SriLankan Airlines, is one of the few airline caterers in the world to hold the triple certifications of ISO 9001:2008, ISO 22000:2005 and HACCP-Codex Alimentarius.

It is a member of the International Travel Catering Association, and the Inflight Food Service Association of the United States. Its products are Halal certified. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of SriLankan Catering's performance at Culinary Art is that it was achieved while the company produced more than 16,000 meals each day for customer airlines at its state of the art flight kitchen at Bandaranaike International Airport.

To put this in perspective, that's probably as many meals each day as all of Colombo's five-star hotels serve at all their restaurants and banquet facilities," said Fernando.

Competing with over 1,600 entries from 1,100 contestants, SriLankan Catering's team brought home 24 medals, including one Trophy, two Golds, 14 Silvers, and 7 Bronzes.

Sudhish Kumar Pande, SriLankan Catering's Production Manager, declared: "These medals are a product of true teamwork, since every member of the SriLankan Catering team worked tirelessly to ensure that all our customer airlines received a seamless service of the highest standard while so many members of the team were away at the competition. Ours is a 24-hour operation, 365 days a year."

Anthony Gibson, Executive Chef, said: "This was a really great display of teamwork, and I feel very satisfied and proud of this team. The judging for Culinary Art was on par with the highest level international culinary contests and it's a very satisfying feeling for all our guys to see their work being recognised.

We intend to do even better at the next Culinary Art and we plan to have entries in every category, which we didn't do this time."Larder Chef J. P. K. M. Jayaweera was the star of the team, winning the Trophy for Best Sculptor for his exquisite ice carving of a princess, plus one Gold, three Silvers, and one Bronze.

His colleague Chathura Danangala won one Gold for his five-course set dinner menu plus one Silver. Altogether, 16 members of the SriLankan Catering team won medals.

Emirates launches World of Choice brochure

With an unrivalled choice of over 120 destinations across 33 countries, Emirates Holidays, the tour-operating arm of Emirates airline, has unveiled its new A World of Choice 2010-2011 brochure.

Capturing the A to Z of the top global destinations, the near 500-page brochure is a must for anyone looking to book a holiday.

Offering everything from family holidays to cultural getaways, the brochure, for the first time, includes a brand new section on recommended multi-city breaks.

This section provides travellers flexibility to combine different destinations in one holiday.

Commenting on the brochure, John Felix, Senior Vice President, Emirates Holidays, said, 'Nowadays, people appreciate more the value of taking a break, and for them, a high quality holiday is more important than ever.

This is exactly what we give our customers.

Working with Emirates airline we promote tailor made holidays to more destinations than any other operation from the UAE, and extend that quality experience people get in the air to the ground.'

Emirates Holidays offers personalised solutions for all your holiday needs, and we have something to please everyone.

Zara Hospitality Suite Web-based hotel management solution:

JKCS ventures into hospitality industry

John Keells Computer Services (JKCS), Sri Lanka's only airline software company, has now successfully ventured into the hospitality industry with its latest product: Zara Hospitality Suite (Zara HS), a Web-based hotel management solution. The Zara Central Reservation System is the first module to be launched from the planned suite.

Leveraging its expertise in developing IT systems for airline giants like Qatar, Air Arabia and Kingfisher Airlines, JKCS embarked on creating this solution to assist hotels to effectively harness the same technology to power their growth.

Zara CRS or Central Reservation System will enable hotels to efficiently manage room rates and travel agent contracts, and process bookings through all sales channels including tour operators, call centre, hotel front-desk and corporate accounts. This system is 100% Web-based. The benefit is that Zara can be accessed from anywhere in the world via the Internet, allowing the hotel to be managed online. This Web based characteristic will be a critical factor for the effective and efficient management of the 'hotel of the future'.

With several innovative features, Zara will revolutionise the hotel industry as it faces a brighter and promising future. CEO of John Keells Computer Services, Dhananjaya Chandrasekera speaking on the need of the hospitality sector to be well equipped in serving its customers said, 'This is an exciting time in the travel and tourism industry.

Hotels are experiencing an unprecedented demand and are realising the need for a central management tool to effectively run their businesses and attract high spending guests. To support this need, JKCS has created Zara CRS, a comprehensive IT solution that is suited for any hotel or hotel chain that wants to increase room occupancy, and thereby revenue'.

Zara CRS, the Central Reservation System module, was launched as the first phase of the Zara Hospitality Suite, which also includes a property management system and an Internet booking engine. Zara CRS provides business flows for reservations, rate management, contract management, and performance analysis through effective reporting of day to day activities. Zara CRS also enables versatile pricing, packaging, promotions and sales strategies to be created as a means of drawing high-spending customers.

P-750 aircraft launched in South Asia

InterGlobe General Aviation Pvt. Limited (IGGA), a group company of InterGlobe Enterprises, has signed with Pacific Aerospace for the exclusive sales of the P-750 XSTOL aircraft in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives.

The P-750 will be the first XSTOL (Extremely Short Take Off and Landing) aircraft to enter the region.

As the world's most versatile aircraft, not only is it the ideal passenger carrier, it is the perfect aircraft to carry out a variety of Special Missions, already proving itself in some of the most demanding environments across the world.

The aircraft is being used by the UN World Food Programme in Chad, Sudan and Nepal, humanitarian work in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and Aerial Survey work in the Australian outback along with the freezing extremes of Alaska and the Himalayas. Pacific Aerospace has recently partnered with L-3 Communications to offer the P-750 XSTOL to the US Air Force for missions in Afghanistan.

The addition of the P-750 adds a new element to IGGA's current product offering, including exclusive representation for Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and Dornier Seaplane Company and further emphasizes IGGA's mission to set the benchmark for General Aviation in the region.

Nigel Harwood, President and CEO, InterGlobe General Aviation said, "We are pleased to enter into this long term association with Pacific Aerospace which has a heritage of 50 years in designing and manufacturing rugged, versatile and reliable aircraft.

The performance of P-750 XSTOL makes this a perfect aircraft for the diverse terrain of the region due to its extremely short take off and landing capability in hot and high altitude conditions and exceptional payload performance."

The agreement between the two companies not only recognizes the requirement for such aircraft in the region, but also cements InterGlobe General Aviation as the long-term partner of choice. "Potential for P-750 sales in our region is large and we see a fantastic opportunity with this product" said Harwood.

Singapore Airlines launches Munich services

Singapore Airlines launched its inaugural flight to Munich recently. Ms. Christiana Markert, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Germany in Singapore, joined Singapore Airlines' customers and staff in witnessing the addition of Munich to the SIA network.

Customers travelling to Munich have much to look forward to with the new five-times-weekly flights. Home to Oktoberfest, the world's largest folk and beer festival, and many renowned international companies, the city is also well-known for famous landmarks.

These include Neuschwanstein Castle, often depicted as the fairy-tale castle of King Ludwig II and the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle, as well as the spectacular Bavarian Alps.