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U.S. restrictions on liquids carried aboard airliners will stay in place “for the foreseeable future” as authorities test better bomb-detection gear, the Transportation Security Administration said.

Machines reliable enough to screen 2 million passengers a day for liquid explosives “‘don’t exist today in mass quantities,'” TSA spokesman Christopher White said in an interview.

That means carry-on liquids still must be in containers of 3 ounces (89 milliliters) or less, sealed inside a 1-quart (0.95-liter) plastic bag, as they have been since September. A plot in the U.K. to blow up trans-Atlantic jets with liquid explosives spurred an Aug. 10 ban on carry-on fluids, which was replaced with the current rules about a month later.

source: Chicago Tribune

Angry passengers have hit out after budget airline Flybe axed a number of popular routes and blamed the controversial terminal tax for killing off routes.

Since the much-vaunted arrival of the low-cost airline in the city in January 2005, the number of scheduled flights to a range of UK and European destinations has more than doubled.

Passenger numbers have boomed with holidaymakers joining business people on flights out of the city to a number of destinations including Amsterdam, Paris, Belfast, Edinburgh, Malaga and Alicante.

But the introduction of a controversial £3-a-flight terminal tax for passengers in April has led to the withdrawal of some flights this winter including Alicante/ Malaga.

source: eveningnews24.co.uk

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, the parent company of Brazil’s low-cost airlines GOL Transportes Aereos S.A. and VRG Linhas Aereas S.A., has entered into an interline agreement with Aerolineas Argentinas.

Passengers traveling on Aerolineas Argentinas will be able to purchase tickets through the airline or participating travel agencies for all 58 destinations served by GOL in Brazil and South America.

This is the third interline agreement GOL has entered into international carriers in 2007. North American-based Continental and Delta airlines all currently sell GOL tickets through their reservation systems. GOL does not sell tickets for partner airlines’ flights. In addition to these interlines, GOL maintains a code-share agreement with Panamanian-based Copa Airlines since August 2005.

source: PR Newswire

France’s top administrative court has told easyJet and Ryanair Plc to apply French labour laws for staff operating out of the country, dismissing a bid by the airlines to bypass local working norms.

The two low-cost carriers had appealed against a decree introduced last year that obliged foreign airlines to apply French labour laws for crews of aircraft based here.

Irish-based Ryanair said the decree contravened European laws on the free movement of labour and services.

source: Reuters

Family pets still have time to collect Air Canada air miles, at least on international flights.

The Canadian Transportation Agency suspended an application filed by Air Canada looking to bar pets from its baggage compartments Wednesday afternoon, effectively delaying the controversial application on international flights for the time being.

The suspension affects flights between Canada and the U.S. as well as other international flights to and from Canada. Pets will still not be allowed on Air Canada domestic flights starting July 15 since the Canadian Transportation Agency does not have jurisdiction to take similar action with regards to domestic routes. Pets will have to travel through its cargo division.

source: TheStar.com

European airlines will have to advertise tickets at full price to avoid landing customers with a slew of hidden charges, according to new rules adopted by the European Parliament on Wednesday.

The ruling, which needs approval from EU states before it comes into force, revises the bloc’s rules on airlines to boost competition by making it easier for travelers to compare prices before booking a flight.

source: MSNBC

Lufthansa AG, Germany’s largest airline, said Tuesday that first-half passenger figures rose 5.9 percent to a record as the carrier used up more of its capacity.

About 27 million passengers flew with Lufthansa in the first six months of the year, the company said in a statement.

The seat load factor – or the amount of capacity taken up – improved by 2.1 percentage points to 76.1 percent, Lufthansa said.

source: Forbes

Ryanair maintained its barrage of complaints against governments and regulators, airport authorities and competitors with a blast against the European Commission on Tuesday morning.

Europe’s largest low-cost airline said it would sue the Commission for “‘its repeated failure to take action on a number of state aid complaints involving Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, Alitalia and Olympic Airways, which were submitted to the Commission over a year ago'”.

Ryanair alleges hundreds of millions of euros of illegal state aid has subsidised these airlines and that Brussels has failed to act.

source: MSNBC

Frontier Airlines today announced preliminary traffic results for June 2007. Revenue passenger miles increased 15.2 percent to 936,492,000 for June 2007 from the same period last year. Available seat miles increased 12.7 percent to 1,076,255,000 for June 2007 from the same period last year.

This resulted in a load factor for June 2007 of 87.0 percent, an increase of 1.8 points from June 2006, when the airline reported a load factor of 85.2 percent. The airline carried 984,864 passengers during June 2007, a 14.8 percent increase from June 2006.

source: CNN

A backlog of thousands of bags has built up at Heathrow Airport following the recent terror alerts.

Extra security checks were introduced after the suspected failed car bombings in London and Glasgow, and Terminal 4 was closed by a suspect package.

Heavy rain which delayed some flights has also added to the luggage mountain.

A British Airways spokesman said volunteers had been drafted in to help clear the backlog, but it could take several days to sort out.

source: BBC News