Know The World's Busiest Airline Routes

A new list ranks the world's busiest airline routes. (Photo courtesy: AFP Relaxnews/ istock.com/ egorych)

The world's busiest international passenger route averages 80 flights a day, or one flight every 18 minutes. 

In July alone, a total of 451,801 passengers travelled the 802km route. 

The route in question which claims the title as the busiest air corridor on -- or above -- earth? Hong Kong to Taipei, Taiwan. 

That's according to a World Routes 2017 ranking which was revealed at the 23rd edition of the World Route Development Forum in Barcelona over the weekend, a global conference attended by 275 airlines. 

The busiest international routes were calculated using statistics from air travel intelligence company OAG. 

A scan of the top 10 list shows that the busiest air routes are all located within Asia. 

The carrier that offers the most capacity on the Hong Kong - Taipei route is Cathay Pacific Airways with 309,439 seats, followed by China Airlines, EVA Airways, Hong Kong Airlines and Cathay Dragon. 

Meanwhile, the most expensive route in the top 20 list is Hong Kong to Beijing, averaging $333.08 on carriers like Cathay Dragon, Air China, Cathay Pacific, China Southern Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines. 

At the other end of the spectrum, the Palma de Mallorca to Dusseldorf itinerary emerged the cheapest. 

Here are the top 10 busiest international routes: 

1. Hong Kong to Taipei, Taiwan (HKG-TPE) 

2. Jakarta to Singapore (CGK -SIN) 

3. Kuala Lumpur to Singapore (KUL - SIN) 

4. Seoul to Osaka Kansai (ICN - KIX) 

5. Hong Kong to Shanghai (HKG -CVG) 

6. Taipei to Osaka Kansai (TPE - KIX) 

7. Seoul to Hong Kong (ICN -HKG) 

8. Bangkok to Hong Kong (BKK - HKG) 

9. Taipei to Tokyo Narita (TPE-NRT) 

10. Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta (KUL-CGK) 

Read More

Luxury Cruise Liner Cunard to Get New Ship in 2022

Cunard (Photo courtesy: AFP Relaxnews/ Cunard)

Luxury cruise liner Cunard will be getting a new, 3,000-passenger ship in 2022, the fourth vessel in its fleet. 

The new ship is being built at the Italian shipyard Fincantieri, and will mark the first new Cunard ship in 12 years. 

The unnamed liner will join the Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth. 

The latest addition builds on the brand's momentum which peaked in 2015 when Cunard marked its 175th anniversary and drew more than a million people to its celebrations in Liverpool. 

Cunard's flagship Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria ships recently underwent $172 million refurbishments. 

Cunard's announcement comes as Viking took delivery of its fourth ocean ship, the Viking Sun, on Monday, which was also built at the Italian shipyard Fincantieri. 

The Viking Sun can accommodate 930 guests and will be used to circumnavigate the globe in Viking's first World Cruise. Over 141 days, the Viking Sun will visit 35 countries and 66 ports, before the itinerary ends in London in May, 2018.

Read More

Dubai to Build World's First Underwater Luxury Resort in The Image of Venice

The Floating Venice, Dubai (Photo courtesy: AFP Relaxnews/ Kleindienst Group)

Dubai, the glittering city of superlatives, has announced plans to build the world's first underwater luxury resort, modeled after the mystical city of Venice. 

To be located 4km offshore from Dubai's mainland, the USD$680 million Floating Venice will recreate the city's labyrinthine alleyways, canals and main square, Piazza San Marco, in the form of a luxury resort that will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 guests. 

While the laundry list of specs is impressive, the resort centerpiece is its underwater deck which will offer guests panoramic views of sea life via clear acrylic panes.

To beautify the underwater scenery, more than 400,000 square feet of corals will be planted around the resort to promote the growth of marine life and coral reefs. 

The underwater deck will feature guest cabins, pool, restaurants and what's being billed as the world's first underwater spa, all of which will offer unobstructed views of their watery surroundings. 

To lend an air of authenticity to the Middle East's version of Italia, gondolas will be imported straight from Venice to be used to ferry guests to their cabins.

Overall, the resort will feature 414 cabins spanning four decks, along with artisanal shops and boutiques and a dozen restaurants and bars. 

The property is being developed by the Kleindienst Group, which is also behind The Floating Seahorse, the world's first luxury underwater living experience. 

The Floating Venice is expected to be completed by 2020. 

If you can't wait that long, there's always the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island which serves dinner 5m below the surface, with 180-degree views of their coral gardens.

