Seeking to avoid inconvenience to air passengers due to delays on foggy winter mornings, the government has instructed all airline operators to provide refreshments to travellers as they wait for their flights.
source: Zee News
Air France-KLM Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta said Thursday the airline recently began talks with Alitalia SpA that may lead to the opening of merger discussions.
Spinetta said merger talks will go ahead on three conditions: a confirmation of Alitalia’s financial turnaround, the assurance that both companies share a strategic vision and the determination of potential synergies from a merger.
source: MSN
U.S. airlines are pulling out of their financial tailspin but most are not paying close enough attention to customer service, especially when it comes to providing useful information on delays and cancellations, a government watchdog reported on Wednesday.
Additionally, the Transportation Department is doing a better job of overseeing consumer protection issues, including civil rights complaints. But the agency almost always forgives fines or other penalties if the airline agrees to correct the problem, and there is little or no follow-up, the agency’s inspector general, Calvin Scovel III, said in his report.
source: Reuters
The Company has reviewed its guidance to account for the negative impacts of the recent problems with the air traffic in Brazil. As a consequence, GOL’s net revenues are expected to be reduced due to a higher number of delayed and cancelled flights. Such scenario has inhibited passengers to fly, impacting industry demand in the short term. Also, expenses should register variations due to a reduction in the effective flight hours, as well as an increase in the travel time as a result of longer periods to take off and lower flight speed. Those factors contribute to lower dilution of fixed costs and higher fuel consumption.
source: earthtimes.org
Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines has told Delta Air Lines and US Airways Group it would buy any assets they sell if they merged, according to a report Monday.US Airways made an unwanted $8 billion bid for Delta last week. Delta, which has operated under bankruptcy protection since September 2005, said it aims to emerge from Chapter 11 as a standalone airline.
Southwest wants to buy any aircraft and airport gates put up for sale, especially on the East Coast, and it has told Delta and US Airways of its interest.
source: CNN
Rome’s second-largest airport, Ciampino, briefly closed early on Tuesday following an anonymous phone call claiming that a bomb was on board a cargo plane, airport officials said.
Inspections of aircraft found no evidence of a bomb and Ciampino was reopened about an hour later, officials said. Six flights had been rerouted east to the city of Pescara.
Ciampino Airport is primarily used by low-cost airlines, charter flights and private aircraft. It is also the closest to central Rome.
source: Airwise
A Norwegian airline on Friday said it will sue a unit of Scandinavian Airlines Systems in civil court for allegedly stealing trade secrets.
Norwegian Air Shuttle said it wants “hundreds of millions of kroner” – or tens of millions of euros (dollars) – from SAS Braathens for allegedly misusing information received by e-mail and through a booking system about its rival’s business strategy.
source: Chron.com
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended airline operating certificates of five domestic carriers to sanitize the ailing aviation industry, local media reported on Sunday.
The affected airlines are Sosoliso, IRS, Space World, Fresh Airand Dasab. The NCAA revoked ADC’s certificate on October 30 after its B737-200 aircraft crashed in Abuja one day earlier, killing 98 people.
source: China View
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has expanded its code-sharing agreement with Virgin Atlantic Airways to provide more choice in flying between Australia, Britain, the United States, the Middle East and the city-state, the carrier said Friday.
Starting December 1, SIA passengers are to be able to fly from London to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dubai on Virgin Atlantic airplanes, SIA said in a statement.
Effective January 1, Virgin Atlantic passengers are to be able to travel on SIA flights between London and Sydney via Singapore.
source: Playfuls.com
Vueling, the Spanish low cost start-up airline, launched its initial public offering on Friday aimed at raising around €200m in fresh equity to support its rapid expansion from current bases in Barcelona and Madrid.
The airline began flying in July 2004 and will have a fleet of 16 180-seat Airbus A320s by the end of the year, rising to 25 in 2007.
source: MSNBC
