Beirut, 28 February 2011 – Middle East Airlines – Air Liban (MEA), the flag carrier of Lebanon, today signed an agreement to join SkyTeam in 2012. MEA will be the alliance’s second member from the Middle East, a strategic growth market for SkyTeam.

SkyTeam is actively working to strengthen its presence in the Middle East, one of the world’s most important and rapidly growing economic regions. The addition of MEA to the alliance network will enable SkyTeam to compete more efficiently, not only within the Middle East, but also to and from Western Africa. SkyTeam in return offers MEA a complementary global network. MEA customers will be able to connect to the world through traffic flows from the SkyTeam hubs in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

MEA has continued to improve its products and services to customers ever since it successfully concluded a thorough restructuring plan, intended to modernize and restructure the airline. Key elements of this plan included fleet renewal and rationalization, increasing the density of the carrier’s European, Middle East and West African network and improving product quality and consistency.

MEA Chairman- Director General Mohamad El-Hout stated:” By joining SkyTeam, MEA being relatively a small airline, will now be able to provide its customers an extensive global network covering Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. MEA customers will benefit from SkyTeam members’ loyalty program as well as ST members lounges at all airports worldwide.”

SkyTeam Chairman Leo van Wijk said: “Today marks yet another confirmation of SkyTeam’s growing global family. The Middle East is a strategic market for our alliance as we continue to extend the SkyTeam network to all corners of the globe. The region has seen an impressive growth in traffic over the past decade and we want to engage actively in this expansion. I am convinced that MEA will develop into a significant and valuable player in Middle East aviation.”  

SkyTeam Managing Director, Marie-Joseph Malé, illustrates the alliance’s continuing global expansion: “This year China Airlines and China Eastern with its daughter company Shanghai Airlines will effectively join us, according to plan. Garuda Indonesia, Aerolíneas Argentinas and Saudi Arabian Airlines have all confirmed their membership effective in 2012. We will continue to work on further expansion of our global network by looking for partners from India and Latin America.”

Source: Air Liban

Amsterdam, Beirut, 19 January 2011 - Middle East Airlines – Air Liban (MEA), the national carrier of Lebanon, will sign an agreement on February 28 to officially start the process of joining SkyTeam in 2012. Customers will benefit from increased access to and from the Middle East and Western Africa.

Welcoming MEA to become a full member is a significant step towards enhancing the global network of the alliance. SkyTeam is actively working to strengthen its presence in the Middle East, one of the world's most important economic regions. MEA will be a valuable addition to the alliance by offering customers increased access to the Middle East and Western Africa.

MEA has continued to improve its products and services to customers ever since it successfully concluded a thorough restructuring plan, destined to modernize and restructure the airline. Key elements of this plan included fleet renewal and rationalization, increasing the density of its European, Middle East and West African network and improving product quality and consistency.

SkyTeam has made significant progress in attracting new members. In 2010 China Eastern and its daughter company Shanghai Airlines, China Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Aerolíneas Argentinas all confirmed their future membership in SkyTeam. In January 2011 Saudi Arabian Airlines was the first member from the Middle East to announce its membership. Adding MEA as the second member from this region complements the network offer to SkyTeam customers and illustrates the continuing global expansion that SkyTeam accelerated last year.

For more information:

SkyTeam Corporate Communications T:             +31 (0)20 333 3064       E: media@skyteam.com

MEA Public Relations T:             +961-1-628 888       E: publicrelations@mea.com.lb

About SkyTeam
SkyTeam is a global airline alliance providing customers from member airlines access to an extensive global network with more destinations, more frequencies and more connectivity. Passengers can earn and redeem Frequent Flyer Miles throughout the SkyTeam network. SkyTeam member airlines offer customers over 420 lounges worldwide. The thirteen members are: Aeroflot, Aeroméxico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Kenya Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, TAROM and Vietnam Airlines. SkyTeam offers its 385 million annual passengers a worldwide system of over 12,500 daily flights to 898 destinations in 169 countries. www.skyteam.com

About Middle East Airlines
Middle East Airlines, the national airline of Lebanon, is one of the leading Middle Eastern carriers. From its home base in Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Middle East Airlines flies to 30 international destinations in Europe, Middle East and West Africa. Since 2003 the airline has carried an ambitious fleet renewal program, with the addition of 4 A330-200s and the acquisition of 6 A321s and 6 A320s which make up the current Middle East Airline fleet. MEA offers its customers very luxurious services both on ground and on board, reflecting the Lebanese culture and hospitality. For more information about the company visit www.mea.com.lb

SkyTeam has officially launched an innovative new mobile offering to all passengers traveling with any of its thirteen member airlines.

The SkyTeam iPhone App contains a variety of highly useful features for today’s traveler, including worldwide airline flight schedules, flight status, weather information with seven-day forecasts, notifications to users of updates and changes, an airport locator and important contact phone numbers. The eSkyGuide also provides the ability to look up flight schedules in Flight Mode when internet access is disabled.

“The SkyTeam App confirms SkyTeam’s ongoing commitment to accelerating product and service developments to meet our global travelers’ need for seamless travel”, says Mauro Oretti, SkyTeam’s Vice President Sales and Marketing. “It helps our customers get to where they need to be by providing useful and updated travel information from our members.”

The SkyTeam app for the iPhone and iPad is available for free on the iTunes App Store. Blackberry and Android users will have access to the App within the next two months.

Source: Sky Team

After nearly two weeks of horridible weather in the Christchurch area we got a lovely cool sunny day today. I dropped into Rangiora for a while this afternoon and the place was really buzzing. Aircraft and people pleased to get airborne.

ZK-VAL

Murphy Rebel ZK-VAL2 [c/n 408R] with Neville Sommerville dashing off.

Coyote 11 ZK-DYM

Rans S6ES TD Coyote 11 ZK-DYM [c/n 4051657] (Delta Yankee Kermit) about to commit aviation.

Vans RV-4 ZK-SIM

Ed Langston thrashing the circuit in his Vans RV-4 ZK-SIM2 [c/n 2826]

ZK-AXC

The Clayton Auster J4 ZK-AXC [c/n 2080] just off it annual.

 ZK-EDG

Jodel D.11 ZK-EDG [c/n AACA/17/2] locally based just in from checking the curvature of the earth.

Heli CD Contractors Hughes 369E ZK-HCD

Heli CD Contractors Hughes 369E ZK-HCD3 [c/n 0021E] departing after refueling.

P2002 Siera RG ZK-SRG

Ruth departing in the Tecnam P2002 Siera RG ZK-SRG2 [c/n 364]. It has been based on the nearby Vallance airstrip for a while.

ZK-DDL

ZK-DDL2 the Tecnam P2004 Bravo [c/n 051] of Diamond Plant and Equipment Hire was out for a breath of air fresh.

Skyhawk ZK-DAW 

The Small's Cessna 172L Skyhawk ZK-DAW [c/n 59737] from the Haka Valley dropped in briefly. They have had this for nearly 35 years now.

Cessna A185F Skywagon ZK-DSO

Cessna A185F Skywagon ZK-DSO [c/n A185F-02282] about to venture forth on a local flight.

Corby CJ-1 Starlet ZK-EEZ

And happiness is:- Terry Salmon back after a 45 minute blat in Corby CJ-1 Starlet ZK-EEZ [c/n AACA/130/1].

Cessna 207 Skywagon / Stationair