Budget airline easyJet has reported a near-doubling in losses as the company battled higher fuel prices and challenging consumer conditions.
Pre-tax losses increased 94% to £153m in the six months to March 31 after the latest surge in the price of jet fuel cost it an extra £43m and it absorbed an increase in air passenger duty.
source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Mystery surrounds a new airline that claims to be establishing a base at the Isle of Man Airport.
According to its website, Ellan Vannin Airways is set to take up residency in EuroManx House at the IOM airport and launch flights in 2012 from the Isle of Man, Cambridge and Oxford airports.
The airline is already advertising jobs through totaljobs for bases at Oxford, Isle of Man, Cambridge and Liverpool, however, the Isle of Man Examiner reports no approach has been made to the airport managers at Ronaldsway.
source: Reuters
Ryanair is making a third attempt to acquire rival Aer Lingus in a bid to create an all-Irish national champion.
Michael O’Leary, Ryanair chief executive, has approached the Irish government to acquire its 25 per cent stake in Aer Lingus.
The budget airline bought just over 29 per cent of Aer Lingus in 2006, so the government’s stake would give it majority control.
The European Commission has blocked two attempts by Ryanair to acquire Aer Lingus because of competition issues – one in 2006 and the other two years later. And Brussels still says that joining the two airlines would create a monopoly for Dublin flights
source: dailymail.co.uk
Virgin Blue has dropped “‘blue'” from its title and rebranded itself Virgin Australia, as the carrier aims to capture a larger slice of the business travel market.
Sir Richard Branson jetted into Sydney on Wednesday to launch Virgin Australia, alongside the airline’s chief executive John Borghetti.
The carrier now has a new look, with a change of colours on the outside and inside the cabins, new upmarket uniforms and services.
Instead of the all-red Virgin Blue aircraft colour scheme, the carrier’s main colour will be white with a red trim.
source: Yahoo!
Delta is the first airline to let you track checked luggage on its website and smartphone.
When Delta passengers check in luggage online or at an airport’s kiosk or service desk, they’ll receive a unique tracking number. The number can be used on Delta’s website to trace the baggage from check-in all the way to the final destination airport’s luggage carousel. If luggage is lost, that same number can be used to file a claim online rather than through a fax form.
source: consumerreports.org
KLM challenges Facebook fans to convert their Facebook profile pictures into a ‘Delft Blue tile’ with an inspiring message. The most inspiring “‘Dutch Delft Blue tiles'” will be placed on the body of a KLM-plane Boeing 777-200. This worldwide campaign is named Tile & Inspire and starts today.
Erik Varwijk, Managing Director KLM says: “‘With this new campaign, KLM takes its Journeys of Inspiration strategy a step further. Tile & Inspire is another initiative to inspire our passengers and to actively engage customers around the world, like we did with the successful KLM surprise and our worldwide Luggage tag campaign'”.
source: Reuters
Germany’s competition authority is investigating whether air carrier Lufthansa forced its corporate customers to provide information about competitors’ prices in order to receive discounts.
Germany’s competition watchdog, the ‘Bundeskartellamt’, is looking into whether contracts between Lufthansa and its corporate customers required that they provide the airline with sensitive information about competitors’ pricing structures, thereby possibly distorting competition.
Authorities say contracts between Europe’s largest air carrier and some large corporate customers stipulated that the firms would not receive discounts unless data on price and discounts from other airlines were provided.
source: dw-world.de
American Airlines says it will offer “‘happy hour'” pricing next month to customers buying alcohol on flights departing during the 5-o’clock hour. The promotion is a return of one AA tried this past December.
Starting May 1, the carrier’s “‘5@5’” happy hour promotion will feature $5 alcoholic drinks on flights in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean that depart between 5 p.m. and 5:59 p.m. (local times).
source: USA Today
A flight data recorder has been recovered from an Air France flight that crashed off the coast of Brazil in 2009. Investigators are hoping the device can provide answers to why the plane went down, killing 228 people.
Deep sea search teams have located one of two flight data recorders from the 2009 Air France flight that crashed mysteriously in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board.
In a statement, France’s Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said the black box was “‘localized and identified'” on Sunday morning and brought up from a depth of 4,000 meters (4,375 yards).
source: dw-world.de
Marriott has won two major awards at the ‘Frequent Traveler Awards’, held April 28 in New York.
The chain’s Marriott Rewards scheme picked up the award for ‘Hotel Program of the Year’ in both the Americas and Europe and Africa, although ‘Priority Club’ by rival chain InterContinental took the ‘Program of the Year in Middle East and Asia/Oceania’.
Air Canada‘s Aeroplan, Lufthansa‘s Miles & More and Emirates‘ Skywards were the big winners in the airline ‘Program of the Year’ category, taking the Americas, Europe and Africa and Middle East and Asia/Oceania respectively.
source: Independent.co.uk
