The International Air Transport Association said that international air traffic fell in October, the second month in a row, and warned the airline industry is in a dangerous condition.International passenger traffic — measured in revenue passenger kilometers, which factor in how far passengers are flown — fell 1.3% from a year earlier in October, a less-steep decline than the 2.9% drop in September.
source: The Wall Street Journal
British airline Flybe is in talks to buy British Midland’s subsidiary operations bmi regional and bmi baby, the Mail on Sunday reported.
Lufthansa took over British Midland last month, but the German airline has indicated it is more interested in bmi’s long-haul routes and valuable Heathrow slots than in the two subsidiaries.
Bmi regional is UK-focused, while bmi baby is a low-cost airline that flies to a number of European destinations.
source: Reuters
Airports across the south of England saw hundreds of flights cancelled yesterday following a computer problem affecting the air traffic control system.
National Air Traffic Services (Nats), which oversees much of air traffic control in the UK, suffered a glitch that stopped data reaching workstations at its London area control centre at Swanwick in Hampshire.
In a statement, Ian Hall, director of operational performance at Nats, said: “‘We take every step to avoid any problems but are always aware, that in maintaining and updating highly complex systems, we can experience difficulties.'”
He added that safety was not compromised at any stage.
source: Silicon.com
EasyJet has scheduled additional flights to three holiday destinations next month following the demise of XL Leisure Group.
Extra flights have been added from Gatwick to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria; Dalaman in Turkey and Arracife in Lanzarote.
source: Travelmole
Lufthansa yesterday put an end to a potentially crippling strike by ground and engineering staff by increasing a pay offer that will set the salaries of more than a third of its workers until early 2010.
The German airline’s willingness to reach a deal had grown as lack of even simple maintenance grounded an increasing number of aircraft – the number of cancelled flights rose from 70 on Tuesday to 130 yesterday.
source: FT.com
If the proposed merger between British Airways and Iberia is given the go-ahead, it will create the world’s third largest revenue carrier and give the two carriers a combined 13.5% share of the transatlantic market based on capacity.
The oneworld alliance partners announced on 29 July that they are in talks with a view to carrying out an all-share merger, which would see both airlines retaining their brands as part of a combined group.
source: flightglobal.com
Southwest Airlines plans to hook up with Canada’s leading low-cost airline to offer “‘seamless'” travel across the U.S.-Canadian border.
Once the partnership with WestJet is in place, customers will be able to book a flight with either carrier on one ticket. Southwest will fly its part of the route and WestJet the rest of the flight. WestJet flies to 49 destinations in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
source: Cleveland.com
Low-cost airline Ryanair has announced a further expansion of services between the UK and Europe.
The budget carrier will begin offering flights from Glasgow Airport to the Portuguese city Faro in October 2008.
This will coincide with the launch of flights between Glasgow and Malaga in Spain.
Meanwhile, Ryanair will also open up a number of new routes from Bournemouth Airport, including services to Milan and Paris.
source: ready2invest.co.uk
Silverjet has become the third business-class-only airline flying between London and New York to collapse, after failing to get an emergency $5 million (2.5 million pound) loan.
The company, launched at the start of 2007, on Friday called in administrators, grounded its fleet and said it did not believe there was likely to be any value realised for shareholders.
Sky-rocketing fuel prices and worsening economic conditions in Britain and the United States have buffeted Silverjet, having already sent rivals Eos and MAXJet out of business.
source: Reuters
Norwegian air shuttle said on Tuesday that a court ruled that Scandinavian airline SAS should pay it 132 million Norwegian crowns ($26.33 million) in compensation in an industrial espionage case.
It also ruled that SAS should pay Norwegian Air’s legal costs of about 6.8 million crowns, said Norwegian – a low-cost rival to SAS.
source: Reuters
