World's largest cruise ship sets sail from Finland

The world's largest cruise liner 'Oasis of the Seas' began its maiden voyage to Florida, gliding out from a shipyard in Finland with an amphitheater, basketball courts and an ice rink on board. The 16-deck Oasis of the Seas spans 360 meters from bow to stern. Its 2,700 cabins can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew. Commissioned by Royal Caribbean International, the ship cost euro1 billion ($1.5 billion) and took two and a half years to build at the STX Finland Oy shipyard in Turku, southwestern Finland. The liner has four swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts, and a youth zone with theme parks and nurseries for children. There is also an ice rink that seats 780 spectators and a small-scale golf course. The Oasis of the Seas is due to make its US debut on November 20, when it will be unveiled on ABC's "Good Morning America" show at its home port, Port Everglades in Florida. The official naming ceremony will be 10 days later. The ship will embark on its first cruise, a four-day trip to the port of Labadee in Haiti, on December 1.

Oman Air launches new three-class service from Heathrow

Oman Air has launched a new three-class service aboard its new A330-300 aircraft on its flagship Muscat - London Heathrow route. The new service features new first class, business class and economy class cabins. The first class cabin has just six seats and offers the longest lie-flat bed available on any commercial airliner, the carrier said.

Flydubai to start flights to Kathmandu, Nepal

Low-cost carrier Flydubai has announced that it will launch flights to Nepal from December 15. The route will be the carrier's eleventh overall. Last week the carrier announced that it will begin double daily service to Bahrain from December 13.

Emirates to fly to Tokyo from March

Emirates Airlines has announced plans to launch services to its second destination in Japan with flights to Tokyo beginning March 28, 2010. The carrier, which currently flies daily to Osaka, will fly non-stop to Tokyo five times a week on every Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tokyo will be Emirates' 102nd international destination.

Qatar Airways to fly daily to Stockholm

Qatar Airways has said it has will expand its Doha-Stockholm route to a daily service and will deploy a wide body Airbus A330 from March 28, 2010. The carrier has been operating a 110-seat Airbus A319 on the Stockholm route since the Swedish service was launched in November 2007. The twin-aisle A330s will offer more than twice the current A319 seating capacity-up to 260 seats with 24 in business and 236 in economy.

Emirates to fly A380 to Paris from December

Emirates Airlines has announced that it will serve Paris with the A380 superjumbo from 29th December, one month earlier than planned. The airline had previously announced that the aircraft would head to Paris Charles de Gaulle from 1st February next year, but an operational review, coupled with demand on the route, has led to an earlier introduction, the carrier said. The 489-seat aircraft will be incorporated into Emirates' double daily flights to Paris. It will initially service three of the morning departures from Dubai, becoming daily from 17th January 2010.

Emirates to operate more flights to Amman & Doha

Emirates Airlines has announced plans to launch three more flights per week to Amman, Jordan beginning December 1. The Dubai-based carrier is also adding an extra flight to Doha, Qatar from the same date, bringing the airline's total number of flights per week to Middle Eastern destinations from 197 to 201.