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Delta Air Lines Inc will buy Northwest Airlines Corp for more than $3 billion under a proposal unveiled Monday to create the world’s biggest airline, as carriers seek to counter skyrocketing fuel prices and a weak economy.

After racking up $35 billion in losses and finally emerging from a five-year slump in 2006, U.S. airlines are hoping mergers could lead to higher fares as combined carriers reduce flights and use their increased market power to raise prices.

source: guardian.co.uk

An investigation was under way last night after a Scottish aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing when a man brandished a knife on board.

Reports suggested the man threatened to harm other passengers on the plane, which was leased to a Bangladeshi airline but crewed mainly by staff from the Edinburgh-based low-cost company Flyglobespan.

A spokesman for the airline which also operates from Glasgow and Aberdeen raised concerns over airport security after the man was seen with what police described as a four inch knife during the flight.

source: The Herald

The largest US carrier American Airlines scrapped around 570 flights Friday to inspect wiring on its fleet of MD-80 aircraft. The cancellations represented around a quarter of the airline’s flights.

Another 900 flights were cancelled on Thursday and more than 1,500 over the previous two days, affecting over 250,000 passengers. The airline grounded the same planes just last month, cancelling 200 flights in connection with an industrywide probe by government aviation authorities to ensure compliance with safety inspections.

source: earthtimes.org

Andy Harrison, easyJet’s Chief Executive, officially opened the airline’s 20th base at Lyon Saint-Exupéry airport this month (April 4), with an inauguration ceremony held at the airport in the presence of Mr Gérard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon.

The new base in France’s second largest city is part of a €600m investment over a four-year-period that will strengthen easyJet’s position as the largest low-fares airline in France. The investment will enable easyJet to increase its fleet in France from 6 based aircraft to 20 and to double the number of passengers from 6 million in 2007 to 12 million in 2011.

source: Easier

Ryanair has extracted savings of more than €50m by renegotiating airport contracts in recent weeks and has also quietly extended its management pay freeze to “‘more than half'” the airline’s staff.

However chief executive Michael O’Leary said the airline had failed to secure any cost savings at Dublin airport and is now planning to scale back its Dublin presence next winter.

The savings drive comes as the airline continues its war against rising fuel prices.

source: independent.ie 

Heathrow’s beleaguered Terminal 5 was thrown into chaos again yesterday as snowfalls led to 144 flights being cancelled.

Thousands of passengers were stranded or forced to find alternative flights due to the weather and continuing problems with the airport operator BAA’s automated baggage system.

British Airways said more than 60 of its flights to the terminal and a similar number from it were grounded after air traffic controllers reduced the number of aircraft allowed take off and land per hour because of snow.

Another 55 flights were cancelled at Gatwick, most of them BA and easyJet domestic and short haul flights. A further 12 were scrapped at Heathrow Terminal 5 because of baggage handling problems.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Late flights and lost bags, to say nothing of higher fares, are making air travelers grumpy, an annual survey of airline quality says.

The industry posted declines last year in every area of the Airline Quality Rating, amid rising fuel prices, safety problems and bankruptcy filings that shut down three carriers last week alone.

The biggest change was in the rate of consumer complaints, up 60 percent overall. The rate more than doubled at US Airways and Comair, and rose for 15 of the 16 airlines included in the study. The exception was Mesa Airlines.

On-time arrivals dropped for the fifth straight year, with more than one-quarter of all flights late, according to the survey. The rates of passengers bumped from overbooked flights and bags lost, stolen or damaged also jumped in 2007.

source: thetimesonline.com

The sudden demise of Skybus Airlines stranded some passengers and jets at Piedmont Triad International Airport Saturday. The low-cost airline shut down Saturday, making its last flight Friday night out of PTIA and leaving four jets sitting on the tarmac. Airline officials said the company plans to file for bankruptcy protection next week.

All passengers are eligible for full refunds on flights scheduled through Sept. 2. A message on the airline’s Web site Passengers holding reservations for Skybus flights scheduled to depart on or after Saturday should contact their credit card companies to arrange to apply for a refund.

source: tradingmarkets.com

Travelers with visions of Waikiki, sandy beaches and island cruises were stranded Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport and across the nation as low-fare carrier ATA Airlines Inc. abruptly grounded all flights and ceased operations.

A single sheet of paper posted at an empty ticket counter at LAX delivered the bad news for travelers on the carrier’s three scheduled daily flights from Los Angeles to Hawaii. Passengers scrambled — with limited success — to make alternative arrangements.

The Indianapolis-based airline became the second U.S. carrier this week to end passenger service. On Monday, Aloha Airlines ended flights, grounding the only carrier offering nonstop flights from Orange County to Hawaii.

source: LA Times

Palau President Tommy Remengesau Jr. had just completed a two-day state visit to the Philippines and was not about to subject himself to the indignity of being frisked before boarding his US plane back to his island nation.But the crew of Continental Micronesia Airlines Flight CO 892 was adamant. Their priority was security rather than courtesy, even for a head of state.

After a two-hour standoff, the plane left without Remengesau and his wife Debbie.

In a strange coincidence, the aircraft was recalled back to Manila minutes after it took off following “intelligence information” to the Manila Control Tower from the Philippine Air Force that a bomb might be on board.

source: Inquirer.net