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Even as rising fuel costs are grounding weaker airlines — including three this month — airline competition is heating up for travelers flying the Pacific coast.

On the runway is JetBlue Airways Corp. with new 100-seat jets that will begin flying next month from Long Beach up and down the coast in a move that financial analysts say may be bold but risky

Next month, the low-cost carrier, popular with Southern California leisure travelers, is adding six flights from Long Beach to San Jose, Seattle and Austin, connecting some of the nation’s top tech-heavy cities.

source: LA Times

The Moroccan low-cost airline Atlas-blue launches carbon offset contribution dynamically calculated for every itinerary.

The Moroccan Low-Cost airline Atlas-blue subsidiary of Royal Air Maroc became the very first carrier in Africa and only the second serving the European continent, to offer carbon offsets as an integrated part of its booking platform.

source: 4hoteliers.com

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

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 

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

Flybe has given the term low-fare airline an entirely new meaning: it is paying 172 people to fly back and forth across England and the Irish Sea to help it meet a target for passenger numbers at Norwich airport.Flybe was narrowly falling short of a target to deliver at least 15,000 passengers on the Dublin-Norwich route in the 12 months ending on Monday, which meant it would have to forego a 280,000 pound ($550,000) rebate from the airport.

After the airport rejected a request for a partial rebate for almost hitting the target, Flybe hired 172 temps for 30-40 pounds each, plus a free bar and in-flight entertainment, though it admitted “‘it probably sounds like an early April fool.'”

source: Reuters

German no-frills airline Germanwings, owned by Lufthansa, will renew flights between the Cologne-Bonn and Berlin-Schoenefeld airports in Germany to Bourgas and Varna airports in Bulgaria in May this year, according to its summer season schedule made public on its website.

Flights from Bourgas to Cologne-Bonn and back would be carried out every Tuesday and Sunday, while flights between Bourgas and Berlin-Schoenefeld would be carried out on Wednesdays and Sundays. Germanwings will also fly between Varna and the two German airports on Saturdays.

source: Sofia Echo