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Low-cost airline EasyJet is being investigated over allegations of infringing of French employment legislation, a source in the public prosecutor’s office said.

Tax and labour inspectors raided the Paris offices of easyJet to check for possible breaches of the law.

The operation ‘was aimed at establishing the judicial status of easyJet’s operating base in Orly,’ the site of Paris’s second international airport, ‘in relation to French labour laws,’ a transport inspection official said.

source: finanznachrichten.de

TUI AG, Europe’s largest travel company, plans to cut 3,600 jobs at its tourism division, omit payment of a dividend this year and sell assets to rein in costs and pay back debt to offset slowing earnings growth.

The company will sell a harbor terminal in Montreal, Canada, several small ships owned by its CP Ships unit and properties not needed for the operating business, the Hanover, Germany-based company said in a statement on the OTS newswire today. By 2008, net debt will decline to 2.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion) from 2.9 billion euros in September this year.

source: Bloomberg

Greece’s ailing state carrier Olympic Airlines, posted a net loss of EUR123.7 million (USD$163.4 million) for 2005, based on financial statements published in Greek newspapers.

The European Commission is in a legal battle with Greece over subsidizing the loss-making carrier in the past. In October it asked the EU’s top court to impose daily fines of more than 10,000 euros on Athens until it recovers the cash.

The Commission’s move refers to about EUR160 million (USD$211.4 million) in state aid given to the airline from 1995 to 2002.

source: Airwise

Two European airlines have adopted special precautions for flying in Brazil, a leading Brazilian newspaper reported on Sunday, a day after the country’s president pledged to resolve a nationwide air traffic crisis.

The airlines will tell pilots they doubted the safety of Brazilian air space and instruct them to fly at the edges of air traffic lanes and take other defensive measures, Christoph Gilgen of the Federation of International Air Traffic Controllers Associations (Ifatca), told Folha de S. Paulo.

Ifatca seriously discussed rating Brazil’s air space “dangerous” — a label it uses for some African nations – but opted instead for “under suspicion,” the newspaper said.

The national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines has become an official member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the biggest aviation association in the world, with 270 members.

After a period of surveying and assessing the development process of Vietnam Airlines, the capability and prestige as well as the quality of Vietnam Airlines’ services, IATA has officially accepted Vietnam Airlines as a member of the organisation, putting the name of the Vietnamese air carrier on a level with other big airlines in the region and in the world.

source: Vietnamnet

Turkey’s flagship carrier, Turkish Airlines, is to join the Star Alliance in a move that would give the world’s biggest airline confederation new destinations in Turkey, Central Asia and the Middle East, the company said Saturday.

Turkish Airlines and Star Alliance officials signed a pre-accession deal in a ceremony in Istanbul on Saturday, formally launching the integration process.

source: Chron.com

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, Brazil’s low-cost, low-fare airline, has announced that beginning January 1, 2007, commissions paid to travel agents on GOL ticket sales will be reduced to 7 percent for domestic flights and 6 percent for international flights.

The decision is part of the GOL’s overall cost reduction plan which is expected to reduce operating costs. The Company also expects annual cost savings of R$95-105 million in travel agency commissions in 2007. “‘Reducing our costs will allow the Company to offer even lower airfares and continue to popularize air transportation,'” says GOL’s Vice-president of Marketing and Services, Tarcisio Gargioni.

source: Yahoo! Finance

Australia will restrict the amount of liquid airline passengers can take on board international flights, Transport Minister Mark Vaile said.

The maximum size of containers with liquids, creams and gels allowed on flights will be 100 milliliters from March 31, Vaile said in a statement released today in Canberra. The containers must be placed in a transparent sealable bag and screened separately, he said.

source: Bloomberg

After weeks of speculation the Italian Government yesterday began the privatisation of Alitalia, the troubled national airline, by announcing the sale of 30.1 per cent of its 49.9 per cent stake.

It attached conditions, however, including an insistence that whoever buys the stake must make a full takeover bid for the whole airline, undertake to keep its logo and national identity and come up with a convincing business “turnaround” plan to salvage the debt-ridden company.

source: Times Online

The collapse of negotiations for an EU-US air transport agreement is a set back for Brussels against a background of growing global trade protectionism.

Europe’s transport ministers will discuss the deal’s crash landing next week as hopes for a 2007 agreement recede. US transport secretary Mary Peters called the European commission on Tuesday to announce Washington was pulling the plug on allowing foreign investors a greater say in US airlines.

source: theparliament.com