Top Ten Airlines Of 2016

Top Ten Airlines Of 2016

Skytrax 2016 World Airline Awards which take place at Farnborough Airshow, UK on 12th July 2016 has announce top ten airlines in the world for the year of 2016. the top ten airlines for 2016 are listed as below:

1) Emirates

Emirates was voted the World's Best Airline by customers at the Skytrax World Airline Awards held at Farnborough Airshow on 12th July 2016. This is the fourth time Emirates has won this top prize in the awards history.






2) Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways was second in the global ranking and won a range of top awards being named the World's Best Business Class, the World's Best Business Class lounge and Best Airline Staff in the Middle East.





3) Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines achieved top success winning the award for Best Airline in Asia, as well as the title for the Best Business Class Airline Seat.





4) Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific Airways was ranked No 4, with the airline also declared the World's Best for Cabin Cleanliness. It was a double celebration as Cathay also picked up the award for Best First Class Lounge for its recently renovated facility at its home base airport in Hong Kong.





5) ANA All Nippon Airways

ANA All Nippon Airways achieved repeat success, ranked No 5 in the world in the global results and also securing the awards for World's Best Airport Services and Best Airline Staff in Asia for the second successive year.






6) Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways was ranked No 6 worldwide and also won three awards. The Abu Dhabi based airline was named as having the World's Best First Class cabin, Best First Class seat and Best First Class catering.





7) Turkish Airlines


Turkish Airlines ranked No 7 in the world were yet again named as the Best Airline in Europe. The Istanbul based carrier was also acknowledged for its Business Class catering with top prizes for both onboard and lounge dining standards.





8) EVA Air


EVA Air ranked No 8 in the world and named as the Best Transpacific Airline. The Taiwanese carrier was also considered to have the Best Business Class Comfort Amenities.

9) Qantas Airways

Qantas was dominant in the Australia & Pacific region winning the Best Airline in Australia / Pacific for the fourth successive year and also taking the award for Best Airline Staff in Australia & Pacific and Best Premium Economy Catering.

10) Lufthansa

Lufthansa was again successful being named as the Best Transatlantic Airline for the fifth time and also winning the Best Airline in Western Europe award.





Sources: Skytraxworldairlineawards

Words of Wisdom

Words of Wisdom: Sr.Donald J.Trump
Here I found out the very inspired word of wisdom from Sr.Donald John Trump which is one of the world known businessman. He is the Chairman and CEO of the Trump Organization, a US-based real-estate developer. Trump is also the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates numerous casinos and hotels across the world. He is also more well known by public with his TV show which is "The Apprentice". This is the word of wisdom he talk during the Real Estate Wealth Expo hosted by the Learning Annex and Donald himself act as a keynote speakers. 



Here's what he had to say: 

• 1. Need to love what you do or else you will not be successful
• 2. Never give up
• 3. Stay focused
• 4. Be paranoid
• 5. Know when momentum is slowing down
• 6. Go against the tide only if you have the talent
• 7. Have to be really careful about people b/c you never really know a person that well
• 8. Some people are lucky; others are not (but you can help create "luck")
• 9. Get even! If someone screws you, go back and get even.
• 10. Have a prenup or else business will be seriously at risk
• 11. Power of positive thinking

*some are also slanted based on Trump's own personal and business experience. 

Sources: EzineArticles by B Lau

Ten Countries With High Cost in Consuming Food

Ten Countries Where It Costs More to Feed a Family

Rise in global food prices, caused by uncertain weather in major agricultural regions and higher production costs, has sparked unrest in many countries .Consumers in markets that depend on imported food products such as rice in Haiti, Chile, and Mozambique are the most exposed and will eventually feel the effects of the current rise in global food prices, but that impact may not be immediate, says Concepción Calpe who is a senior economist for the FAO in Rome. High international prices do not always translate into high domestic prices, she adds, due to variations in exchange rates, tariff barriers that limit imports, domestic price policies, such as price subsidies, and transport costs. Here below is the list of countries where it costs more to feed a family.

Retail Food Prices: 

Chile

Consumer food price change*: +5.45% YOY
Chicken legs**: $5.45/kg (+15.47% YOY)
Potatoes**: $0.90/kg (-23.73% YOY)

The Chilean Central Bank estimates that food accounts for 20 percent of household expenses, reported santiagotimes.cl. Government economists expect spending on food to increase at least 5 percent this year. 

