Oman Air, the national carrier of Oman, has implemented a codeshare agreement with Kenya Airways (KQ) covering services between Muscat and Nairobi effective Aug. 28.
The airline said the new partnership will allow seamless connectivity to customers of Kenya Airways in accessing Muscat directly from Nairobi. Oman Air launched its flights to Nairobi in March this year.
On the Nairobi-Muscat route, KQ will place its codeshare flight numbers on the Oman Air flights operating on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Paul Gregorowitsch, CEO of Oman Air, said: “Oman Air is very happy with the implementation of this codeshare agreement with Kenya Airways. Through this partnership, Oman Air extends its exemplary services to guests of Kenya Airways. Trade between Kenya and Oman has been growing steadily over the years and this latest agreement with Kenya Airways is a natural progression, following the launch of our new flight from Muscat to Nairobi in March this year.”
Oman Air said its strategy reflects the country’s national character and the Omani people’s legendary hospitality and their culture of friendliness. “This, combined with its internationally acclaimed services, has resulted in various important awards and accolades being bestowed by many prestigious organizations from around the world,” the airline said.
Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and CEO, Sebastian Mikosz said: “This new codeshare agreement represents an important element of our strategy to increase the choice, convenience and connectivity that Kenya Airways offers its customers. The codeshare partnerships and airline alliances continue to play an important role for Kenya Airways in improving the airline’s competitive offering.”
“Through this partnership, Kenya Airways extends its services to tourists as well as to those who are visiting friends and families, in Oman — through the cultural links that Oman shares with the coastal parts of East Africa — especially Kenya and Tanzania,” the airline added.
Oman Air signs codeshare agreement with Kenya Airways
Oman Air signs codeshare agreement with Kenya Airways
Jeddah maritime conference urges smart, sustainable growth
The recently concluded International Port and Marine Development Conference in Jeddah has set a new course for the maritime industry, emphasizing smart and sustainable port infrastructure as the cornerstone for global maritime progress.
Saudi Arabia’s commitment to becoming a regional maritime hub was showcased throughout the conference, reflecting its ambitious goals to enhance maritime infrastructure and bolster trade relations with key partners. Notably, the country’s significant rise in global rankings, advancing eight places in annual container throughput, underscores its dedication to advancing maritime capabilities on the international stage.
One of the conference’s focal points was the logistics park at Jeddah Port, slated for completion later this year. This project represents more than mere expansion; it embodies a comprehensive approach to port development, incorporating infrastructure upgrades to meet evolving industry needs.
In an era of digital transformation, the conference underscored the imperative for ports and terminals to adopt a digital mindset to stay competitive. With a shift toward digitization, automation, and decarbonization, operators must embrace technological trends to enhance efficiency and sustainability.
The conference, held from May 6-7 at Jeddah Hilton, brought together more than 200 industry leaders, policymakers, international experts and stakeholders from over 15 countries, to strategize for sustainable industry growth. Discussions focused on green and eco-friendly solutions, with an emphasis on port development, construction, operation, and maritime logistics.
Key topics covered included port infrastructure modernization strategies, container terminal automation challenges and opportunities, innovations in port and marine development, and financing models for port development projects. These discussions provided valuable insights into addressing challenges such as time in port, congestion, delays, and carbon emissions.
“As the maritime industry charts a course toward a smarter, more sustainable future, the International Port and Marine Development Conference serves as a beacon of collaboration, innovation, and progress, propelling global maritime endeavors to new heights,” a press statement said.
Avaya reinforces customer experience solutions for enterprise with Edify acquisition
Avaya, a global leader in customer experience solutions, announced that it has acquired Edify. This acquisition brings advanced, AI-powered customer journey orchestration and workflow capabilities directly into the Avaya Experience Platform, while also bringing world-class engineering talent into Avaya’s engineering organization.
Edify delivers no-code, cloud-native solutions, and the integration of its unique orchestration capabilities into AXP accelerates Avaya’s ability to deliver personalized customer experiences such as task automation, journey orchestration and out-of-the-box CRM connectors. This acquisition underscores Avaya’s commitment to continuous innovation, and to staying at the forefront of the customer experience solutions market.
