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Deutsche Lufthansa AG has dismissed as ”pure speculation” a report in the La Stampa daily it is considering bidding for a stake in ailing Italian carrier Alitalia SpA.”This is pure speculation,” a Lufthansa spokesman said.

The Italian government has invited interested parties to present bids for a stake of between 30.1 pct and 49.9 pct in Alitalia by Jan 29.

In early December, Lufthansa’s head of marketing and sales, Thierry Antinori, said his company was not interested in taking a stake in Alitalia because the German airline already has a presence in the Italian market.

source: Forbes

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, Brazil’s low-cost, low-fare airline, marks its sixth anniversary of operations today. The Company, which took on the unprecedented responsibility of popularizing air transportation in Brazil and South America, celebrates this anniversary with some of the best numbers in the history of Brazilian aviation. Over the last six years, GOL transported 55 million passengers; including five million first time flyers. GOL’s current fleet of 65 aircraft operates over 600 daily flights to 55 destinations, including seven international routes to five countries in South America. In December 2006, GOL had domestic and international Brazilian market shares of 37.1 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively. The Company’s average load factor in 2006 was 74%, the highest in the industry, and GOL has been the most punctual airline in Brazil for over 18 months.

source: Yahoo!

A second dead body had been found on in the wheel well of aircraft originating from West Africa over the weekend.

Belgian carrier SN Brussels has confirmed that a deceased human body has been found inside the main gear wheel well Number 1 (left) of an Airbus A330-300 operating flight SN 204 from Banjul, The Gambia via Dakar, Senegal that landed at Brussels airport this morning. SN Brussels Airlines, which is soon to complete its merger with Virgin Express to become Brussels Airlines, says it is cooperating fully with the Belgian investigation authorities.

source: flightglobal.com

The Transport & General union, representing around 30,000 workers at British Airways, said on Monday cabin crew had voted for strike action over a deal put forward by the airline to tackle its pension deficit.

The airline has agreed to make a one-off contribution of GBP800 million pounds (USD$1.57 billion) into the pension fund in return for changes to benefits as part of a plan to lower its GBP2.1 billion (USD$4.13 billion) deficit to GBP900 million (USD$1.77 billion).

source: Airwise

Lufthansa turned in another record year in 2006. The number of passengers and of operated flights as well as capacity and sales all ended the year at an all-time high.

In 2006, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group carried 53.4 million passengers, an increase on the year-earlier level of 4.2 per cent. Sales rose by 2.0 per cent on an increase of 1.8 per cent in capacity. The passenger load factor was up accordingly by 0.2 percentage points to 75.2 per cent.

source: boarding.no

American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., four of the five largest U.S. carriers, raised round-trip fares by as much as $10 in the industry’s first major boost this year.

United increased fares across its network, a change matched today by Delta. AMR Corp.’s American changed prices only in markets where it competes with low-fare airlines, adding $6 to tickets for flights of 1,000 miles or less, and $10 on longer routes. Northwest adopted American’s change.

Ryanair today announced that it had taken a record 1,000,000 bookings between the 5^th and the 11^th of January. This is the first time Ryanair has sold more than 1m seats in a week and makes Ryanair the first European low fares airline to do so.

source: finfacts

Flybe has celebrated the first anniversary of its very popular Belfast to Manchester route with news that further expansion is on the way.

Flybe, which is the largest airline operating out of George Best Belfast City Airport, serves 16 destinations including the first direct scheduled service to the French city of Rennes.

source: Easier

A second new airline for the Caribbean has been born. It is to be called “‘LIAT, The Star of the Caribbean'” and will start up operation at the crack of dawn on Thursday February 1, 2007 – one month after the other new carrier, Caribbean Airlines, took to the skies.

source:  Caribbean360.com

The Mexican low-cost carrier Interjet has signed a contract with Airbus at the end of December 2006 for the acquisition of ten additional A320s, hereby converting their options into a firm order. These were part of an order for ten A320s plus ten options placed at the Paris Air Show in June 2005.

Interjet is based at Toluca airport near Mexico City, and recently celebrated its first anniversary of scheduled services in the Mexican domestic market.

source: luchtzak.be