Norwegian airlines have registered a marked increase in passenger traffic in 2006, from 14.5 million passengers in 2005 to nearly 17 million last year.
More than five million passengers travelled with low fare airline Norwegian in 2006, up by more than 55 per cent from the previous year.
source: The Norway Post
Continental Airlines announced that it has completed the installation of Audio/Video on Demand (AVOD) in the BusinessFirst cabins of its entire fleet of 41 Boeing 757 aircraft used primarily on transatlantic flights to/from its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport. AVOD systems will be installed in the economy cabins of these aircraft beginning summer 2007.
Building on requirements imposed after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration last week proposed new rules to make it even harder for potential hijackers to force their way into the cockpits of commercial jets.The plan would require jet makers to design aircraft with stronger floors, bulkheads and ceilings to better protect the crew, as well as install a reinforced bomb closet where a bomb could be placed if one is found during flight.
U.S. experts arrived in Indonesia’s Sulawesi island Saturday to help investigate the apparent crash of a jetliner that disappeared with 102 people on board after battling fierce winds and storms.
By nightfall Saturday, there was still no trace of the Adam Air Flight KI-574.
The pilot did not issue a mayday before the Boeing 737 dropped off the radar Monday near the coastal town of Majene, and there has been no emergency location signal to guide thousands of searchers in the island’s dense jungles and surrounding seas.
source: CantonRep.com
Russia and the United States have agreed in principle to share data on airline passengers travelling to and from the two countries starting this year, Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said in an interview broadcast here Saturday.
“We made this step, aware of the United States’ air traffic security concerns, and we reached an agreement under which the US aviation authorities will inform us about passengers flying to Moscow or other places in Russia,” Levitin told Russia’s local television news network.
Under current Russian legislation, airline passenger data is confidential and may not be disseminated outside Russia. Levitin said however that a bill to modify that legislation would be submitted to the Russian parliament later this month.
source: The News
The plane, carrying 102 people, went out of contact as it was flying from Java to northern Sulawesi. Officials reported receiving two distress calls.The search resumed on Wednesday after rescue officials admitted that earlier reports that the plane and its passengers had been found were untrue.
Relatives are waiting anxiously for news, and are angry at the confusion.
Transport minister Hatta Radjasa admitted late on Tuesday that the reports of a crash site, bodies and survivors were based on incorrect rumours from local villagers.
source: BBC News
AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, today reported record traffic results for the full year 2006 as well as December 2006 and the Fourth Quarter. The airline reported that revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and passengers enplaned represent company records for December and the quarter, while available seat miles (ASMs) represent an all-time record for December and the quarter.
For the year, AirTran Airways traffic grew 22.4 percent on a capacity increase of 23.7 percent, and the load factor was 72.8 percent. The airline has enplaned a record number of passengers with 20,051,219 boardings this year, an increase of 20.5 percent from 2005.
source: PR Newswire
A bill of rights for European airline passengers could be redrawn amid mounting evidence the flagship measure is being widely ignored.
Jacques Barrot, European Union transport commissioner, is preparing follow-up action to enforce the air passenger rights law, which was introduced two years ago. The directive’s failure is an embarrassment for the Commission, which saw it as a way of demonstrating the ability of Brussels to improve citizens’ lives.
Under the directive, travellers are entitled to compensation or refunds for delayed flights.
source: FT.com
The airline filed for bankruptcy last week after having abruptly suspended operations Dec 15, leaving thousands of flyers stranded.
The company and the airline’s unions have said they are ready to incorporate the business into another company immediately, even though it may have “‘another management policy,'” the newspaper said.
Separately, the newspaper cited the same sources as saying they hope to postpone the demonstration planned for this Sunday by various groups of passengers affected by Air Madrid’s demise.
source: Sharewatch
The fate of an Indonesian airliner missing with 102 people on board remained in doubt late on Tuesday after senior officials apologised for erroneously stating that its wreckage had been found.
Officials had earlier said what was left of the plane, a Boeing 737-400 operated by budget carrier Adam Air, had been located in the mountains of Sulawesi island where it had crashed in heavy rain. Reports said 12 people had survived the crash.
“‘The location has not been found. We apologise that the news that we conveyed was not true,'” First Air Marshal Eddy Suyanto, commander of Hasanuddin air base in Makassar, told reporters.
source: Reuters
