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Aer Lingus Group Plc workers voted to strike over the airline’s plan to cut more than 1,500 jobs. Around 80 percent of the Dublin-based airline’s workers that voted were in favor of the strike.

Aer Lingus plans to cut jobs, hire outside providers for ground operations and halt pay raises until at least the end of 2009 as part of a plan to save 74 million euros ($94.4 million). It says the cuts are necessary as consumer demand wanes.

source: Bloomberg

Dba, the former Deutsche BA, is to cease operations from 30 November. The carrier operates on German domestic routes from Munich and Dusseldorf.

The airline, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Berlin, currently operates nine aircraft and employs 120 pilots and 175 flight attendants. The airline’s parent company said the employees would be offered comparable jobs within the group and at their current locations.

source: businesstravelworld.com

easyJet is starting a service between Gatwick and Copenhagen in the wake of the collapse of Scandinavian carrier Sterling Airlines.The daily flight will start on January 15 and run alongside easyJet’s existing Stansted-Copenhagen service, which operates three times a day.

EasyJet might also add capacity to the Gatwick route in the summer. The new route goes on sale on Wednesday November 15.

source: ttglive.com

The Justice Department on Wednesday approved a much-anticipated merger between Delta and Northwest, clearing the way for creation of the world’s largest airline.

After a six-month investigation, government lawyers concluded the merger would likely drive down costs for consumers without curbing competition.

The proposed merger “‘is likely to produce substantial and credible efficiencies that will benefit U.S. consumers and is not likely to substantially lessen competition,'” the Justice Department said in a statement issued by its Antitrust Division.

source: Associated Press

The airline will take an 80% share of the UK company by buying the 50% owned by BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop for £318 million.

The move was welcomed by Virgin Atlantic, who said the deal could allow a BMI alliance between the two companies to rival competitor British Airways.

The deal is expected to be completed by mid-January. It will give Lufthansa control of more flights from London Heathrow airport than any other airline except British Airways.

source: Sky News

As part of the new plans flights will be available from Birmingham to Dubrovnik on Sundays and Split on Saturdays from May 3rd, from Exeter to Alicante, Dubrovnik, Faro, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca, and from Southampton to Alicante, Dubrovnik, Faro, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Split.

London Gatwick will also serve Aberdeen, Belfast, Guernsey, Inverness, Isle of Man, Jersey and Newcastle.

source: travelbite.co.uk

Spanish low-cost airline LTE says it is suspending services because it cannot cover the cost of operating.A statement on its Web site Friday says the 20-year-old company with bases in Palma de Mallorca, the Canary Islands and Milan, Italy is “‘doing everything to minimize the impact of this suspension of services on its clients and providers.'”

The company which runs flights from Spain to England, Italy and Saudi Arabia, has 300 employees and a fleet of seven Airbus 320s.

source: International Herald Tribune

More than 46 million airline seats will be cut over the next three months as the aviation industry is engulfed by the economic crisis.

The latest figures compiled by OAG (Official Airline Guide) show that demand for travel is shrinking throughout the world. Carriers plan to operate half a million fewer flights between October and December compared with the same period last year.

At least 45 European airports will lose all scheduled services by the end of this year, with 83,000 fewer flights offered by airlines within the European Union during this quarter than in 2007. Worldwide, more than 200 airports will cease offering services.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

British Airways has been criticised for regularly blaming cancelled flights on ”extraordinary circumstances” to avoid paying compensation.

A Dutch campaigner says BA uses the ploy to bypass EU laws created to protect passengers.

BA has scrapped one in 50 of flights to and from Heathrow this year, with the 6.35pm plane to Frankfurt cancelled 27 times.

source: DailyMail.co.uk

Hungary-based budget airline Wizz Air has announced on Friday that it will open the London Luton – Kiev Boryspil route starting from 17 December 2008.

Wizz Air is the first low-cost airline to operate an international route to Ukraine.

The new service will initially be operated four times a week, going up to daily as of 28 March 2009.

source: Porfolio