Cathay Pacific was crowned “OAG Airline of the Year 2006” at the annual OAG Airline of the Year Awards at Grosvenor House Hotel in London sponsored by Le Royal Hotels Group for the second year running.
At a dazzling ceremony considered the ‘Oscars of the Airline Industry’, Continental Airlines took the title of “Best Airline” based in North America for the third consecutive year as well as “Best Business/Executive Class” for the fourth year running.
JetBlue was named “Best Low Cost/No Frills Airline” for the first time beating heavyweights EasyJet, Southwest airlines and 2005 winner Virgin Blue.
Eddie Bell, Chairman of OAG, honoured renowned travel journalist and broadcaster Alan Whicker with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his remarkable career of almost 60 years.
OAG Airline of the Year Awards celebrates the very best in global air travel and publicly recognizes the highest standards within the industry. OAG provides the databases for the airlines industry that includes the timetables for 300+ airlines and covers over 3000 airports worldwide.
Nasir Abid, Chief Executive Officer of Le Royal Hotels, was among an array of distinguished figures present at the Le Royal- sponsored ceremony. Le Royal is the hotel and leisure division of GMH Group headed by Arab businessman Nadhmi Auchi.
“Le Royal Luxembourg, which opened 21 years ago is our flagship hotel and since then we have gradually expanded with other five star hotels. Le Royal also owns and operates Le Royal Hammamet, Tunisia; Le Royal El-Minzah, Tangiers, Morocco, Le Royal Beirut, Lebanon and Le Royal Amman, Jordan; both considered landmarks in the Lebanese and Jordanian capitals. The majority of them are members of the Leading Hotels of the World and two are soon to be affiliated with the Preferred Hotels Group. The group also owns hotels in Madrid, Egypt and South of France,” Abid said in his speech.
Abid noted that Le Royal Group has added close to 1500 extra rooms in Egypt and Lebanon, in the past year, to further expand and strengthen its position in the luxury hotel industry in the Middle East.
“GMH Group is currently refurbishing its hotels in the French Riviera and will soon launch Le Royal Boutique Hotel in Cannes,” he added.
He emphasized the need for cooperation between the airline and the hotel industries in order to allow a better integration between the two.
GMH is currently in the planning stage of building Le Royal London, a landmark complex that is set to dominate the London landscape.
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