The U.S. Treasury Department has fined Florida’s Spirit Airlines $100,000 for paying Cuba for permission to use the country’s airspace.
Spirit Airlines said violations of the embargo law against Cuba were “‘unintentional’,” and agreed to pay the fine. In 2007, the Treasury Department ordered a total of $803,229 in fines for violating the U.S. embargo of Cuba.
source: UPI
Faced with growing financial problems, U.S. air carriers could start seeking foreign investments and pushing for a relaxation of U.S. airline-ownership laws, British Airways PLC Chairman Martin Broughton said in an interview.BA, which flies more passengers to and from the U.S. than any other overseas airline, doesn’t envision being able to make a major investment in a U.S. carrier anytime soon, said Mr. Broughton.
source: The World Street Journal
Undeterred by a raft of airline bankruptcies caused by the record fuel price, British Airways brought the world’s newest airline into being yesterday.
The inaugural service, which took off from Paris Orly destined for New York, launched just a day after Penelope Butcher of Morgan Stanley warned that the aviation industry was flying into a period that, because of soaring oil price and rapidly slowing economies, would be worse than the fraught years after 9/11, when several major carriers went bust, as well as the 1992-93 recession.
source: The Independent
Low-cost airline bmibaby has revealed that it will open up new routes between the UK and mainland Europe later this year.
Services from Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands and Manchester have been announced as part of its programme for winter 2008.
Some of the flights will connect with what the carrier describes as several key Mediterranean destinations, including places in Spain, Italy and France.
source: ready2invest.co.uk
Ever heard of Palmair European? Probably not, but on Thursday this tiny British company, with just one 34-year-old plane, was given the title of one of the world’s top four carriers, beating the likes of British Airways (other-otc: BAIRY – news – people ) and Virgin Atlantic.
The airline, which flies 60,000 passengers per year in a Boeing 737, was picked by consumer champion magazine Which?, together with larger names. Singapore Airlines (18 million passengers per year) won the first place on top of India’s Jet Airways and Air New Zealand.
source: Forbes
Irish low-cost airliner Aer Lingus announced it would start a new twice weekly service between Dublin and Sofia for its winter 2008 schedule, along with new services to Hamburg, Newcastle, Salzburg and Agadir. In addition, the company will increase the frequency of flights to a number of other European destinations.
source: SofiaEcho
Air Arabia, the first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC) in the Middle East and North Africa, announced today that three additional flights per week will be added to Amman, Jordan, and Beirut, Lebanon, respectively from the carrier’s primary hub in Sharjah, UAE.
source: ameinfo.com
Italy’s economic development ministry has put low cost airline Volare up for sale again, meeting a recent state council court demand, said Alitalia SpA, which bought Volare in a previous auction.
The ministry-appointed extraordinary commissioner for Volare previously put the carrier up for auction. However, Italy’s Air One airline challenged the way the auction was conducted and Alitalia’s win.
source: Forbes
Virgin America, a spinoff of Virgin Atlantic, said Wednesday it will add one daily non-stop flight between New York’s John F. Kennedy International and Las Vegas McCarran International airports.
Effective Sept. 4, the flight adds to the young airline’s growing seven-city network.
source: Business Week
German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Wednesday it has raised passenger fuel surcharges on European and long-haul routes to combat its rising costs for oil.
The company said in a statement the fuel surcharge on domestic German and intra-European routes will increase by €3 to €24 per flight segment. On long-haul routes the corresponding fuel surcharge will be raised by €10 to €92 per flight segment.
The Cologne-based airline said the increases will apply to all Lufthansa tickets issued on or after June 16.
source: iht.com
