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Australia will restrict the amount of liquid airline passengers can take on board international flights, Transport Minister Mark Vaile said.

The maximum size of containers with liquids, creams and gels allowed on flights will be 100 milliliters from March 31, Vaile said in a statement released today in Canberra. The containers must be placed in a transparent sealable bag and screened separately, he said.

source: Bloomberg

After weeks of speculation the Italian Government yesterday began the privatisation of Alitalia, the troubled national airline, by announcing the sale of 30.1 per cent of its 49.9 per cent stake.

It attached conditions, however, including an insistence that whoever buys the stake must make a full takeover bid for the whole airline, undertake to keep its logo and national identity and come up with a convincing business “turnaround” plan to salvage the debt-ridden company.

source: Times Online

AirTran Airways reported today its November revenue passenger miles (RPMs), available seat miles (ASMs), and passengers enplaned all represent company records for the month.

AirTran Airways’ traffic, measured by revenue passenger miles (RPMs), grew by 15.4 percent, to over 1.1 billion RPMs, on an increase of 19.1 percent in capacity, based on available seat miles (ASMs). November’s load factor was 69.2 percent. The airline enplaned more than 1.6 million passengers in the month of November, a 14.5 percent increase from November 2005.

source: PR Newswire

Another airline is circling the proposed takeover of Delta Air Lines by US Airways, hoping for a shot at some airport gates.

JetBlue chief executive David Neeleman, in a speech to investors, said his airline would be interested in buying flight slots at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., and New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Both Delta and US Airways operate shuttle flights between Washington, New York and Boston.

source: Business Courier

The collapse of negotiations for an EU-US air transport agreement is a set back for Brussels against a background of growing global trade protectionism.

Europe’s transport ministers will discuss the deal’s crash landing next week as hopes for a 2007 agreement recede. US transport secretary Mary Peters called the European commission on Tuesday to announce Washington was pulling the plug on allowing foreign investors a greater say in US airlines.

source: theparliament.com

Budget airline Ryanair has extended for a second time the deadline for Aer Lingus shareholders to accept its takeover offer after investors with less than 1 percent of the carrier accepted its bid.

The bid, which values Aer Lingus at 1.48 billion euros (1.0 billion pounds), is widely expected to fail given intense opposition from major shareholders, including the Irish government with 25 percent and current and former Aer Lingus staff with 12.6 percent.

source: Reuters

Continental Airlines and US Helicopter Corp. have partnered to provide shuttle service between Manhattan and its Newark hub beginning Dec. 18.

US Helicopter customers traveling on the Houston-based airline will be able to check in, receive boarding passes for US Helicopter and Continental Airlines and complete security screening at the Manhattan heliport near Wall Street.

source: Houston Business Journal

JetBlue, a fast-growing airlines, said it is delaying deliveries of 32 new Embraer 190 jets it had been scheduled to receive from 2007 to 2010.The main reasons attributed to postpone the order are higher fuel prices and increasing competition.

source: The New Observer

Could it be the first flush of environmental awareness in China? One of the country’s leading airlines has begun encouraging passengers to use the toilet before they board flights as a way of saving energy.

Chinese Southern Airlines hopes to reduce costs with the new policy because it estimates that a single flush at 30,000 feet uses a litre of fuel, the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. “The energy used in one flush is enough for an economical car to run at least 10km,” pilot Liu Zhiyuan was quoted as saying.

The airline also hinted at plans to improve efficiency by carrying fewer creature comforts. The company estimates the average aircraft in their fleet uses 60 tonnes of fuel a day simply to carry blankets and pillows. Reducing the human waste in the aeroplane’s tanks would also save 47m yuan (£3m) per year.

source: Guardian Unlimited

A surprising new survey has found that two thirds of men are too broad-shouldered for their neighbours’ comfort in an aeroplane seat of 16 inches wide. In more standard airline seats which measure 17 inches across, about one third of adult male passengers would feel cramped.

source: Easier