“The acquisition of Edify is more evidence that Avaya is the innovation leader in customer experience solutions, as we continue to add new capabilities and value for Avaya Experience Platform customers,” said Alan Masarek, CEO of Avaya. “This tuck-in acquisition is additional evidence that Avaya is making investments in technology, people and experience to continue to power the company’s momentum in the market. Equally important is the injection of additional world-class customer experience talent that this transaction brings to our engineering, product and go-to-customer organizations. I am delighted to welcome the Edify team to Avaya.”
“The team and I are delighted to join Avaya,” said Tony Lama, CEO of Edify. “Edify has always been about breaking down business communications barriers both inside and beyond the walls of traditional contact centers.” Joining the Avaya team allows us to continue that mission at an unparalleled scale while advancing Avaya’s innovation without disruption strategy.”
The integration of Edify’s no-code orchestration engine into AXP helps enable businesses to rapidly create and deploy the necessary workflows that connect businesses with customers, making enterprise customer experiences as easy as personal ones.
Creating personalized experiences is paramount to every organization, and even more valuable when companies can design experiences without extensive IT involvement or external resources. Edify’s workflows help users deliver fully automated and assisted customer journeys with unprecedented ease of use. The platform natively includes a host of valuable features including open APIs for seamless integrations to technology partner solutions, and out-of-the-box CRM connections, and AI-powered capabilities like NLU and sentiment analysis.
“With the acquisition of Edify, Avaya is accelerating its ability to bring new workflow orchestration innovation to its customers, as well as additional native AI capabilities,” said Sheila McGee-Smith, president, and principal analyst at McGee-Smith Analytics.
Heritage haven: Riyadh Air to promote AlUla
AlUla, the ancient oasis city in the northwest of Saudi Arabia, has entered into a strategic partnership with Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia’s new world-class airline that has announced an ambitious target to fly to more than 100 destinations by 2030.
Having signed an MoU at this year’s Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, the partnership will see both entities collaborate on multiple initiatives, the aim being to raise the profile of AlUla and the new carrier to discerning travelers from across Saudi Arabia and around the globe. Ultimately, the partnership will increase tourist volumes to AlUla from key global markets.
Rami Al-Moallim, vice president of destination management and marketing at the Royal Commission for AlUla, said: “Today marks the start of an exciting new partnership for AlUla and Riyadh Air, which has already made a notable impact on the global aviation landscape, notwithstanding its status as a relatively new airline. By working together, we can leverage the growing global excitement about AlUla as the Kingdom’s premier luxury boutique heritage destination while also making a significant contribution to the Kingdom’s broader tourism landscape.”
Osamah Alnuaiser, senior vice president of marketing and communications at Riyadh Air, added: “It’s a privilege for us to sign such an important partnership agreement with AlUla. As a major Saudi tourist destination, the destination already offers such rich and unique experiences to visitors while continuing to enhance its tourism offerings and packages. At Riyadh Air, we have no doubt that with us both working toward a shared goal of increasing travelers’ numbers to the Kingdom, it will only move us toward a positive direction.
“In our short history we’ve made a habit of signing big agreements with world-renowned partners and today is yet another milestone moment for Riyadh Air with us putting pen to paper on a deal with what can arguably be described as the jewel in Saudi Arabia’s tourism crown — AlUla. For us, the work starts now; we have a busy schedule with our maiden flight due to take off in mid-2025 and so there’s no time to stand still. This agreement will see us sharing ideas and platforms with AlUla and we are fully confident that through this partnership we’ll be raising the profile of both the destination of AlUla and Riyadh Air in the coming months.”
The collaboration will see the delivery of multiple initiatives, including seamless and immersive digital experiences across multiple touch points. In addition, both entities will share and leverage data insights to produce refined content and product strategies for optimal campaign performance, enabling both sides to identify trends and behavioral patterns to produce data-driven decision-making and strategies.