Read More

High Salt Intake Linked to Risk of Developing Diabetes

Besides high blood pressure, high intake of salt -- main source of sodium -- may be associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes, researchers have found.

Representative Image (Photo courtesy: AFP Relaxnews/ donald_gruener/ Istock.com)

The findings showed that for each 2.5 extra grams of salt (equivalent to each extra gram of sodium) consumed per day, there was an average 43 per cent increase in the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

People who consumed more than 7.3gm salt a day displayed a 72 per cent increased risk of compared to those with the lowest below 6gm, said researchers from the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

According to researchers, the association sodium -- which makes up 40 per cent of salt -- may be because of a direct effect on insulin resistance, and/or by promoting high blood pressure and weight gain.

Further, higher salt intake was also linked with a high risk of developing Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA)-- a form of Type 1 diabetes in which the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are destroyed by the body's own immune system.

The study showed that the effect of sodium intake on the risk of developing LADA was even greater, with a 73 per cent rise for each gram of sodium consumed per day. 

Patients with high risk leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes whose sodium intake was classed as 'high' (over 3.15 gm/day) were almost four times more likely to develop LADA than those consuming the lowest (under 2.4gm/day).

"We confirm an association between sodium intake and type 2 diabetes (and that) high sodium intake may be a risk factor for LADA, especially in carriers of high risk HLA genotypes," said lead author Bahareh Rasouli from IMM, while presenting the paper at annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 2017 in Lisbon.

Read More

Stocks and the best way to invest

As many look to repositioning their portfolios with U.S. equities trading near record highs, investors should consider exchange traded funds with a value tilt.

"Trying to determine the best time to get back in the market can be an impossible exercise. For investors, we believe the question isn’t 'Should I Invest in Stocks?' but rather, 'What Is the Best Way to Invest in Stocks?'" according to OppenheimerFunds.

U.S. equities have surged to record highs in the post-Trump rally, with growth stocks leading the charge. Looking at valuations, or a measure of stock prices in relation to underlying companies' worth, like earnings or revenue, stocks are now trading near historically high valuations.

Price-to-sales ratios at current levels have not been seen since the tech bubble. According to FactSet data, the forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of the S&P 500 is 18.0, compared to the 5-year average P/E of 15.7 and the 10-year average of 14.1.

Valuations is particularly worrisome for passive investors whom largely rely on traditional, market capitalization-weighted index funds, which mirror an index and weight components by each company's market capitalization. As the markets strengthen and break new highs, investors in market-cap funds will have greater exposure to company stocks that have increased in price the most, which leaves many exposed to sudden bouts of devaluation.

Specifically, the recent bull market record run up has been driven by technology stocks, and tech names make up a hefty 25% tilt in the S&P 500, with major components like Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL), Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT), Amazon.com (NasdaqGS: AMZN) and others among the top holdings.

As investors seek out new ways to diversify their portfolio risks, many may look to value-oriented strategies, such as one that weights securities by companies' revenue in an attempt to avoid the risk of overpriced stocks.

Investors who believe in a return to fundamentals can look to the revenue-weighted methodology, including options like the Oppenheimer Large Cap Revenue ETF (NYSEArca: RWL), Oppenheimer Mid Cap Revenue ETF (NYSEArca: RWK) and Oppenheimer Small Cap Revenue ETF (NYSEArca: RWJ).

The underlying index implements a rules-based, disciplined smart beta indexing methodology targets known indices like the S&P 500 and tries to improve their performance return through weighting each security in the index by top line revenue. Components are then rebalanced every quarter to keep the Revenue-Weighted indices in line with the companies’ most recently reported revenue levels.

Revenue weighting could provide diversified exposure to the market, is not influenced by stock price, reflects a truer indication of a company’s value and offers stable sector exposure. Moreover, revenue weighting may provide a more value-oriented portfolio and historically outperformed in a value-driven market while showing lower drawdowns during growth-driven markets.

By rebalancing toward companies with persistent sales, revenue weighting helps keep a portfolio from overstaying during an overheating market. The result could be a portfolio with better risk-adjusted returns over the long haul.

"Investors face a challenge today, constructing portfolios at a time when stocks may be considered expensive. Revenue weighting offers the means to focus on a key company fundamental—revenue—to target companies’ economic contributions as opposed to market cap. This approach can provide disciplined and consistent exposure to the market," according to OppenheimerFunds.

This article was provided courtesy of our partners at etftrends.com.

Source:

Read More