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China

Consumer food price change*: +10.3% YOY
Potatoes: $0.64/kg (+33.33% YOY)
Rice: $0.79/kg (+29.51% YOY)
Wheat flour: $0.59/kg (+18% YOY)
Pork: $3.44.kg (+19.03% YOY)

Food prices, up 10.3 percent year-on-year in January, helped drive consumer prices up 4.9 percent from a year earlier, according to government figures. China’s northeast has also experienced severe drought, threatening its wheat crop, although officials claim it will not affect global food prices.

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Haiti

Consumer food price change*: +7.8% YOY
Corn: $1.06/kg** (+15.22% YOY)
Rice: $1.36/kg** (+8.80% YOY)

Haiti meets 48 percent of national food requirements through imports, 47 percent through local production, and 5 percent through food assistance, according to the U.N. World Food Programme. Food price increases adversely affect low-income populations such as Haiti’s, which has not recovered from the effects of last year’s earthquake. 

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India

Consumer food price change*: +7.98% YOY
Onions: $1.07/kg (+109.8% YOY)
Potatoes: $0.19/kg (-17.39% YOY)
Rice: $0.50/kg (no change)
Wheat: $0.32/kg (-3.03% YOY)

A government-ordered suspension of onion exports in India, reduced import duties on onions, and imports from such markets as Pakistan helped to bring down onion prices significantly after they soared late last year. Onion farmers protested in early February to lift the ban on exports and allow prices to rise.

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Indonesia

Consumer food price change*: +16.18% YOY
Rice: $1.01/kg (+24.69% YOY)
Wheat flour: $0.79/kg (no change)

Indonesia’s consumer price index rose nearly 7 percent in December, the biggest jump in 20 months, due largely to higher prices for food, the biggest part of the CPI basket. The government has suspended import duties on 57 food items to prevent supply shortages and get prices to cool off.

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Mozambique

Consumer price change*: +16.62% YOY
Corn: $0.40/kg (+14.29% YOY)
Rice: $0.91/kg (+13.75% YOY)

After violent protests broke out in Mozambique last September over the rising costs of water, electricity, and bread, the country once again faces a threat of higher food prices later this year, the government recently warned. About a third of households are food insecure and face perpetual hunger, according to the U.N. World Food Programme. 

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Nicaragua

Consumer price change*: +7.26% YOY
Red beans: $1.50/kg (+61.29% YOY)
Corn: $0.39/kg (-13.33% YOY)
Rice: $0.97/kg (-6.73% YOY)

Nicaragua is the second-poorest nation in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the U.N. World Food Programme. About a third of GDP is derived from agriculture, timber, and fishing. While consumers face higher prices, many of Nicaragua’s export products, especially coffee, have benefited from the recent rise in international commodity prices, according to the U.S. State Department.

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Pakistan

Consumer food price change*: +20.42% YOY
Rice: $0.55/kg (+7.84% YOY)
Wheat: $0.31/kg (no change)

Consumer prices in Pakistan rose 14.2 percent year-on-year in January, according to the country’s statistics bureau. Nonperishable food items rose 17.3 percent and perishable food items 44.4 percent year-on-year. Items with the steepest increases include mung beans, onions, and tomatoes.

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Russia

Consumer food price change*: +14.2% YOY
Potatoes: $1.02/kg (+85.45% YOY)
Rice: $1.55/kg (+6.9% YOY)
Wheat flour: $0.75/kg (+11.94% YOY)

Food imports to Russia rose 23 percent, to $3.72 billion, in 2010 as drought reduced Russia’s agricultural production, according to the Federal Customs Service. Prices for fruit and vegetables in Russia were 51 percent higher in January than a year earlier, reported Bloomberg.com.

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U.S.

Consumer food price change*: +1.5% YOY
Potatoes: $0.58/lb* (+3.93% YOY)
Rice: $0.73/lb* (-3.06% YOY)
Bread: $1.88/lb* (+7% YOY)

U.S. food prices were relatively stable compared with other countries. The food index rose 1.5 percent in 2010 following a decline in 2009, according to a release by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs had the largest increase, at 5.5 percent, followed by the dairy index at 3.7 percent. Nonalcoholic beverages and cereals and bakery products were the only indexes to decline.

