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ITCA courses in Hurghada

IN COOPERATION with the International Travel Catering Association (ITCA), the national carrier in-flight services company has organsied a workshop to fully acquaint participants with HACCP principles, which are considered the best training in food safety in the in-flight catering industry.

Held from 24-28 November in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, where the Egyptian company operates its most recent catering unit, the three-day workshop was attended by Arab airlines delegates from Kuwaiti Airways and Libyan airlines as well as Moby Dick in-flight services company.

HACCP courses are designed primarily for supervisors, junior and middle management involved in operational areas in flight kitchens.

ITCA supervisors lectured over the three days on how to keep abreast of food safety issues and current trends and to give participants the necessary training to fully implement the HACCP system in their workplace.

The course covered an overview of food safety issues; an introduction to HACCP principles; identification of hazards; critical control points, legal issues; supplier and self-auditing procedures.

ITCA each year organises and implements a number of HACCP training courses for flight kitchen supervisors, junior and middle management.

The course has been updated to include the Royal Institute of Public Health- -Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering Examination which is a new concept but will give participating delegates a recognised Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene qualification when successfully completing the examination. ITCA issues certificates to all participants who have successfully attended an ITCA HACCP course.

Lufthansa launches Italian airline brand

THE GERMAN carrier Lufthansa launched on Monday a new airline brand Lufthansa Italia that will use a fleet of Airbus A319 aircraft to serve such European destinations as Paris and Barcelona from Milan as soon as February 2009, with service to Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest and Madrid to follow within a month. London (Heathrow) and Lisbon will be brought into the network with the start of the 2009 summer flight schedules at the end of March.

The announcement comes amid an ongoing bid for a stake in the Italian carrier Alitalia, in which Lufthansa and Air France are the chief rivals. The Italian consortium CAI two weeks ago finalised a deal to purchase the assets of the long- suffering Italian flag carrier for more than 1 billion euros in cash and assumed debt, with plans to re-launch the airline next month and the potential for one of those foreign carriers as a partner.

"Lufthansa Italia will position us in an important market that is characterised by strong demand and holds opportunities for buoyant growth in the future," said Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber. "We will be offering our Italian customers an extensive route network from northern Italy to destinations throughout Europe."

"Milan and Lombardy rank among Europe's economically most important and strongest regions. A good route network connecting them with Europe's principal cities is essential. Lufthansa Italia is making this a reality and at the same time is demonstrating a clear commitment to the region.