New Swissair UAE Headquarters in Dubai inaugurated

Swissair reaffirms commitment to the Gulf

Dubai, December 27, 2001 - Swissair recently inaugurated their new UAE headquarters in Dubai with a VIP ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Khalid Bin Sulayem, Director General of DTCM, together with Rashid Al Noori, Senior General Manager of DNATA and Jean-Claude Hagmann, Consul General of Switzerland in Dubai.

Felix Rodel, Swissair Area Manager for the Arabian Gulf explained "This new office represents our strong commitment to the region and belief that, following 25 years of flying history from the Emirates, the region and Dubai in particular is a destination which offers strategic business and tourism importance for Swissair."

Whilst visiting the office, Khalid Bin Sulayem, Director General, Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, said: "I am personally very honoured to be here today to demonstrate the serious obligation to the UAE's tourism and aviation industry by Dubai Civil Aviation and Swissair.

"Switzerland and Dubai have always enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship and the DTCM plans to open an office in Zurich early next year, reflecting the growing tourism relationship between the two countries" he added.
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Rashid Al Noori, senior general manager, DNATA Agencies, stated during the inauguration: "As the GSA for Swissair, I am delighted to see the airline's commitment to the region with the opening of this new premises and the maintainance of their flight frequency to Dubai."

Swissair first flew to the Middle East more than 50 years ago when the company began scheduled flights from Zurich to Cairo in 1947. This was followed by the introduction of four weekly flights to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in 1976. Since then, Swissair has increased its frequency and now operates 10 weekly flights from Zurich to the UAE.

The new Dubai based headquarters are ideally situated near Deira's business district in the recently built Al Yamamah Tower on Al Maktoum street. A total of 17 employees have been relocated to the new office, which houses Swissair's reservations centre, district and business sales, and the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar marketing and administration departments.

Swissair currently operates 27 weekly flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Riyadh, Jeddah and Karachi to their European hub in Zurich. Globally, Swissair has partnerships with 23 airlines and offers flights to more than 100 destinations worldwide.

Excitement at tenants Iftar as Sahara Centre nears completion

Sharjah, UAE, December 26, 2001: Sahara Centre, the UAE's premier shopping and entertainment centre, hosted an exclusive Iftar evening inviting tenants to preview the mall in advance of its grand opening on February 20.

The special Iftar staged recently was attended by 120 of the new mall's retailers. Pictured here are Sahara Centre's senior advisor Stephen Sell (front right) with senior management from Adventureland, Jashanmal National Company, McDonalds, Mohamed Sharief & Brothers and Al Shamsi Holdings.

"We wanted to give our tenants the opportunity to witness the mall's progress first hand in advance of its opening in two months, and are delighted by the overwhelming response to the Iftar evening," said Raymond J. Casey, Managing Director, Sahara Centre.

Sahara Centre, which comprises approximately 500,000 square feet of retail space, of which over 85 per cent is already leased, will also introduce several premier local, regional and international retail brands for the first time in the region.

Anchors for Sahara Centre include Debenhams, the European retail store which forms part of the AlShaya Group, and features international brands like Liz Claiborne, Oasis, Evans and Laura Ashley. Century Cinemas and Adventureland, the largest indoor entertainment complex in the Middle East, are the other key anchors in the mall.