Sources: Bloomberg

World Stock Markets Fall

Libya protests: Stock markets fall and oil price rises

European stock markets have fallen sharply after unrest in Libya and the Middle East sent oil prices to a two-and-a-half year high.

BBC -- The UK's FTSE lost about 0.7% by early afternoon, France's Cac 40 fell 1.2%, while Germany's Dax was 0.7% lower.

Earlier, Asian stocks fell, in part due to an earthquake in New Zealand.

London Brent oil rose by almost $2 a barrel to $107.7, while US light crude jumped $8 a barrel to $94.2 following a market holiday in the US on Monday.

The price of London Brent crude had risen by more than 3% on Monday.

Brent is now at its highest price since September 2008, while US crude is at its highest point since October of the same year.

On Tuesday, Standard & Poor's (S&P) credit rating agency downgraded Libya from A- to BBB+, and said it could lower the rating further.

"We expect that the violent outbreaks of civil unrest seen in Libya's eastern region, and particularly the city of Benghazi, of the past few days will persist," S&P said.

Fellow agency Fitch downgraded the country on Monday.

Growing tension

Libya is the world's 12th-largest exporter of oil, and there are concerns that growing tensions in the country could hit oil production.

Spillover into other big regional producers, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, is another concern that is forcing up the price of oil.

"The market is reacting to violence in the Middle East... and not to fundamentals," said United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Mohammad bin Dhaen al-Hamli.

However, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said his country's spare production capacity could help "compensate for any shortage in international supplies".

Global oil companies have been pulling staff out of Libya as unrest continues to spread.

On Tuesday, Royal Dutch Shell said it had successfully relocated all its expat employees.

'Very nervous'

The rising price of oil, which fuels further rises in already high inflation rates and hits corporate profits, affected stock markets in Asia and Europe.

In France the Cac 40 index lost 1.6%, while the UK's FTSE 100 index fell 1.3%.

The Italian stock exchange, based in Milan, was suspended on Tuesday due to "technical problems". The market fell 3.6% on Monday on concerns about Italian companies' exposure to Libya.

Earlier, Japan's Nikkei index closed down 1.7%, South Korea's Kospi ended the day 1.7% lower and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 2.1%.

"The market is very nervous over news of violence in Libya, and that's driving prices," said Yinxi Yu of Barclays Capital.

"It looks like the uncertainty in the region is not going to be resolved anytime soon."

Unrest in the region could spark a wider correction in stock markets, analysts said.

"Given the fact that we have seen massive gains in stock markets over the last few months, investors have been nervous about a possible correction for some time," said Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.

"The tensions in the Middle East with Libya imploding and concerns that the unrest could spread to Saudi Arabia could provide a catalyst for [this] correction."

In Asia, market sentiment was also affected by an earthquake in New Zealand.

New Zealand's NZX 50 stock index fell 0.7% on concerns that the damage caused by the earthquake will add further to the country's growing debt.

The New Zealand dollar also weakened by nearly 2% against the US dollar.

Taking flight

Companies that depend on fuel, such as airlines, were among the biggest fallers on Asia's stock markets.

Fuel represents about 40% of operational costs for airlines, and investors are worried that the higher prices will eat into profits.

Shares in Singapore Airlines, the world's second-biggest carrier by market value, declined 1.7%, while Korea Airlines slumped 9% and Cathay Pacific Airways was down 4.5%.

In Taiwan, China Airlines lost 6%, dropping to its lowest value since 30 July. Shares in Australia's national carrier Qantas slipped 1.2%.

In Europe, Germany's Lufthansa was the biggest faller on the country's Dax index, slipping 2.4%, while in the UK, International Consolidated Airlines, formed from the merger of British Airways and Iberia, fell 3.6%.

Oil Price Raise Double

Oil-Price Swings Double as Unrest Spreads Before Saudi Talks

(Bloomberg) -- Oil-price swings have doubled this year as unrest spreads through the Middle East, source of one- third of global crude supply, hampering producer and consumer efforts to stabilize the world’s biggest commodity market.

As officials from more than 90 nations including Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman gather in Riyadh tomorrow to seek ways of curbing fluctuations, oil’s 20-day historical volatility has risen to 29.4, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was at 12.6, an all-time low, at the end of December. U.S. futures for April jumped as much as 4.5 percent today as violence spread in Libya, holder of Africa’s biggest crude reserves.

