Carry On: News for business travellers

Airbus flight tests second A350 XWB
The second of Airbus' answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has completed its maiden test flight over France. The flight from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport lasted approximately five hours.with a crew of six.

The first A350 XWB to fly took off on June 14 and has to date flown some 330 flight test hours in almost 70 flights. These flights have been devoted to the identification and freeze of all flap and slat configurations, loads and aeroelastic testing and evaluation of the aircraft’s handling characteristics and systems’ operation throughout the operational envelope.

Three more A350 XWB test aircraft will join the first two to perform the planned  2500 hours up to Type Certification. Airbus has already won 725 firm orders from 37 customers worldwide. First delivery is planed second half of 2014 to Qatar Airways.

Skywards offers Melbourne Cup carnival tickets
Members of Emirates' Skywards frequent flyer programme once again have the exclusive opportunity to redeem Miles for tickets to the Melbourne Cup Carnival, being held from November 2-9 at Flemington Racecourse.  General admission tickets can be redeemed, starting from just 5000 Miles. Emirates will be offering 800 general admission passes, 200 for each day of the event. The pass will allow entry to Flemington racecourse during these specified race days and access to all general public areas.

• AAMI Victoria Derby Day, Saturday, November 2 - Redeem for 6500 Miles
• Emirates Melbourne Cup Day, Tuesday, November 5 - Redeem for 6500 Miles
• Crown Oaks Day, Thursday, November 7 - Redeem for 5000 Miles
• Emirates Stakes Day, Saturday, November 9 - Redeem for 5000 Miles

All tickets are offered at a first-come first-served basis.  Bookings can be done from now until October 23 in the Emirates Skywards Section on www.emirates.com/nz by logging into the Emirates Skywards member section.

Air New Zealand collects more travel accolades
Readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine have named Air New Zealand one of the top five international airlines in the world and in China the airline has been named in the top 10 at the country’s annual China Travel + Leisure awards.

The airline was also awarded Best Integrated Marketing Campaign at the 2013 Travolution Awards in London. This follows Air New Zealand collecting two awards at the World Travel Awards earlier in the month, including Australasia’s Leading Airline.

Air New Zealand general manager of customer experience Calum Laming says, “It’s fantastic to be recognised once again as one of the world’s leading airlines. We are putting more effort than ever into enhancing the customer journey we offer, from booking, to the airport experience, to on board and the aircraft themselves.

"Customers can expect to see some exciting enhancements in the coming months."

Scoot introduces Singapore-Perth service
Singapore Airlines' budget offshoot Scoot will begin flying between Perth and Singapore on December 19, with five direct flights a week. It will be Scoot's third Australian destination, with the airline already operating daily flights to Sydney and five flights a week to the Gold Coast from Singapore.

Scoot uses refurbished Boeing 777s that carry 368 passengers, with 32 in the ScootBiz business class cabin. These are recliner-style seats rather than lie-flat.