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News of November 2006


No-frills Meridiana starts direct Budapest-Florence flights

19 November 2006

Ferihegy’s growing network is expanding with a new airline and a new destination, as Meridiana launches a direct air link between Florence and Budapest from 7 December, the Budapest Airport has announced on Friday.


Vueling aims to raise €200m

19 November 2006

Vueling, the Spanish low cost start-up airline, launched its initial public offering on Friday aimed at raising around €200m in fresh equity to support its rapid expansion from current bases in Barcelona and Madrid.

The airline began flying in July 2004 and will have a fleet of 16 180-seat Airbus A320s by the end of the year, rising to 25 in 2007.

source: MSNBC


KLM planning low-cost carrier

19 November 2006

French-Dutch carrier Air France KLM is looking to create a low-cost carrier to benefit from the growing leisure market, the company said yesterday.

The group is examining the development of its subsidiary transavia.com, which already offers a mix of scheduled and charter flights, for new services from France.

source: The Star online


Southwest Air to add nonstop flights

17 November 2006

Southwest Airlines Co. said Thursday it will add 33 new nonstop flights this spring, including new service between Baltimore/Washington and Pittsburgh.

The new flights are for 26 city pairs and will also include new nonstop service to connect Cleveland and Orlando, Fla.; Dallas Love Field and Birmingham, Ala.; and Reno/Lake Tahoe in Nevada and San Diego. The low-cost carrier will also augment some existing service.

Southwest will roll out the new service between March 11 and April 15.

source: BusinessWeek


Danish low-cost airline Sterling reports hoax bomb threat

17 November 2006

A bomb threat, later proved to be a hoax, forced Danish-based low-cost carrier Sterling to evacuate passengers from a plane due to leave Amsterdam for Oslo, Norway, an airline spokeswoman said Wednesday. After a two-hour delay, the plane left Amsterdam at 11:27 a.m.

The threat was placed to the carrier’s call centre in Norway. The anonymous caller alleged that a person on the plane was going to blow up a device in mid-air.

source: The Raw Story


Mergers may trouble regional airlines

17 November 2006

Mergers among big U.S. airlines would darken the skies for their smaller, regional partners, analysts said on Thursday.US Airways Group Inc. on Wednesday offered about $8 billion for larger, bankrupt rival Delta Air Lines Inc. The bid is expected to spark consolidation in the U.S. airline industry. If this happens, the big airlines would likely cut capacity, which could in turn reduce their need for feeder service.

After the announcement of US Airways’ offer on Wednesday — which Delta is still considering — the shares of major airlines soared but those of several regional carriers fell, with SkyWest dropping 7.5 percent.

source: Reuters


Southwest Airlines adding more flights

16 November 2006

Southwest Airlines has announced it will add 33 nonstop flights involving 26 cities.

The list includes new nonstop service between: Baltimore-Washington and Pittsburgh; Cleveland and Orlando, Fla.; Dallas Love Field and Birmingham, Ala.; and between Reno/Lake Tahoe and San Diego.

Some of the new flights begin March 11. The rest will start by April 15.


25 Passengers injured in flight incident

16 November 2006

Twenty-five passengers on a Taiwanese carrier’s plane were injured yesterday after the plane dived violently to avoid an aircraft.

Flight EF306 of Far Eastern Air Transport was trying to land at Jeju International Airport around 11:20 a.m., when it suddenly made an emergency dive, shaking the aircraft severely.

source: The Korea Times


Kolkata-Frankfurt Lufthansa flight resumes after 35 years

16 November 2006

Lufthansa would resume passenger services connecting Frankfurt and Kolkata from December 2, after 35 years with three weekly flights.

The airline would operate a 235-seater non-stop Airbus A340-300 between Frankfurt and Kolkata with a three class configuration establishing its presence across all metros with 45 weekly flights.

Its frequency could be increased with the hike in business, since the airline was permitted to operate 50 flights a week as per a new Indo-German Air Traffic Agreement.

source: rediff News


Brazil’s TAM Airline Buys 37 Airbus Planes

16 November 2006

Brazil’s largest airline, TAM, has signed a firm contract to buy an additional 37 Airbus aircraft, the European plane manufacturer announced Thursday. The purchase concerns 12 A319s, 16 A320s, three A321s and six A330 aircraft, Airbus said in a statement released in the southern French city of Toulouse, where the company has its headquarters.

source: Playfuls.com