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Continental Airlines has joined rival Delta in boosting the price for checking bags on flights within the USA and to Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Delta began charging $8 more for the first checked bag and $7 more for a second on Jan. 5. Continental did the same thing beginning with tickets sold Jan. 16. So far, no other big U.S. airline has followed suit.

Continental and Delta now charge $25 for the first checked bag and $35 for the second if the bags are checked at the airport. The fee is slightly lower for bags checked in online.

source: poughkeepsiejournal.com

In November, the U.S. airline industry had its best on-time performance in nearly 15 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. With 88.6 percent of flights arriving on time in the month, the performance beat the last high of 88 percent in September 2002.

No flights fell under the chronically delayed category of being late 80 percent of the time or more in the month, and no flights had tarmac delays longer than four hours. Two Delta flights had tarmac delays more than three hours long.

The improvements come as airlines have cut back on capacity and fewer people book trips by air.

source: ajc

Accountants chasing creditors of the failed airline FlyGlobespan have taken legal action against the company that was handling online ticket sales (E-Clear).

The administrators’ action comes on top of three other legal cases lodged against E-Clear. Finance Secretary John Swinney welcomed the move.

E-Clear has also been fighting an action raised by those winding up SkyEurope, a Slovakian airline. It is claimed E-Clear was withholding £13m in ticket sales when that company went under last summer.

FlyGlobespan’s collapse left thousands of holidaymakers stranded abroad.

source: BBC News

A battle for low-cost airline revenue in Asia intensified on Wednesday as Malaysia’s AirAsia and Jetstar, owned by Qantas Airways, finalised a passenger handling and aircraft maintenance deal they said would cut millions of dollars from annual costs.

The agreement signed by Jetstar and AirAsia stops short of equity participation, and will not involve code sharing – the revenue-generating arrangement under which airlines book passengers directly onto each other’s flights.

The deal also includes co-operation on airport passenger and ramp handling services, and reciprocal arrangements for switching passengers to available flights if one airline’s service is disrupted.

source: FT.com