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News
Briefs for Jan 12 - Jan 18, 1998
American Airlines cancels flight to Aruba
A memo went out from the American Airlines
office last Tuesday announcing the cancellation of two daily flights from
Puerto Rico to Aruba, starting April 5th. American Airlines corrected that information and
announced that only the afternoon flight would be cancelled. The cancelled flight has a
seating capacity of 80,147 per year and will also affect Antigua, St. Lucia,
Grenada, St. Croix and Barbados.
According to a spokesperson the flight was cancelled due to a decline in profitability, a
retooling of their hub and shortage of equipment.
As a result Aruba and the remaining islands will be facing less feeder
opportunities out of Puerto Rico which will result in a decline in Mid Atlantic,
Mid West and West Coast markets. In addition there will be greater pressure on
flights out of Miami and an increased dependency on the North East and Miami
markets.
Government officials together with the Aruba Tourism Authorities' executive team are looking
into new airlift possibilities to make up for this loss.
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Regular
Flights between Argentina and Aruba start January 20, 1998
Beginning January 20, 1998 Air Aruba in conjunction with Aerolineas
Argentinas will be offering regular, round-trip flights between Argentina and
Aruba.
Initially there will be three arrival flights and and two departure flights.
This will allow roundtrip flights to Aruba via Caracas or an option of returning via Miami
or vice versa.
The flight connections with Caracas by Air Aruba will be as follows:
| Day |
Departure |
Time |
Arrival |
Time |
| Tuesday |
Aruba |
18:00 |
Caracas |
18:50 |
| Thursday |
Aruba |
15:30 |
Caracas |
19:00 |
| Tuesday |
Caracas |
20:30 |
Aruba |
21:20 |
| Thursday |
Caracas |
20:30 |
Aruba |
21:20 |
| Sunday |
Caracas |
21:20 |
Aruba |
22:10 |
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Airport becomes
"non-smoking"
Aruba Airport Authority (APA) has declared Queen Beatrix International Airport's
Arrival and Departure halls as "non-smoking" areas.
The decision to bring about this change is due to the congestion in both the arrival and
the departure halls and several cases reported concerning passengers who
were affected by smoke in these areas of the airport.
APA urges everyone to cooperate with the airport personnel in the implementation of this
new law.
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ATA embarks on quality journey
Since November last year, the Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA) as an organization
has embarked on the "quality journey." ATA's commitment to start the quality
process has finally materialized after a summer of 1997 with many new or extra curricular
activities such as the 21st Caribbean Tourism Conference, Aruba World Corporate Games and
SINBAD.
"If we want to be on the leading edge of competition the entire
organization has to be involved in this journey. This process will assist us in reaching
our goals and objectives in this constantly changing industry and in facing all challenges
ahead of us in the years to come and prepare us for the next century," added Jan van
Nes, ATA's Managing Director.
As part of the process, four teams have been created to work on the following key areas: Customer
and Market Focus, Human Resource Development, Operation Effectiveness, and Financial
Performance. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis was
made of each key area and now the teams are working on the Strategic Action Plans,
identifying problem areas and possible solutions.
The employees attended various retreats and are guided throughout this process by Mr. Jose
Menendez of Business Transformation Strategies.
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Aruba begins 1998 with excellent
publicity
Aruba was blessed with a shower of promotions at the turn of the
New Year. Several renown magazines from the United States, a popular newspaper from
Argentina and a dive magazine from The Netherlands recently published great articles about
Aruba.
The award winning Caribbean World Magazine mentions Aruba in their
"My Old Dutch" article. The article focused on Dutch influence on the ABC
Islands. Along with a great article the author offers a spectacular
picture of the Olde Molen restaurant. This issue of Caribbean World has been chosen by Air
Canada to be on board of all its flights to the Caribbean. The magazine is also
on board Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS) and Caledonian
Airways.
Recent articles were published in Bride's Magazine and Interval
Magazine. The latter is a glossy timeshare exchange network magazine targeting
high income vacationers.
South America did not stay behind! Argentina also published a two-page,
outstanding article which appeared in a supplement of El Diario Litoral
Del Interior De Argentina. The best thing of all is that this newspaper has a
reach of over 3 million readers.
Aruba's name once more floated through the pages of Islands Magazine. The
colorful article mentioned Aruba's world famous Aruba Hi-Winds Pro-Am windsurfing
competition as one of the world's best.
Last but certainly not least, Uit Magazine, a dive magazine from The
Netherlands, published a very spicy article about our island. The clip captured the
essence of our island and our people giving it an original twist.
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Caribbean
Corporate Games to be held in Aruba this year
Aruba is proud to announce its first Aruba Caribbean Corporate Games,
a successor to the World Corporate Games Aruba (WCGA) 1997 with 1400 competitors. This
multi-sport festival, which combines sports, business, and tourism, will be held from September
24 to September 27, 1998.
Weekend Warriors get your colleagues and teams ready to compete! For additional
information about the games contact the Aruba Conventions Bureau at (297) 823777.
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[All information
courtesy of the Aruba Tourism Authority] |