Oil has risen to a two-year high, with Brent crude prices in London exceeding $105 a barrel today, as the Middle East turmoil stoked concern that shipments from the region may be disrupted. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s son warned yesterday that a civil war would risk the country’s oil wealth as security forces attacked protesters, killing more than 200, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch. Nations including Iran and Bahrain are cracking down on opposition groups demanding change amid upheaval that’s toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

“Prices gyrate wildly with each new headline,” said Mike Fitzpatrick, Energy Overview editor in New York, and a former futures broker at MF Global. “If more moderate and friendly-to- the-West governments like Jordan or Bahrain topple, $100 may not be so ridiculous as it seemed only a few days ago.”

Libyan Oil Production

Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp., said he didn’t know if unrest sweeping the North African nation has affected its crude output. “Until now, we don’t have any information,” he said in a brief telephone interview from the country’s capital, Tripoli. An official at Milan-based Eni SpA, the biggest foreign producer in Libya, said today that operations in the country were normal. Libya pumps 1.59 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg estimates, the biggest North African producer to experience mass protests so far.

In response to rising prices, OPEC is already pumping the most oil since agreeing to production cuts in December 2008. U.S. inventories are 6.4 percent higher than their five-year average, storing up the possibility of a price plunge once the winter-demand period ends.

Riyadh Meeting

Representatives meeting in the Saudi capital tomorrow will include producers in the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the 28 consuming countries of the International Energy Agency, as well as China, India and Brazil. The International Energy Forum meeting will approve a charter aimed at finding mechanisms to stabilize energy markets and improve the collection and publication of supply, demand and price data.

“We are not addressing prices at our meeting, we are discussing volatility in the market,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, an assistant to Saudi Arabia’s petroleum minister, told reporters at a press conference in Riyadh.

So far 87 out of 95 countries have agreed to sign up to the charter which is not a legally binding international treaty but a politically enforced agreement between all countries signing the treaty.

“The signing of the new charter comes at the right time and place in conditions that witness some fluctuation in energy markets,” al-Naimi said in a Feb. 18 statement e-mailed by the Saudi Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

OPEC’s next policy-setting meeting is scheduled for early June, in Vienna. The group has ignored output quotas as prices have soared, pumping about 2 million barrels a day, or 8 percent, more than the official limit for 11 of its members.

Oil Surges

Crude for April delivery advanced as much as $4.76 to $94.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange while April Brent on the London-based ICE Futures Europe surged as much as 2.6 percent to $105.15, the highest for a contract closest to expiration since Sept. 22, 2008.

The Paris-based IEA raised its forecast for 2011 global oil demand for a fifth straight month in a Feb. 10 report, as consumption recovers from the recession.

“The current wave of geopolitical uncertainty is affecting both expectations of potential volatility in immediate oil flows and the longer-term implications of a more uncertain investment climate,” said Paul Horsnell, London-based head of commodities research at Barclays Capital.

Price swings are also likely to be in focus at the International Petroleum Week conference in London this week, attended by oil traders and brokers from companies such as BP Plc, ICAP Plc, Vitol Group and state-run Saudi Aramco.

London’s IP Week

The mood in London will probably be “positive,” with “a lot of talk of OPEC capacity and the Middle East violence” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, a London-based analyst at VTB Capital.

Exporters are concerned there may still be a drop in prices amid rising U.S. inventories and the onset of spring in the northern hemisphere, when fuel consumption typically ebbs.

“The lesson is that until the market is confident that risks have subsided, volatility will remain high,” Lawrence Eagles, head of commodities research at JPMorgan & Chase Co., said in a note. “To this extent, the market is happy to absorb the extra barrels that are coming from OPEC, despite the beginning of seasonally lower demand for crude and heating fuels.”

The widening discount of U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude to North Sea Brent crude will be another “key theme” in discussions in London, Horsnell said. “It is likely to be difficult to get too far away from the gyrations in WTI prices, and the severe stress that the Midwest oil market is under.”

WTI crude traded as much as $16 a barrel less than Brent last week, comparing April contracts for both grades, as the U.S. futures benchmark remained under pressure from a supply glut at its delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma.

The 20-day historic volatility index measures how much crude fluctuates around its average price during that period. OPEC’s 12 members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

--With assistance from Wael Mahdi in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, Ola Galal in Cairo, Alessandra Migliaccio in Rome and Raj Rajendran in London. Editors: Stephen Voss, Bruce Stanley