Riyadh Air recently celebrated its first anniversary, having signed major agreements and partnerships with global partners. The airline is already playing a key role in contributing to Saudi Arabia’s wider economic diversification and job creation, in line with Vision 2030 goals, as a catalyst for Saudi Arabia’s National Transport and Logistics Strategy. Specifically, the carrier is projected to contribute to the Kingdom’s non-oil GDP growth by $20 billion while directly and indirectly creating more than 200,000 new jobs globally and locally, boosting Saudi Arabia’s tourism in the process, which will be beneficial to AlUla.
Dubai Health explores VR to reduce pain in medical procedures
Dubai Health, the first integrated academic health system in Dubai, is embracing virtual reality technology to improve patient care across its hospitals and healthcare centers. This initiative kicks off with a study and implementation program at the Thalassemia Center, exploring the use of VR technology to reduce anxiety and pain during cannulation (needle insertion) procedures for thalassemia patients. This study, the first-of-its-kind for this specific patient group in Dubai, holds promise for a more comfortable and positive healthcare experience.
Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, which leads the learning and discovery missions of Dubai Health, will conduct and document the study. Unlike prior studies that primarily relied on subjective experiences, this novel approach will incorporate objective measurements such as eye movement tracking and heart rate to assess the effectiveness of VR technology, marking a significant advancement in medical discovery.
Dr. Fatheya Abbas Al-Khaja, director of the Thalassemia Center, said: “The application of VR technology at the Thalassemia Center has the potential to transform the experience for patients undergoing cannulation procedures. Throughout my years at the Thalassemia Center, we have explored numerous modalities to alleviate the pain of our patients. This program epitomizes our ‘Patient First’ promise to provide a more comfortable and anxiety-free experience, not just for the patients, but also for their families who witness this process. We are eagerly anticipating the results of this study.”
Separate from the MBRU study, the selected VR technology had been tested extensively. It demonstrated clinically effective results in 14 published and 30 ongoing studies, providing a solid foundation for its use in improving patient experiences.
This program marks the first phase of integrating VR technology across Dubai Health hospitals and healthcare centers, with plans to extend its application into medical procedures at Al-Jalila Children’s Hospital and Latifa Hospital. Beyond immediate application at the Thalassemia Center, the program also focuses on developing novel VR environments and experiences tailored to the local needs of patients in Dubai. The long-term vision is to develop future iterations of AI-powered VR technology to further personalize the patient experience, a collaborative effort engaging both MBRU students and our clinical staff.
“This program is the first of many to showcase how digital solutions can improve patient care within Dubai Health,” said Dr. Yacine Hadijat, associate professor of innovation in health science and digital health at MBRU’s College of Medicine. “One of the inherent advantages of our integrated academic health system is the ability to cultivate a continuous cycle of improvement within our care, learning and discovery missions.”
By exploring digital innovations, such as VR technology, we are simultaneously training future healthcare professionals to champion patient-centered care and contribute toward the medical discovery of tech-enabled healthcare solutions. This multifaceted approach holds immense promise to transform the patient journey for countless individuals.”
Cisco appoints David Meads to head MEA
Cisco has appointed David Meads as vice president for the Middle East, Africa, Romania, and Commonwealth of Independent States. He succeeds Reem Asaad, who drove Cisco’s business in the region for more than four years.
In this role, Meads will be responsible for Cisco’s strategy and commercial operations, with a focus on empowering customers and partners to harness the full potential of digital technologies for economic growth and societal benefit. He will continue in his current capacity as chief executive of Cisco in the UK and Ireland until the end of Cisco’s fiscal year (July).
With three decades of experience across multiple business functions and geographies, including the Middle East and Africa, Meads brings deep industry and technology expertise to the role.
“It is great to welcome David back to the region. He is a seasoned leader with a proven track record of driving business growth, developing high-performing teams and spearheading technology initiatives that have a true impact on nations and industries alike,” said Oliver Tuszik, president, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Cisco.
