AirAsia Bhd will today sign a letter of intent with Shipbuilding Industry Group with a view to establishing a joint venture low-cost airline in Vietnam.
AirAsia, in a filing with Bursa Malaysia, said the proposed partnership would focus on securing the licence to operate a new Vietnamese airline that would serve domestic, regional and international routes.
source: The Star Online
Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle on Thursday said it has ordered 42 Boeing 737-800 jets worth some 3.1 billion dollars.
The carrier said it had an option with US maker Boeing for a further 42 jets that can seat 189 passengers.
Deliveries were slated between 2009 and 2014.
source: Monsters and Critics
Orlando’s AirTran Holdings Inc. has signed a three-year contract extension with the Coca-Cola Co. to continue serving the beverage giant’s soft drinks onboard AirTran Airways flights.
The two companies have been in business together since 1993. Coke is based in Atlanta, home to AirTran’s hub and where the low-cost carrier routes more than two-thirds of its flights.
source: Orlando Sentinel
Southwest also announced new service between San Francisco and Los Angeles (LAX) starting on November 4.
In the years since Southwest left SFO, it has built up service at nearby Bay Area airports Oakland International and San Jose International. So while the return to SFO means more choice and convenience, it’s not a new market and so we probably won’t be seeing the “‘Southwest effect'” of suddenly cheaper fares across airlines serving a destination.
From November 5th 2007 holidaymakers will be able to fly to Hamburg, Germany’s second city, from London Luton airport. The service will be daily, with return fares starting from £33.98 including taxes.
Also new are flights from East Midlands airport to Palma, the capital of the Spanish Balearics on the island of Mallorca.
The route will start from February 7th 2008 and will operate three times per week, increasing to a daily service for the summer season. Fares will start from £35.98 return.
source: travelbite.co.uk
Ryanair passengers will be charged £2 to check in at airport desks from next month as part of the airline’s latest ruse for slashing costs.
Europe’s largest low-cost airline denied that it was gouging passengers with its latest levy. Starting on September 20, passengers who want to check in at the airport must pay a further £2 alongside a charge of £5 to put bags in the hold.
source: Guardian.co.uk
City of Austin (USA) has approved the lease between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and General Electric Commercial Aviation Services LLC for the construction, operation and maintenance of a low-cost airport terminal.
The new terminal will serve “‘ultra-low-cost'” airlines including a new Mexican airline vivaAeroBus, which has agreed to fly between Austin and five Mexican destinations. The airlines fares range as low as $5 to $30. The airline is aiming to operate flights by Thanksgiving.
source: BizJournals
easyJet would launch a further two new routes this winter, connecting East Midlands with Palma (Mallorca) and London Luton with Hamburg, bringing the total number of new routes to be launched by the airline this winter to 46 and representing a growth of 14% year on year.
source: Boarding.no
Ryanair sees room to open two more bases in Spain by around 2010 and will double passengers there, the airline said yesterday, a week after announcing its presence in the country would double to four hubs.
“‘We now have four bases and there is space for one or two more . . . in the next three or four years,'” Ryanair’s director of marketing and sales in Spain, Maribel Rodriguez, said. “‘There’s still a lot of space to grow.'”
Rodriguez later said the airline planned to double profits from Spain as well as the number of passengers to and from Spanish airports by around 2012.
source: Independent.ie
JetBlue Airways Corp. will offer the only nonstop service from Boston to Santiago, Dominican Republic, between Dec. 12 and Jan. 15, on flights that arrive and leave from the Dominican capital in the wee hours of the morning.
source: Boston.com
