■ Finance
APEC says SMEs need cash
A new APEC report has found that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan's tourism industry are facing difficulties in getting access to financial assistance. The findings are outlined in the Development Needs of Small- to Medium-Sized Tourism Businesses report prepared by the APEC International Center for Sustainable Tourism (AICST). The difficulty in obtaining financial assistance was found to be particularly damaging for the growing "homestay" sector, according to the report. AICST executive director Lan Kean said that despite the homestay sector becoming increasingly professional, there is still concern that business owners are having difficulty getting access to financial assistance from many institutions.
■ Airlines
Cathay to recruit new staff
Cathay Pacific Airways is recruiting 500 new cabin crew staff to handle additional flights as the airline eyes the expansion of its fleet, a spokeswoman said yesterday. Cathay, which currently employs a cabin crew of about 5,700, will hire an extra 400 Hong Kong-based flight attendants and 100 to be based in London, said Cathay spokeswoman Maria Yu. Yu said Cathay plans to expand its 85-aircraft fleet, and is currently negotiating with Boeing Co and Airbus to buy new passenger jets. She declined to give details. Without citing sources, local newspapers reported that Cathay was planning to order from Boeing and Airbus nine new wide-bodied jets worth between US$1 billion to US$1.5 billion.
■ Internet
Amazon offers campaign site
Shoppers at online retailer Amazon.com Inc can now spend money on something new -- US presidential candidates. A new feature that debuted on Friday collects campaign contributions of up to US$200 for US presidential candidates. Amazon said it is not endorsing any candidates and is charging each campaign its usual processing fees for the payments, which it will donate to a non-profit, non-partisan civil group. So far the campaign contributions page (www.amazon.com/gp/misc/flag.html) lists 17 presidential hopefuls, in alphabetical order, including US President George W. Bush. Among others, by early yesterday Democratic poll leader John Kerry had garnered 62 contributions totaling $1,699 at Amazon.com, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean had had 72 for a total of US$1,095.01 and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik had had 26 contributions totaling US$252 at the site.
■ Engineering
Bechtel gets Qatari contract
US engineering giant Bechtel signed yesterday a US$5 billion contract to build a new airport for the Qatari capital of Doha, the head of the Gulf emirate's civil aviation authority announced. The first of three stages in the construction of the new airport would be completed in 2008 at a cost of US$2.5 billion, Abdul Aziz al-Nuaimi told a press conference. "The airport will be one of the biggest in the world with an [annual] capacity of 50 million passengers in Qatar" when it is finished around 2015, he said. The chief executive of Qatar Airways, Akbar al-Baker, announced last month that tenders were going out for the first phase, adding that it would boost capacity to 12 million passengers.
RSS