Emirates Charter Intros Exotic Travel Packages
Empire Aviation Group (EAG) has announced plans for “Lifestyle@Empire,” an extension to the company’s luxury charter operations that will offer travel packages to exotic destinations and experiences. The first packages will focus on global sporting and themed events, providing travel, unique access to the events and other benefits.

Dubai-based EAG (Stand C202) operates 15 business jets under management and plans to add at least another five before the end of the year. This will include the sale and management of two further Hawker 4000s and the addition of other owned aircraft under management contracts. EAG is a Gulf Cooperation Council regional distributor for Hawker Beechcraft, and has exclusivity in the UAE and other countries. The company’s aviation services include aircraft sales, charter, air ambulance aircraft management, financing and insurance.

Saudi Arabia Selects Raytheon Air Traffic Radar
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has awarded Raytheon Co. (Stand E320) a three-year contract for air traffic surveillance nationwide. The contract includes radar systems and supporting infrastructure for en route services and approach control at Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam, the Kingdom’s international airports.

Separately, Raytheon and its Dubai-based partner FrontRunner have been awarded a contract to provide comprehensive air traffic management and security packages for Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq. The U.S. group recently completed the installation of its ASR-11 digital airport surveillance radar and its AutoTrac II radar approach control system at Iraq’s Kirkuk air base.

A380 Flies Humanitarian Aid To NGO’s Dubai Hub
An Airbus A380 has arrived for the Dubai Airshow with almost 18,000 pounds of humanitarian aid, consisting of water purification equipment for the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Action Against Hunger. The Airbus Corporate Foundation, which facilitated the delivery, is boosting the NGO’s stocks here at its Dubai logistic hub. According to France-based Action Against Hunger, 2.2 million deaths, mostly among children, could be prevented each year with better access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation.

The Airbus Corporate Foundation was founded in December last year to support humanitarian causes. It acts through goodwill flights and youth development in communities and cooperates with the U.N.’s secretariat of the Convention on Biological Biversity. It started with a budget of approximately $3.7 million.

Rockwell Collins’ First Flight Sim Certified
Rockwell Collins’ (Stand E350) first air transport simulator for the Boeing 737NG has been approved by the UK Civil Aviation Authority to the top JAR-FSTD A, level-D standard, which takes pilots from zero flight time to the left seat without expensive training in an actual aircraft. The first of two examples of the device ordered by launch customer CTC Aviation has been installed at its Southampton, UK training center. CTC clients include British Airways and EasyJet.

Rockwell has developed an open-core simulation architecture with reusable modules that include scalable software adaptable to multiple training devices. Its creation of a family of full-motion, top-level devices, branded as “Edge” simulators, has been aided by its acquisition of the simulation division of Evans & Sutherland in 2006 and of SEOS displays in 2008.